(Hubby made it through surgery and is in recovery as I write this. Thank you all for your well wishes. In fact, the were so many well wishes that the swollenness of his neck has now moved to his head… ;) Seriously, thank you all. I’m sure he had helping hands from all of your prayers.)
PERILS OF PAULINE
Last week was the Perils of Pauline for me.
First, my car had a flat tire. A few days later, since I let my car sit until Hubby was in town to fix it, the battery died.
Then, the next day, I had my girlfriend over to watch Project Runway. We had made dinner, imbibed on some great wine (Wild Horse Vineyards) and then I went into the kitchen to wash out our dessert dishes.
No water.
None.
Not even a drip.
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH (gasp) Aaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!
Perils of Pauline
THE WELL PEOPLE
If you don’t live on a well, you probably don’t understand the panic that sets in for us wellpeople when we don’t have water.
Is the power out – the power being out is the least expensive issue with the well… If the power is out, the water won’t flow but the water comes back on as soon as the power comes back on.
–Clearly, the television was still on so I knew that wasn’t the problem….
Is it the pump? Maybe just a connection?… Do I have enough money to fix this??!!!!
Calling a well specialist is expensive before they even know what is wrong. It’s like when you have to call a plumber. You know it is going to be bad.
LESLIE, WOMAN OF TOOLS
My friend Leslie Anne Webb is a very mechanical girl – in the good way. She built her home from the bottom up so she knows her way around a well pump.
Armed with my headlamp and a wrench, she pulled up her sleeves and investigated all the wires and gobbeldeygoop in the well pump housing.
I watched.
After tinkering for a little while, she proclaimed that it was ‘firing’ but nothing was happening.
Oy.
She consoled me by saying that she knew a great “well guy” and that she would call him for me – she knew his number by heart. Leslie left him a message and implored him to ‘take care of my friend, or else”.
Love that girl.
The diagram of a water well. They are deep. The pumps are down there...
IN THE MEANTIME
The panic about having no water on a ranch is not because of the inconvenience of the humans living there… Humans are easy. We don’t drink that much water and lots of our water comes in bottles easily acquired at the market.
The worry of no water is for the animals. They drink a lot. And, they usually don’t have their trough real close to where you have strategically stored your Rubbermade garbage can full of ’emergency’ water. So, that means schlepping buckets of water all across the pastures.
Ugh.
The next morning found me muttered to myself about having been lazy to not have filled all the troughs before Project Runway and how I’d never do that again… I was sloshing water all over myself and watering the ground as I went.
Luckily, I did have a mini tank full of water in my trailer so I was able to use that for the farthest pasture.
This scenario is EXACTLY why we wellpeople fill up our troughs all the way to the tops , all the time. Just in case.
Anyway, I was sore, wet and pissy. But, when the phone rang and it was the Well Guy, I was excited.
Ugh.
THE WELL GUY
The well guy told me he would be right over.
Yay!
He told me he would fix it, no matter, and have water to the animals by dinner time.
Yay again!
What he didn’t tell me was that he would have to pull out the pump (200 feet below the earth), replace the pump, motor, pipe, control box and every other part. The only thing we didn’t have to do was re-drill.
But, the good part was that during the down time – as the Well Guy was waiting for backup to arrive – he helped me clean all of my gutters.
Nice.
WATER RESTORED TO THE KINGDOM
As predicted, everything was sparkly new by horsey dinner time. All the equines blew bubbles and played in their newly overflowing troughs.
I was so happy… sigh.
Of course, I could think of about a million ways to have spent that money OTHER THAN the well… but whatever.
Horses blowing bubbes of happiness!
MORAL OF THE STORY
If my car hadn’t had the flat last week, if I hadn’t let the car sit to reveal the bad battery and if the pump hadn’t gone out Thursday and been fixed on Friday… all of that would have happened during other inappropriate times as Hubby broke his neck and I left to be with him in Utah.
So even though I was grumbling all last week, I’m so glad it happened THEN and not NOW.
Timing is everything.
Hubby after surgery... all is good.
HORSE AND MAN is a blog in growth… if you like this, please pass it around!
Copyright
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Most modern machines have a pump filter usually at the front of the machine behind the lower kicker plate consult handbook for location and removal and cleaning procedure.if it still does not work after this check the rest of the hoses for blockages or obstructions then change the pump
He broke his NECK??! Good grief… really, YOU are the one always riding and messing about with 1,000 lb. animals. That is sooooooo scary! But I guess his number wasn’t up if he just happened to be biking with a spinal surgeon, for Heaven’s sake. :-/ Sending good thoughts that he makes a full recovery. Meanwhile, I hope everyone in your Animal Kingdom does ok in your absence!
From DeerRun Farm
1st check the breaker
next check the contacts;use sand paper to clean contacts/ants($20to replace)
next check the float in aerater…shake it.
next shake the pressure tanks to see if they are empty or water logged.(drain or replace $200.to replace)
check if pump works($250.to replace)
if everything checks out it might be the submersible pump down inside the well casing…pain in the butt and about $200….plus labor…..thats what friends are for……
Run 1″PVC p[pe to all water troughs and use Little Giant Float to keep filled.The larger the trough the better.
My 200 gallon galvinized is 20 years old and has a small rust spot . Put guppies in it.
Glad to hear hubby is doing better and that you have water. What more could you want? Oh………what’s that……? Money to grow on trees? Well, join the club! :o)
When my well goes out, my first thought is, “some flighted animal has commited suicide on the transformer by the well, or there is one tiny fire ant body messing up the connection.” Lately, it has been one tiny fire ant messing up the connection. In my tool box I have a little tooth brush and a small butter knife just for such occasions. Last time, a mouse made a fatal connection on the point of the well, the fire ants came in, and one got trapped between the points. But before that, it has just been fire ants in the well house and one got trapped.
So glad your hubby is on the mend. Poor guy. Must have been scary.
It is good to be thankful for bad things when you realize the relatively fortunate timing of the bad thing! (Such as having a flat tire on a trip, but when you are parked across the street from an auto shop!)
P.S. I couldn’t help but notice the “cone of depression” on the well diagram. haha
When we built our home it was well water. Good because its cheap, but it was HARD water. The well also had a slow refill rate. We redrilled and sunk a second well with no help. I was so very happy when the city water came up the road. Reliable water was a godsend.
Oh my gosh! I’ve been so behind on reading all the things I want to read (your blog). I just read about your husband! Good googlie mooglie! I’m glad he is on the road to recovery, but good googlie mooglie! I’m sending serious hugs your way. Take care of yourselves! Pat
I am glad you have water! That is a very scary thing, because like you said, animals need the water, and lots of it. We are ‘well’ people too. Hubby looks good after Surgery! I did not realize he broke his neck! WOW! THAT in itself is scary! Will he need to wear one of those halos? Those things look so uncomfortable!
Not to mention the one flush of the toilet and then you are done until the water is fixed.
Wishing Hubby all the best-So glad we live now,few years ago a broken neck would not have such a good outcome..
Glad you could get the well fixed — I always say you never know what that delay has saved you from down the road..