In search of water

The day began as any typical day. DH went to work. I stumbled out of bed and slowly got moving. The children began their school work. I packed up the stuff I had to donate, loaded into the SUV, distracted the children from their studies, and we went to town. DD#1 to local home improvement/hardware store to find stuff for the rocket she and friends are building, DD#2 and I go to Goodwill to drop off the stuff. Then a quick stop in the coffee shop for some much needed caffeine and back to pick up DD#1. We then did a few more errands and home again. I was feeling quite accomplished and proud of myself.

But then....

DD#1 came to me while I was 'trying' to exercise. You see we have a Wii fit - some of those things a body just can't do, know what I mean? Anyway....DD#1 came to me for assistance with the toilet. She had apparently plugged it. She had done her best to resolve the situation but to no avail. Okay, now I am not an expert in this particular job but I have handled a plunger during my time. It turned out that the toilet wasn't refilling with water. Hmmmmm.... I take the tank cover off; jiggle things around, still not much happening. I look at the parts to try and determine if they are broken. Huh, this is a different set up. I go to a different toilet to compare parts and fittings, etc. Well... this is definitely a little different - the newest toilet in the house, modern thing. We have two other bathrooms, so I leave it for DH upon his arrival in the evening. I return to regularly scheduled humiliation of Wii Fit exercise.

About an hour later, I make my way to the kitchen. Unfortunately, the newly remodeled kitchen did not come with a built in Chef, so the job is left to me. I turn the kitchen facet on to wash my hands. Strangely, there is just a trickle of water. Huh. My little brain starts to work. I must again decide if the situation warrants a call to DH at work. Yep, I quickly determine that lack of water pressure is worthy of a phone call. Again I wonder, why do these happen when handyman DH is not home?

I by-passed the desk phone and called the mobile phone. No answer. Shoot! He must be in a meeting. Think. Think. Think. I can text message him - good idea, modern technology, gotta love it. He suggests checking the circuit breaker. Forest of Crazy in this head of mine. Why hadn't I thought of checking out the breaker? Sure enough, the well pump breaker had 'popped'. I switch it back to "On". I smile thinking this was an easy and inexpensive fix to the problem. Except...that the water pressure didn't return. How long do I wait for pressure to return? Those were my exact words in the next text. His response "did the circuit stay in the on position?"

Side note here... mobile phone from which I am texting does not work in the basement where the circuit panel is - lots of up and down the stairs. Good exercise I suppose. Additionally, the signal for the mobile phone was dropping in and out, so our texts were crossing paths and getting a little confuzzled. Which brings the message a few text messages later...I'll call in about 15 minutes.

DH calls as he is walking to the vehicle - quickly exiting the office to deal with the lack of water issue and hopefully be home before darkness descends. Rather tricky living in the northern plains during January. I suggest that we call someone to help deal with this issue. I was concerned about DH's health and physical body going down in the "hole" to look at the pump. Understand, that this is not the first time we have had a well pump fail...oh no, this would be about the 3rd or 4th. DH has gotten quite talented at replacing this thing over the years. But this is the first time in January. It is a horrible job - in a hole about 4 foot diameter, about 8-10 feet down, usually standing in water. DH is usually sore, tired, aching for days following. He reluctantly agrees to call someone, but disliked the thought of paying someone to do what he is able to accomplish. I, as his wife, felt the money spent if great value to his body and overall health.

It is already 4:00pm and I wonder if anyone will be able to come out this late in the day. My brain starts to make alternate plans for bathing and such. The local well company could send someone within the hour! Hurray! DH would be home about then too. I again saved the day with a phone call.

I would be paying these heroes of water restoration by the hour. I decided that I did not need to pay them to shovel snow out around the well. So I marched out there and did a bit of shoveling. The recent mild days, known as January thaw, really helped this task quite a bit. My water rescuers arrived...a couple of youngins' (Oh dear, I am getting old.) Of course, they hadn't seen a well quite like ours...we do live on an old homestead, the new homes are nothing like our home. By new I mean anything 40-50 years and younger.

DH arrived just in time to add assistance. The three of them worked for less than two hours. Installed a new pump (again). This pump, so I am told by DH, is a higher quality pump. He then asked me to write out the check to pay the bill. I had a bit of sticker shock. WHOA! I had an idea of the amount for labor and it did not equate the this amount or what I thought it should be including parts... exactly how much is this new pump? It certainly had better be a good one for that price!!! But water is restored and all is well (pun intended) once again on the "farm". Ahhhhh...

Now I must admit that I felt highly inconvenienced by this latest issue. But then I stopped to think: I am not Haiti just trying to survive....my problem can be resolved; most likely the problem will be resolved quickly; I have good water. How very very blessed am I? I do not have the right to complain today - no not today. I say another prayer for those suffering and cheerfully clean up the kitchen after dinner, smiling softly as the water runs out of the facet.