Enoch’s Thoughts

Wetness

If you are eating as you read this, you might want to postpone one of those activities, at least for the first topic. As I mentioned in my last post, we discovered water on our floor last Saturday, and not just any water, but septic backwash. I removed the den carpet, which had only seemed slightly damp, but was beginning to emit increasingly foul aromas, and decided that a homeowner’s insurance claim might be in order. That decision led to a flurry of phone calls and discussions, and to various workers arriving at the house. Some uncovered and opened the septic tank (wherein they found the clog that caused the problem), some poked the floor and walls with moisture detectors (with which they discovered unacceptable wetness), and some measured the dimensions of the damaged flooring (for which they will presumably offer us a replacement settlement.)

Because the offending fixture was located in a somewhat central location on the ground level, some or all of the flooring in five rooms (including one layer of sub-flooring in places) has now been removed, and we have been living with multiple dehumidifiers and air circulators running day and night. Fortunately our sleeping areas were not disturbed, but meal preparation has been a bit of a challenge, so the local restaurants have profited from our loss.

I have a few thoughts to share:

• Waste disposal systems are generally quiet, nearly invisible, and easy to ignore, until they act up, in which case they wield great power.
• The folks from the fire-and-water restoration company have been capable and professional, and they offer skills, tools, and experience beyond the scope of the average do-it-yourselfer.
• If you are going to schedule a similar disaster at your own residence, fall is a good season. Winter or summer would have made it much less agreeable.

I’m sure I’ll have more to say about this episode later, but for now, that’s all I got.

Poem as neutrino

Sunday morning I took a cup of coffee, the newspaper, and MyPad out to the deck to escape the noise of blowers and dehumidifiers, and just enjoy the early hours. A series of clicks from the Writer’s Almanac to The Poetry Foundation led me to a lecture by poet Mary Ruefle given on November 20, 2009, at the University of Chicago. The lecture is almost an hour-and-a-half long, and I haven’t finished it yet, but about ten minutes into the lecture, she caught my attention with some comments about the Big Bang, antimatter, and how a poem is like a neutrino.

Rather than try to capture her thoughts poorly, I’ll just say that the portion I heard was quite enjoyable, the neutrino comment was a very pleasant coincidence (?) and I have embedded enough links in the preceding paragraph to build a decent length of chain, which you may use to attach yourself to some good poetry if you wish, plus two self-referencing links to my previous postings about antimatter and my iPad, which you can use if you are sleep-deprived or into self-abuse.