You may remember last Friday I mentioned that we had a water leak. In the comments, Buck mentioned that we seem to have a lot of water leaks, and he would be right. Here in red clay Oklahoma, the ground gets very hard. When it shifts, things crack - like your pipes or your foundation. This time our water leak was about three feet from the L to our house. There is lots of water pressure on that L due to the turn in the pipe. Many of our breaks have been down by the barn where the pipes make a T. We are getting pretty darn good at diggin' and fixin'. This time we were not so good. We had an L of a hard time.
First thing Saturday morning, Toby was out looking for the leak. We knew the general area because of the wet ground. Since I had turned the water off at the meter, the small pond had dried a bit. Jesse and I joined Toby for the digging. We dug a good size hole where it was wet, but did not find the leak. Jesse went out to the meter (half mile away) and turned the water on. Water bubbled up from the ground like Jed Clampett's oil - about two feet away from were we were digging. We started digging the new hole and filling the old hole. We found the L, but only a small leak. Surely, water bubbling out of the ground like that had to have a bigger leak, so we kept spreading out the hole looking for the big break. After digging up half the back yard (hyperbole) and turning the water on again, we found the big leak. Then there was lots of bailing and more digging to make a place around the pipe that was workable. It's a muddy mess. We patched the pipe at the L and down the pipe about three feet at a joint in the pipe that had broken apart. Using the walkie-talkies, we sent Jesse to the meter to turn on the water. After about 15 minutes - about the time we thought all was well - Kaboom! Water exploded out of the hole. "Turn it off!" was screamed into the walkie-talkie. More bailing, more digging, more fixing. This happened FOUR times! Each time it exploded, I squealed like a girl. Finally after some new glue and some reinforcement on the L, the pipe held. By then, it was late afternoon and getting dark. The day had not been too cold, but enough to make it uncomfortable if you were wet. We were all wet and muddy.
This may sound like a pretty miserable time, but Toby and Jesse and I actually have lots of fun together. There is lots of teasing and joking. Although after about the third blow-out, we were getting a bit solemn. Several times Jesse got texts from two of her guy friends wanting her to go to the movies. She told them that we were fixing a water leak and could not go. One of these days, she will tell that to some young man and he will say, "I will be right over to help." rather than, "Oh, too bad." When that happens, we will know he is the one :)
7 comments:
This may sound like a pretty miserable time...
You're right: it does. But I hear ya about joking and stuff to make a bad situation better.
I also hear ya about "the one."
Jesse and I can laugh at most any situation. Toby has no choice.
What you might think about doing, is throwing money at the problem.
I have a sewer line that runs from my shop to the septic tank, but under and across the driveway. I just knew a big dump truck would probably come along and break the PVC when gravel time came.
So I put the sewer pipe inside a larger pipe where it crossed the driveway. That should also save it from the earth moving around.
My plumber said it was over-kill, but he would say that because I'd have to pay him to fix it (after my toilet backed-up and ruined my bathroom, of course). Dump trucks came and went with no problem - yippee...
P.S. I can't believe they would choose a movie over fixing a water pipe??? She must be hanging out with city boys.
Stefan, There is probably over a half-mile of water pipe from the road to our house. Your idea of over-piping the L would probably work, but not the rest of the pipe. In the past more severe winters, the pipe has broken in other places all along the line - mostly out by the barn where it T's off.
Yep, if a boy chooses a movie over fixing a water pipe, he is no bueno.
an L of a time. Heh.
I also agree about finding The One. Good criterion.
Ha, on Jesse's guys. Gene says "if" that happens.
Post a Comment