September 5, 2008

All I wanted to do was wash my face and brush my teeth!

That seems like such a simple enough task, right?



Not when you're on a WELL.





It's been a pretty easy morning. I'd intended to run to the gym for the first time in forEVER and do a bit of shopping while the kids were in school. Since I'd be going to the gym to get all sweaty and yucky, I obviously wouldn't need a shower before I left. But, a clean face and clean teeth are totally necessary when dealing with the general public.





I went to turn the water on, and it was barely a trickle. UGH! Knowing all of the things that could cause our water to be NOT THERE, I didn't panic. I got some shoes on myself and 2YO and went out to our pump to investigate. The holding tank was empty! The large, sliver tank that holds up to 2,800 gallons of water was hollow and empty. I hadn't even done laundry or dishes this morning! Since this isn't the first time this has happened, I started my investigation by looking for ants. (If you've ever relied on a well to get your water, you might be familiar with the way ants can mess things up!) Not an ant to be seen....



Sooo...I hit the 'reset' button that controls the water pumped from the ground and to the tank. Water immediately starts flowing into the tank. (WHEW! At least I knew there was still some water in the ground!) Then, I had to try to reset the pump that pulls the water out of the holding tank and brings it to the house. I seemed to have forgotten where that switch was, though. As I'm heading back to the house to grab my phone and call David. As I'm crossing the yard, I notice that there seems to be a puddle in the yard. Since we technically live in a desert, a puddle in the yard in the beginning of September either means that hell just froze over or something was left on or is leaking.


Hmm....that puddle is supiciously close to our pool.......


YUP. David went ahead and filled up the pool this morning....and forgot to turn the water off! I discovered this little tidbit five hours after the water was turned on. David is livid. At himself. This explains the fact that he practically hired a lawyer after I accidently forgot to turn the water off when taking care of the chickens. He couldn't even look at Morgan when she did the same thing. And now he's just as mad at himself. Poor guy needs to relax! I was just relieved that there was still water in the hole! I mean, accidents happen and I know that it will take a long time to forget to turn the water off again. I know I haven't forgotten since. I'm just glad that the playing field is level now since we've all screwed up!


Sooo...our poor doughboy was bursting at the seems. Okay, not literally, but it was definitely full beyond capacity! David asked me if I would backflush the pump while there was so much extra water in the pool. With his instruction, I was attempting to bypass the timer and turn the pump on. In the process, I ended up standing in a bazillion red ants, who were loving their new water supply and looking for a bite to eat as well.


I hate ants. As 2YO walked toward me, they started to climb up onto her feet too. She screamed and fell in the mud. (Which was actually sort of good because it got the ants off!) I picked her up and set her up on the deck, out of the way of those pesky ankle-biters. She watched from the deck as I circled the pool in order to pull all the right buttons at all the right times.


She just kept saying, "YOUR HAVE TO CLEAN THE MUDD OFF ME!" over and over. After the pool was taken care of, I walked back out to the well and David talked me through resetting the second pump.


Within a few minutes, 2YO and I were in the shower....and I got to brush my teeth, too!


I never did make to to the gym, though. I feel like I still got a bit of a workout, just the same.


'City folks' don't really know how easy they have it. I just hope I never have any any septic tank adventures to share with you....EEEWWW!

1 comment:

Amanda said...

Yeesh! glad you survived it. and LOVE the girlie bedroom on flickr. well done, lady!