Shortly after moving up here, a pepper tree planted itself and grew and grew. We just left it alone and let it grow. The only problem was that it was right near the water line from the pump house to most everywhere else.Finally, last Thursday I came out of the tack room to see a pond of water with water bubbling up out of the ground near the tree's trunk. It had happened at last. The tree had busted the water line. I turned off the electric to the pump at the circuit breaker box (can be seen on post in the photos) and called Joe, my handyman. We decided it made no sense to just fix the busted part and it was much more sensible to move the water line. I sent him off with some cash and a list of PVC pipe and parts needed.
The next morning he went and rented a walk-behind trencher (Ditch Witch), which can be seen in the one photo along with its own little trailer, and visited Home Depot for the rest of the stuff. My other handyman, Mike, got up here and they went to work while I was at my store. I got home that afternoon to find a dejected Joe. While cutting trench with the Ditch Witch, he had cut the electric line to the well. It was not only in the same trench as the water line, which we both should have figured ahead of time would be the case, but it was right on top of the water line, which is not the optimal way to do things. The new water line was laid and ready but Joe needed some parts to fix the electrical line.
I was just glad, again, that I have a 4,000 gallon tank of back-up water. It is only gravity flow, but it does give bucket water for the house and my 100 foot hose reaches the horse's water troughs.
The next morning, Joe returned the Ditch Witch, which was well needed as the ground was really hard down there, and visited Home Depot again. By the time I was home Saturday afternoon, all was back in place and running. Mike came out this morning to backfill the trenches.
Just another day in the country!
The photos above show the water line eating pepper tree, the trenchs to move the water line around the tree, the pump house in the background, the ditch witch and the work in progress.
1 comment:
hey there,
sorry to put this in your blog, but I could not figure out how else to contact you. I will be visiting my father in San Diego during mid-July and would love to make a trip up to meet you and your horses (yes I know it will be hot as the blazes; I grew up in San Diego and my dad's parents were in Riverside.) Morgans especially as that is what I own (just one). And you have a bookstore, too -- very cool!
If this is OK you can contact me at my user name here at gmail dot com. I have not set my travel dates yet, so if there is a particular day of the week that usually works let me know.
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