This is my 4th day without water. What a pain! The well wasn't pumping Friday evening when I got home & I haven't had running water since. Some things I don't mind so much but others are tiresome...like not being able to flush toilets, washing hands, having to brush teeth with bottled water. And on top of it all, the weather got hot. It's 88 on my porch right now at 1600.
I went through this in 2003 & since have kept up with some preparation. I had some bottled water & 5 gallons of other water stored. That wasn't going to cut it with house plants, chickens, goats & all the other things so needful of ample supplies of water. So I cut to basics. One 2 liter bottle of water for the canaries, water every other day for the guineas, bottled water & soft drinks for me, no water for food. Canned goods only. Oh & no toilet flushing... kg(kill grass) as we used to say at camp. Not fun but manageable.
It wasn't enough. I was just about ready to go buy a few gallons of water for the livestock when Chris & his dad showed up on day three with a 55 gallon water barrel strapped to a trailer & a flat of bottled water. Talk about a welcomed sight! I don't know what I'd do without my Samaritans! All the critters got water, the toilet got flushed, enough stress was taken off my mind that I went out of hard core survival mode.
I don't think we have any idea just how much stress we suffer when our easy, routine lives are suddenly interrupted. Everything must be planned. Nothing can be taken for granted. Each drop of water has to be allocated for a specific use & held to strict adherence. Any mistakes could cost a life. Every drop of life giving fluid must be accounted for. I have been through this before, have made it every time, but have always felt the stress of it. At least this time I was not responsible for sick parents whose ability to deal with such stress & inconvenience was terribly traumatic. And this time I had my Samaritans. There's a bright side to every situation.
I am going to find a couple of those 55 gallon water barrels. I am going to be prepared. I do not wish to go through a situation like this again. I will not. I have never had to wait so long for the well company to come to my aid. I should not have had to rely on others, even though I am so very grateful they were here to help. Life is wonderful. It is insightful when that is put in jeopardy. No, I wasn't in danger of thirsting to death, none of my animals perished, but being prepared would have lessened my stress, made the days go easier, taken some of the concern away.
These are unusual times. Nothing like these past four years has occurred during my life time. If I had not been raised by parents, my father especially, who grew up during the depression, I know I would not have been as able as I have been to deal with this hardship. But I was raised by the son of a share-cropper who used an outhouse much of his life, who slept in an unheated loft & walked five miles to & from school every day, & the daughter of a steelworker who took baths in a tub beside the wood stove in the kitchen & whose mother sewed all her clothes & mine as well for much of my life. With all of that behind me, why does this even seem like a bother? I shouldn't even complain, but my life has been soft. I've always had indoor plumbing except when camping. I've seldom had to do without the basics. Even so, & in spite of my vow to be prepared in the future, when the well begins working again, whenever that happens, whatever that costs, I am going to run a little water and let it play over my hand, douse my face with it, waste a small portion just for the feel of it. Water is magic, it is life, it is something that should never be taken for granted.
P.S. 1739 I have water!!!!!!!!!!!!
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