And Then It Happened!

It rained… it poured… and the kitchen leaked. In fact the water poured in above the kitchen window box or ‘green house’ window as Harry calls it.
That morning Harry blamed me for all the water all over the bench, asking, if I had spilt my water bottle when I filled it the night before.

But no I hadn’t … but it had rained.

We thought in the morning that maybe the jug had finally given up (being one of the longest running ones without leaking) and seeped its contents over the bench… but no it was fine.

I sat at the computer having my breakfast in the morning and could hear what I thought was the dripping of the kitchen taps. I thought to myself that I was sure I had turned it off and looked up to check by watching for the drips from the tap ... and then it poured.
And the rain came in.
The dripping turned to gushing and I had to find containers and towels to contain it all.

This is not an unusual thing as we have had it happen before but on the other side of the house down the bedroom walls.
We have spouting that is covered over (something we will never choose again) and so when the spouting is fill with anything, be it debris, nesting from birds or just too much water it cannot spill over on to the ground so it ‘spills’’ over into the roof of the house and if there is too much it will then pour down the walls inside.

We have replaced boards and ceiling in the bedrooms and check each year before the rains and have sorted the east side of the house but now it was affecting the west side.

So it was well past time to check and clean out the spouting.

On this side of the house we have a plum tree that has just grown from a stone. We cut it to ground level once but it grew again and although the fruit is not really sweet to eat it has made bottles of sauce and jars and jars of jam, gumbo, butter and chutney along with being very nice preserved in brandy!

Saturday dawned and Harry was out with his chainsaw to prune off all the branches near the house before he was going to clean out all the spouting with a special tool and some long tongs.

With camera in hand I watched and supervised which branches could come off.

And then it happened!
















At first it bounced off the roof – something Harry said he had planned – Yeah right – and then it smashed through the kitchen window.
Harry had been pruning off bits of branches in small logs small enough to fit into our fire place for next winter.

It was quiet for a bit and then a four letter word came from someone and it wasn't me. It was quiet for a bit more and then Harry said “That wasn't supposed to happen”.

Well I didn't think it was either…
but it needed fixing as the rain was forecast again and there would be a lot more coming in if it wasn’t.

So we rung AMI and they said it wouldn't be able to be fixed until Monday. So Harry rang a friend – the glass man next to where he works.
And he said he could come as he was already out on a job.

And then someone from Tokoroa rung to say he had been informed we had a broken window or glass in a door or something. We said it was fine we had someone coming.




Its at times like this all you need is a cup of tea, so I made us one and we sat on the other side of the house pondering and thinking all the what if's...

But it can't be undone. It was broken so it needed fixing. And glazing is not something Harry has really ever done much of, let alone something with an edge like the window box.

But Lyndon came and took out all the glass and replaced it with new clean sparkling glass. While he did that Harry cleaned out the spouting as promised and I went off to babysit.

The window had broken in shafts and one shaft fell through and decapitated one of my glass ducks.

But all was well and it looked remarkably different and bright.

And then on Monday we got another phone call from another glass company (this time from Matamata) to say they had been informed we had a broken window or glass in a door or something… we said it was fine it had been fixed.

So although AMI said it couldn't be dealt with straight away, we managed to organise something within a few hours (and yes Lyndon was an Insurance capable repairer) and then had two others contact us to restore the "broken window or glass in a door or something". Perhaps it was just the bonus of having a 'glass free' policy.

Meanwhile I am getting used to looking out a window that at times looks like it is still missing its glass. The odd colour on the glass on the outside of the original window was plum juice which had stained the glass from years of falling plums in the late summer.

And with the now pruned tree I no longer have shade from the sun so will have to look into curtains.

The plum tree looks odd and very lop sided. It may even need a bit of a tidy up prune to balance it, but I am reluctant to let Harry near it with a chainsaw again, not just for the sake of the house and its window, but because I still look forward to what preserves I can make with its crops. If it is without fruit before we have an established new one how will Katrina, at least, cope with out her home made plum jam!