When it rains, it pours, part II.

[LWolf]

Thank the great whatever this year is almost over, ESPECIALLY this month.

The month of December has been hell:


The first week of December, my senior mare got a stone bruise which abcessed. A hefty vet bill, and morning and night treatments in the dark, before and after work, and I got that handled. Then the pump burned out at the well, and I was out of water for a couple of days getting it fixed. A few days and another hefty chunk of my budget, and the water was back on. Then we had a major cold front, that lasted longer than the usual 2-3 days for such things. It started the 12th, freezing all the pipes. I was leaving faucets dripping to keep them from freezing up, but that cold (low hit -12, highs never getting beyond single digits) for that long (lasted 2 weeks) did a lot of damage. I was able to keep water flowing until break started by turning up the faucets.

Then everything froze solid. Incoming water. Outgoing water. No showers, laundry, dishes, or flushes. Temps in single digits for trips out to pee in the frozen snow under a tree. Hauling water in for horses, which is a hell of a lot of water. Traveling 15 miles round trip every other day to my son's for a shower, and longing for clean clothes. It lasted that way up until the 27th, when a couple of days warmed up to the 40s during the day, 20s at night. It rained all day both days, turning the snow into a slushy mess, the corrals into worse, and unfreezing pipes. Except that now the septic wasn't draining, so while I could water horses and get a drink, I still couldn't flush, shower, do dishes, or do laundry.

I finally got a septic crew out today; there's a waiting list of people with the same problem. All of those trickling faucets, to stave off frozen pipes, combined with the sudden snow melt and rain, and the systems are flooded. So this morning, we get everything pumped and drained, the guy drives off, and I'm left in tears. Tears of joy, because I can run in and take a shower. Start the laundry. Do the dishes. And tears of pain, because it's another 29 days until payday, and the septic guy (and the well guy) neither take credit cards.

So I rush in the house, ready to head off to the shower, and suddenly the power goes out. Can't use water without electricity pumping it out of the ground and into the house. So I sit in the very quiet house another 2 hours waiting for the power to come on. It's on. I can finally go shower. Is it safe?

Thank everything this month is finally going to be over.

[Inchworm]

1. Yes. 2009 just HAS to be brighter

I got caught up in the 3 day freeze here in Carolina. Luckily no pipe damage. Worse thing for me was taking a shower where we wash the dogs at work, but I was getting pretty offensive. It wasn't as bad here as it sounds on your end, but it did suck.

Bring it 2009!

:hug:

[Kali]

2. sounds like normal around here

put an emergency gravity tank into your system somewhere and look into a grey water drain at least for showers.

Hauling water for livestock - what in the hell is it that makes them need to consume at least twice what the books and all evidence otherwise says is normal?

[LWolf]

4. Before I moved this far north,

I always had a gravity tank. Here, there is just no way to keep any tank above ground level from freezing during the winter. I spent a bunch of time and energy trying to figure out how to do just that when I first moved here. Perhaps a solar generator, or something similar, out by the pumphouse would be worth looking into.

I have a gray water drain out by the barn. I'd been considering taking a "shower" out there. I've got a tack room with a little heater that keeps it above freezing so the pipes are good. A sink, and a hot water heater. I could hook a hose up to the sink to shower; I've done that when the other hydrants were frozen solid to water the horses. I could take a warm shower with a hose, but the drain is outside. I would have been standing naked in the snow with warm water from the hose, and I just didn't. That, and there was no water to the barn for a long time, either. The pipes underground were frozen, so the little heater in the tack room didn't help. Some soert of gray water drain for showers in the house is an intriguing idea, though. ;)

My horses have been drinking more water this winter than they do when it's hot in the summer; at least it's SEEMED that way, lol. You don't let horses run dry; their primitive, sensitive digestive systems are finicky, and colic kills.

I'm ready for that shower now. I swear, if I get in the shower and the electricity goes out, or the shower backs up, or....

I don't know what I'll do. Engage in some graphic fantasies involving torching the place, or leveling it with heavy equipment, probably.

[proud2BlibKansan]

3. If I lived nearby I would come over with a bottle of good wine

We would drink it and then you wouldn't care anymore that you can't take a shower. :)

[LWolf]

5. That's very true.

Come to think of it, there's an unopened bottle of wine in the pantry. I don't know if it's good wine, but at this point, it might not matter.

:toast:

[proud2BlibKansan]

6. I am on the next plane

My cable is out today anyway. :)