Dirty Folk

This house does not want us to be clean.
OR...
Our friends miss us.* Maybe both.

We have had ongoing issues with our water since we moved in. From its prevention of leaving the house, to the lack of it coming into the house, it has seemed like a long, drawn out battle. It is always a bit pronounced when we have visitors, as we use more water and more is demanded of our system. This past month, with mom and dad here, we were once again faced with a lack of water. Things we are used to working around (don't do dishes while someone is taking a shower, don't flush the toilet until after you have washed your hands, make sure your shower is under 3 minutes in length, etc.) seem to be quite an inconvenience to visitors.

We have been at a loss on how to address this, because our well is old, and replacing it is expensive, and fixing it (depending on what that entails) could damage the well, requiring a replacement anyway. Rural water (which many, even country, Iowans have) is still 1.5 miles from the house, and isn't looking to expand down this way any time soon (which I don't understand, being that we are such a bustling metropolis down here!). That being said, something, but we did not know what, had to be done to address the water situation.

When Phil noticed a puddle around the top of our well, he thought it might be part of the reason we were having trouble. Digging down a few feet, he found an enormous sink hole where the water, over time, had washed away the dirt. Further investigation found a broken pipe six feet below the ground. Every time the pump turned on, it filled up not only our pressure tank, but also that hole. I was quite giddy, because this news meant that there WAS a reason we were losing a lot of water, and a relatively cheap reason at that!

We called the "well guy" and he came out to fix it the next day. It was a messy job and I am sure we will be billed accordingly. Nonetheless, we had water- water to keep a hose going for minutes (something that hasn't happened in months!). Water for showers and dishes and laundry- oh the wonders!

That evening, we each took a shower and I started a load of laundry. Half way through the load, I attempted to do up some dishes...but there was no water. Phil went down to check and see if there was something else going on, and 10 minutes later came back to inform me that our pump had in fact stopped working altogether. At least we were clean, even if we had no clothes to wear...

The next day we went without water, the thought being that we wanted to problem solve ourselves a bit before we had an expensive "well guy" out to do it. Dishes and laundry built and that evening we decided that we needed some expert help (and equipment). I called the guy, and after a good natured laugh at the irony of it all, he said he would be here first thing in the morning.

He showed up and found that there was a broken shaft in the pump that needed to be replaced. Why it went out literally hours after we had the break in the line fixed, I may never know. After putting the pump in the ground, he found a rusted connector and replaced that as well. When the water started through the hose once again, I was quite relieved!

We spent the evening planting our less-enormous but still quite-large garden patch. Each time I looked at Ryan and saw that he had been swimming in piles of mud, or noticed my smudged arms, legs, feet...everything...all I thought was "ahh, long showers!"

We called it quits at about 8 and sat down for dinner. Ryan was rubbing his eyes and we were discussing how he needed to be tossed in the bath before he was allowed anywhere near his bed. It was during this discussion that the lights flickered. Then flickered again. Then, the electricity shut off altogether.

Now, it was sunny all day. It was a calm evening with nary a breeze. Upon checking outside, there appeared to be no large predator wound around the electric fence that would cause a short in our lines. No rhyme or reason, just no electricity. That and dinner dishes, one wet load of laundry waiting for the dryer, and three very dirty people.

I called the electric company and they estimated it would be 11pm when our power came back on. The exciting thing was, this was only two hours away...the other side of the coin was, do you wait up until 11pm to even start getting ready for bed when the day starts so early?

I'm starting to wonder if there is foul play* involved...
Or, maybe this house really does just like dirty people. And if it keeps acting like this, that is all it's going to get.


*When we put our Washington house on the market, a few of our closest friends schemed ways to prevent our house from selling and thus prevent our move **(my favorite idea was where they planned on hanging out next door during our open house to play the role of "obnoxious neighbors", complete with loud music, fighting, and flying objects careening over the fence.) Except for the distance, I wouldn't really put shenanigans like this past them...

**To their credit, they never did anything this eventful or destructive, and we really do have some of the greatest friends around. I only mention them in jest because I love them. We all know it's the house's fault.