Tuesday, March 11, 2008

When Home Improvement Projects Attack...

So, this morning I'm attempting to get my children out of their respective beds (note to self: Dynamite. It's the only way to be sure), when I hear an odd noise coming from outside. Sounds like a truck. A large truck.

Look out the front window, and sure 'nuff, it *is* a large truck. It's one of the town's highway department trucks (both "highways" in our town are state routes, both with only two lanes. We're deeeep in the 'burbs, Bubba), idling away in front of my house.

As I'm trying to figure out why, in this day and age of $4/gallon gas (diesel), the DPW employees are chosing to waste even more money, I spot the spreader in the back of the truck. A ha, I think to myself, they're putting down some road salt.

And then I realize why they need to put down the road salt: My new drain. Apparently, replacing the flex hose with sturdy PVC has allowed the sump pump to rocket the water out of the sump and down the front lawn with sufficient velocity to totally coat the street with a thin layer of water, which, at 15ºF, immediately froze into a thin but (near) frictionless veneer...

Not sure if I'm doing anything technically wrong (I doubt it, as there are at least four or five other spots just on my ride to work that are significantly worse and have been so for years) or not, just found it interesting that a shorter (12' vs. 20') hose would increase the amount of water making it to the road...

That is all.

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