June 1, 2015 We Have Water!

Our warm-weather porch.

Working on the well.

Sign at the start of our trail to the
north ridge.

Friday 5/29. The well company men arrived just before 10:00 am and were here until about 3:30 pm.  Unfortunately, the fix was the most expensive, not the least expensive.  The motor, which is separate from the pump, had blown so they had to pull up 600 feet of pipe which is in 20' lengths.  Those guys have this all down to a science though and can unscrew the pipe and pull more up with the winch truck very quickly.  Took them 1-1/2 hours to pull it up, but the brand new motor was bad.  So JB drove down to their business to get another one, which took two hours.  Obviously we won't be charged for the time they didn't work and will get some sort of a discount for his making the trip.

When they unhooked the pipe to start pulling it up, it was filled with water right to the top.  A very good sign.  They saved all that water for us in one of our 50 gallon drums.

Since they had to pull everything up anyway, I had them install new wire which is much better than the wire they used seven years ago.  Total cost for everything will be about $3000.  Thank goodness for Visa!!

While they were doing all this, I did more weeding.  Then I moved the last row of fire wood off the porch and into the wood shed, using the wheel barrow.  So now we have our warm-weather porch back.

After they left, we had loud thunder and about an hour of rain.  We have had rain so often that the ground doesn't get a chance to dry out.  Which brings up something else that I forget about Spring in the Winter - bugs.  With all this sunshine and moisture we have a lot of bugs.  Flying, crawling, buzzing.  Not my favorite situation.

It was a very relaxing evening knowing that everything was back to normal.  Water.  A generator that we don't have to go outside to turn on and off.  I feel absolutely spoiled!

Saturday 5/30. It was 60 and mostly clear this morning with temps in the high 80's forecast for Down There.

We are still going to use the dish rinse-water and the rain-barrel water to flush the toilet.  But we get to shower more often (we wash by hand every night).  And I get to wash my hair every day now, instead of every other day.  And we will be using less paper plates.  Best of all, we don't have to bring water up every week or so from Larry and Elsie's.  Don't know how we would have got through all this without them.  Life is good.

JB thoroughly vacuumed out all the air intake areas on the tractor.  He always cleans the screen off as he is mowing so it doesn't get clogged, but I guess there was enough inside to cause a problem.  Seems to be working okay now.

I found a post and we got the sign up by our trail to the north ridge, that I had wanted to for a while now.  With my Dad having worked for the Forest Service for so many years, he had some outdated souvenirs.

I split and stacked three wheel barrow loads of wood, while JB was working on the tractor.  He also finished mowing the middle of the south slope.  I am pretty sure that the rest of the wood that is ready to split will fill the wood shed.

Our high for the day was 75, but we had a lovely, cool breeze most of the day.

We have three pairs of nesting wrens Up Here this year.  One pair in each bird house and one under the eaves just above the bathroom window.  So we have a symphony of bird song all day long.  Just wonderful!

We are running the well pump for about a half an hour each day until the cistern fills.  That should be done on Monday or Tuesday.  Then we will just fill as needed.

I changed from flannel to regular sheets today, which I am sure is the earliest I have ever done that.  We had one year when I never did stop using flannel sheets because we had such a cool summer.

We watched the last episode of season six of Burn Notice this evening.  Now I just have to find a good deal on season seven.

Sunday 5/31. It was 60 with a light overcast that thickened into clouds, and the air became very muggy.  But the clouds began to break up a bit early in the afternoon and it was a hot 76.

JB drove down to Larry and Elsie's after breakfast to borrow their lawn mower.  Ours died last year at age 30, and we don't have a replacement yet.  

While he was gone, I worked on my long list of little things that need doing inside the house.  Then after lunch I mowed ALL around the house.  JB did some mowing when I got too warm.  I will finish up tomorrow.

I had a nice chat with Nene today.  JB said there are only 104 days until we leave for our trip to Idaho and wanted to know if she had started packing!  I think he is just counting down the days until he has some alone time. . .

The wild roses are blooming Up Here now and I can smell their incredible scent everywhere I go.

I plan on going Down There on Thursday mainly to do laundry.  Hopefully one of my last such trips.  With all this new, fresh water, the dirt should be disappearing quickly.

We watched Guardians of the Galaxy this evening, me for the third time and JB for the first.  What a great movie!

Monday 6/1. It is 64 this morning and clouded over with just a few tiny patches of blue sky.  Looks like we may get some more rain.

Thought for the day (which I wish I had had for Memorial Day): Our flag does not fly because the wind blows it.  It flies with the last breath of each soldier who died protecting it.