da | In this house, it hopefully neither rains nor pours.

Our water heater is apparently being replaced tomorrow.

It is a rental, as are most water heaters in this town, because the water's so hard people need to replace their heaters every 5-10 years. Or so I'm told. We've been here 8 years, never had a problem.

The puddle in the laundry-room couldn't be blamed on a rainstorm any longer... So I called the city after work tonight, and they sent someone around, who looked at the puddle, asked a few questions, and immediately shut off the gas and water to the heater.

He said, "the bottom's corroded. When the water is on, the pressure has a chance to blow out the bottom of the tank. I've seen it happen, and I recommend you keep it off until tomorrow morning. You have enough hot water for a couple of showers, and the contractors will bring you a replacement tomorrow."

So, right now we don't have a hot-water heater.

Our utility bill covers sewer, water, and gas. This week we've tested the city's response to the first two. I would like to leave the third one to 2nd and 3rd-hand stories, please? Thanks.

(The arrival of the guy who inspected our water heater was delayed by an hour for him to go across town and deal with a real gas leak; fortunately fixed with no explosions.)