Water....NOT everywhere.

Well, after catching all that rainwater a week ago and using all of that rainwater since then to water livestock, there is now NO WATER in the house.  I'm getting thirsty just typing about it! Friends came to milk Bessie, and there was just a trickle of water coming out of the kitchen faucet at that point.   After a successful milking (they took care of everything very confidently, Bessie cooperated, and I fidgeted in the other part of the barn "in case" I was needed!  I wasn't!), we came in to wash up and filter the milk.  They talked about making ice cream tonight.  We chatted about other things: old farmhouses, quirky water and electric and old roofs, etc, and Damon pointed out that the water was trickling down to nothing more than a slight drip. He was good enough to check the circuit breakers (down the dirty basement stairs, through the jumble of clutter in the laundry room, through cat litter on the floor of the basement.  Embarrassing!).  No problem there.  There seemed to be water in the basement pipes/faucets, but not much pressure. They left to get on with their own day, and I called Jeff.  'Checked the circuit breaker that I didn't know about in the garage (the well set-up is under the sun-room floor, in a cement bunker-style thing).  I pried up the plywood square to look down into the bunker, and there was lots of moisture dripping down the walls.  Not sure if that's normal or not. Called Jeff again.  Then called the water company whose name was on the sticker in the breaker-box. 'Checked the water softener system to make sure that the recent power outage didn't re-set the timing of the 2 am cycle (which would take most of the water in the pipes and re-circulate it through the softener, unless I misunderstand the system).  'Not that. I'm thinking it could be two things. The first one could be fairly minor.  It's been cold, and the pipes run from the bunker-thing under the ground, then under the living room (no basement there, just floor joists above dry dirt, and that living room is cold!).  Maybe the pipe is frozen and water can't get from the well-pump to the house.   Or, much worse.  I had a well company come out to check the well after we bought the property.  The pump in our well is old.  It's from Denmark.  The maintenance guy suggested that we should not treat the water in the well to settle the sediment, because the shaft/pump/combination of the two might be adversely affected.  Someone had treated the well before and not rinsed away the chlorine residue---leading to corrosion of the shaft (?)  Maybe my terms aren't exactly correct.   Back to the pump from Denmark:  To replace it, we'd need to find one or order one.  If the pump is not working, then we're in trouble.  My Dad suggested (over a year ago) that we might want to get a pump ordered for when the other one goes out.  It's common-sense, but it also costs money.  At the time, we had no renters in our old house, and every cent was going to pay two mortgages. But now, if the pump has gone out, we'll wish over and over that we had put in that order and that a replacement pump was ready and waiting! Someone is coming out this afternoon to check things out.  Hopefully, all they'll need to do is thaw the pipe.   On a rather gross personal hygiene note:  I didn't get a shower yesterday, and was counting on a nice hot shower after shoveling some very dusty chicken-litter in the barn this morning.  I'm feeling very gross, to the point of debating whether I'll boil the left-over water from canning apple juice so that I can simply wash my hair! It's amazing how my mind turned from "Just hop in the shower (and take it for granted)" to "Save every drop that might come out of the faucets, and.....Oh, that has to be for drinking water, so what remote possibilities are there for washing-water?!!!!"  There's half-a-bucket of shower-water that was going to be brought to the cows that is now a bit more precious than that.  If we need to, we'll shovel snow into the cow-trough and let the de-icer melt it into water for them to drink! Since I'm filthy already, I think I'll take the time to sweep the basement and get some very dusty things organized down there.  Bleah! Ultimately, having running water is more important than a missed shower, and there IS a large amount of snow that could be melted down and boiled if we need it.   Hopefully, by the time you read this, there will be restored water flow in the house and a much-cleaner typist reporting the good news! Someone remarked recently to my Mom that she admired my "adventurous spirit".  I'm not sure I ever wanted to be so adventurous as to go without a daily shower after doing farm chores!  ;) Laura http://dykstrasfarm.blogspot.com/