water!

Nothing like having no running water for four days to have one appreciate it when it's back!  

Thank you thank you thank you to Chris for finding the huge leak just outside the basement door with water gushing into the basement, and to Mick for coming in all of his spare moments from the depths of the Brouse Lodge septic system to get us up and running again.  

When Doco dug down to the pipe to find the leak, he didn't recognize it as pipe.  Maybe some undersea creature?  So encrusted with rust and pebbles.  No doubt where the leak was, though!  Spewing water inches from the basement wall, but it could have been spewing anywhere along.  We think the pipe has likely been there for 100+ years.

Water spurting - you can imagine the look on Mick's face

Pipe somewhere under the crust 

Douglas set to, digging out the rest of the pipe to the shut-off valve for the house, just beyond the outdoor sink.  Two wet, cold, 7am mornings.  Some holiday!

In the course of repairing the house pipe, the water had to be turned off in front of the squirrel barn - and that valve broke!   Problem #2.  No water then to the clay house or to the garden tap (our bucket source) or to the fire hose.  Yikes.  More wet digging by Chris and Mick to get that valve replaced.  (Thanks to Silverton Building Supply for having one.)

So that we can perhaps know what's what when it's all covered up again …

In the hole-photo (below), the main line comes from top (angled from the right).  There is a "T" turn-off to the right just above the large tube. Then, from left-to-right the valves are: 

1. The large tap-valve in the tall, blue (looks white here), capped tube controls the line to the rest of the Bosun Ranch (no one needed to touch it!)   

2. The actually-green small tap-valve controls a small line that goes off toward bottom-left, to who-knows-where?  It 's broken, but is it on or is it off??  It could be useful to control a new stanchion in Mick's garden, but … ????  Plan is to replace it next dam-cleanout time and then see what gets wet!

3. The red-and-white tap-valve controls a bigger line to the garden, outhouse, ranch house, and orchard, with a branch off just below the valve to the clay house (smaller white pipe crossing on top).

Therefore, according to this upstream/downstream map, either the ranch-house valve (red-and-white) or the rest-of-ranch valve could be shut-off and the other would still have water (and did).

We had arrived on Tuesday night (Oct 4), Douglas and Molly and Ellen on Thursday night and we had water at 10 am Saturday morning - in time for Thanksgiving.  What luxury!

Mick has just been here today for finishing-up planning.  We have arranged to have Chris dig more out around all the valves, then make a box, to be covered by cedar logs so the valves can be accessed more easily when next needed!  Phew.

There is still more plumbing to finish up the job - when Mick has more moments - but we have enjoyed our past ten days of water.  As part of the restoring-to-order, Chris has rebuilt the basement door, which now works!  And he is about to make a flat entrance pad and a step up.  All much appreciated by those who frequent the basement several times a day!