Updates on WX and Chems

 For those of you still working stiffs, let me warn you about an aspect of retired life that I hadn't known about until I pulled the handles.  If you're not very careful, it becomes very difficult to determine what day of the week it is.  One day just seems to be like the next or the day before or two months ago.  

My workaround is Sunday church.  Mrs J and I go to the early mass and then go have breakfast at a nice diner nearby.  Some of my former students work there,  which kinda helps you keep track of your own age.  "Geez, she had just turned 16 when she was in my class, now she's got two kids in elementary school!"

Ages ya, pretty quick!

Stay on Target, juvat!

On Target, aye, Sarge!

Where was I?  Oh yeah, Mass on Sunday.  The rest of the week is defined as one, two or three days since Sunday and three, two or one until Sunday.  Keeps me sane (-ish).

However,  my good friend, Winter Storm Heather, arrived a week ago (Sunday before last).  Freezing rain was the forecast, and since sunrise this time of year is ~0730, seeing any icy spots is problematic.  Ergo, we asked for papal dispensation for Mass that morning.  

Same weather forecast was announced for today, so we decided to go to Mass last night.  All is well and good, temps didn't really get much below freezing, and little to no rain.  

However, I am writing this a little later in the day as my usual Sunday schedule is Mass, Breakfast, Blog.  Since neither of the first two happened and therefore were not marked in my brain, I had a sudden realization later in the day, that "Aww, Crap!  It's blogging day and I'm behind the power curve."

But, here goes.

Managed to survive Heather's best.  The weather itself wasn't too bad where we live, thankfully.  We managed to avoid power loss and had no snow.  It did get a tad icy in places, but nothing horrible.  Monday and Tuesday the temperature didn't get above freezing and Monday it was in single digits.

Yeah, I hear ya!  "Here in (Insert Northern State name here), We go skinny dipping in single digit weather!"

Good on ya, Mate!  We don't.

We stayed home.  Mrs. J was able to take several long naps, more to follow.  I did a lot of research on turning things on the lathe.  As I said last week, that pen with the excellent finish didn't make it through the final couple of steps and, while functional, isn't going to leave my desk.  But, I did learn quite a few techniques on YouTube, so not a wasted period of time.

But, Heather did have two unfortunate effects on Rancho Juvat.  

First, we did have one busted water line.  Tuesday, I was driving to the mailbox to see what there was to see.  No ice/snow/water of any form on the road, so no big deal.  I was passing by one of our fields and noticed that there appeared to be ice out in the middle of it.  Stopped, got out and went to look.  Sure enough, there was ice in the middle of the field.  At that point, I couldn't figure out where the water had come from.  

The ice that's pointed at the top is the tire track.  The ice in the top left is where the crack is.  Neither of which I knew at the time.

 

I'm looking around and see a couple of tire prints in the dirt around the area.  A couple of months ago our "Hay Guy" had cut and harvested our coastal hay.  I suspected that the tire marks were from that event.  But, where did the water come from.  I'm looking around, see our old house (where LJW and Miss B live now.)  I had called earlier and checked that they still had heat and water and were doing ok. They were, so no answer there.  I continue looking around and our two guest houses still have water, so...Continue to sweep my view and next thing I see is our original well house.  I do a quick 180^o and low and behold, in an extended direct line from the well house to the ice is the old house.

The Well House is at the right end of the green line, the line break is the left end

 

So, I got back in the truck and drove back to the house and called our plumber.  I politely asked the lady taking calls that I knew they were probably busy, but I wanted to get on their list.  Explained the issue and my suspicions of what had gone wrong.  She said she'd get with the boss and see what he could do.  Not an hour later, I get a call from a strange number.  I say "Hello" and get a reply "Hello, Mister juvat, this is Thomas, I was one of your students when I was in HS.  I understand you've got a water problem and need my help."  

"Why yes, I do.  When do you think you'll be able to get here"

Wait for it....

"I'm on your property right now, where do I need to go?"

"Give me thirty seconds I'll be right there."

Have I ever mentioned that living in a smallish town definitely has its advantages?

I show them the problem area and they commence to digging.  About an hour later they say they've found the problem, but would need to shut off the water to the old house completely.  I call LJW and advise her on the situation.  She's OK with the water being shut off. So, I head back down and take a look at the pipe.  

I still don't understand why the old house still had water if the pipe was broken.  Thomas and his helper were still digging around the pipe as I drove up.  He explained that it was just a hairline crack caused when the tractor went over it, but it had been leaking for a couple of months and so the ground was pretty soft and providing little support for the pipe.  And the freezing temps hadn't helped.

So, cutting out the bad section and replacing it was the thing to do.  I gave him the go ahead.  I get another call about an hour after that, saying that the repair is done, but the glue needs a couple of hours to dry and they had another call.  They'd be back, turn the water back on, check for leaks and bury it again.

Which they did.  

 I asked if they did new projects.  They said they did, what did I need done.

Well, when we inherited the horses and built the barn, it was summer and we just dragged a hose over to the barn and attached a float valve to the hose end in the trough.  Worked like a champ for 4 years now.  

Until Heather.  

I'm braving the weather to go and feed the horses.  I happen to glance at the junction of the two hoses.  (It's about 200' from the house faucet to the barn, so 2 hoses.)  At the junction of the two, I see a large chunk of ice.

Aww, Crap!

Walk into the barn and look at the trough.  It's almost dry and the horses are looking a tad thirsty.  I happen to have a 5 gallon water bottle nearby, so dump that into the trough.  Fills it about a quarter of the way.  

So, I go back to the house, and google "How much water does a horse need to drink per day?"  5-10 gallons, more if the weather is too hot or too cold.  A gallon of water nominally weighs  8.33 Lbs.  So my 5 gallon jug weighs 40 Lbs+.

Carrying that about a hundred yards, while 40 years ago might not have been difficult, now and in freezing weather, not so much, and, at least 4 times a day, makes it even more fun.

We also learned that we had to portion it out into 4 or 5 trips spread over the day so we didn't cavitate the well at our house.

After explaining all that, Thomas asked if we wanted to install a pipe from our house well to the barn.  I told him that when he was in my class, I thought he was a very astute individual and that hadn't changed.  I asked him when he thought he could come take a look.  He said given Heather's impact it might be a couple of weeks.

Fortunately, the weather is a tad warmer and the hose plan is working again.  Although I do disconnect and drain it in the evening, so it doesn't freeze again.  

See, Sarge, old Fighter Pilots CAN learn from their mistakes.  

But....I am looking forward to a little construction between the well and the barn.

As are the horses.

To end with some Good-ish news.

Mrs. J had her 4th of 6 infusion sessions this past week.  Part of that process involves drawing some blood and doing the voodoo magic on it to find out the "numbers".  Well, when this whole cancer thing started a few months ago, her main indicator number was 12. (No, Suz, I have no idea what the name of that indicator is or what they're measuring.)  This visit it was 7.  Based on that, I assume Oncologists (AKA Cancer Doctors) take their golfing serious, because in this case, lower is better.  So...Thank You, Lord.  

Apparently, as I've never personally experienced it, just seen it in action, Chemo takes a lot out of you.

 Not out of the woods yet, but two more Chemo treatments, then a couple of months of Radiation and then see what's what. 

I/We really appreciate all the prayers all y'all are saying.  Please keep them up. At this point, they seem to be working.

Peace out, y'all!