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.

Hungry Porpane Tank

I work away at my computer, paying bills, checking Facebook, etc. I'm sitting in the corner of the family room that is known to be cold, thus I don't think about the house feeling a bit chilly. However, I decide to bump up the thermostat for the family room. It is sometimes comprised by the heat coming from other parts of the house. That's when I realize the temperature is 64 and the thermostat says it is calling for heat. Hmmmmmmm...

I check the other thermostats in the house - they all report the same thing... 64 calling for heat.

Why is it that these things rarely happen when handy man hubby is home? Fortunately, I have learned a few things over the years. But some of the more common sense things rarely are my first thoughts (Forest of Crazy in that head of mine).

I push the buttons on the thermostat - nothing happens, of course. I go to the basement to lay eyes on the boiler. "Why?", I ask, "isn't there a fire under you?" Silly me, thinking a boiler would answer me. I discover after getting on my hands and knees there is not a little flame known as the pilot light.

Time to make 'the call.' DH does not answer his desk phone. Now I must carefully consider if this warrants a call to his cell phone. Doing so may interrupt a meeting. I'm cold, the house is cold, the temperature outside is not to rise much above zero. The conclusion - yes, make the call to the cell phone.

Luckily, he answesr on his way back to his desk. I explain the situation, I might add, very calmly feeling relieved that someone who knows what to do will now provide all the answers. First he has me verify we have gas by checking the stove top. Again, I wonder why I didn't think of that little gem. A sane person would first ask "do we have gas?" But then I never claimed to have much sanity. Ah ha! The burners light, we have gas. Okay, next step, seeing if the pilot can be re-lit. Unfortunately, since DH has not developed the technology to do this from afar or through the phone, the task falls to me. He walks me through the process. I say a little prayer as I put fire under the boiler as I am very frightened I will blow up myself and the house, which includes our 2 DDs. DH hears my prayer and responds with these encouraging words "oh, it's fine, just do it." The pilot relights! All is well. The house will rewarm and we will not need to imitate Eskimos. I saved the day.

Until I realize the house isn't exactly getting warmer. The thermostats are still reporting the same thing 64 or 63, calling for heat. SIGH. Again, a sane person would probably automatically think - I should verify there is propane in the tank. No, not me. I push buttons, I check radiators, I look at the pilot light still burning. I plop down on the couch and ponder my dilemma. I pick up the phone and try DH who of course is no longer available. Eureka! The brain kicks in...check for propane. Not wanting to go outside where it is cold, I check the burners on the stove. They are woefully weak. Shoot! I dress in my many layers, don my boots, put on my gloves and tromp out into the cold sunshine to the propane tank. I fight my way through the snow, clear off the cover, open it up to find the gauge. It reads ZERO, nada, nothing. It is then that the thought occurred: "ya know, I haven't had a visit from the gas man in a while." All the brain cylinders are firing now.

Well, this is something I know how to do, make a phone call. As I am looking for the number to the gas company, I am feeling sightly annoyed. This is an issue we should not have to deal with, an empty tank. We are on auto fill, which in theory means, the gas company tracks our usage, weather conditions, etc. and automatically fills our tank when needed provided our account is current. I know our account is current, I've kept my end of this deal, so I wonder, why is my tank empty? Oh I know, it has been very cold lately. I'm sure the gas company is very busy dealing with lots of customers and issues. But I feel let down and kinda cold, ya know what I mean?

I make the call, they realize their blunder and promise to send someone right away. As I write this tale, I am awaiting for that "right away" response. It's been about an hour. Thankfully the temp in the house is holding at about 64. It's not too unbearable. DD#2 made lunch using the electric oven. Things could be worse.

Post Script: Indeed shortly after writing my tale, the gas delivery man came and filled the tank and re-lit the all the pilot lights. Again the house grows warm.

Journey Through Remodeling

At one time during our lives, we considered building a home. I was not overly thrilled at the prospect - all the decisions to made. The big ones are okay - like how many rooms, bathrooms, etc. It's all the little, continuous decisions i.e. what color light switch plates, at what height do you want the light switch, which way should the door swing, etc., etc. It makes me nuts. So here we are, living in our old home, remodeling it. Essentially, we are rebuilding the house. All these little, tedious decisions have to be made to finish the project. Oh, did I mention that remodeling means I am living in the space during the process. Oh, why didn't I go with the idea of building? (We did seriously consider it but the finances didn't work out well.) Today, my house has rooms with stud walls, holes, patched holes, unfinished & uneven floors. The kitchen is completely gutted from rafters to joists. We cannot get from one side of the house to the mudroom without going out the front door and walking around or becoming adept at joist walking. It made getting out the door for church this morning challenging. Shoes & jackets were on the "other side", keys, wallets, etc. It is a maze to walk through "this side" as everything is strewn around including tools & construction "stuff". One neat feature... I can see from upstairs down to the kitchen on into the basement. I do okay with the process until I cannot find something as nothing is where it was and no one can remember the last place it was set. Another point of frustration is the obstacle course and maze through the rooms and the front door. Eating has become completely optional. If the cooking utensil is too big or challenging to wash in the bathroom sink - it doesn't get used. That is pretty much everything except a dinner plates & bowls. TV dinners, cold sandwiches, dining out has become the food the times. Living this way is not easy - but the end result will be very worth the efforts. Just to survive the journey.

Happy Anniversary?

One year ago today, we sought cover in the "new" basement as a storm raged around us. The day prior we celebrated sister-in-law's wedding. DH's parents, aunts, uncle, and cousin visited us during the day. The flowers were lovely.

The girls had just gone to bed when it became apparent that seeking additional shelter was necessary. I remember DD #2 had gathered blankets, stuffed animals, her favorite doll which she's had since a baby, pillow, and a few favorite books. Poor thing was petrified. As we huddled in the corner, we heard the pounding - it was deafening.


We cautiously returned upstairs as the storm abated. It was dark, being after 9:00. We opened the front door turning on the porch light to piles of hail resembling snow piles of late spring. Hail stones nearly the size of golf balls. The smell of pine were very pungent making us think that pine trees had fallen. (In the light we could see it was many, many pine needles.) What we couldn't see until daylight of the following day was all the damage to the house & buildings.

The house siding looked scraped as if we were preparing to paint. The window screens were shredded. Our window ACs were pummeled along with the windows they were in damaged. The roof was in poor shape before the storm definitely had damage. The steel building was pocked. The vegetation shredded - cut in half. All of my father-in-law's beautiful squash, pumpkins, melons were pounded. Our apples and tomatoes turned to mush!

This was the beginning of a major overhaul of the house. The result ending with all new windows, siding, insulation, roof, doors and more. But that is another story.

It is interesting to see how God takes tragedy and turns it into blessings. The end result was a new roof which was in need of replacing, a fully insulated house for a cold winter, new windows & doors eliminating more drafts.

Now..... for the kitchen - - hmmm... can that be blamed on a storm for insurance money? ;)