Sunday, March 7, 2010

The rigors of ranch life wherein she laments the timeliness of electrical failures

Ah yes!  The romantic picture of living ones life, secluded and isolated on a ranch in Eastern Colorado. The mountains are majestic, the breeze is chilled and one can truly appreciate how your ancestors lived on this range ranching and farming since the early 1800's... 

Until one wakes in 2010 to stumble from the bathroom and into the kitchen where one wishes only to make one a cup of coffee since one is no where near a Starbucks.  One is a bit bleary eyed due to one's reluctance to break up giggling girls at 11:30 last night and so one does not fully comprehend the magnitude or the simple fact that there is no water coming out of the dratted tap!  One turns on light fixture after light fixture determining over the blare of video games on the large flat screen tv that there is power, just no water.

Stumbling to the laundry room where the magic fuse box is located, one realizes that there is no fuse for the well pump located there.  One curses under one's breath as one realizes that one must determine the course of action both a) alone without one's husband to make such boy-determined decisions 2) before one has had one's coffee that is so vital to making sense at 7 am and Thirdly - It's freakin Sunday and this is going to cost a FORTUNE!.

After a few text messages, two phone calls and some mushing kids outside to test hydrants it is determined that I will be without running water (hello 1800!) for at least 24 hours.  Father in law has come to inspect and verify that I need to call out the pump guys so there is nothing more to do than sit tight and wait for tomorrow's less expensive sun to shine upon us.

I have a few blessings to count: 1 - I have power to run the coffee maker on bottled water.  2 - I have bottled water.  3 - the barn is on a seperate well and a seperate pump (replaced 3 years ago) so I have limitless water to haul for toilet flushing and bottle refilling and I don't have to find water to haul to horses (WHEW!) 4 - I have propane to heat the house that has power and I can cook if I can use bottled water or send kids to the barn for pitchers of water.

I also have some words of wisdom...  Don't live on a horse ranch, no matter how romantic you think it is, it is not!  Don't marry a horse trainer - They are very handy individuals, but the travel requirements dictate that their handiness will be soundly out of reach when you need it most.  And last but not least - Never take one seriously who hasn't had her coffee quota for the morning! 

The views expressed in this blog post are soundly disclaimed to be relevant to anything other than the fact that I haven't had my coffee yet!

1 comment:

  1. Oh man... you have shattered my dreams of living in the wilderness... but how awesome that you have a separate pump and all is not lost. If it were my hubby he'd be saying.. see we can do without repairing the broken one... it's a necessity we can live without cos you managed to get water from the barn!!!! Hang in there!!

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