Wet Dreams

I had a little nocturnal adventure last night. We've installed a water alarm in the basement so we know when we start to get water. Then we can drop an extra sump pump before we get 4 feet of water (yes, we've had 4 FEET of water in our basement more than once.) I woke up about 4:30 AM and thought I heard the alarm going off. I went to check and we had about an inch of water over the entire floor. I confirmed that both pumps were running and then tried to determine if the water was rising or falling. I was finally able to ascertain that it was, in fact, rising. So I got the extra sump pump from the garage, swapped my nightshirt for a T-shirt out of the laundry basket, and swapped my slippers for my Crocs (yes, I was wearing pants, I did remember to put those on along with my glasses before departing the bedroom.) I went out and cut the plastic over the basement window (we've broken it so many times we've stopped having glass or plexiglass installed, heavy plastic sheeting is cheaper...). Of course, my father-in-law just fixed it on Tuesday. I then had to drop the sump pump into the basement. It took some wrestling but I managed to get it through the hole and into the basement (all of this is made more difficult by the fact that the window is in a below grade well.) I plugged it in and...nothing. Back into the basement I went. I reset the breaker and still nothing. Back upstairs to change plugs. Back into the basement to jiggle the float on the pump. That made the pump kick on which made the tubing come flying back into the basement. Back outside, pull up the pump, grab the tubing, weight it down with pieces of firewood, and drop the pump again. Back into the basement to jiggle the float. Finally success. Of course, by now I am my very own wet T-shirt contest. I was soaked to the skin. I got dried off and got back into bed about 5:50 AM. The best part of it? The Wife never knew I got up and the BIL didn't wake up either.