Leaky Pipes and CaptainS UnderwearS

 

So last Thursday a city utility truck drives down our street and makes a sudden stop at our curbside.  (I catch this from the corner of my eye because I'm making my 2,355th loaf of bread, staring out the kitchen window as this happens.)

A few minutes later, our doorbell rings.

It's a "city worker." We'll call him Peter.

Peter is from our city water department. He's a meter reader. (Get it, Peter the meter reader? I couldn't resist. It's an old 80s song.)

After Peter gives me his credentials and intro, I can't help but think, "When did meter readers get trucks?" In Calfornia those guys walked their routes--armed with golf clubs (to ward off cranky german shepards). (And they were guys--no gals reading meters in 1981.)

Second internal thought: Doesn't anyone walk anymore? Door-to-door salespeople? Nope. Postal carriers? Nope. They all have cars. I'm telling you, no government/city employee walks in Utah. Conspiracy.)

Okay, my point! (Sorry, everything's connected!)

I greet Peter at the door, ask politely if I can help him, and proceed to make a joke about not paying my water bill (Which may not be a joke. I can't remember.). 

To which Peter replies . . .  "No, you'll get a warning if your water is going to be shut off. I'm here because I think you have a leak. I read your meter on May 3 and you'd already used the typical MONTHLY family household amount: 50,000 gallons. So, I checked again today--the 12th--and you are at over 122,000 gallons already!"

WHAT?!

How many gallons? 122K? What in the crap?( PS: To which Peter responds, "You can say the real word; it's okay." Thanks, Peter. I'm 39. I had no idea I could swear out loud. Peter doesn't know how funny swearing is to me. If I thought it was the right timing, I would have turned sailor on him in a nano-second.)

That's a leak?

Sounds like a pond, a pool. NOT a LEAK!

Don't you agree?

Anyway, it's not a major deal in the big picture.

We DO have a leak.

And our water bill will win some world records this month.

But we can fix a leak. 

And I'm thankful they came and told us. (How cool is that?)

But I will say this: I feel like crap knowing that there are people without clean drinking water and we're GUSHING good water down the drain for no flipping reason. Just call us BP. We've got this major leak--for days--and we didn't know it. UGH!

I'm sure some good metaphors will come from this experience.

Stay tuned.

Thanks Jeff, Ken, and Garrett for helping us find said-leak on Sunday. SOOOOOOOO appreciate you!

And Paige and LuLu, thank you for making us all smile Sunday--CaptainS UnderwearS (more than one captain, more than one pair of choanies). LOVE YOU!