The hash tag #firstworldproblems is a pet-peeve of mine. For most people it seems an “out” for the complaining and lack of thankfulness that they should even have problems of the kind. Just looking at twitter today I see things like
Falling asleep at my desk. Want.. to…go..home.. #office #work #computerscience #life #firstworldproblems
But you have employment.
Can’t even take selfies because my phone is cracked. #firstworldproblems
Who wants to see your selfies anyway?
Really want cheesecake but it’s in the garage fridge and it’s raining #firstworldproblems
Alright, so that last one did make me laugh but it’s still rather pointless.
This weekend I felt we achieved a real #firstworldproblem that may make me appreciate and think about how fortunate we are every time we turn on a faucet.
I took Friday afternoon off work to get a jump-start on the weekend with my Christmas projects, and also because I knew Little Chick would be upset after her annual check-up (she had vaccinations). Around 3pm I went to the bathroom and noticed that our water pressure was low. We’re on a community well with 4 other families on our street. I said something to Papa and he walked down to the neighbors to see if the circuit breaker had been tripped.
That would have been the best scenario – but no such luck.
There was water bubbling up out of the ground right next to the well pump. Something was obviously broken.
From that point on, things got a little crazy. Phone calls to the well digging company. Phone calls to diggers hotline so the electric, gas, cable, etc. companies could all mark where their lines were. Phone calls to our neighbors – most of whom were not home yet or just arriving home. Papa made a trip to the store and picked up several gallons of water for us to drink, use in brushing teeth, etc. because by this time they had turned off power to the pump so there was no water.
Saturday was more phone calls, taking care of a slightly feverish girl (reaction to the vaccines), trip to a friends house to get buckets of water to help flush our toilets, watching the excavator dig a deeper and deeper hole …
Approximately 24 hours after the problem was discovered, we were back in business. There was a PVC pipe connected to the pressure tank that had cracked due to the settling of the ground over the last 11 years. This well digger said he never uses PVC; he uses black pipe (polyethylene?) because it flexes and won’t crack like PVC.
Some of our neighbors had to clear out their in-house filters because sediment built up and was forced through when the pump started again. The neighbor who has the well head on their property … unfortunately they did a lot of landscaping this past summer and now that section is torn up. One small tree had to be uprooted.
It’s amazing how much we use water in our daily lives and don’t think twice about being able to turn on a faucet to get a drink, wash our hands, or flush a toilet. Oddly enough, I felt the most thirsty this weekend during those 24 hours!
In other homesteading news, we had another incident on Sunday. We came home from church and Little Chick’s Christmas program to find a strange dog in our yard. Papa tried to call him over – because we don’t like any dog to be lost, but he took one look at us and ran away. I think he may have been a German Shorthaired Pointer, but not sure.
Suddenly, it occurred to us that we had let the chickens out in the morning!! I guess we’re so used to Finley not bothering the chickens that it doesn’t always occur to us that other dogs might attack them.
Sure enough. Next to our deck there was a pile of feathers. There was also another pile of feathers on the other side of the deck. At first we thought he had gotten two of our hens, but it turned out to be only one – a Rhode Island Red. Opal (aka “Lucky”) is still safe, Blondie is safe – and so are the other unnamed chickens, including the really ugly RIR that Papa would have preferred to have been taken (if any).
We’re now down to 10 hens. Still plenty for our family – once they start laying again, but we’ll be on the look-out for that dog so he doesn’t get more!
I’ll bet you a dollar that dog will be back. Unless it just happened to escape his happy home as a rare event, which is what I will be hoping!
You know, I can honestly say I feel grateful for running water every time I turn on a tap and water actually comes out. My water system is old and not perfect, and I have had pipes freeze and crack more than once. Then there’s the likelihood of the power going out so there’s no water being pumped…yep, grateful every singe time. Hot water is a bonus! When I bought my house it had one cold water tap in the kitchen and a toilet – also in the kitchen! I moved the toilet pretty quickly but it took over a year to get hot water.
How I love hot water! 🙂