All's Well That Ends With A Well (Part II)

One of the great ironies of the Well Project was that connecting the piping and power supply between the well and the house involved getting our new tractor out and digging a (four foot deep) trench diagonally from the corner of the house, through the yard, and across the driveway to the side of the garage… exactly where we'd already planned to dig one to run power to the garage. (Regrettably, garage power and well power aren't allowed to share a trench. * sigh * See: Everything I Want to Do Is Illegal.)

The second portion of that particular irony is that although we were equipped to do that portion of the project ourselves, we couldn't do it until the giant rig holding the pounding equipment was finished and moved.

Just to round it out, we threw in a third bit to that irony: the weather. Almost two full weeks into not having any water, the Well Guys promised they were really close to done. That Thursday, they showed up but only stayed long enough to drill 10 feet. Then they decided the weather it was too distasteful (cold rain) and they were going home. Now, I sympathize, I really do, but it had been all over the news that the weather was going to be nice and Friday and then take a very nasty turn that Saturday. Ergo, I was more than a little frustrated about that let's-just-go-home decision.

As predicted, that Friday was nice, and they showed up around nine in the morning and drilled a whopping 5 feet before they hit the gallons per minute they needed to be done.

So what did they do? They went home!!

Never texted or called either of us to say “hey, we hit what we needed to, FIY.” Even though they knew we needed to finish digging the trench once their truck was out of the way, and the weather was great, and we all knew the weather was supposed to turn horrible on Saturday. We had no idea until we got home that afternoon and we called them! I may have been slightly not happy over the fact that both of us could (and would) have left work immediately and had the trench done by dinner time, if only we'd known. Blarg!

Anyway, obviously we got started asap and worked until it was too dark to keep going Friday night, but we still ended up out there in freezing rain and snow Saturday morning desperately trying to finish. Finally, soaked to the bone, with everything coated in mud, we were able to get everything finished, up, and running that Saturday. (Then spent the next day Sunday out there finishing up getting the giant trench in our front yard/across our driveway refilled.)

We were officially without water for 14 days, and the entire fiasco was gruesomely stressful across the board. It was also thought-provoking and, in a few unexpected ways, reaffirming. We came through, learned some things we hadn't expected (or necessarily wanted) to, and crossed one more enormous project off the list for 2016.

Muddy Arthas, muddy floors, mud everywhere!

All's well that ends with a well, I suppose!

All's Well That Ends With A Well (Part I)

A trench from the corner of the house
up through the driveway. Blarg.

Columbus Day Weekend (waaaay back in October), we woke up Saturday morning with a pretty clear plan for the weekend, as is our habit. (Hazards of me being an ISTJ… I plan somewhat compulsively. What can I say?) Everything started out normally – coffee, getting ready for the day, and then up and out for the first thing on the list which happened to be a quick run to Lowes to pick up something we needed.

When we got home, we each had a few things to do. When I turned the handle on one of the water faucets and got nothing, I didn't panic. I assumed my Love was just changing the water filter or something and I'd missed a memo. Not a big deal… until he walked up behind me, took one look at the not-running water and said “that's not good.”

Obviously, investigations ensued. Naturally, we checked all the easy stuff first and worked our way out from there. Long story short, we discovered (to our substantial alarm) that the morons who built our house (without planning anything) installed the well alongside the driveway… right next to shifting ledge rock… which, over time, shifted into the well casing, causing a catastrophic collapse well below the surface.

Not surprisingly, everything got progressively worse from there. The top of the well was so collapsed in that mice had made a residence in it, which was disgusting. (Thankfully, the wall of rock they'd built it on top of kept them and their nest fully separated from our drinking supply prior to the abrupt loss of everything.)

Given that the well casing was destroyed, the well pump couldn't be recovered and we were faced with the unwelcome prospect of digging an entirely new well. Or, more accurately (because this is a mountain of shale), pounding a new well rather than drilling. Which, as it turns out, is a nerve-gratingly slow process – particularly when you have to do it just as the weather is turning from Fall to gross Winter-is-coming dramatics.

The well guys brought in a giant, truck-mounted pounder and parked it in our driveway alongside the garage, and began the drawn out process of getting us a new well. This, of course, delighted our furry babies. Did you know that digging a well creates oodles of MUD? Mud is the Best. Thing. Ever. according to bored border collies. (Note: I completely gave up trying to keep the floor more than passably clean for the duration of this adventure.)

So, for two full weeks while the well guys worked on that, we had no water.

Logistically, of course, that meant doing water runs to a neighbor's every day to fill up five gallon buckets with water for bathing, dish washing, filling the toilet tanks, and other necessities. Thankfully, once we got a system down, that was far less stressful than it could have been. (Thank the Force for empathetic neighbors, a ready stock of five gallon buckets, and the fact that all the drains/septic/etc. still worked without interruption!) It just made everything take longer.

Not how we planned to spend most of that month, for sure.

Fun fact: With access to enough mud,
Nenya turns into a direwolf...

(Rest of the story tomorrow in Part II.)

From Around the Web

So, I've been bookmarking stuff I meant to post about, and decided that some of them (while fascinating) didn't need whole posts of their own. Ergo, please enjoy today's roundup of weird/scary/strange things I ran into online:

1. The Bizarre Realities of Internet Mapping. You know how your computer has an I.P. address? Turns out that due to the vagaries of internet provider mapping processes and data limitations, arbitrary points are sometimes used as a destination 'assigned' to oodles of individual I.P. addresses that can't be more specifically pinpointed. Guess what? If your home/property happens to accidentally end up one of those amalgamated points, things can get all kinds of crazy very, very fast.

2. Food and Dating. This link I'm posting just because it strikes me as positively bizarre to think that someone might pass up on meeting the love of their life over dietary restrictions. I mean, I get it to a degree... we all have to eat every day, and things like Paleo and gluten free will therefore impact you every day for the rest of your life if you choose a spouse with eating restrictions. But, seriously? Would you really not date/marry someone who was perfect in every other way just because they had (usually through no fault of their own) an allergy to something or other need to avoid certain foods? Talk about a hundred and one ways to unnecessarily be unhappy and alone forever!

3. Fitbit Data is Admissible in Court. This qualifies as sci-fi showing up in real life, in my opinion. And/or a prime case of "hey, maybe you should have thought this through first..."  Short version: someone accused someone else of rape. Her Fitbit (fitness tracker) info was downloaded and submitted as evidence in court. It showed her version of the story didn't mesh with recorded data, and her case got thrown out. Cue the next "ripped from the headlines" Law & Order episode!!

4. What Happens When You're Both Too Drunk to Consent?  I'm not even going to try here... just go read it. Then ask yourself what kind of lunatic world we have to live in for this to be a thing. Then ask yourself what would have happened if the girl had chosen a guy who had two more drinks in him and couldn't remember any more than she could... can you sue each other for rape and both legally be right? What exactly is the resolution for that? (Aside from everyone getting something more than Hutt slime for brains...)

Let's end on a good note, shall we?

5.Verbing. Aka, how to make a word when the word you need doesn't technically exist in the form you need. Not going to lie, I do this ALL the time... I just didn't know it was such a formal, well thought out thing!

Find Your Extraordinary

Have you ever picked up a book expecting it to be fair, and been pleasantly delighted to find it far exceeds your expectations? At first glance, Find Your Extraordinary looked like another average business/positive thinking/self-help book. I figured it would be good for a few fun quotes, but didn't have terribly high expectations.

What I found, once I got started, was a funny, upbeat and refreshingly down to earth book that I'm so glad I had a chance to read. A veteran of the tech industry now happily founder and CEO of the Stella and Dot family of brands, Herrin is a wife, mother, and entrepreneur. In FYE, she reaches out to set others (primarily women) straight about what being successful is (and is not) and what takes (and what you'll need to leave behind) to get there.

Along the way, she covers a smattering of the usual subjects but - much more importantly- tells readers the kinds of unvarnished (but positively portrayed) truths they need to really find success. (Pursue your own definition of success, not others'. You can't have it all, but you CAN have all what's truly important to you. You will fail and have setbacks; it's not the end of the world - get up and try again.)

Best of all, she completely sidesteps or intentionally diffuses some of the bitterest and oldest standing feuds in the field: working moms vs. stay-at-home-moms, glass ceilings, work/life balance, and how women treat each other personally and professionally. Direct and firm, but kind, she lays waste to most of the things that women get hung up on and lines readers up on a healthy path to a better future.

All things considered, I think my favorite quote from the book encapsulates both Herrin's upbeat and encouraging writing style, and the pragmatic perspective that makes this book worth every penny and minute spent reading:

“Do not confuse passion with fantasy. Living your passion will include doing things you detest doing. Things you are not good at. Things that scare you. Things that bore you. This is because you live in the real world, not on a unicorn farm.”

Sunscreen That Won't Make Your Skin Crawl

Okay, another short post today of stuff that's just randomly been on my mind. Today's topic: Sunscreen.

I'm not going to rant about the nasty crud stuffed into most commercial sunscreens, or wail about how sunscreen causes cancer – honest. All I'm here to do is point you in a helpful direction if, like me, you struggle to find a sunscreen that: 

(a) Isn't full of scary things;

(b) Doesn't feel horrifically gross and make your skin crawl; and

(c) Can consistently be easily found/ordered/purchased.

After lots of research and some experimentation, I'm officially a fan of Babo Botanicals Clear Zinc Sunscreen (SPF 30).

(This is not a sponsored post. Just trying to save other people time and energy I wish I hadn't had to invest in this project.)

Anyway, long story short, this stuff is clean, won't bother your skin (even if it's sensitive), and can be conveniently ordered from Amazon if your local grocery store doesn't have it. (Note: Lots of them do.) It's not quite as durable as some of the other stuff out there – you'll need to reapply if you're spending all day in the sun, but for me that's a fair tradeoff.

Is sunscreen something you worry about?

Your Scrabble Word for the Day

(Source)

Have you ever run across a word somewhere and just thought to yourself “that would be the best freaking Scrabble word ever”?

It happens to me all the time. Most recently, with this little gem I thought I'd share in case you've got a game planned or just generally appreciate slipping fancy words into conversation to enjoy other people's blank stares… not that any of us ever do that, of course…

Word of the Day: Machiavellianism

Definition: Viewing others as self-serving.

What do you think? Good Scrabble word? Yeah, I think so, too!

How To Recondition A White Board

Clean Shiny White Board (Not mine, because I suck at
DIY photos... source)

Today's post is short and sweet, but I'm putting it up anyway because it's been on my mind.

Did you know you can recondition a white board for dirt cheap? The secret? WD-40.

No lie! All you do is scrub the white board down thoroughly (one of those nylon scrubby sponges works really well for this – you don't want to scratch it, but you do want to get all the old marker and dirt out). Dry it, then spray the surface with WD-40 and rub it in. Let it dry, and repeat if needed until you get a nice, fresh, glossy finish.

Tip: Much like waxing a hard wood floor, several thinner layers work better here than fewer, thicker ones. (See, Love? I was paying attention when we waxed the floor this year…)

I am a big fan of white boards for a lot of things, and the big one I keep just off my kitchen (which, incidentally, has been used daily for something like eight years) periodically needs redoing. I just finished reconditioning this past weekend, and thought the process might be worth mentioning in case it helps someone else.

Are you a white board fan?