those of you who know me, know about the time when I was in my first unemployment run, I had ran some water in the kitchen sink... and never turned it off. I went upstairs and was on the computer for an hour or so, then came downstairs only to find out that the sink was clogged and it overflowed, flooding the kitchen, moving water into the family room and dining room. I had to go buy a shop vac to try to get the water up in the kitchen and try to dry out the carpeting in the other rooms.

Let's jump forward a couple of years now. To last night.

We had bought a Rubbermaid drink jug that holds about 2 gallons of water that we filled-up with filtered water and put into the fridge. It has a plastic spigot on the front to pour out the contents.

I went into the fridge last night to grab a glass of ice cold filtered water. I played with the plastic spigot handle "thingie" and spun it around so the "paddle" faced out, to make it easier to hit when filling up a glass.Big mistake.

I closed the fridge door, set my drink down in the family room, and went into the powder room to... use it.

I came out and then I heard it. Carol had been sitting on the couch but didn't notice.

It sounded like running water - like the faucet in the kitchen sink was dripping. It wasn't.

The sound was coming from the fridge.

I ripped the door open and saw that the shelf on the door had depressed the "paddle" on the spigot of the water jug. Opening the door lets go of the paddle and the stream stops.

It just gushed over a gallon of water all over the inside of the fridge, which really doesn't contain the water all that well, and have released more than half of the gallon onto the floor. Our brand new, Brazilian hardwood floor.

We scrambled. I grabbed a ton of towels that happen to be dry, still sitting in the drier. The bunnies freak and just go home to stay out of the action.

Carol, swearing and upset, takes charge and dries out the floor - all the way under the fridge and in the main part of the kitchen. She empties the fridge, shelf by shelf from underneath the path of the streaming and splashing water.

So, the kitchen didn't flood. The hardwood was saved. And we got rid of a lot of old stuff that we'd never eat... or shouldn't eat. It only took about an hour and Carol is still talking to me. The bunnies came out of the cage and went into the kitchen - together - to check out what had happened.

It sure wasn't as bad as the first time, but it sure came up in conversation a lot.