Not as bad as it could have been.

I've been living in a state of pending self-pity ever since my wife headed out yesterday, just waiting to find out what is wrong with the plumbing at my house, and how much it's going to cost to fix it.

Things started to look better this morning.  My wife called at about 7:30 to let me know her first sweep through the house found no water...even in the crawl space under the house.  The only thing amiss was the handle on the toilet in the main bathroom...it was in the flush postion.  I had her look in the tank, and it was bone dry, and she said the flapper valve looked rough. 

I started to get my hopes up...was it possible to lose 1100 Cubic Feet of water through a toilet in a week? 

When the water guy showed up, and turned on the water, the meter commenced to spinning.  My wife shut the valve to the toilet, and the spinning of the meter stopped.  Yay!  Problem half solved.  The point of the problem was identified...but it still needed to be fixed.

I had a quick talk with my wife about the flapper valve, but we kind of decided that armed with just a Leatherman Squirt, and trying to keep two kids entertained in an empty house, this probably wasn't the time for her to learn how to fix a toilet.  Instead, she called a local plumbing company, and three hours later, it was all good.

The price for the fix was $189($150 just for showing up at our house), much better than all the DOOM and HORROR scenario's that were running through my head. 

Before she left the house, she checked the meter one last time, and it looked like everything was holding good.   I also had her look at the front yard...7000 gallons flushed through the septic tank in a week is quite the workout...no sink holes in the yard, so that's good too.

While this is a relatively happy ending, I am more than a little frustrated with the water company.  Their man in the field did right shutting off the water...but them not calling me to let me know is LAME.  I am also a little cheesed at having to pay for the $600 worth of water that flushed down my toilet....but...TANSTAAFL.