How do I love thee, PVL-Ultra-AFS?

        Let me count the ways.

        Your 115 volts, your .33 horsepower.  

        What then of your ten amps?

        I spent Friday night with glass in hand, watching nervously as my sump pump dispatched the overflow from the evening's downpour.    There was a time when I feared you wouldn't keep up with what my drain tiles were gathering but then, as if you found another gear, you prevailed.     My heart sailed as I could see the water line in your crock begin to fall, ever slowly.     

        Can a man love  machine?     Hell yes, especially when it saves his man cave's bacon.

        To those of you who lost stuff this weekend, trust me, I share your pain.    A power outage ten years or so ago rendered my pump moot, and water filled our basement.      It happened right before the 4th of July and the rest of that summer was devoted to redoing the downstairs.      It sucked.

        And, it was just around this time last year that similar rains overwhelmed my crock, with water seeping over the top and through every crack in the floor.     We didn't flood--we just got damp, but the days the followed were spent with ShopVac nozzle in hand, drying out soggy spots and cleaning up.     No fun.

        The same sick feelings returned last night when I came home from a party and saw the crock filling--you start doing emotional triage, prioritizing the things that need to reach high ground first.      You run for a bucket, only to realize the folly of such an endeavor.    And, your wife's words echo in your head...the ones uttered last summer: "Maybe we should install a SECOND pump."

        Don't you hate it when the other person is so incredibly...right?

        A friend of mine from down south asked the question of the day at the party we were at: why DO we have basements in this part of the country anyway?       He pointed out that there are three kinds of them: those that ARE in trouble, those that HAVE HAD trouble, and those that WILL BE in trouble.

       I had no answer.     I know our below-ground living space is invaluable: a third is devoted to storage, a third to my wife's sewing endeavors, and the rest to my mancave.     It's where I hang, and where my kids entertain their buds.    It's an impromptu bedroom when guests stay over.     Santa fills the stockings at it's fireplace--it's where Christmas morning has begun for 18 years.

       Yet, it's all so vulnerable.    I don't know if I have another basement catastrophe in me.       With so much at stake, I should probably take precautions NOW, while things are high and dry.     I already bought a generator, just in case the power goes out again, but it does no good if I'm not home when the electricity fails.       Wired-in backup systems are cost-prohibitive.     Then again,  what's the price of peace of mind?

       For now, it's all on you, PVL-Ultra-AFS.     Long may your 115 volts and 10.0 amps wave.