On a recent fall evening, I decided to go out and wash down our front porch and windows. It had been a while and the West Texas dust and wind had left their mark. We keep a garden hose hanging on the side of our house, so I dutifully removed the hose and attached the sprayer to add a little "power wash" effect to my efforts. As I stood over hose, I turned on the water........ I have never been showered by so much ice-cold water in my life!!! As I looked to see why in world there was so much water flying everywhere, I noticed several small slits in one particular section of the hose. So, being the handy, resourceful solo-parent that I've become, I immediately went for the number one tool in our house......duct tape.
Living in a house with two Destination Imagination-ers, we have an ample supply of this magic tool. As I searched through drawers, closets, and boxes, I found every color, every print, every style you could possibly think of..........everything except silver! Oh well, duct tape is duct tape - so I went with the red and the black. By the time I finished spot-wrapping the yellow hose, I was pretty sure I had some sort of replica of a massive, poisonous snake stretched out across our driveway.
Now that I had repaired the hose, I was ready to turn on the water again and finish my job. While not experiencing one of my "brighter" moments, I (again) stood over the hose while I turned on the water. Apparently, all of the duct taped spots did nothing but force the water through other near-thin portions of the hose. Needless to say, by this time, I am SOAKED. I'm not wet and cold. I was SOAKED and FREEZING! However, I'd come this far so I might as well finish the task at hand - no matter how soaked I got! (Thank goodness it was dark by this time because I'm pretty sure my neighbors would have certainly questioned my sanity at this point.)
So, with dripping wet hair, water logged shoes, and wringing wet clothes, I very quickly worked to wash off the porch. Then, out of the corner of my eye, I caught a glimpse of Addi standing at the front door. As I moved closer, I could tell she was trying to tell me something. I kept working - determined to finish. She kept trying to communicate with me, but I was determined not to stop. By that point, there was so much water spewing from the hose, she'd surely get doused if she opened the front door - so she stayed behind the warmth and dryness of the glass front door. As a couple more minutes went by, it was obvious that Addi was becoming more and more desperate to tell me something. Even though I couldn't hear her, her body language was such that I was sure someone had lost an appendage, was bleeding profusely, or was in need of some other sort of immediate medical intervention.
Since I couldn't imagine what in the world she was so worked up over, I ran over and shut-off the water. As I made my way back over to the porch, she threw open the door and (still shouting) announced, "Moooommmmyyyy! You need a new hose! That one is squirting water everywhere!"
Really, Addi? Really?
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