We got a bunch of rain with the Nor’easter that roared through Sunday and Monday. Did it bug us? Did it float our possessions, the way the rain last May did? Reader, it did not.

Instead, here’s what happened: Sunday was uneventful. Monday, Lisa went downstairs and reported that the sump pump had kicked on and was running steadily. I said, “Ooh. We'd better move the hose further away from the house.” The end of the sump hose was currently about three feet away from the foundation wall, pointed out into the lawn. We dragged the hose out toward the sidewalk and let it run on. At one point, when we realized that the steady trickle of floodwater coming out had flooded our sidewalk, we redirected it against the natural drainline along the edge of our property, so it could trickle down into the drainfield into the back corner.

Curiosity got the better of me at one point, so I lifted the cover of the sump where the pump was steadily working. I was astonished to see that the pit was not even a quarter full of water, thanks to the pump, but that a gush of water—like the outflow from a washing machine!—was rushing into the pit continuously as the water table inched higher from the rain. The pump had absolutely no trouble keeping up with the inflow, though; no sweat at all.

The pump was still running when we went to bed. I think it stopped overnight, but the precipitation we’re getting today probably caused it to kick back on. Still: no sweat, no problem, no moisture at all in the basement outside of the sump itself. This was hands down the best money we ever spent on a home improvement project.