Today's "task at hand"

Sunday, early afternoon:  We are having such a fantastic thaw.  There is so much moisture in the air that it looks like fog rolling over the fields as rain comes down through it all.  The thick layer of snow is now a very sloppy layer of thick slush that splashes as you walk through it.  The cows' water trough is full to overflowing.  Rain water and melted snow is flowing from the driveway, down the slight hill, around the foundation of the barn and back towards the pasture.  The piles of slushy snow left by the snowplow a week ago are diverting all that water from the very front of the barn, which is a very good thing..... I went out to the barn to check things inside, knowing that the roof would be leaking and that there might be places that needed a bucket to catch drips......and saw that under the elevator platform there is standing water.....   I've never seen water there before, even though there's a dirt floor under that corner of the main floor.   Checked the chicken area, and there is enough straw and powdered chicken litter up against the door track on the south end of the barn that no water is coming in from under the door.  Maybe soaking slowly, but not pooling inside that area.   Every drop of water that is draining down the driveway or from the roof of the barn is pooled outside of that door, though, waiting for a clear path to flow out into the pasture (lower ground).  And that's when I thought there might be a real problem in the next section.....because whenever water is pooled outside the chickens' area like that, there is always a small but steady trickle that flows under the cement floor and down into the next place to check....... Checked the 8'x8' dirt pit inside the other back corner of the barn, and sure enough, there's standing water.  Not just a few inches, either.  I don't know why there is a dirt pit there, but maybe it was for catching rainwater at one point (a cistern?  There ARE stones and bricks arranged in a circular pattern inside the layers of dirt.)  But it's not supposed to be used as a cistern now! Today it's got about 12-18 inches of water in the deepest part.  Usually if rain water flows into that pit, it disappears immediately into the cracked dirt in the center.  Once the water has trickled through a crack and is inside that corner, it can't drain anywhere but down.  If it's coming in the usual way (water trickling in when it pools outside.....) then it's been trickling in since the thaw started yesterday, and that means the dirt is so saturated that the water will not be draining away any time soon!   The water level is about 10 inches from spilling over and into the main part of the barn--THAT would be a nightmare--the chicken-litter all through the main part of the barn is up to a year old, even though I've been scooping out the worst areas.  Water added to old, dusty, poopy straw would not be a fun clean-up job....... Back outside after seeing the water inside the barn, I spent 45 minutes shoveling a path through the slush for the water to drain away from the foundation, through the cow pen and out to the pasture.   If the pool of water outside the foundation is moving AWAY from the foundation and not just sitting there wondering where to go, that's a good thing, right?!!! The water is flowing nicely now and the south-end pool is gradually draining, but it won't help the gallons of water that are already in the dirt corner inside of the barn.   I'm thinking of the jagged cracks in both walls of that part of the barn's foundation.   The barn has been standing for over 100 years.  The foundation is probably 18 inches thick if not more. There are a few cracks through the full thickness of it.  It's not a very deep foundation, though and is ever-so-gradually shifting/leaning out and taking the wall slowly with it, although it's probably been happening over the course of that 100 years.   The thought of so much water where it isn't supposed to be has me wondering: how many big thaws/rains like this undermined the foundation before it started leaning.....?  How many more will it take before that corner of the barn finally gives in and crumbles away? Even though I'd love to crawl in bed after shoveling wet soggy slush, it's time to get my butt moving again and put the water pump to work to clear out the muddy water and keep more damage from being done.  Jeff is taking a break from his U of M basketball game to set things up. In my mind's eye are countless old barns that I've seen with corners collapsed, or roofs caved in, and I don't want it to be ours! Update:  A few hours later, the water is pumped out from the inside, the wall doesn't seem to have sustained any more damage than was already there, and the water outside the barn is still flowing quickly away from the barn and out towards the pasture.   That old barn is irreplaceable, and we've already agreed that, if we need to rebuild, we won't even try to copy the historic nature of the 100+ year old dairy barn.  It would be a loss that couldn't be duplicated, ever.   Our money is limited, so we can't hire someone to come and analyze every supporting beam or cracking wall......but we certainly CAN take care of the "task at hand" and get water out of the barn when it doesn't belong there (or do whatever it takes to divert water from continuing to flow right into that pit). We're very ready for a good night's sleep! Laura http://dykstrasfarm.blogspot.com/

Aslan is on the move

(As in.....the White Witch of Narnia is losing hold of the "always winter/never Christmas" curse and the nearly sudden thaw is lifting everyone's spirits.) No lions here, but the winter is definitely thawing and it's looking promising for spring.   The first obvious sign:  The sun feels warm.  Second obvious?  The snow is melting.  Icicles are forming and then melting away on the edges of all the buildings.   Blocks of snow and ice are sliding down the metal garage roof and making small earthquake noises as they thud to the driveway. Water is cascading off of the barn roof and into the cows' water trough (no large buckets of water to haul out there tonight). Water in the bunny barn is no longer frozen solid (although, to be fair, that's only been the situation since Sunday when we brought them home--a mere 5 days).   Sheila and Red (the new bunnies) look up in curiosity or even venturing near the cage doors as I come into their barn, rather than huddling deep in the warmth of their straw bedding. Geese, ducks and chickens are leaving foot-prints in mud, rather than slipping and sliding on ice as they explore the driveway and drip-line of the barn.   The ducks and geese are taking drip-line baths, along with quite the racket of quacking and honking.   The fact that most of the chickens ventured out means that they find the warmer temperatures to their liking.  The ducks and geese would come out of the barn whenever I left the door open for them, whether they had to forge through a foot of snow or not. Miniature "Big Bird" footprints are dotting the top of the snow, in and around garden trees, over the patio, anywhere the snow is not piled so high that the poultry can't get a foothold. The Cayuga ducks have begun laying their black eggs in the barn nest-boxes, and there are 5 now in a nest which one black duck is checking constantly. (Cayuga eggs are white like any other egg to start with, but the ducks put a black coating on them as one of the last steps before laying them.  Black eggs don't look quite right if laid next to chicken eggs, but at least it's obvious that they are duck eggs to be put carefully into the appointed nest!) There may even be one newly-hatched gosling protected deep in a nest.  Last night there was one cracked-up egg shell on the side of the double-nest, and Daddy Gander was even more fiercely guarding his 2 ladies than usual.  No signs of any little ones except that discarded shell, but....if they are going to hatch, it should be this week or next.  No chance of hearing soft chirping or gosling-noises, either, because of the volume of screeching from the mamas and Daddy. Unlike the Kingdom of Narnia, there are no little woodland creatures cheerfully having tea parties beside a forest road, but there is definitely the feel of a thaw, rather than the promise of more snow. Laura http://dykstrasfarm.blogspot.com/

Hass and Feffer.....

Photos:  Unnamed new inhabitants of the Dykstra Farm   Well, they're here.  Cute, big brown eyes, cuddly-looking (but not actually WANTING to be cuddled) and one is potentially pregnant. The two new residents of the Bunny Barn are New Zealand rabbits:  a red female and a reddish "agouti" female is how they were described to us. Jeff suggested the names "Hass" and "Feffer".  Maybe that will stick, but I think my sister may have already used those names for her rabbits!  ;) They were born in the basement of a house in Chicago, with their parents being New Zealand rabbits kept in the detached garage of that same house.  Reminds me of my Dad describing how they raised rabbits when he was growing up in Denver. The guys who raised them have quite the impressive set-up:  on a small city lot, they have 6 chickens, 5 ducks, probably 2 dozen quail, and it looks like about 8 breeding rabbit does plus a breeding buck and multiple litters of baby rabbits.  They have a roof-top garden (covered by snow) and two raised bed gardens in the yard.  Surprisingly, nothing seemed cramped or crowded.  Just a well-thought out, well-kept set-up that provides for their food needs and then some. The old Barnevelder coop is now the Bunny Barn.  We've adapted some big (and cheap!) bird cages to be rabbit cages.  On end, these cages give the ladies a 36"x24" area for their living space.  A bit more adaptation to the supporting 2x4's underneath the cages will allow each cage to rest on its side for a 36x36 area for each rabbit.    Thumper (the American Chinchilla rabbit male) will eventually move out of the house and into the bunny barn to meet his future brides.   The rabbit droppings will be "harvested" for top-dressing the raised-bed gardens that Jeff built last summer.    One of these ladies may be pregnant from an ill-advised break-and-enter at their previous residence.....she and her sister "busted into" the male's cage and may have gotten pregnant (he would have been their dad).  We'll see.  There's no certain date for that mishap, so it's a wait-and-see kind of thing.  Baby bunnies would be fun, but I wasn't quite ready for that just yet. As far as names.....I'm leaning towards "Shelly" and "Sheila".     Maybe when we have some males who are destined for the dinner table, we'll use the names "Hass" and "Feffer".  ;) Enjoy the photos below. Laura http://dykstrasfarm.blogspot.com/ You are invited to view Laura's photo album: 2013-03-03 Hass and Feffer 2013-03-03 Hass and Feffer Mar 4, 2013 by Laura View Album Play slideshow If you are having problems viewing this email, copy and paste the following into your browser: https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/sredir?uname=dykstrazoo1&target=ALBUM&id=5851577857907301057&authkey=Gv1sRgCK2-meatzqGKxAE&feat=email To share your photos or receive notification when your friends share photos, get your own free Picasa Web Albums account.

Snow....and dreary February skies

At least it's white and bright this February. I remember winters in Palatine when the snow from December or January storms stayed on the ground all through February, and was nearly black with dinginess by the end of winter.  Mounds of black or dirty gray snow, with no fresh snow and no thaw in sight. That was depressing, but.....I'm finding myself dragging this February anyway, despite the bright fresh whiteness of the new snow.  Something about driving one hour in blinding snow (a trip which should have taken 20 minutes), watching other cars slide around or seeing them already off the road, knowing that salt or plowing hadn't been done yet, and then turning around and doing the return trip in more blinding snow (another tense hour of driving) has left me totally worn out this week. Last year, we had out first batch of chicks hatch in January.  It was a bit ambitious, and not really all that smart.  We had to keep them in the house because the barn was too cold.  There was chick dust all over inside the house and lots of time "wasted" as we watched the chick-antics.  It was fun, though, and seemed like spring came early.  Having chicks in February meant that the dreariness and length of winter was interrupted with new life. This year, we decided that we'll skip raising chicks.  That means we don't have the incubator set up, there is no on-going science experiment of keeping eggs at the right temperature, no waiting game of watching anxiously for the first little peck-mark.  The absolute wonder of watching a chick hatch after 21 days isn't part of this February.  The adorable fuzziness of chicks dashing back and forth or trying to peck at each other's toes is missing.  The strange or interesting things that we discovered with other chick hatches will have to wait until another time, when we can put that knowledge to work again. In the long run, it gives me--and the rest of us--time to get other projects done.   We already have 90 chickens, so there's no logical need to hatch a few chicks (even if it would banish the winter blues!) We're talking about buying either turkey eggs or turkey poults (day-old turkey chicks), but that won't be until spring.   The geese are trying hard to hatch out some babies, with 2 mamas on a combined nest with over 21 eggs in it.  If any hatch, it will be mid-March.  They will be raised by 2 hissing mama geese and a rather ferocious gander, so.....we'll be able to think they're cute, but will keep our distance. We might get a couple of feeder pigs (young piglets which sell for about $50 in the spring, and are raised and then butchered before winter).  Again, something potentially for later in the spring, and not totally decided yet. February is a short month, but.....the Midwest winter weather just seems to drag on through February, all the same.  This is when the chickens who have been struggling to stay healthy tend to die (6 so far this month, with another one ready to keel over soon). This is when the straw on the floor of the barn is no longer bright and clean, but matted and gross and damp (and needing to be shoveled out).  This is when the high winds which signal another snowstorm blowing through aren't met with anticipation, but a sigh of resignation.  This is when fighting through a snowstorm on foot to play with the dogs in the pasture doesn't hold quite the fun or challenge that it did a few months back..... Maybe this will brighten the next few weeks:  Rabbits. Friends in Chicago had 2 litters of New Zealand rabbits born before Christmas.  They posed for their Christmas photo with more than 12 baby bunnies in their arms and on their laps--all shades of browns and reds.  They have 2 does (females) that we are planning to pick up on Sunday for our new "bunny barn". Jeremy has been taking care of the American Chinchilla male who arrived with the farmer from Ohio (where Lucy the Dutch Belted heifer went to live).  "Thumper" will stay inside the house until the weather warms up.  But these 2 does are accustomed to being in an unheated garage, and will take up residence in the bunny barn, formerly known as the Barnevelder Coop.  Eventually, they will be introduced to Thumper and start the experiment of raising rabbits. Maybe there will be a bright spot in February, after all.   Wait.....we won't pick them up until Sunday.   That puts us in March.   Sigh... Laura http://dykstrasfarm.blogspot.com/

"Heat" in February

Photo:  Bessie and "baby" Ruby enjoy the snow during a much quieter day Today's only real situation of note is Ruby's LOUDNESS.  She's been through heat cycles before, but maybe this is a full-blown one and the others were practice sessions?  Bessie the matriarch has NEVER Moo-ed on this level of insistence or noisiness. It should be noted....Ruby is a July calf, not quite 8 months old, but almost as tall as her mother Bessie (because of her Holstein genes on daddy's side).  Ruby first showed signs of a heat cycle when she was 5 or 6 months old and has been through several obvious 21-day cycles (4?  5?), enough to get on the calendar as the date to watch for.   Did I mention she's still nursing? As in.....she could become pregnant herself, but she's still helping herself to Bessie's milk on a fairly constant basis.  This has come in very handy when we aren't able to milk the cow for whatever reason, and we can leave Ruby and Bessie together overnight so that Ruby can do the job for us.  But it does seem rather bizarre that a sexually mature heifer should still be drinking mama's milk! Have you ever had a cat that wasn't spayed in time and went through her first heat cycle?  Who meowed unceasingly at every window or pawed at every door, looking for a way out where the males were supposedly waiting?  That's what our previously sweet little Ruby is reminding me of today.  Her noises are usually soft and low, rather gentle.  Not today! This morning, I thought they were out of hay because of the commmotion (fat chance, when they strew it all over and probably could eat through the entire winter if they would only just clean up what's on the floor or ground).  Sometimes there is moo-ing when they want fresh hay. Sometimes they Moo when their water is mostly covered with a thick layer of ice and they want an easier time of getting a drink, but that wasn't the case this morning. The only other time we heard moo-ing like today's was once or twice before Lucy, our first heifer, was artificially inseminated.  (She was 18 months old at the time.)   Once in a while, we hear it across acres of cornfields, as the dairy herd to the north of us voices their own interest in becoming mommies. Anyway, the resounding and infinitely annoying "MOOOOO" continues out there, quiet only when Bessie allows Ruby to drink some milk.  With Ruby very intent on doing the "cow-in-heat" behaviors (which include mounting other females), Bessie is smart to keep her sassy young calf away from her tail/udder end as much as possible.  :( When we had a cat who needed to be spayed, the temptation was so strong to just open the door and toss that cat out and deal with the kittens later, that's how annoying and irritating the mewing and craziness was.  I'm tempted to do that very thing with Ruby (well, actually not, since 1: she's too young to be bred, since 2: there is no bull within miles of here, since 3: we want her to have a Dutch Belted calf and there's no DB bull within hundreds of miles.....), but closing her in the barn so that we don't have to hear the earsplitting "Moo's" for a while IS pretty tempting as an alternative! Tomorrow it should be quiet and peaceful out there again.  Except that the kids might have a snow day......  Sigh. Update on the half-frozen chicken:  She does seem to be the one that wasn't particularly healthy or social all winter.  She is recovering nicely, even has the use of her toes to perch herself on the edge of the food bowl.  I was worried that her toes were frozen so badly that they would have lost all potential for living tissue to survive.  We'll see.  Her companions are a "Cherry Egger" hen who looks so ragged that it's almost painful to look at her, and our one-year old pure-bred Barnevelder rooster, who was hunched over in a corner and looking like the respiratory sickness was taking over again.  Three sick or recovering birds, and Michael is asking when I want him to "take care of them".  We'll give them until tomorrow and see how it looks. Laura http://dykstrasfarm.blogspot.com/

The chicken enemy......is a hero!

Rocky, our high-prey drive husky, the sworn enemy of all the chickens, killer of 4 birds so far (one being a defenseless chick) did a very good deed this morning. Granted, I'm allowing quite a bit of grace, here, because if he had not been on the end of the leash, I couldn't have stopped him from taking things further (into his mouth...one sickening crunch......) As I was chaperoning him to the pasture for his morning run, he swerved towards the barn and sniffed out a white fluffy pile of something that wasn't a drift of snow.....  I would not have noticed it at all if not for his interest. Backtracking to Sunday/Monday:  Two and three days ago, it was relatively balmy weather, the snow on the ground was thawing, the grass was showing through what was left of snow and ice, and on Monday afternoon I let the chickens, ducks and geese out of the barn.  They spread out over the driveway, under the drip-line of the barn (the ducks and geese enjoyed a wonderful afternoon of water dripping down on them and responded with flapping wings, loud quacking---or screeching, in the case of the geese, and joyful bathing). The chickens don't care much for being dripped on, but they fanned out into the yard, eating beak-fuls of melting snow and nibbling on what grass they could find. At dusk, they all went back into the barn, like usual, and we shut them in.  I usually do a visual perimeter check, because sometimes they ARE a bit pea-brained and will settle in for the night on the outside of a closed door instead of seeking out the door they came out of earlier in the day.  I had done a quick check that night, as I hurriedly closed things up to get Michael to basketball practice on time. Monday night, a very cold weather system blew in, turning all of that afternoon's rain to a slick of ice, bringing more snow that drifted everywhere, freezing car doors shut, making it a very remote possibility to even think of letting livestock outside. Tuesday, the ice underneath the snow in the yard made it treacherous to take the dogs to the pasture.  Rocky had veered towards the barn door that morning, but I was much more intent on not slipping and falling on the ice than on following his lead. Which brings us to this morning's fluffy white drift of.....feathers. Rocky veered towards the door, and sniffed out a White Rock hen that was huddled up to ward off the bitter temperatures.  There was a large cardboard box giving her some shelter between snow-drift and glass patio-style door.  The cold glass door was the sad barrier between this one half-frozen hen and all the happily pecking and squawking birds inside the barn.  ;( Rocky did not immediately grab her in his jaws, which was enough for me to praise him loudly and excitedly (even though he is a confirmed chicken-killer and always will be, I try be very dramatic about when he makes a good chicken-choice!)  :)  He was squirming with happiness as I rumpled his ears and set him free in the pasture. I rushed back to the hen, which I wasn't sure was even alive.  She was....but barely.  Her belly-feathers were iced and frozen to the snow beneath her, and her feet seemed frozen.  Her eyes were squinted shut and possibly not even able to open.  It looked like her shelter between the box and door is what saved her life this far.  She survived two frigidly cold nights, one blustery and below-zero wind-chill day, and probably wouldn't have made it through this morning unless the temps outside miraculously warm up (and it looks like they won't). It occurred to me that it might be more humane to end her suffering then and there, but of course, I couldn't...because there was still life to be saved.....  And (probably unfortunately), I haven't become hard-hearted enough to not try to save a life, even if it's a chicken's life.  Sigh.   Now....she is in the old rabbit cage, with a heat lamp shining on her and one other bedraggled hen who is also in need of warmth to keep her company.  Her tightly closed eyes are open and she is looking warily around. No idea if it will be successful or if warming her up will prolong her suffering.  Looking around at the hens inside the barn, this was likely the one White Rock who wasn't exactly thriving to start with.  There was one which has spent most of the winter perched on the edge of a nest-box, huddled up on her make-shift roost, not interacting with the other birds. We might still need to take action to end suffering.     For today at least, Rocky (chicken killer, rat killer, rodent-hunter, chipmunk-eater, always-on-the-lookout dog that he is) is a hero for finding a dying chicken and for not chomping her without a second thought! Laura http://dykstrasfarm.blogspot.com/

A forceful shower, for a change

(Written Tuesday the 12th) Imagine that you've moved into a farmhouse which dates back to the 1850's.  It's all been re-done, probably 15 years ago or so.  There's drywall now instead of horse-hair and plaster (or maybe it was once a settler's cabin with rough-hewn beams and plaster for walls!).  There are still support beams in the old basement that are probably original to the house--over 100 years old and still holding strong! The original small 2 story dwelling was expanded at some point to include a one-story/no basement living room (probably was the kitchen, parlor, etc, etc, etc at some point) and has been expanded since then to include a spacious entry way, an amazingly large and inviting kitchen, a full-height basement room including a bathroom, and a roomy laundry room.   The house, garage and barn are attractive, renovated, just beautiful, although overgrown.  The trees on the property, the layout of everything, it all combines to make these 2 small acres a package deal of peacefulness and beauty.  Still, it's obvious that you'll be working hard to keep improving things and bringing everything back to really good shape. You've moved in, expecting things to fall apart without warning because it IS an old farm property after all, even though the renovations are very nice. The septic field and tank?  Unknown quality/installation and no idea how long it will last.  At least we have the permit info from the village/township from when the old tank was filled with gravel and the new(er) set-up was installed, and know where the tank is and where the pipes are laid (under the north half of the pasture!) The plumbing?  Re-done when the house was remodeled, but probably 20 years old.  Water pressure?  It's not enough to effectively run a sprinkler that relies on water pressure to re-set it to the starting point.  It's not enough to rinse your hair clean of conditioner without taking extra care to rinse twice. The furnace?  20 years old and still running unless ice forms just right in the air intake PVC pipe, and then you have no heat.  That was another story a month ago..... The radiant heat in the kitchen floor and basement floor?  Working, but the water tank gradually leaks out water and takes in air, and might be rusting out as well.  It wheezes and makes crazy noises if Jeff doesn't top it off with more water once in a while, but....it heats the kitchen, keeps the entry way fairly comfortable, and keeps the basement and laundry room floor bearable to walk on in sock-feet. The radiant heat in the garage floor?  Not winterized soon enough when the house was foreclosed on and sat vacant, and the pipes burst at floor level.  Not usable (no heat in the garage, sunroom, or office on the second floor of the garage) The barn?  In good shape, considering that it's from the 1920's, but the roof is leaking and parts of the main support beams are in need of bolstering.  It was drywalled and insulated, with a heater installed, which made a very nice workshop for the cabinet-maker who lived here.  It's not so good to have an airtight and insulated barn for livestock, though.  The drywall and insulation had become havens for coons, rats, and mice over the years, and are moldy because we don't run the heater to keep it dry.  (I'm pulling down old soggy stuff as I'm able to get to it, and the trash bags of ruined insulation or drywall are piling up.) Still, it's mainly dry inside and still standing, and housing our 2 cows and numerous chickens, ducks and geese. The well?  The pump turns out to be rather high-tech, surprisingly, and the well-shaft is smaller than the current wells would use.  The workings for the well, water pressure, and water pipes are at least 20 years old.  We don't know how long the pump will last, but at least we know (found out last week) that we can get a replacement pump on short notice when it's needed without ordering it from Denmark. And on....and on....and on.....  You could let yourself get very discouraged if you dwelt on too much of that or on the waiting for something to break down. When the water pressure in the house went down to nothing last week, it wasn't a huge surprise.  The guys from the well and water service came out, determined that the air bladder inside the pressure tank for the well might have a small leak, and gave us instructions for how to test it in the next few days. The water pressure in the house started going between OK and next-to-nothing, back and forth, and we put up with that for the weekend.  It seemed to work for a while, then the pipes would empty out, and slowly the pipes would fill back up with water and everything would work again....for a little while. Monday, the guys came back out and replaced the pressure tank after determining that it would not be fixable.  Then the water still wasn't running right, so they looked at everything connected to various water pipes and found another problem.  A small filter (suited to filtering drinking water but not intended for filtering the well-water coming into a whole house) was installed at some point on the pipe bringing water into the house.  The filter inside of it was nearly completely clogged.  They took out the clogged filter, letting the water flow directly through the empty filter canister and into the water softener and carbon filter.   The water pressure in the house improved dramatically.  The softener and carbon filter are able to do their jobs better now that the water flow is improved, and the sulfur smell and iron taste of the well-water are finally reduced like they're supposed to be. The water pressure improved so dramatically that Jeremy said (after his shower last night) that the force of the water was painful and left his feet bright red.  THAT's never been a problem before!!! Then Jeff confirmed that this morning before he left with the boys:  If you have the shower on at full-force, it stings!  What a novel idea!  We've gotten used to having it on "full-force" because that was the only way to have an actual semblance of a shower. Remember all the stuff I described before?  The septic tank and it's unknown status, the radiant heat boiler and its leaking, the barn and all the things needed to improve it.....?  The water pipes in the house?   We've lived with the low water pressure for a year and a half now and just figured we always would.  The water coming into the house has to travel through a pipe.....which replaces the original pipe.....but the original pipe is still in place.  The new(er) water pipe threads through the original pipe, and is smaller than the original.  So maybe instead of a 1 inch pipe it's 3/4 inches (just for example).   Low water pressure?  Comes with the territory, we thought. The older kids used to gripe about not wanting to shower here, because of water smell, water pressure, not feeling clean after showering here, lots of things.  Jeff used to shower back in Palatine on occasion, before we rented out that house.   Now....what a luxury to have a shower that actually stings if you don't tone it down.   And did I mention that it's my birthday?  I LOVED having a force-full shower to deal with on my birthday morning.  ;)   Laura http://dykstrasfarm.blogspot.com/