Up to my Elbows

Have you ever had that sinking feeling that something is amiss. Yesterday I turned on the faucet and the water pressure was severely compromised. I checked the outdoor hose just in case. It was turned off, no problem. I had someone working in my garden to put it to bed for the winter and called out to see if he was running water. No. But he walked over to the faucet and said I had better come look. Sure enough, there was water pooling up around the garden faucet and running off.

I live on a farm. Things get jury rigged here all the time. I was living here when the water was installed from the house to the barn with a side spout to the garden. I remember discussing putting the cut off where we could get at it but no one seems to know where that is. It is certainly buried anyway. We couldn't get the water turned off at the road because it needed a special tool. The water company had an answering machine on. I could hear the water running and the meter was spinning.

I finally called city hall. One benefit of rural living is that I could just call city hall. They sent someone out to turn the water off. And this is all happening on a Friday afternoon. So Travis and I started digging. As we dug, the dirt walls began leaking. Well, not leaking exactly, more like pouring water in through a gopher hole. I plugged it up, smoothed the walls of the hole with clay and bailed and bailed and bailed. The water found more places to seep than I could stop. Travis was digging diversionary holes and channels to lure the water away but it didn't help. None of the neighbors were home to see if they had a sump pump. I was in the mud and water way up past my elbows and no running water in the house.

In the end, we had to let nature take its course and call it a day. I have lived where I had to bring in potable water before so this is no problem. AT least I didn't realize at the momnet how spoiled I have become. I had put water in the bathtub for washing and flushing the toilet. Unfortunately it all seeped down the drain. Sigh.

Times like these can try my philosophical view of life. Is the universe friendly? Am I being thwarted? What lesson am I needing to learn from this event? Actually, once I got the water turned off, I was very calm and didn't consider the meaning of it all. There was little water so conserve and be patient. I tried not to cook so as not to dirty dishes. I had filled a couple of gallon jugs for washing.

By this morning nature had taken its course and the standing water had moved along. We dug the mud out, cut off the broken PVC pipe and my neighbor had an end cap that would work to cap it off. Just a minute ago I left my computer to help turn the water back on very slowly. Our repair held! I have turned the hot water heater back on and scrapped the inch of clay from the bottom of my shoes.

Ahhh, the pleasures of running water. There are so many conveniences of modern life that I take for granted. As I look around me there is nothing that would not have been considered a miracle somewhere in time. Even my paintbrushes, there was a time I would have had to chew just the right twig to get a semblance of a brush. How times have changed. Even saying "What a deal", when I purchase things does not bring to mind the magnitude of miracles we now call conveniences or even necessities that I take for granted everyday.

Soon it will be the miracle of a nice hot shower with soap and towels and clean clothes. Life itself is a miracle. What we have discovered, invented and mass produced to add to our comfort of living is astounding. Every where I look I see answers to the question, "Why do I love my life so much"?

PS Now that is it fixed, I received a phone call from another neighbor up the road.
"Word is all over the county that you are having water problems". That thought freaked me the most. It might have been a good April Fool's joke. As it turns out, his wife was having coffee with Travis' mom. The universe is now only friendly, but laughing. So am I.