elfs | Ah, nothing like a crisis to generate togetherness

This morning after breakfast the girls, Omaha, and I headed out to Kouryou-chan's school. Omaha is director of the ground's team and outdoor facilities and the school's principal had called us to ask if we could figure out why water was coming in the back doors. Given that a similar problem had closed off another wing of the school awhile back, having it happen to the main dining room was a crisis.

We ended up on the roof of the school, checking the gutters... again. They have these wire cages over the drain pipes to keep debris from cascading down into the sewers. However, the cages themselves create dams that hold back the water when moss from the roof tumbles down into the gutters. So Omaha and I alternated going up onto the roof, in weather hovering around 40F, in heavy rain, to save our school from having another costly flood. We hauled about 140 pounds of accumulated muck off the roof while the girls waited either in the car, or under the school porch, and read books and played games. They were pretty good and stayed dry. It only took a little more than an hour, at the end of which the gutters were draining properly, so the crisis was over. It felt good to be out and about, productive and accomplished, especially with my wife. We went over to Starbucks, mostly just to get something warm, and the girls enjoyed hot chocolates while I had a too-big latte.

Afterward, Omaha and I took a long, warm shower together. That was nice, too.