Tuesday, December 23, 2014

It Didn't Last

I'm sure you are wondering what didn't last? 

A) peace on earth
B) good will towards men
C) a non-leaking water line

If you guessed option C you would be correct.  The "good" news is this was a new leak, 1,000 feet away from last week's leak. Ok neither of those were good news but they were the only positive things we could come up with. The bad news?  Not only did we have a leak, but it was pouring down rain for much of the day today. So When you are trying to keep water pipes clean and dry in order to cement them together this makes the task almost impossible. 

I always find this "clean and dry" mantra a bit ironic as we are digging up leaking underground pipes. A leaking pipe is surrounded by mud and water. This does not jive well with clean and dry, not even a little bit. As we went through the whole routine of digging down to the pipe to find the leak and repairing said leak we discussed the fact that we had now had two leaks in two weeks. We installed our water lines four years ago and have never had a single problem with them until now. Needless to say we are perplexed and unhappy.

The "best" part of the day occurred when Jason was trying to put the line back together. Not only was it raining, it then started thundering and lightning. How freaking awesome is that? Standing there holding water pipes in a thunderstorm trying to keep them clean and dry. Yes, everybody laugh with me, because I can assure you there was no laughing from either of us at the time. 

We (I should say Jason) got the line put put back together. I managed to find a tarp in one of the barns and we got the area covered. Several hours later Jason turned the water back on and all was well again, at least for now. I think we've moved on from being gate killers to water line killers. I'm 100% sure that I liked being gate killers better and would like to go back to that. At this point all I want for Christmas is a broken gate and no water leaks. Surely that isn't asking for too much?

___________________________


another day, another picture of Jason digging a muddy ditch

Our tarp propped up underneath with shovels so it would shed water.


Rubrico and River on the run


Thomas and Apollo having a dueling rolling session; Leo chose not to participate


Murphy, B-Rad and Sam


Lighty, Dutch and Renny


George and Lotus


Baby, Moe and Thomas watching the rain


Elfin and Leo


Grand and Trigger


Duesy and Walden



4 comments:

EvenSong said...

You know, I wondered the first time if you guys knew that there is such a thing as "wet and dry" PVC cement...it does make glueing a lot easier when there's still water in the line and/or rain.
Also wondering if someone may have driven any heavy equipment through that area of the farm? I once had a contractor bring a cement truck through an area I had just irrigated--not only did they manage to get the truck VERY stuck (can you say divot in my pasture) but the weight busted the irrigation line in both places they drove over it. Just wondering.

Calm, Forward, Straight said...

Ugh...
That picture of Jason makes me very thankful for sandy soil and more southerly latitude. (12 inch ditches)

Wishing your family a very Merry Christmas, and a happy, healthy New Year!

Melissa-ParadigmFarms said...

Funny you should mention the Wet and Dry EvenSong. As Jason and I were standing in the muddy ditch in the rain he made the comment that you could buy Wet and Dry but he never thought we would need it until yesterday's fiasco. You can guess what is now residing in our plumbing repair kit!

jenj said...

Oh man, there is almost nothing worse than fixing a burst/leaking water line. Hopefully that will be the last one for a VERY long time!

Hope your holiday was wonderful, despite everything...