The first Tuesday I was here alone, the furnace stopped working. The house got really cold, but I was okay with some electric heaters.
The second Tuesday I was here alone, I fell on the ice and on the way down I twisted my already swollen and painful knee.
The third Tuesday, which was this week, the worst thing happened. Well it didn't need to be all that bad, but I freaked out. It was windy and everything was frozen solid. The ducks water bowls and their little paddle tub were frozen solid and embedded into the ground. I went to the stone building to look for these pots and pans I threw out last week. Well, as I walked across the frozen tundra that was my lawn, suddenly my feet sank into water!
A pipe had burst under the lawn and the water was running over the ground towards the house. I called Brad and told him were it was and he informed me it was the pipe that goes up to the top of the bluff!
Years ago, Brad's grandfather, father and Uncle, put a 7,000 gallon cistern on the top of the bluff. The water is pumped out of the well near the house, and then it's pumped up the side of the bluff to the cistern, for storage and provides household water pressure. The water also goes over to the corrals.
Brad said there was nothing I could do but turn the pump off, which was running all the time to keep up with the leak. I instantly went into survival mode....that sounds better than panicked.
Before I ran out of water, I filled up stock tank to the brim, that would last the cows three days. Then I raced home and filled every container in the house full of water. Watered all the house plants, took a shower, washed clothes and started the dishwasher. Phew!
And then it took 30 hours for the water to drain out of the cistern. lol. I have hot and cold water at the little house, which has a different well. Echo is on that system, but Wildairo is on ours, and that meant I'd have to haul buckets of water in my Jeep for him, so I got a bucket ready.
I was all set for when taps went dry, then Brad called and he mentioned that if I wanted to water Wildairo or to use a lot of water in the house, all I had to do was turn the pump back on for awhile. Heck, for some reason I thought the cistern had to be full first. So that is what I have been doing. Soon as the pump is on, water starts coming out of the lawn again, so I don't leave it on too long.
Brad is going to use his back hoe to tear up my lawn. Today was quiet warm, over 40 degrees. As you can see from the picture below, there's a little problem, my sugar maple is right on top of the epicenter. I think the maple was the one who damaged the pipe. Anyway, I'm going to chain myself to it when Brad comes with his back hoe.
Brad is on his way home. It takes 24 hours because he leaves in the afternoon and then spends the night somewhere. He took this photo with his cell phone. He had to stop and let these buffalo cross the road. I hate it when that happens!
1 comment:
Cool pic of the buffalo--that's classic. What a horrible experience though!! That's how it works here, too--as soon as my husband leaves the pipes break or some other catastrophe. I hate that feeling of being all alone in an emergency!! Hope you get to keep the tree.
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