In the old year and in the new, we have been dealt a trifecta of water woes and it's not just wet stuff coming from the sky.
First, there's water that does not completely flush in the upstairs toilet.
Secondly, Annie announced before she left on Saturday that the sink in the same bathroom had flooded to the cabinet below.
After a little research, I discovered that a hole had rusted in the sink and whenever it was filled and then emptied, a substantial stream water cascaded down through the rusted-out hole rather than down the drain.
And, so we added two items for Joey, the owner of VIP Plumbing, and his apprentice Jada to fix.
The afternoon before they came I received a call from Carla at Oden Water, telling me that we had a leak somewhere on the farm because the last meter reading showed an overage of our usual water usage.
At first, I wondered if the problem could be the toilet that had flushing problems. Carla asked if it was running. No, it was not, I responded.
So, the leak had to be somewhere else, and, as Carla noted, all the standing water would make it difficult to determine where extra water was appearing.
Long story short, we had noticed the frost-free hydrant by the barnyard fence dripping on a couple of occasions. A quick extra push on the handle seemed to stop that.
Later, I called Carla and told her that the problem had probably been fixed.
The next day, when Joey and Jada were coming, Bill and I walked past the hydrant. Most of the standing water around the place had begun to dissipate after a dry, cold overnight.
Not so around the hydrant.
It definitely was leaking. So, add Problem No. 3 to the situation. We also discovered, after much probing to find the turn-off valves, that those two valves right next to the hydrant do not turn it off.
The hydrant is attached to the line going to the road, so all of our water would have to be turned off to keep the hydrant from leaking.
After our discovery, I called Carla again. This is a job that needs an excavator to dig up the hydrant, so Carla has us on the list for her son Garrett to come to visit with his excavator.
In the meantime, the water overage continues.
The toilet has to be replaced because its innards that are inside the toilet itself have gone bad. That replacement job will happen next week, and we're hoping Joey doesn't find any other gremlins in the system.
After the third discovery of water and plumbing problems, Bill said, "We might as well plan that something is going to go wrong every day for the rest of our lives, and it's gonna cost money."
Happy 2025, and I thought that when my computer problems of late 2024 had been fixed, we would get a break.
That's not the case when you live on a farm and reside in a house that is 44 years old.
Just like us humans, things age and then they fall apart. The worst part having both the humans and things going down at the same time!
Anyway, we're doing our best to keep a good attitude because we know the same kind of stuff is happening in households and on farms in the rest of the world.
The good news is that winter has not been making life too tough for us. Just the opposite.
We both noted yesterday, while walking through the woods with the dogs, that we were actually walking through the woods with the dogs on Jan. 1. That has not happened very often in the time we've lived here.
So, it's something to celebrate. Every walking-through-woods day of January will get us that much closer to spring AND will keep us in fairly good physical condition.
Joey demonstrated the position that works best for working with sink attachments. He said one learns those things after years of experience.
Below: Jada did most of the work on replacing the sink.
While Jada finished up on the bathroom sink, Joey went outside to help Bill find the water-logged valves in the turn-off spot.
Turned out neither worked for the frost-free hydrant.
But, Joey told us to take a picture, so we would know their positions in the future.
Joey and Jada are quite a team. They do excellent work.
A nice story:
I'll probably start taking my Christmas decorations down today.
It's been a beautiful sight on the deck.
It's another Bulldog basketball day.
The ZAGS are taking on the Portland Pilots in the Spokane Arena tonight at 6 p.m.
The game will be broadcast on KHQ-TV and streamed on ESPN+.
GO, ZAGS!!
Meanwhile, down at an Idaho Falls tournament, Willie's SHS Bulldogs girls varsity (6-3) will tip-off against last year's State Champion Shelley (5-5) at 7:30 p.m.
Wishing them a lot of luck.
GO, SHS BULLDOGS!!
🏀🏀🏀🏀🏀
Happy Thursday.
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