When we came home after over a month away we found a very damp basement. No actual puddles or leaks but a kind of miasmic moldy atmosphere and, we discovered, some actual mold in some cabinets.
We went out and bought a new energy-efficient dehumidifier (we had one that looks like it dated from the 1980s). But Sarah also suspected that we had a gutter-drainage issue and when she dug down to look, it turned out that someone had once tried to repair a broken drainage pipe with a plastic shopping bag. So, we dug a whole new drainage ditch after going to Lowes and getting what we needed (the piping, etc). Of course I would never be able to do this competently but Sarah was able to chat with the Lowes guys and figure it out.
So we spent yesterday afternoon and some of today’s digging the ditch and cutting tree roots with a pole-axe thing that Sarah was calling an adze. Especially today in 90 degree heat this was really hard work and good exercise.
I developed a blister on my hand so at the Los Campesinos! show I couldn’t clap very enthusiastically.
When I badgered her for a figure, Sarah claimed that we may have saved about $900 by doing this ourselves. I don’t know if this is true but I like the idea.
Let it rain!
Ivan Kreilkamp 