Monday, August 13, 2018

You never miss the water until the well runs dry.

We woke up at midnight to find we had no water.  Yikes!  So we wandered around in the dark looking for faucets that could have been left on (no luck) and realized that the well had run dry.
Fortunately, we have a backup system where we can turn a valve and switch to the lake irrigation system water.  When we switched, the lake pump never quit running, so we knew we had a serious leak somewhere.  The lake is an unlimited supply of water, so we left the pump running all night so that we could still have water.  After we did that at midnight, we tried to sleep while we waited for light. When we got up this morning, we isolated the problem to the log house, so we started digging.
Fortunately we have tools so it wasn't all done by hand, but we had to avoid propane lines, phone lines, and power lines that also cross the yard where we have water lines for both the lake system and the well system.
That tiny yellow line is the propane line - we managed to find it and the phone line without damaging them.
 The exposed pipe is from an old water line - this house was built in 1940, and water piped from the lake in the years before the well was installed.  As we dug, we had to identify every line we found to avoid destroying something we still use.
We found the leak at the very end of the line - when we were just about ready to give up - When you have the most perkable soils in the history of the world, you have to be within a foot of a 5000 gallon leak to see any evidence of it. 
The leak is repaired, but both of us may need a few hours of rest to get ourselves repaired.  We can cover up our digging tomorrow!

Thursday, August 9, 2018

A Visit to "The Key"

My sister, Anne, who had lived in Alaska since she was a teenager (30+ years) has the greenest of green thumbs.  Even in Alaska, she had a garden that rivaled anything I saw anywhere.  Now that she is living on Key Peninsula in Washington State, her horticulture skills can really thrive.  This wall of tomatoes she started from seed and has to have thousands of tomatoes ranging from green to ruby red.  
She has made this little campsite wonderfully welcoming.
Notice the queen size bed - there is also a couch, and a nice camp kitchen.  Comfortable chairs surround a campfire, and woods surround the campsite.  Glamping at its best!
Her garden area last year was a thicket of blackberry and salmon berry brush. She has an amazing variety of vegetables ready to eat, and many exotic flowers that she started from seed!
The decorative artichoke in the center has a beautiful lavendar bloom:
Here's one in bloom.
Anne and Scott have brought an abandoned house and overgrown acreage back into a beautiful small farm, and I can rest easier knowing that my step-dad, Dick, is in good caring hands. 
He has always loved animals, so it is wonderful to have him surrounded by people and animals that love him.  Scott has totally remodeled the old house to have handicap access to everything and Dick can be safe both inside and out.