On Wed, 22 May 2019 11:15:34 -0400, micky
wrote:

I just got back from a trip. Had turned off the water and drained the
pipes so no chance of pipes freezing. I've done this at least twice
before, but this time, when I turned the main house valve on, water
dripped from the valve. Quite a bit.

Is there any way out of this other than having the city turn off the
water to the house so a plumber can replace the valve?

Like putting bread or cheerios in the water pipes, or leeches, or at
least maybe temporarily there's something I can wrap around the stem and
where it comes out of the valve. House built in 1979,

I just got back and other things have piled up. Not a good time to hire
a plumber.

Valve is in the basement, behind a warddrobe full of stuff with stuff
piled on top of it with a heavy box of medium length pieces of wood,
metal, etc. in front of that.

If it's just stem packing, can I replace it myself, with something that
will work better than this did? Will the city turn the water off for
me, or will they insist that a plumber call?

As spoken above you can close the valve and replace the packing but
there should also be a shut off at the street connection. You will
need a special wrench if it is very deep in the hole but HD sells
them.