Home improvements

Before the storm Harold was busy building some sort of burial vault that will eventually house the backyard water supply.

The old part of our house (and I do mean old, it was built in 1918/19) had a well in the dug-out that was also a storm cellar.  This well had been discontinued when rural water came available, and rumor has it that our water stank - literally, sulfur in it or something.

Because we went back on a well (this is a l-o-n-g story involving: the local water district, the people who ran it then, haphazard chlorination of water, common water outages when someone 'forgot to switch on the pumps', high costs of water, inconvenience (no auto debit, you had to read the meter and fill in a little card with payment, even if you have used no water, since the meter has been shut off...), and for the final straw the threat of fluoridating the water thanks to a grant from the United Methodist Church - what did I ever do to them?  Again, I am not against making water safe, and chlorine or fluoride is okay, if done right/safely.  But when you sometimes have a higher chlorine level than a public pool (it routinely ate through the brass pump impellers), and other times there is none in the line, then you worry about them being able to handle the fluoridation safely.  Chlorine will evaporate and you can smell it.  Not so when the water is fluoridated; and the difference between okay and a health hazard is the difference between 2 ppm and 4ppm...) we don't use the 'house' water for the garden, not unless it is a wet year.  It is people and pets first, livestock second, and plants fend for themselves, when it comes to water.

The problem is that I have this goldfish pond, and we fill it up with water from a well that we also use for livestock, but it is a hassle to do so.  And we have this well in the backyard, so why not pump that water and fill the fish pond, and maybe even water a flower or two?  So what if the water stinks? (Actually Harold drew some water up with this covered pipe on a rope deal, and the water did not stink, so I have hopes for non-stinky water).

Well, for one thing, wells are not cheap or easy to develop.  I figured we (the royal we, meaning of course Harold) just drop a pump down there, and then water will magically gush out of the ground.

Apparently that is not how this works.

I did not figure that this magic involves wires and concrete and pipes and pressure tanks and pumps and faucets and digging a hole (and putting a nerd in it - okay, that was mean, but it is a 'Simpsons' joke).

Harold is digging the hole.  The pipe in the back is the old well with a new top on it.

Decibel was watching from her special spot.  She climbs up on the ATV all by herself.  It is about as challenging as ascending Mt Everest, she doesn't jump, but climb.  It drives Ralph nuts, because he likes the ATV, (it is some sort of 'truck' to him) but he can't figure out how to get up there.  

She's touching his stuff!

Now I had to do something too, since digging and installing stuff that involves water and electricity isn't my thing (and I didn't want to be in the hole), so I painted three sides of the outhouse...

...then I ran out of paint (although the stuff I was using was old and had the consistency of cream cheese, so 'running out' isn't the right term).  Luckily it is the north side that needs to be painted, not visible from the road.

Before the well and the outhouse, we were working on the front porch:

The columns/posts have been leaning, and the decking had to be replaced.  Demolition was easy:

 Once we (and this time I actually helped!) figured out how to support the roof (note free floating posts above).

 Maggie points out some structural problem.  

 Harold is consulting with Skeeter, but I think there is little help there.

The Thinker

 New joists or whatever the floor support stuff is called.

 Fast forward to floor installed and painted, and the posts set plumb again.  The porch is still blocked off with the soon to be installed lattice, because the oil based floor paint took eons to dry.  We still have not actually set foot on the new porch, not even to take the blue tape off the siding.