So, we have been facing some mild adversity on the homefront...
Our water pump was acting oddly--cycling off and on several times before actually working when called on to perform. Tom replaced it. If I am properly remembering, the water would not run so Tom dug up the well and replaced the foot valve. Sounds ever so much easier than it was. Tom first had to locate the well using his $5.oo yard sale metal detector. He had done this before, and we had confirmed with the previous owner...but of course he wanted to be sure before digging up the steps - to include the paving stones and steps - outside the kitchen. The actual work was tedious and made more difficult by the fact that he had no idea what he would find under the ground. What he found was a large cement disk covering the wide cement cylinder that protects the wellhead. He used a stepladder to lower himself into the space and opened the well, located the foot valve (I was not present for all this, but if you could have seen the state of him, you would know that he was working hard), found something jammed into the thing, cleared it...and lots more I am unaware of. My brother Rob, the plumber, stoppped by on Sunday evening to see how things were going and to offer some professional advice. Getting the valve back as deeply in the ground proved impossible, so the well is a bit more shallow now. All this was followed by days of cloudy, smelly water. My brother the plumber recommended chlorinating the well, which seemed to help...but the water was still cloudy. So Tom added a whole house filter...the water is better, but not as good as it was before the well was opened. Hmmm....in the following days, the water has begun to smell worse and we are considering redoing the entire chlorination process all over again.
While all this was going on, my car decided not to start. I tried to start it, Tom tried to start it....no joy. So we had it towed to the dealership who didn't really find a problem other than the engine was flooded. ????? $500.00, a tune-up and fuel service later and my car runs just fine. I went without it four days....harder than it sounds when Father's Day is coming.
Yesterday I was working on catching up on the laundry that didn't get done while the well was out. I heard a loud metallic sound that I knew wasn't right. I thought it was the furnace, which really scared me. I noted that the dryer was running, the furnace was not... I started another load of wash, checked the dryer and realized the drum was not spinning. Damn! The sound I heard must have been the drive belt breaking. Tom is picking up the replacement as I type.
Wonder what will be next?
BTW, I truly understand that these ARE minor issues. Doesn't make them less annoying. :-)
