Today started with a few glitches. Bob threw up a hairball at approximately 3:50 a.m. I was sound asleep and did not come awake in time to get his blankie under his mouth…hairball and the accompanying yuck made a direct hit on the down comforter – rats! I did a quick half-awake cleanup and went back to sleep.

On getting up for good, I grabbed the comforter and made for the washer. There was not actually much of a mess and the thought crossed my mind that I could clean the corner in the sink, but that comforter had not been washed for awhile so I threw it in and started the washer.

Background: I have had down comforters for most of my adult years and successfully washed them with some regularity. The tricks are: a good comforter, proper soap, and beating the down as it dries so that it does not clump. The place I buy the comforters sells a special soap. They also sell some poly-rings specifically for putting in the dryer to do the beating – they beat the “tennis shoe in the sock” thing that I used to do.

The second glitch was that after my first cup of coffee, on going to check on Bob’s meowing, I discovered that the washer had quietly overflowed. A lot of water was on the floor of the laundry closet, entry and the room that I now know is downslope – the workout/craft/boys room. The floors are all engineered hardwood – they do not like water.

It took every towel and my entire supply of old flannel sheets to sop up the water. And a lot of time. The runners that are in that area were soaked.

The good news is that floor has not been that clean since I moved in. Additionally, after an experimental small load to see what was leaking where, it appears it WAS an overflow vs something broken so I was able to wash and dry all of those towels and sheets. And the comforter is fine and clean. And the runners had a bath.

I will be going to Home Depot tout de suite and purchasing a vac that sucks up water, ensuring that I will never have another “flood” in the house being thusly prepared. Still… worth it! If I had one of those, the cleanup as well as the cleanup of the cleanup would have gone much faster. Lesson learned.

The other good news is that the day improved from there! The sun came out. There was a soft breeze and blue sky and moderate temperatures – a perfectly, perfect day.

The cause…

…unaware!

GoatsBeard: a pretty wildflower that is open in the morning and closes at noon. I saw it for the first time this year on the lunchtime walk.

A sunshiney flower for a sunshiney day…a day that ended better than it started.