inteface; intercostal; intervention

If you have been reading these posts (and not just looking at pictures), you will know that the title "interfaces" relates to the basis of radiographic interpretation as well as that interaction between people which points out the differences between each of us. Intercostal; that is what I damaged while wrestling 3/4 inch treated plywood from atop our green explorer. Now that I know what was damaged, it makes sense. I was trying to get each of 3 sheets (4' X 8') off the vehicle without damaging the edges or Nan's flowers. So picture a short pudgy old man with arms spread over his head "easing" a 100 - 150 pound object to the ground from it's 6 foot high perch (3 times). OK, you can stop chuckling now! I never said I was very bright. Of course when I had my appointment made, it started feeling better, but not that much better. Here is an image depicting my damaged right 10th intercostal muscle. This explains why it hurts in front and in back. After the exam and diagnosis was finished, the bottom line came: can't do anything about it; it will hurt; for a while (6 - 8 weeks). By that time, our yard needed mowing badly and I wasn't up to it, so I enlisted Grand-daughter Sophia who was glad to do it (for a price of course). We discussed mowing patterns and she came up with what she called "SP" Sophie's pattern. After spending essentially a week in bed, I was able to get out and deadhead flowers and other light duty as long as I didn't stay at it too long. Friday night, Georgia came home for a couple of days of R & R and to meet a couple of appointments before heading back to GC today.
In the meantime, Ike hit Texas and we had flash flood warnings here Saturday morning. Here, I need to recap the water issues in our basement. When we bought the house, there was no sump pump. The house was about 2 years old at that time. Having dealt with basement water in our "Main Street house", I located the builder and asked his advice. He said, "I would never tell you not to put one in, but we didn't feel there was a need at the time". Having spent considerable funds to make the basement a place for the family to watch movies, etc. together, we decided to go ahead. Also installed a back-up battery system. That worked for 3-4 years. The sump did work (thus was needed). Then one rainy nite, the sump failed and the battery had "run down". After $3000 to Serve Pro we recovered from that disaster. We since heard about the "water driven" back up sump pumps. Just before leaving for Oregon last January, we had one of these installed along with an upgrade on the primary sump. That problem solved. Well, so to speak. Over the years, when there was severe rain, I had notice slight dampness on the floor in my workshop on the east side of the house. (Sump is on the west side.) This summer when I was all wired for my first sleep test (during a rain storm), Georgia had to call me home because water from this side was getting into the carpet in the "main" part of the basement. That was puzzling, but passed. Then a few weeks ago, we had the deal with leak in the water supply. OK, now Ike comes and we get a deluge. It looked like an Oregon mountain stream coming down the hill between our house and the Patterson's. The water was boiling where it dumps into the "lake". The sump pump was again working nearly constantly, and sure enough there was seepage in the east side. I spent the morning dumping the wetvac and sopping up water. While at it, I pulled out the workbench from the east wall, hearing water "trickling". There at the entrance of the water supply (Yep, the damned water supply again.) they had poked a hole in the poured concrete wall for the water entrance and the water was coming in around the pipe. Guess they didn't seal it well enough when the house was built. I found an old can of plumber's putty which I jammed in the hole to slow it down enough that I could keep up. Like the leak at the other end of the water supply, it seems this opening slowly eroded to a crisis point. Are houses only built for 12 year life these days??? After spending the morning intervening between Ike and our basement, I was pretty much whipped for the day. Will have to come up with a permanent "plug" for that hole. Also after the Cardinals got swept by the Pirates, I pretty much have to become a c-c-c cub fan for the rest of the season, of course while doing my best to make it a Chicago world series this year since my SOX are hanging in there. What's this about a no-hitter just when I thought "Z" was all washed up???