Monday, October 11, 2010

Where's the Water?

Saturday our water disappeared.
Yep. The well was empty with the exception of about four inches,way below the suck level.
GONE. All 2,000 gallons that we just had delivered a couple weeks ago.
Apparently,the ground is so very dry that it sucked all our water down into it's depths.
Yesterday the water came back a little,enough so we could at least flush the toilet and wash dishes. We are not going to shower or use the washing machine. Until we get this resolved,it's sponge baths and the laundromat. Today Rick is calling a local well company to see if they can help us figure out if we need to just make our well deeper,or if an artesian well might be in order. Several wells in the area have dried up these last couple of months. There was so little rain this summer,and winter didn't see that much snow. Our water source is either dried up,or blocked by shifting rock. Sigh.

Saturday I cleaned out my garden beds.I picked the rest of my potatoes,tomatoes,and onions. I also had three zucchini I didn't know about. I pulled all the plants,weeds,and raked up the boxes.I don't have a cool weather crop,though we will be planting garlic fairly soon. The weather here in NH is getting cooler,and the sun is not as high as it was,so we don't get a whole lot of sun in the backyard anymore.The red pine trees filter it,making more shade than anything else. The only beds I left were my perennial herbs and the strawberry bed. We are still getting fruit and blossoms on it,believe it or not! Rick did cover them up Saturday and Sunday night. We had a chance of the first good frost,but it didn't get this far south. Zach had a camp out with his Boy Scout troop (they were helping run the Webelo Fall Overnight) and I was worried because the temps up north got down to the low 20's,but he said he was warm enough all night. We did see patches of frost on the way to pick him up starting in Ossipee.

A little yellow kitten has been sleeping in our tree length log pile. It scooted out when the boys started cutting the logs,though.Yesterday morning Brother B went out around 5:00 AM and saw it,but ran into the woods across the street. We didn't see it this morning. If we can get it,we will keep it,it's just a little kitten.It must have been born in the wild,poor thing.

I finally figured out what to do with my sliding glass doors-build a cold weather frame.It won't be done this season,but next year.Our focus is to get the wood cut and stacked.

Today is opening season for turkey hunting,so the boys are going up the road into the woods to see what they can find. We have a lot of turkeys wandering around the area,so hopefully they can get a good shot off. Zach and Rick did see some this AM,but the angle was wrong and brush was in the way.

We must go call the well company....enjoy this Columbus Day!

2 comments:

  1. Hi Donna, I know that feeling if suddenly not having any water. We have two huge water tanks that collect rainwater off the rooves, one collects off the barn and feeds the house, then we have another that collects off the house roof and thats a big area and we are able to pump from the 2nd tank back up the the first so we usually have plenty of water, except the time when Joe connected up a water trough using old pipe that leaked a whole tank overnight, then someone left a hose on which didn't help either. This was all at the beginning of a drought that lasted 12 weeks! we had to buy in truck loads of water that year!
    Are large tanks an option for you, or at the very least a back up option?

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  2. We do have a couple of rainbarrels,which are maybe 75 gallons a piece,but they are very basic and we have to gather water from them,heat the water,etc.They are not part of an overall water system. They are gravity fed,and the water comes off the roof of the house and garage through a gutter and downspout.We bit the bullet and decided to have an artesian well installed,which is much deeper than a dug well and never goes dry,because it gets the water from the pressure of the bedrock,not from an underground stream or water vein.It's not cheap,but we will never want for water again. Apparently three people from our town called this well company the same day we did!Lots of wells drying up here.Sigh.The joys of homeownership!!!! :)

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