Tuesday, December 30, 2014

water

How cold was it today? Well, we never saw more than 14F here, at the farmette (so, at the hottest point we were at -10C).

But, the sun is out and that's very heart warming! So much so that you forget about how cold it really is.

The cheepers forgot. They came all the way to the farmhouse door for their morning treat...


farmette-1.jpg



...then buried themselves under the bushes, all tightly meshed in a hump to stave off the cold.

Ed and I eat breakfast in the front room, loving the sunshine, feeling its energy, scheming great plans for the day.


farmette-6.jpg



To cross off the ordinary chores and errands, I do the weekly grocery shopping. As Ed helps me lug the bags into the kitchen I point out to him that the water pressure in the kitchen is really low.

"Probably the filter..." he tells me. Out come the tools, the coils, the filter. After a few minutes the pressure is even lower.

Damn.

We're in the basement now. I'm playing my usual clueless assistant role. I turn switches when asked to do so and stare at boxes of wires thinking that maybe one would be frayed and I'll discover it and the problem will be solved.

Ed is gently cursing. A broken water pump at the farmette would be a big deal. A huge deal, in fact.

He takes out the starter, switches the capacitor, cleans the contact points. No luck.

We call Farm&Fleet. They have a new starter. Ed goes down to check one more time if everything else is operational.

It isn't.

"It's not just the starter.  It has to be the pump," he tells me. Shit. 

The pump is, of course, submerged. 50 feet under the ground. In the well. It's heavy. Connected to a pvc pipe.


farmette-15.jpg


It takes both of us to pull it out and in the end, it snaps off. Just like that.
"Good thing I had the foresight to connect it to a rope."

One broken pump and snapped pvc later, Ed is on the phone calling Pumps and Equipment. Who even knew that there is a store called Pumps and Equipment?

A bit of luck here: it doesn't close until 4:30 and it is now *only* 3:30. I remind Ed it gets dark early. It is, too, biting cold. The cheepers are still hiding -- they refuse to go back to the barn -- the sun is low, it is just too cold for them.

Was I singing "all is calm, all is bright" not too long ago?

In the middle of the entire operation, the Chicken Mama -- the true owner of our cheeper brood -- stops by to visit with the hens and Oreo. (Yes, Oreo has forgotten her and pecks away at her ankles.) I glance at my watch. Why does the sun go down so fast? Is it a race? Come on, put the brakes on!

Ed is off to pick up a new pump. Well, not so fast. He'd left the ignition on in his car. Battery's dead.

Of course, I can count the ways in which this calamity isn't a true disaster. We have another car -- my trusty red, fender-less Escort. Then, too, Ed can figure out most things that break. And he can fix them (that has its downside: he wont hire help). And the Pumps and Equipment store is open, and it's not their holiday, and it's not our holiday, and I don't have house guests, and my older girl lives 12 minutes away, and she has water. I know all that. But right now it just feels cold and the busted pipe and pump are lying on the frozen ground and we still have to put a new contraption on and work the thing back underground and connect it in some mystical fashion to all the wires dangling at the side.

Hell-kite! (That's straight out of Macbeth and sounds much better than a repetition of the standard shit.)

Ed comes back with various pumps and pipes and starters and all other relevant bits of equipment. It is, by now, dark and so of course, the installation has to be put off until tomorrow.

It will be a night without water. On the upside, the furnace is working magnificently!

12 comments:

  1. oh, no! these broken things are so much worse to bear when it's so >>>> cold outside. thinking of you, and glad you at least have heat (and options)!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Exactly the problem: the cold. Not much flex in the pipe (they'll snap when frozen), hands raw, working gloves useless... Ah, but there is the sun. At least there is an illusion of warmth! A psychological high. We have that again today!

      Delete
  2. Oh, Nina.....unfortunate. I'm trying to think of something positive about this situation. Better that it happened now then in the middle of a blizzard (even though it is so darn cold)? It sounds like a lot of work and work that requires patience and know how. I laughed at clueless assistant. Let's just hope the baby doesn't decide to make her entrance now. I hope everything gets resolved very quickly and that the stores you may need are open tomorrow. May the force be with you and Ed.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, Nora. About to go out and test that force...

      Delete
  3. Our well pump failed a few weeks ago, and the mechanism is more than 300 feet underground. We are not as handy as Ed, so we called a repair service. Best of luck to you both.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh, Irene K! I told Ed about your 300 feet and he did say he would not be able to do that one alone or even with me. I'll put that on the side of luck (or not, depending on how successful we are) -- that our water isn't as deeply embedded as yours!

      Delete
  4. Hell-kite! I like that. Well, I guess it's better to warm and dry, if you have to choose...
    but you can shower at your daughter's, and it's a good excuse to get take out Thai food :)

    Good thing this didn't happen when you had company at the house for Christmas!

    Best of luck, not too much $$$ Repairs are not as steep when you have someone like Ed who knows what needs to be done.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. My dear, clean JoyD! It would never strike us to worry about showers! :) (Though at least one of my daughters would say "ew" if she read that!) It's the toilet and the dirty dishes and the hand washing that bother me most. We are running through our reserves rapidly so today HAS to have a happy pipe ending!

      Delete
    2. Interesting sideways insert there...I have wondered before whether your daughters read Ocean? Your mother? Ed, when you're away?

      Delete
    3. Initially, my mother was really upset that I blogged. But about two years ago she changed her mind and now she reads Ocean religiously, daily. But to the best of my knowledge, she does not click on comments. Ed used to read Ocean much more often when i wrote less about him. When I travel, he oftentimes looks at the photos and *sometimes* reads the text. Fact is, we spend quite a bit of time on Skype so he tells me he learns nothing from my Ocean writings that he doesn't already know. He reads like a typical guy: things that either explain how things work (anything from machines, to science to the tax code) or have some adventure component. Both my girls read Ocean dutifully, daily. But I have been warned: if there is a big story in my life, it better come from me to them directly, not from Ocean!

      Delete
  5. I wonder if I should report certain phenomenon to Hospice… that I can hear your Cheepers and that I clearly heard your voice in this post. I haven’t seen dead people yet. Thank God.

    Um, of course my filthy mind immediately saw Pumps & Equipment as a *working title* for a XXXXX novella with movie rights. Get to work, girlfriend!

    Rarely do I wish people to be in hot water, but that’s my wish for you – that and a very Happy New Year! Love.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Man oh man, you make me laugh, Irene B! What a gift you have there, my friend!
      Me, I kept confusing Pumps and Equipment with Parks and Recreation... Way more staid, though there is absurdity in both labels plus a symmetry of language...

      Hot water! I'll take anything that doesn't come out of a plastic bottle!

      Happy New Year, filled with love, as I know yours is and will be...

      Delete

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.