Another Mystery Solved... aarrgghh!!!

We arrived home from Oregon in April amidst a very wet spring. The sump pump was running almost continuously, to the point it was drowning flowers around our deck. After a week or so, I realized that it wasn't going to stop soon, so rigged an extension on the sump drain so I could deposit the water further from the house into the yard which would better drain into the lake. The problem is that by the time I decided to make a move the standing water had killed much of the thyme that I had laborously nurtured between the flagstone in the little sitting area by the pondless fountain I had built. See "before" and "after". Now I have to figure out how I want to tackle reseeding the thyme.
As time went on (after the thyme went away), I was amazed that the water kept flowing after I thought the rain had slacked off enough that it should have stopped. (unravel that sentence if you like).. I also was amazed at how clear the water was. I would move the hose from the sump around to different places so I wouldn't drown other flower patches or make it too "soupy" to mow. I must say that at this point our back yard is the greenest it has ever been. I commented to Georgia and several neighbors that I was worried that there might be a leak because this water flow was really strange. I looked around the house and found no evidence of a leak.
Chapter 2:
It was SATURDAY, August 9, 2008. Georgia was away on errands and had asked me to take some stuff to the basement. (It had set there a couple of days waiting for me to have another reason to go to the basement, so I wouldn't waste a trip)...Hey, at my age, you don't waste trips up and down stairs. Well, I decided to be a good dooby and take the stuff down. I opened the door to the "Christmas room" (where we keep the unused decor items in the "off season") and heard a funny sound. I went back to where the water softener is and saw that water had run down the wall from a crawl space which was covered by a piece of 1 inch styrofoam. The only thing in that crawl space is a bunch of boxes I was saving (in case we needed to send stuff back) (Been there since 1998) and the water meter. I took down the styrofoam to be sprayed in the face by water that was spewing out of the "pipe" just before the first valve at the water meter... Notice I said BEFORE the first valve. I looked all over for a shutoff... inside and out. Found none. So I then unwrapped all of the water soaked fiber and cellophane that had been put there to protect the pipes from freezing, grabbed a roll of duct tape and started wrapping, while dodging spraying water.. I wrapped and wrapped. The only thing I accomplished was to cover the pipe with a really large wad of duct tape. I don't think I slowed down the water one bit. In the meantime, all the boxes were soaked, a bunch of dirt had washed away in the crawl space, and I was soaked and muddy. Oh! I was supposed to meet Georgia in town, but when she called, I said, "I'm not going anywhere." She got home and we started on the telephone. It took 3 sessions with automated answering machings to reach the guy to come and shut off the water at the street. It took 4 sessions to reach a plumber who was available. When we finally got to talk with people, they were really nice, reasonable guys. In fact the plumber showed up wearing an STL cap... (Now is a good time for you to check out the score of the Cardinals/Cubs game on August 9.... They knocked Zambrano's ears off http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/chi-10-cubs-cardinals-chicagoaug10,0,352160.story Oh, you probably already know.... I'm not watching today cause I know that revenge is hell. Back to the issue. When I wrote the really large check (remember, it is a Saturday emegency). . he saw the DVM and started another conversation. As it turns out, he used to participate in calf roping with Charlie Hartman, who I had known from the vet school and who married Ruth, a family friend. Small world again.
Let's consider that really large check. There was a time when I would have kept wrapping duct tape til it was gone or I had felt I had slowed it down somewhat, then either dived into it myself or waited til Monday. In this instance, that probably would have been a stupid move because the increase in leaking had to have increased significantly over the past couple of days. After the fact, Georgia remembers that during the night, she had noticed a strange sound in the kitchen, but decided it was just the sump pump. Now she realized it was the leak. Another issue is that I work Monday and get my second carpal tunnel surgery Tuesday. Hardly a time to mess with getting this fixed.
So, what was the problem? A connection just before the water meter was the site of the leak. Apparently there was a "burr" on the threads, which over the 12 years or so, allowed enough water to escape to enlarge a hole which sometime this spring was large enough to keep our sump pump running essentially every 3-5 minutes. The leaking water ran along the foundation and found it's way to the foundation drain, to the sump pit. Fortunately, before we left for Oregon, we had a super duper sump installed. Some time in the last few days the hole enlarged to the point that it was spraying water against the styrofoam "wall" I had put up to block off the crawl space, as well as make enough noise that we could hear it. Although the problem was most likely caused by faulty installation, it didn't surface til this year. I don't see how any warrantees would apply. (as long as you own the house) which is the typical "lifetime" warrantee doesn't even apply since we are the second owners... So what are we left with? First the bill. Secondly, the dead thyme (not to be confused with the dead time we spent waiting for people to return our calls). Number 3, today, we have to deal with all of the wet boxes, etc in the crowded Christmas room. I noticed that even the plywood boxes I had built for storing the Christmas reindeer were wet and warped, so who knows what the deer are like. Oh, and Number 4.... The Cardinals creamed the Cubs!!! Today is another day. (and another game)...