Wednesday, July 5, 2017

Our Fourth of July - Farce, Fiasco, and Fireworks

I was very depressed when I arose yesterday, and I stayed that way through all my morning activities.  I decided to lie down again and read, and probably nap, to escape those nasty feelings.  I had just drifted off when my room mate yelled my name, and asked me to come into the main bathroom.  Water was leaking from the ceiling, and it was a holiday. I looked and noted that the water was coming from the edge of what I've always called "the metal door in the ceiling" - it's flush with the ceiling, made of metal, is the size of our regular bathtub, and is held in place by multiple screws.  I have to admit I'd never wondered what was above it; I would have guessed the water system pipes for the apartment and bathroom above us...  Over the next fifteen minutes, we could see the panel seemed to be slowly dropping until it was no longer flush with the ceiling, and we had many more drips. I called the Maintenance Shop  for our apartment building at 10:12 in the morning and left a detailed message. I made five more calls over the next 5 hours, as well as calling the main office number and leaving a message, and filling out an on-line form.
   While I was calling the maintenance shop, my main phone (an old-fashioned land line) kept beeping that I had in-coming calls.  The first one  was a client, asking if I could go over in the evening, and walk and feed her dogs - even though it was late notice.  I agreed to do it, wrote it on my calendar, and then tried to answer other calls.  There were six hang-ups in a row.  My poor room mate asked me a simple question and I yelled at her because I was in such a bad mood.  I made her cry.  Then I apologized and I cried.  Then we cried together....
    Beatrice, my room mate, then called and texted the Maintenance Shop and Thistle several times.  Mid-afternoon, I started looking at the lists of people who work at Thistle Communities.  I started looking up telephone numbers and trying to call people at home.  -  Gee, guess what? - All of their old, public phone numbers no longer work. ....  I moved on to the people listed on the Board of Directors and started calling them - all of their listed numbers were no longer in service, too.  Until I reached Jill Grano, who is a Re-Max Realtor.  There was a listing for her cell phone.  I called and spoke with her, apologizing at the beginning for interrupting her Fourth of July holiday - especially as I could hear children playing and having a good time in the background.  That wonderful lady spent over 2 1/2 hours trying to contact anyone at Thistle - and even trying to get a private plumbing company to come take care of the problem.  She is amazing!
    About 6:45, Beatrice made a single, last, frustrated call to the Maintenance Shop number - and was surprised by having a live person speak to her.  The situation was explained.  The maintenance tech on duty was called, and he called us.  He was in Westminster, but would be with us as soon as he could.  Jill Grano called back to see if the leak was better or worse at that time, and I told her help was on the way. I also thanked her profusely for all the work she had put in for us on a holiday.
   Stevie, the maintenance tech, arrived about 7:30.  The leak was caused by a broken piece in the HVAC system, causing the condensation from the air conditioning units in both our apartment, and the one above us, to settle onto the panel and then leak out.  He didn't have the replacement part, but he stated that he and Chris (our usual maintenance man) would be back this morning.   -  And they just arrived!!!   Yippeee!!
     I just realized, too, that I completely forgot to walk and feed the client's dogs last night.  -  Had to pause to call and e-mail to apologize to them.
     So, we finally calmed down and I cooked some hamburgers and we had hamburgers, chips and baked for our Fourth and an apple pie....
     At 9:35 the fireworks for the Fourth started at Folsom Field - the annual, free Boulder fireworks - they lasted for 20 minutes and had a tremendous finale.  We were watching the blossoms of light from Bea's bedroom window, with the inside lights off.  Then we started giggling and laughing at the number of planes that were flying above the explosive light display...  We counted at least eight of them, heading both west and back eat toward DIA.
   I had a very frustrating, angry, upset day - and a great night.
   Today I'm pretty slap-happy....

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