Big Hank and Grit

I'm here.
But I'm weary.
And oh, the hill we have to climb this week!
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Staying at our house was once likened to a camping trip. With a torn apart kitchen, an entirely un-usable second story, and water that was less than inviting, it was an understandable diagnosis.
Not exactly the relaxing getaway we had dreamed of for people.
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For two and a half years we have been fighting our Water. So far, it has been "Grossmann's: 3, Water: 4". The gameplay has been fiesty, the Water throwing it's first pitch- a foul smell and taste. We fought back with a filter- point: Grossmann. Then! In a twist of events, Water burst pipes throughout the basement, requiring a complete re-plumbing of the first story. Point.
And so the battle began. Water is a dirty fighter, yes siree bob, it is. This last point was scored in the dead of winter, four months in, one and a half to go and BLAMMO! Water stopped dead in it's tracks. Burst and solid under three feet of frozen ground. Team Grossmann took a swing at the pitch, bringing in a Neighbor with a large backhoe.
Slick move, Team Grossmann.
Alas, Water's close friend Ice stood strong, making a mockery of the mammoth machine.
Grossmann waved the white flag, crying mercy for the remainder of winter. Using a hose above ground, they linked together the well and the house, allowing usable, unfiltered water for showers, dishes and laundry, allthewhile plotting their next move against Water.
And this weekend! This weekend Team Grossmann made their move. The family loaded in the New Old Red Truck, packed with sandwiches, cold lemonade and an ample supply of red vines, and pulled out of their driveway toward the nearest Big City.
Yes, they were headed out to rent a Ditch Witch. A trench machine capable of digging four feet into the black Iowan soil. "This," TG was overheard bragging pre-game, "will be our finest hour. Water will have a hard time winning after this move!"
Willfully ignoring the Universal Rules of Remodel (URR), (being 1. All projects must take at least twice as long as planned, and 2. Must cost at least three times as much.) the giddy family planned on trenching a line not only to the house, but also to their barn- working to avoid mid-winter chores carrying five-gallon buckets of water over frozen and snow-covered tundra.
But Water had big plans. Noting the strategy of the family, it devised a plan of resistance. No, Water was not going to go down without a fight.
More to come...
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P:Ahh, now THAT looks useful! taking a long-handled tool from Mike
Neighbor Mike: This might have been used by Big Hank. he says, putting emphasis on the name, nearly begging for the question so he could tell the story.
T: Who's Big Hank?
M: Oh, he lived in town. He used to do tiling work by hand. Legend has it he would head out to a field, his 16 inch trenching shovel and a five gallon bucket of water. It would last him half the day.
T: Tiling by HAND? Don't they use huge machines for that now?
M: Yup. He would do three spade-depths. Two side-by side, then two right below that, then one last one beneath those. Half a mile into a field either direction.
T: What was the bucket for?
M: He would dig, lay a few tiles, take a few drops of water and put it on the tiles to make sure it would run the direction he wanted it to. Then, onto the next. He did it all his life.
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Every time a trial like this hits us, and we are told of stories of those who have come before us, it reminds me of truly how easy we do have it now. Our nation was built on such grit, such hard work and honest ethic it's astounding. Our house is nothing to brag about, nothing to squeal over, surely not. But it is also no sod hut, no mud house, and we aren't farming 80 acres with a mule team. Or, trenching our entire water line by hand. Perspective can be some of the best medicine.