Diary of Pioneer Woman at the DRY Lovestead---Hopefully Brief

Let's just say the day hasn't started so well. 

"Marianne?" 

"Yes."

"There's no water."

Not good words but at least the coffee maker is set up the day before WITH water. 

That said, the routine has changed abruptly this morning.  

Initial Internet surfing usually comes AFTER the morning bath.  

I'm hoping the morning bath comes sometime this morning, but I won't hold my breath.

We're also hoping the water outage is NOT limited to the Lovestead.

Not that we wish ill will on our neighbors, but knowing that it's a water system problem and not an on-site broken pipe somewhere at the Lovestead would be reassuring. 

At least the Internet doesn't know I'm using it in a not-so-squeaky clean state. 

But wait! Yes, it does because I've leaked the information . . . no pun intended.  Nothing is really leaking around here so far today except my information. 

I have had time to read through the morning news on the Internet, and some of the ugly world events have hit home, albeit indirectly.

Brussels is now on high alert.  Our friend Koen, whom we met in Dublin at the geocaching event which Annie scheduled two years ago, owns a taxi company in Brussels.  

I've written him a note, and he has written back, telling me this is so hard to explain to his children.  He says Brussels is like a ghost town. 

I told him my water problem seemed pretty insignificant compared to how they're living their lives at the moment. 

At least, we are inconvenienced but feeling relatively safe to go out our doors, for now anyway. 

Update:  I have now learned at 5:46 a.m. that we are not alone in the water outage.  My neighbor Janice reported that up north on South Center Valley Road, she has no water and, like me, is very happy that she prepared the coffee maker last night. 

It's about time for me to go out and tell the horses they should be very happy that their water trough is full.  

Stay tuned.  More to come in the "Diary of Pioneer Woman . . . ."

Back again:  I've produced a video on how pioneer women prepare the bath water when their tap water doesn't drip.  

Video production was something to do while the water was warming up in the kettle on the stove.

Other people in the Oden Water System family are getting up now and noticing the "no flush" signal on their toilets.  Well, actually, you do get one flush, but that's it, and that happens so fast you don't have time to think about preserving that toilet water for future deposits. 

People were wondering if the the people who run the water system know that the water isn't running.  I responded that they probably know and that they probably haven't had a very good night.  

During the summer of wind storms, we were without water for a couple of days on at least one occasion, so we know we need to plan for the long haul of no-drip living. 

Bill and I have both taken our Selle sponge baths, and, after watching my instructive video called "Improvisation," I'm sure a few more in our neighborhood have too. 

We shall monitor this situation closely, as the Lovestead is supposed to host the ZAGmania food fest tonight.  

For a brief time, I thought we could probably manage since we're just putting pizzas in the oven and throwing salad in a bowl, but then I remembered that we have no outdoor john here.  

So, if no water, we'll probably have to transport our feast ingredients over to my sisters' house.  

It's a setback, but we'll survive.  Much worse things are happening in the world, and we're not hiding inside our house for fear of being shot or blown up, so that's a good thing. 

More later . . . . off to check the faucet.  I'll update as the day's events unfold. 

Happy Saturday.  Run, WATER!  Go, ZAGS!