Thursday, December 31, 2015

Law of Inertia

An object at rest stays at rest and an object in motion stays in motion with the same speed and in the same direction unless acted upon by an unbalanced force.  

This would be me, the object in motion. Sometimes when my mind is headed in one direction, I tend to want to stay in that direction. Then when some unbalanced force (Toby) comes along and changes my direction, I have trouble getting my head wrapped around the change. It makes me want to throw a fit. Given enough time, I will get going in the new direction, but you might want to avoid me until I get it all figured out. 

Yesterday's post mentioned that I was going to make a trip to town to run errands and that I was not pleased with the plan. And yes, I did lollygag around all morning doing what I wanted, thinking I had lots of time. Eventually, I took my shower, got myself dressed, put on makeup, and was looking hot (well, I made that last part up). Toby had called from work to give me a list of things to do (this often makes me a bit crazed). Besides getting the oil changed in his truck, one of the things went like this, "By the way, while I was in the shower, I noticed the water pressure was down. We may have a water leak. Could you check that out for me this morning?" 

You understand that this meant that he knew there was something wrong and he left the house, went to work, and then called me to deal with it.  And yes, I noticed the water pressure was low, but my head was headed to town and I was already running late. I had been texting with my hair-dresser, hoping to get my hair done - one of the ways I love to pamper myself. Then I remembered to check the water meter. I drove around on the road to the other side of our property where I only had to climb over the barbed-wire fence to get to the meter (no little feat). After the big wind-rain-ice storm, our yard and pasture were very soggy if not covered in water. I did not want to get my go-to-town shoes wet by walking across the pasture to get to the meter. I managed to climb over the fence without snagging my good jeans (no mean feat again), but I could not get the cover off of the meter. It seemed that the rural water folk have been updating their meters. It also meant that I was going to have to drive back to the house and go out to the barn to get a wrench to open the meter box and possibly shut the meter off. This is where I threw my first fit. Why in the heck can I not have a wrench in my house? Why do the tools get carried out to the barn - through the very soggy wet pasture. I have fought long and hard to have a hammer, screwdriver, and tape measure here at the house. Why not a wrench!?

So I called Toby. I told him I was pretty sure there was a leak, but that the meter cover would not come off without some sort of apparatus. He told me that it should come off easily. Fine, but I was still going to need some sort of wrench to turn the water off. I was still going to have to wade out to the barn. I was still needing to throw a fit or a punch. My dressed-up self was still headed to town, but my brain was saying, "You better deal with this today while the weather is good." Toby was tiptoeing around me, offering me ways out, but he still said, "I need to know for sure if there is a leak before I take off and come home." meaning get yourself out there and check the meter. Fine. My self was beginning to realize that going to town was a thing of the past. 

I sat in the driveway for a few minutes debating (and steaming) over what I should do next. Since I happened to know the water meter man and he happens to live down the street I called him. I knew he had one of those thangies to open the meter and shut off the water. He also has longer legs to climb over the barbed-wire fence. 

It worked out great. Carl came over, checked the meter, showed me how to read it, and even held the fence down while I crawled over it. Then he did something really great. He came home with me to help look for the leak. He even started digging while I changed into my rubber boots and grubbies. By now I had also changed my direction and was doing much better.

Toby eventually joined us. Carl eventually went home and left Toby and I to dig, fix, and re-cover the giant mud hole. I tried to take a photo of the mud and hole, but my phone died (of course). We also had to get some of the water out from under the house. Water, water everywhere! it was late afternoon with the sun going down before we were done. It was much colder. My butt and back were hurting as were Toby's. We are getting too old for this sort of thang.
Here is a photo I took of some of the water in the back yard. The t-post is where the water line turns and where we usually have a leak (Jesse called it the "annual water leak" and she was happy that she was in NM on a ski trip this year). This is where Carl and I started looking for the leak. It was not there. It was about five feet closer to the house. Yes, we dug two holes.

9 comments:

CenTexTim said...

What a great way to spend New Years Eve... :-(

Bag Blog said...

CTT, it's kind of a tradition :)

water boy said...

Plastic pipes, harrumph! Sounds like the water line is not below the freeze line.

I would rent a back-hoe and start over. But there I go spending your money! :-)

Bag Blog said...

OK soil is thick gooey clay. With the different seasons and heat/ cold extremes, the ground shifts lots. It happens to everyone, but we could have used different pipe.

Bag Blog said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
water boy said...

When I was in a small town in northwest North Dakota in the 70's, they left all the water pipes and steam pipes above ground! It was wrapped in insulation, but was put at telephone line height. Just an idea :-)

They got tired of water leaks in the winter. You needed dynamite to get through the ice first...

Course the damned place look like a penal colony in Siberia...

Bag Blog said...

Water Boy, I'm not sure the above ground pipes sound so great. Although in this day and age you'd think they could invent better pipes.

water boy said...

I don't know how expensive it is, but...

I drove by a construction site and they had a big roll of blue pipe that they were laying. No connections except every xxx feet. Looked like about 300 feet of pipe on that roll.

Looks pliable and not something ground shifting would crack apart.

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