In Which We Muddy the Water

More of our new usual today – we have brought our inefficiency to previously unimagined levels as we try to make repairs to our house and constantly have to stop and search for lost tools or drive to town to buy the crucial missing sprog or thingum. Ed had big plans for hanging the 2 x 4 over the stove from which he will hang the cabinet, and for rewiring some outlets, but he had to do some errands first, and by the time he got home it was dinner time. He did make some progress, and he bought, while he was shopping, a plastic shelf for the kitchen which will be my temporary pantry. He promises that it is Temporary.

T. is having a hard time getting back into the whole “school” thing, thus confirming my opinion that year round schooling, with breaks of no more than a couple weeks, is the best route for us. We did what needed to be done today, but without much joy. I need to work on that, I think.

While we were living at the Comfort Inn we met a fellow who does odd jobs for a reasonable hourly rate, and he did some digging and tree cutting for us this past week. Our well, the one the inspector thought was shared with the neighbors, is, or was, buried. No one knew quite where it was, although a couple people had ideas about where it might be. Our pump has been shutting off frequently, so we thought it would be good to get some well guys out to check out the well and, assuming it was salvageable, put in a submerged pump which everyone says is more effective. The first step was to find the well, which the excellent Dan, after a day and a half of digging, did. The well guys came yesterday, and spent about six hours checking the well (which is 138 feet deep and produces water at the modest rate of 4 gallons per minute), putting in a submerged pump and shutoff valve in the basement, and putting a concrete ring with a cap over the top of the well. Since the well turned out to be under the deck of our entry porch, this will lead to another little bit of renovation, but at least we’ll have easier access next time. Not surprisingly, they stirred up the water with their goings on, and it has been coming out of the tap looking like runny clay (which, I suppose, is exactly what it is) ever since. They had thought it would have settled by this afternoon, but so far we are still pumping mud.

Our newly refurbished well is, like most things here, antique. The well guys were initially leaning toward suggesting that we needed a new well, but after scraping us off the floor when they gave an estimate for that, they assured us that plenty of people get by on meager wells through careful water management. Careful water management has not been one of our strong suits, but we plan to learn. Our first day, though, has not been a shining success. I did a load of laundry in the morning and another at 4:00, figuring that we’d be in good shape for baths around 8:00. Poor T. is the one who always gets his water cut off, and it happened again tonight. He doesn’t take any longer baths than the rest of us (we don’t have a working shower yet), so I don’t know why this is. Anyway, we will now be shopping for low water use toilets, faucet regulators, and any other little gadgets along these lines, and when you come to visit us, we’ll be timing your shower!

The kids (actually one of them, but I’m not sure which) broke one of the crystals on the hall chandelier tonight, and I caught K. pounding nails into an unpacked box of books, so tomorrow I’m going to make it a priority to make their rooms a more appealing place to play.

* The picture is of the kitchen, where Ed is going to hang the cabinet over the stove.