NOT to turn the hose on to fill waterers and walk away. I NEVER. Never. never. remember to turn it off. And with the days being reduced to 8 hours of daylight, my evening chores are crammed into minutes of daylight, rather than hours. So, I woke up this morning, turned on the faucet and....nothing. A dribble. It was then I remembered I had not turned off the hose. I let the dogs out and vaulted off the deck and around the corner of the house and turned off the hose. As if that made one dang bit of difference, as it had been on ALL night.
I have stressed my well more times than I would like to admit. Doing chores when you're tired, not to mention focus-challenged, can lead to disaster. As I mumbled and grumbled and dragged out the water bottles to take up to the farm to fill, a tiny, dim light bulb started to form in my fevered brain. Leon, my furnace guy cum plumber, had put in a trip switch so that, once the water level dropped below 10 lbs, it turned off the pump. Woot! I scrambled into the crawl space and lifted the lever, praying all the while. Pressure! Water! The well had not been stressed (too much)! I was saved!
With all the dire warnings of Irene's little dance up the coast, our area may be in for some wind and torrential rains. I believe in being ultra-ready for anything because, quite frankly, anything can happen these days. I am going to be collecting and stowing any objects that might become dangerous weapons in the wind's hands. I'm going to bungee the bejeebers out of all tarped structures. I am going to hope a tree doesn't fall on anything important. And I'm going to send my thoughts and prayers to everyone more directly in Irene's path.
13 comments:
Oh NO! Small miracle for the trip switch, but still, that's gotta make a girl mad! Maybe an alarm bell the size of a fire station is in order too. That's what happens when you have too many things rolling around in your head and not enough time in a day. Hope you don't get too much damage as well! Better safe than sorry!
Yep, been there done that. Now I have nozzles on all the hoses and automatic waters. I can't be trusted;) I hope you don't get to much damage. Tie the chickens down.
APG - I like the alarm bell idea. Maybe I can train an alarm chicken - since they're not laying eggs, they should be good for something!
Jane - I might try to train myself to haul down the hose, then haul it back. Or not. I'm hoping we don't get much either. All the smart chickens run for shelter. A good way to empty out the shallow end of the gene pool!
'Nother one who's done that. Left the hose on to the horse/mule bucket. Left it on all night. Several days later we had a "river" of green where the water ran down the hill (we were in a drought at the time). Good idea about the trip switch! Wish I had on ON ME though!
Hunker down & hoping you don't get much.
Carolyn - I have a trip switch in the house - he's a black and white Tuxedo cat, once named "Slim" (no longer, for obvious reasons) and is now named "Trip". Which he does on a regular basis.
Praise be to Leon for putting in that trip switch!! Let's face it, we're all on brain overload these days. Kinda scary when hubby and I can't remember things we talked about yesterday. Or at least one of us can't. (And it ain't always him!)
Glad you've got the good sense to prepare for the storm heading your way. (Hmmm, that didn't come out right, did it?) Be prepared and you'll be just fine. You're a homesteadin' woman, aren't ya??
P.S. But do please keep us informed 'cause we'll all be worried about you.
Mama Pea - What! Did you get a release from polying for a few moments on the computer? Guess my lists are not always foolproof.
Best wishes and good karma coming your way along with the rest of you out there trying to out wait Irene
Over the years we have burned out two pumps from leaving the water run all night. Just yesterday I was leaving the house and there was a great big puddle on the side of the driveway. Hhhmmmm that only happens when it rains, and there had been no rain. I was quite a way down the road (slow brain) when I called my husband to turn off the hose I left on all night watering flowers!! The ducks were thrilled :-)
Judy - Thanks for the good karma. I'm sure we'll all need it.
Dr Momi - I am so glad I'm not the only one! Yes, the ducks are the only ones thrilled about all the 'extra' water!
Oh my gosh, I know from experience, there's NOTHING worse than water pump problems! Yours is under the house, too? I hate that! Ours is in the horrible crawl space and we don't even have a hand pump connected to it so it's impossible to get water without the pump working... good save!!
Erin - The well/pump is outside - the switch is hooked up off the pressure tank, where the water comes into the house. But, yes, everything important is in the crawl space. There is an old pump house out back but, I am embarrassed to admit, I have never checked it out in the 5 years I've been here. I think it's infested with all sorts of things. I may venture down there once the jungle has subsided. I believe it's an artisian well - and it would be perfect for a hand pump. I am such a sissy.
Stay safe!! Hopefully it won't be anything more than some heavy rain...I grew up in Saratoga County - not sure exactly where you are but you should be far enough inland that it will die down to a heavy thunderstom level by the time it reaches you. Guess you will need a good rain to refill your well!! Personally, I set the kitchen timer to remind me to shut it off :-)
Post a Comment