Following several days and nights of very cold weather, the water line froze up this morning. We’d kept the faucet dripping in hopes of preventing this, but after a bitterly cold night, we woke this morning to low, and then no, water pressure. Not even a drip from the faucet. As the saying goes–“You don’t miss the water ’til the well runs dry”.
For years we got our water from a well. An electric pump brought the water up and through the line. We learned an important lesson: when you have well water you need to keep a reserve supply on hand, in case the pump quits working.
Now we have city water, but remembering times past, we keep about 45 gallons of water on hand all the time. We have 3 big jugs and around 30 plastic gallon white vinegar jugs, now filled with water. (We use white vinegar for cleaning.) We keep water in the refrigerator for drinking, and have bags of ice cubes in the freezer to thaw if necessary. I’ve made a habit of filling the tea kettle with water the night before, so it’s available.
Today we were getting “weight-lifting exercise” taking vinegar jugs into the bathroom to flush the commode. We tried to keep heaters at good angles on the water line. I spent some time on “water line duty”, holding a blow dryer on the line. Although I was thankful for our reserves, I watched the number of filled water jugs dwindle, and was a bit apprehensive as afternoon slid into evening with the water line still frozen.
Then, around 7 p.m., I thought I heard the sound of water flowing through the line. The faucet started dripping faster and faster and soon water gushed out! I felt like doing a Snoopy dance! Water! We have water again!! I’m writing this post in celebration of something I generally take for granted: running water!
Lesson learned this time: keep more water on hand, put insulation on the line, and thank the Lord for warmer temperatures! There’s always something new to learn!
©P. Booher
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