Life Without Water

Unfortunately, the small leak that the hubs fixed was not the only issue. I woke up Friday morning with frozen pipes again, no idea why at this point. However once I defrosted them there were burst pipes again so I made many desperate calls to local plumbers until someone called me back. Once he got out here he announced that one, my crawl space was small, cramped, and nasty and two, we really needed to re-do the entire plumbing system to fix the issues. Well that's just great. So he wasn't able to get the water running Friday but would be back in the morning.

Saturday morning rolls around and no plumber. It was somewhat of a misunderstanding slash miscommunication. Either way, no water. Of course, I was attempting an organizational feat that day and so I and my very girl scout friend had to use the "outdoor" bathroom. Wink, wink. However, when push came to shove, I thought I would try melting snow to use the indoor toilet. If you have never done this let me tell you, it takes at least 20 minutes to melt enough snow stove top in order to fill that tank!

Sunday came and went without water. Same sad story. Also, just so you know I have been showering regularly in a different location so at least I am fairly clean and smelling nice at this point.

Monday dawns and I have a bit of an issue. The plumber is due very soon and I need to do...well a number 2. I don't have the requisite 20 min to melt snow and I can't leave that in the bowl when the plumber gets there. I race around the house and find a box. I am sad to say that this morning I was forced by the elements to go in a box!

Now it is 6 pm and the water is still not on. Although the pipes have all been replaced and insulated the pump is not working. The thought is that it burned itself out during the great freeze of 2011 and we need a new one.

And so is my life at the moment...both dogs and chickens have water though!

Cause and Effect

It has been a pretty eventful time here on the farm lately. It's amazing how little things can create really large problems. Our little farm cottage is estimated to be between 75 and 100 years old. Apparently, back in the old days, when the water table is super high people didn't dig basements. As such, we have a crazy small crawl space under our house complete with dirt floor and crumbly foundation. This crawlspace has been the bane of my existence for many reasons, most of which include snakes living under my little house and now frozen pipes. Late Saturday night I woke up to a very still silence. No fan running for white noise, no heaters running, and no lights. I went out into the living room to check things out but there were no blown fuses so we assumed it was a power outage and went back to bed. That apparently was our first mistake.

Sunday morning we woke up and we no longer had water to any of our sinks or our toilet. We figured that since the pipes were already frozen we could wait to thaw them out until after church. So we made our cups of coffee and headed out.

Let me pause this little tirade to say that this is not the first time the pipes have frozen. In fact, this is the third time I have had to thaw out the pipes this winter. First, our heat tape wasn't plugged in so we had nothing to combat the low temps. Second, we had a massive snow storm that blew snow into the crawlspace and wrapped around our pipes freezing them solid. And now, Cause: the power went out, turning off the heat tape. Effect: leaving us in the middle of this mess!

When we did get back home I took out the trusty "thaw out the pipes" space heater and hooked it up under the house. 30 minutes later the water was running again, in fact it was gushing out underneath the house like Niagara Falls! This time we were not as lucky as the last few and one of the pipes burst from freezing. We realize we needed to turn the water off ASAP and ran to the door to the mechanical shed. Here is our cause and effect number 2, Cause: No gutters installed on the back of the house. Effect: Ice buildup in front of the door prevents the door from being open.

Hubs realizes that we need to melt that ice pronto and I ran for the flame weeder. After a few passes with the flame weeder we were back in business and proceeded to turn off the water supply. Only after we had all the water turned off did we discover our next problem. Cause: Using a flame weeder on a partially rotted door, and then turning all the water off. Effect: Starting the door frame on fire and not having any water to extinguish it with.

So irrationally, I start throwing snow at the door frame. Let me tell you, do not attempt this snow does nothing to extinguish a flame. Once I realize that the snow is doing nothing I run into the house and search for water, all I find is the water in the toilet. I fill up a small bucket and run back outside to throw it on the door frame. Of course Jon, being slightly more rational in the situation has turned the water back on so we can just use the tap. Smart.

I then learn a little bit about plumbing, including how to use these cute little clamps to patch a broken pipe. I have to credit my husband with a lot because he not only fixed the pipe but he crawled underneath the house and braved strong cold winds in order to do so. His clothing didn't fair well but it was a small price to pay to have water again! So I hope your weekend was better than mine!

Digging out the Chicken Coop

I am definitely feeling the farm girl lifestyle today. In fact, I just came in from plowing our lane (again) after all the snow drifted back over the plowed areas. We received somewhere between 12 and 15 inches of snow over the past 24 hours. The biggest problem however isn't the snow but the wind, upwards of 40 mph! It seems like as soon as you scoop or plow the wind just fills it right back up. You can practically watch all your hard work get covered up! The funniest thing about today however has to be the chicken coop.

Let me preface this story with some background information. Unfortunately, through first time farmer ignorance, our coop design isn't really the best one for our needs. I simply cannot fit the water station in the coop. A few weeks ago I went out to the coop only to discover that the waterers that I was using were not really meant for winter. The water was frozen solid! So I hoofed it to my friendly neighborhood tractor supply for an answer. Apparently, there are these little devices called "de icers" that you can place in water to keep it from freezing. However, it will not work in my suction based waterer so I had to settle for a deep metal pan.

Now, before the storm hit yesterday I went out to make sure that the feeder and water station were full. This morning I look out and realize that the chickens are officially "snowed in" with a drift of about 3 feet tall in the run. I therefore have to bundle up and tread out there to dig them out and give them access to their water. So after falling down a few times, I finally had a path for them to get out of the coop, get to the water, and for me to get in :-)

So now it is just keep feeding the woodstove to stay nice and toasty, unpack from our Christmas trip and get some laundry done. Oh and wait to see if Best Buy braves the elements and delivers our new TV...my guess not so much!

The Pleasures of Homemade

We have decided to do a pre-Thanksgiving. As we will not be able to celebrate on the actual date we have coined tomorrow evening as our holiday. We have a healthy crew coming to join in and we are preparing a feast with all the usual suspects, turkey, stuffing, green bean casserole, cranberry sauce, etc. I have chosen this year to make it as "from scratch" as possible. I am finding that the more I make myself the more I enjoy the process. So with preparation in mind I have begun my homemade adventure! I made a fresh loaf of white bread two days and cornbread tonight to make stuffing with, homemade mac and cheese is just waiting in the fridge, the cream of mushroom in the green beans will be from scratch, and the pie is next on the agenda. My mother always makes the best walnut/pecan pie. I will be trying to replicate it for my Thanksgiving table out here on the coast. She has a fantastic and fairly foolproof pie dough that I am impatiently waiting to get from her tonight ;-) I encourage everyone to try something homemade this holiday, it really is a wonderful thing.

Life As Usual

I think that this time of year may be my favorite so far on the farm. The colors in the woods were magnificent! In fact, about a week ago I was sitting out in a tree stand for a few hours...no deer to report unfortunately...and it was just so beautiful. Being out here in such a rural setting has allowed me to see the beauty of nature over and over again. I think that the restoration process we have been going through in and outside of the house has clouded my view day after day but seeing the wildlife and trees change has captured my attention again.

We had wood delivered to heat our home through the cold winter months and the hubs and I have been stacking it with fervor...and sweat! Its really rustic using the wood stove but so homey. Of course, it forces you to see just how much you are using to keep warm. Its not just flip a switch or turn the thermostat up a few degrees and get a bill, its bring in armloads of wood and see the pile shrink knowing exactly how much that pile cost.

Trying to finish up odd jobs around the farm before winter hits. Mulching the new and old beds, cleaning up the garden and amending the soil, general cleanup around the house and barn, the list seems to be never ending. But all in all, I really love it out here.

Some Pics...

The infamous Town hall, of which I was not permitted to enter. Sigh...

The John Rylands library, created by his wife as a tribute to his life during a time when Manchester was trying to re-create itself as a cultural area. Inside are the most amazing stone archways!

The Manchester Cathedral on an actually very sunny warm day. I really liked the tiered pots in the front, might have to try something similar on the farm some day.

A rainy day in Manchester...

Well its been 6 days into our trip so far and I find that I am now saying thinking things in my head with an English accent. Even while I am writing this it is all I can do not to laugh at that little voice in my head, and to be honest the voice needs to work on the accent a little too :-) I do not think I could live abroad for that very reason actually. I tend to start picking up accents like other people pick up fashion advice. I have a few choice things that I say now strangely simply because my roommate in college was from Kentucky, and doesn't Jon love to make fun of me when I say each and every one of them!! Anyway, my neurosis aside, it really has been a lovely trip so far. Well, for me at least. Jon has been working everyday obviously, and he has also not had much luck with the food. I have to say, the English really aren't known for their food and I can certainly see why. The worst of it is that attempting other nationalities food is often worse than the traditional English variety. The other night Jon had a calzone that tasted like they used ketchup rather than spaghetti sauce. Ewww... On a happier note, the one culinary tradition that I absolutely adore in Britain is high tea. To my surprise, I had a time of it finding a place that actually served a real high tea but through free public wifi and google I was able to achieve success. So yesterday afternoon it was tea at Harvey Nichols, one of the UK's premier department stores. I had tea, scones, little sandwiches, and lovely petite fours all while staring out the big picture windows. Absolutely wonderful.

I happened onto a great little market here in Manchester as well. Apparently its only there for the next two weeks and has all these vendors with homemade cheeses, salami, cakes, and all kinds of foods like pasties, curries, and even a whole roasted hog! Not exactly something that you usually see everyday in the States.

I've toured the cathedral, the John Rylands library, and tried to tour town hall but unfortunately there was a labour party conference occupying it all week. All absolutely stunning buildings full of great architecture. Really architecture is the reason I love Europe so much. When I came back from my first trip to Paris I found that I had taken more pictures of roof lines and windows than almost anything else!

On the home front, well I am pretty upset with myself. I have a friend picking the garden for me so that nothing goes to waste and she discovered that I seemed to have left the freezer door a bit ajar and everything in it thawed and leaked all over the floor!! Now the waste is awful, the mess is disgusting, but I am so very frustrated because the last time I opened that stupid freezer door was hours before leaving on our trip when I was attempting to put up all those tomatoes coming out of the garden!! So not only did I cause serious problems but everything I was rushing to do right before we left is now a loss!

It also seems that all New Jersey needed was for us to leave in order for it to get some much needed rain. In fact, it looks like we are getting quite the storm these next few days. So I am grateful to know that the garden is still producing and the plants I put in the perennial bed will likely be lush and green when we get back from holiday...see there is that Englishy thing coming out again....