We live in a country
subdivision that relies on a well for water. A great benefit to this is the low
cost — $180 a year, no matter how much water we use. The downside is that the well
or pipes periodically have to be shut down for maintenance or repair, nearly
always without warning.
Usually this means an hour
or two of inconvenience. But late Friday afternoon the well went down for what
turned out to be nearly 24 hours. Not the most opportune time, as 25 guests began
to arrive in our home for a church meeting. Sorry, folks, you can’t flush the
toilet.
Dirty dishes from the
gathering stacked up on the kitchen counter. As Saturday morning rolled around,
we looked for innovative ways to get some water: raiding the stash of bottled
water from the garage spare refrigerator; emptying the tray from the
dehumidifier on the porch; grabbing ice cubes from the kitchen refrigerator.
Later in the morning, with
the well trouble still unfixed, I drove into town with three coolers and loaded
up water from my son’s spigot. Back home, at least we could pour a bucket down
the toilet when necessary. By Saturday evening the water we take so much for
granted began flowing again.
By then we realized how much
we depend on water, and not just for flushing. Without turning on the tap we
can’t fill the coffeepot, wash our dirty hands, brush our teeth, take a shower,
wash dishes, fill the bird bath or water plants.
I always thought losing
electrical power was the worst outage a home could experience. Now I’m not so
sure.
No comments:
Post a Comment