Water always takes the path of least resistance. So much like our brains will do under stressful situations - If you're used to living your life in a state of panic and anxiety, that is what you will likely cling to when shit hits the fan. However if you make the choice to get your brain into a relaxed state more often, you will have created grooves in your life that you can automatically slip into. We each know what helps us to feel relaxed on a daily basis, but it is often the thing that can save us from stress that we consistently move to the bottom of the list. Why would a person choose to suffer in this way? One could take about five minutes per day to simply breathe, meditate or stretch. That five minute investment could save your sanity in a stressful situation. When you know how to access that state of relaxation, you are free to make choices to react in a more neutral way to the crazy surprises in life. Knowing how to stay relaxed won't stop things from cropping up in your life, but rather will help you to lessen the effects that stress can have on a person.
I know all of this firsthand because of the crazy thing that happened on the way to a restful sleep ...
Night before last, my husband and I were just tucking into bed for the night when we heard a very strange sound. We went into our ensuite bathroom, and the sound was coming from the bathtub drain - it sounded like a rushing stream! We went into the crawlspace to discover some water all along one side of the foundation, leading to a drain in the floor. We freaked out a little. Or at least - I did!
We are truly not Do-It-Yourselfers. Some people have these capabilities, but we are so not those people. I would like to be, believe me, but when it comes to doing projects around the house my talents lie in the kitchen ~ See my website for more on that: http://nicolearacki.com/?p=635 ~ - mainly in the area around my KitchenAid mixer and the oven. So you can imagine how much I was freaking out that there was something out of the ordinary in the crawlspace at 11:00 at night. Anyhow, we discovered that there is a drain in the center of the crawlspace where a tube from the hot water tank goes - for overflow issues I guess?! Well, this drain when we lifted it revealed rushing water beneath the house. I guess this is pretty common, and it makes sense to me now that I think about it. At the time I was feeling pretty uneasy about this water under the foundation of the house - yikes!
Well, we checked around the perimeter walls looking for leaks or cracks or holes, and started to assess the situation. There was no current to the water on the floor, so that was a good thing. And it looked like the path of water led right to that handy drain in the floor. Also a good thing. So then, of course, we had to go outside to see ... what we could see ... at 11:00 at night! Well, there is standing water all over the place right now because we are having a very strange January melt around here! My husband tried to set up the sump pump, but the ground was frozen and the water wasn't deep enough to make the sump pump start working. We did what we could, but both agreed that we should probably just go to bed, and re-assess in the morning. Of course, morning meant Monday, which meant he was heading back to work.
Thank goodness I'm a "Cariboo Woman" now. Next day, I looked at that crazy sump pump and knew we weren't going to be friends. So I walked away from it. I looked under the deck to find a big puddle that had a current coming from the other side of the fence. So smartypants Nicole went to the other side to discover The Problem. The neighbor behind us had dug out the snow & ice from his ditch so the water wouldn't get trapped and cause flooding in his property. He dug pretty far - about twenty feet along the ditch. However he couldn't do my ditch too - I mean, it's nice to be neighbourly, but he shouldn't do my work for me! Well, the water came up against some firmly packed snow and ice, and took the path of least resistance - under the fence, beneath the deck and under my house of course!
So I dug and dug and dug the snow out of the ditch, which is really hard work you know! I pretended that I was digging for treasure, which totally made me feel better, and made me feel much more enthusiastic about it. I got to the culvert and the water was just sitting there, stubborn and unmoving. So I phoned Public Works. By the time I got home from teaching yoga and picking up kids, they had come with a digger and guys who are used to digging. They cleaned out the culverts and fixed it right up! I will still have work to do, I'm sure, but at least the water is going where it's supposed to go.
Maybe we are going to get better at the DIY thing. I suppose that the experience of the Surprise House Projects are what get people motivated to improve their homes and properties ... I know that my husband and I are already plotting our game plan to prevent future problems with the Spring Melt.
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