Kenz hopped into the car after school with that look on her face.

The one that said something had happened that she wasn’t sure how to process.

”How was school Kenz?”

”Mom. Is Texas dangerous?”

Mystery solved. She must have told her class mates about her daddy’s trip to Texas and they had convinced her that he was in danger.

“Not more dangerous then Pennsylvania. Why?” I answered.

“Well, (miss kindergarten friend) said that Texas has volcanos. And Tornados.”

By the time we got home I had her mostly convinced that Checkers probably wasn’t going to encounter any of these Texas dangers.

I may not have been so confident, however, had I been aware of the volcano brewing in my mud room.

The laundry was started, the kids were happily eating breakfast and it was only 8:00 AM. I considered this a very successful start to the day especially since it was Saturday and I had stayed of till 2:00AM.

I know… I should ‘adult’ better then that but there’s more books to be read then there’s hours in the day.🤷‍♀️

My musings of my success were suddenly interrupted by a weird noise coming from the mud room. I went to investigate because I knew my washer didn’t normally make that sound.

I got to the door just as large fountain of water started spraying over the whole mud room. Yes, it really was that bad. The ceiling, 4 walls and floor were being drenched.

I knew I needed to turn the water off but I also knew that I can’t reach the knobs without pulling the dryer front, and I can’t pull the dryer front until the vent and electric cord are pulled out.

Well, I tried… but I got no farther then unplugging the dryer and I was drenched. Literally, I was soaked.

I knew there was no point, because even if I got the dryer pulled front, I was pretty sure I wouldn’t be able to see to turn it off because of the insane amount of water shooting into the air.

Not to mention, I was slightly concerned that the entire spigot might have blown off.

I think most people that know me would agree that I’m a pretty calm person, but in this moment with Checkers not at home and 3 kids staring at me and expecting  me to come up with a solution to the gallons of water being sprayed into the mud room, I thought I might have a panic attack.

I process slowly, but this water fountain demanded instant action, not days of brainstorming solutions.

So, I called Checkers.

He’s in Texas. With the Texas volcanos. But maybe he could tell me what to do with the Pennsylvania volcanos.

He sent me to the basement to turn off the main water line.

The volcano stopped instantly.

Oh, that was easy. I should have thought of that. Except I didn’t even know it was an option pre-phone call to Checkers.

It took all my dirty towels plus a few clean ones plus a big thick blanket to get rid of all the water.

The hose blew off the spigot but the actual spigot was still intact, so I turned it off and very cautiously turned the main water line back on.

There was no more water explosions so I’m currently using the garden hose hooked up in the garage to finish my laundry. It’s a bit inconvenient and slow going but at least the laundry’s getting done😎

There’s still occasional drops of water splattering from nooks and crannies that I didn’t even know existed pre-water volcano.

Texas and its volcanos might not strike fear in my heart but currently I can’t say the same about the plumbing behind my washer.🙃