Monday, January 20, 2025

Broken and Flooded

 We thought all was well last night with the water but were we ever wrong. When we awoke this morning it was 2 below zero. Both woodburners were started then Mark went to check on the horses and found Valiant's waterer was empty. We thought it must be a frozen waterline so I went out and opened the pit to find it full of water.

The heater inside Valiant's automatic waterer was still on so I cleaned out the reservoir and filled that with water, then went into the house and turned the water off to the paddocks and barn. Mark needed to get a pump out there to pump out all the water which took a while.

By this time it was 2 degrees outside and with the breeze the real feel felt much colder. We had to keep coming in to the house to warm up while waiting for the pit to empty. 
Once that was empty I went down into the basement to turn the water back on so Mark could watch to find out where the water was coming from.
As soon as that water started running Mark told me to shut it back off. He found the leak and took the picture below.
It is coming up from the base of the yard hydrant. That pipe sticking straight out of the ground. Valiant's waterer was filled up again and I watched him drink at least half of that before he walked away so was able to top it back off. Below Valiant is watching our progress.
Then back in the house to warm up. Dan called and told me he was dropping off some coffee cups at the barn.  David and Ben arrived with their children to play in the barn. Sarah sent a text that she and Nolan were inviting anyone that wanted to come for a chili supper at the barn. I headed over there after making sure all the horses had water and found the cups Dan dropped off. There are bags of them and they are excellent disposable insulated coffee cups. 
I called him to let him know I was going to take a bunch to the Berean office as they are the perfect size. Dan started laughing and told me that Berean had actually donated them to him when he had the school. Thankfully they were not at the school when that burned down.
Nolan's award winning chili is amazing, full of vegetables, meat and has a wonderful flavor with just a tiny sting to it. 

After eating the kids went back out into the gym and were having an epic basketball game. There may be some traveling or fouls not called but then there were no refs.

After supper the rest stayed but I needed to head back. I'm turning the water on every couple hours for about 10 minutes so each of the waterers can fill up again. I checked Valiant's on the way back from the barn and his was still almost full. I have a hair dryer going in the pit tonight, then the pit is covered well with the top then a tarp tucked all the way around and on top of that. Hopefully by morning Valiant's waterer will be filling along with the others.  Mark called Tim Meister and he is going to come fix the leak and may need to replace the yard hydrant. I finished the plans for the new bedrooms and baths then sent them to Phil and Anna. They went right over to the barn and got the measurements and will load them into the computer so it will be drawn up for a CAD drawing.
I drew it up as 40 feet long but with the walls I really only had 39 feet. The plans still work but bedroom 1 will be 9 by 15 instead of 9 x 16 and bedroom two will be 9 x 17 instead of 9 x 18. I'm good with that. One other change and this one is a gain there, are a few extra inches from the stairwell to the wall so bedroom 3 will be a few inches wider. 
Now to get our crew hired and the lumber ordered.  We have had both wood burners going all day and the house is plenty warm and comfortable. Maybe each time I get up during the night to turn on the water I'll refill the burners. We don't want them going out tonight as it is predicted to be 9 BELOW zero with wind speeds at 11 mph. I am so thankful for all the seasoned wood ready to be burned, two wood burners and two working hips that allow me to run up and down stairs with no pain. 








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