Water

So yesterday.

Yeah.

Yesterday was an adventure. It started off at 4 a.m. I was washing dishes while hubby came home, and noticed that the water pressure was low. Really low. I mentioned it to him.  He went around the house, testing all the faucets and everything. Going outside to trip the breaker box. Even going outside to our well pump with a flashlight.

The prognosis was grim. No water. The pump wasn't working. No clue why.

I messaged my Daddy and asked him for advice. After a hour or so he advised us to call the plumber in the morning and gave us the number for one. Well, Hubby was beyond unhappy, and started stressing. He was also dirty and grimy from work and now trying to figure out what was wrong.

I told him we were gonna take some empty kitty litter containers, our water containers, and ourselves to the park right down the street and use the spicket next to the tennis courts to fill our water containers.  I also told him he was going to use my waterless foam soap from the hospital to get a sponge bath and wash his hair. Then I gave him one of my anxiety pills, cause he was about to loose it. It could be worse, we'll get through it.

He agreed and we grabbed every mentioned container and packed into the car. He followed my directions and we arrived at the tennis courts.

THE SPRICKET WAS GONE!!

Omg! Seriously?!?!

Looking around and taking stock, I knew there was another spricket around somewhere, but couldn't remember where! So instead I turned to him calmly and said we were driving back down the street to the soccer fields and filling up water there.

There HAD to be something there! I just didn't know what cause I haven't explored the "new to me" fields yet. They didn't exist when I lived here before.

Did I tell Hubby I didn't know? Nope! Just stayed calm and acted very assured.

Well we pulled in and there was water fountains. Yay! I then spotted a sheriff's car and told him NOT to pull into the handicap space like he was going to. Yeah. We didn't need a ticket before the sun rose.

We successfully filled out containers with water. Enough for the kitties to drink, U.S. To drink, sponge bath with, and fill the water tanks in the toilets in case we had to poop. (Yes I said poop. ;) ) Back at home we filled the kitties water bowls to the brim, got sponge baths, brushed our teeth, and settled into bed.

I slept like a log. So many more bad things could happen. This was nothing to me.

The next "morning" about 1:30 p.m. I woke up to Hubby coming into the bedroom looking like he was gonna cry, kill someone, or explode. Maybe all 3. It wasn't a good sign.


$1400.

Huh? 

$1400, that's how much its gonna cost to fix the water pump.

Why?! What's wrong with it?

The motor's burned out but they won't fix just that they want to do the entire system. It's the only way they'll fix it.

Are you fucking kidding me? It's just the motor? Tell them you just want the motor replaced.

They refused to do that and it already cost us $85 just to get them to look at it.

I told him no and asked if the guys were still on the property. I was about to give them a piece of my mind. And maybe kick them in the balls. The dispare and panic in Hubby's voice was more than enough to punch me to hyper kill mode. Fuck that! $1400? We didn't have that, not even close. Instead of flying off my rocker at him, and luckily for the plumber guys who has already left, I did what I did last night, and kept calm. I'm good in emergency's. Really. Voice of reason and logic, that's me. Calming soothing presence. It just sort of takes over. So I told him I was going to the post office to drop off 3 packages and asked him if he wanted to come along, then we'd hit Lowes or Home Depot and see how much a water pump motor costs.

He grinned and told me if I went inside Home Depot with him I couldn't go crazy. Yeah...I'm worse in there than at a craft store. The smell of wood and building stuff really gets me turned on. Telling me I can BUY something in there pretty much has me jumping up and down. Going in there to price things, even screws and nails, and I'm like a puppy straining at the end of a leash.

I promised to be good.

This time.

We mailed said packages, and arrived at said super candy home improvement store. While I oo'd and ahh'd as we passed aisle by aisle of goodies (Wood! Pipes! OMG POWER TOOLS!!!!) I kept true to my word and stayed at his side instead of running off. 25 minutes, a couple phone calls to Daddy, a few questions to the guy who was working there, and me lining up some of the smaller PVC pipes in nice neat lines while I waited and tried not to wander off, we walked out $230 less in our bank account, but with a new water pump motor, PVC cleaner, PVC sealant, and a Hubby with a VERY determined look on his face.

Once at home, he ate breakfast while I crunched peppermints quietly, then he opened the motor box and read the instructions. The rest of the day was a myriad of phone calls to Daddy (who could have fixed it in a hour or 2 if he wasn't up in Minnesota), text messages to my brother, text messages to 2 friends who were coming from a hour away to help. Me getting sunburned while sitting nearby looking pretty and doing what Hubby called "keeping him sane". Our friends arriving. Letting the boys take over while I pulled Angela and her puppy into the back yard so we could finish water sealing the deck wood from last week.

New

Old

When us "womanfolk" were finished we went inside to clear room for her puppy to come in. he's a 50+ lb Golden Retriever still in puppy mode who stands on his hind feet taller that 5'. Just about the time we were finished and sitting down, puppy inside, we heard a shout. With just a glance to each other I told her to go! as I held the puppy back. She could run like lightning and I'm still trying to hobble around carefully. We THOUGHT someone got hurt. We were so SCARED that that was a shout for help.

THANKFULLY it was a victory shout.

Assholes. Scaring us like that. Unintentionally though.

VICTORY!!

Hubby replaced the pump motor successfully just as the sun was going down.

We then spent several hours lounging, treating out 2 friends to McD's for dinner, seeing them out to the car. And then groaning in soreness and pain on the bed playing Summoner's War on our smart phones. It was a good day. It could have been MUCH worse.

I am GRATEFUL for the luxury of running water. I'm actually considering getting rain barrels to catch water to use in case of emergencies. I have also been pondering how hard it would be to have one of those "old fashioned" hand pumps, just in case. I am also grateful that this DID happen. It cost us $400 we didn't have, but Hubby now feel much more confident in himself and his ability to learn how to fix/replace something around the property, and that's priceless.

His last name is Carter and mine is Wisniewski , and today he credited his victory to Team Wisniewski, who will do whatever they can to fix it themselves before bowing down to pay someone to fix it. He's proud to be a Wisniewski today. And I'm proud of him! I knew he could do it, and he did. With his own 2 hands and pretty much all by himself. I love this guy so much.