First let me admit- I had no tea today. There I said it. That doesn't mean I can't share my thoughts and then have some tea. Let me just admit, it's been a day. I should start with the cold. I think it got down to zero last night. I know it's an arctic blast for a good chunk of the country and I should be grateful I'm not digging myself out of a ton of snow.
I got up this morning to find I had no water. I have a well and my well house is on the north side of my house. I should stop here and let you know I did have water dripping last night, but didn't bother heating up my well house. So I know- my bad. And I shouldn't complain. I went to the extension cord by my back door and plugged in the well house heater. I used to have a heat lamp plugged in, but a few years ago during some nasty weather I bought an electric heater for the well. I connected the heater and went to check that it was going and got myself back inside where it was warm.
I made sure to turn on a couple faucets so when the water turned on I would know it. I spent the rest of the morning watching the Psych marathon and taking down my Christmas tree, decorations and cards. Morning was coming to an end and I still had no water. I started using water from my tea kettle, then resorted to a couple two liter bottles I keep in my utility room. The temperature was still really cold, so I wasn't too concerned. I should have been, though. Most other times within 3 hours I usually have water. Ever the optimist, I just kept hoping for the best.
One o'clock, then two o'clock went by and still no water. I told myself I wouldn't panic until 3 o'clock came with no results. I moved my snowflake tree into the living room and even carried my big Christmas tree and accessories into the garage and 3 o'clock came. So I decided it was out of my hands. I called Pedro who has cows in my field. I knew lack of water wasn't good for his cows either. He came over and when he opened the well house (which can be a chore by itself) I was shocked to find my heat lamp glowing. Crap! This whole time I thought I hooked up my heater and instead it was just the heat lamp going. Once again, it's all my fault. Pedro got out his propane torch and heated up the pipes. Still no running water in my house. After about 20 minutes outside with the torch, it ran out of propane. We hooked up my heater and closed up the well house. Pedro brought square bales of hay and placed them on the north side of the well house and was going back home for his "big" heater around 4:30. Before five o'clock, I had water running in my sinks. Hallelujah! What a welcome relief. First thing I did was flush my toilets.
I'm still running water in a couple sinks and keeping the heater-yes- the heater turned on. The first day of 2018 wasn't the greatest for me; I'll admit that. And I get that it was all my fault for not actually checking that it was the heater I turned on. So as I sit on my couch covered by a warm blanket after a hot shower and in warm pajamas watching another episode of Psych I realized the importance of being thankful for small things. Running water, a car that starts, a roof over my head and food in my kitchen- these are blessings for which we should be thankful. Thanks for reading my blog. Tips and tricks for wells are welcome.
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