Midnight Suprise

I was laying in bed Wednesday night when around midnight I heard water running. Being a woman I have the ability to hear things in the night. Anyway, I was wondering why there would be any water running. I didn't start the dishwasher no one had been up to use the bath room and I saw my husband turn off the sprinklers when he was here this past weekend. At first I told my brain in was nothing and tried to roll over and ignore it, but of course I couldn't so I finally got up and started inspecting the house. I heard a spraying sound coming out of the garage. When I got out there I found the expansion tank on the top of my water heater spraying full force all over my garage wall and car. At first I didn't know what to do so I just stood there and stared. Then I climbed up on my car to get a better look at it while getting wet. I tried to put my finger over the hole (I know probably a dumb idea, but it was my first one) but the pressure was too much and I just got wetter. I found a knob that I thought controlled the water flow and turned it off but it just kept spraying. I finally picked up the phone and called my dad. I was trying to explain it all to him when the spray finally started to slow down. I guess the knob I found was the water shut off but the pressurized tank had to empty. My dad talked me through turning off the pilot light and gas so that I could go to bed and he was there first thing in the morning to remove the old tank and replace it. It's a good thing I have family so close with Dan being away. I don't know what I would have done and I'm sure I would have payed someone a lot of money to come and fix it for me. Thank you daddy!! I keep thinking it's a good thing I didn't just ignore it. I would have woke up to a flood.