Febraury 2015

    February has come to a close and a look back over the month shows surprises can still happen.

     Winter stayed on for the month of February bringing temperatures in the 30's below zero and when it's that cold who wants to deal with water problems.  Working with Awana's we occasionally have a night off and that came in February on the 18th.  I was looking forward to a relaxing night that night but when I arrived home I was informed that we had no water.  Living in the country we rely on a well pump for water and ever since last spring the well has been slowly dying.  In the few days leading up to the 18th, the pump had acted up and popped the circuit breaker.  Each time I was able to get it going but on that Wednesday, well, it happened while I was at work and my oldest boy tried to get it going but failed. 

     Knowing it was going I decided it was time to replace the pump I grabbed my second boy and measured up some stuff and headed to town for a new pump.  As long as we were replacing the pump I decided to replace the tank as well since it was small and it had been something we've wanted to do for a long time.  After returning home with the new pump and tank, I preceded to put everything  together in the kitchen before heading under the house to a 3 foot crawl space to remove the old system and replace it with the new.  With the help of my future son-in-law, we soon had the old system out and the new one in and presto, we had no water.

     With no water running for the course of the day and with breaking the seal to the crawl space letting in cold air, the water lines froze.  Working with a small portable heater and a hair dryer we tried to get the water going.  Soon we had water to the pump but not into the house.  As I was preparing to give up for the night, the water finally went.  I cleaned up for the night went into the house and a few minutes later I hear the words "We have no water."

     A quick check and she was right.  I was too tired to work on it any more so I left a heater on the water pipe and went to bed for I knew that we wouldn't need the water for the first part of the following day.  When I got home on Thursday I headed back down to prime the pump and get the water going.  It didn't work. so I moved the heater and left it for an hour and a half and headed back down under the house.  This time the pump started to draw in water but very slowly.  I also found I had some leaks to deal with.  After the pump had run and shut off a couple of times I headed back up into the house and opened up the faucets and let the water run.  Soon the lines were clear of ice and I was able to take a hot shower.

     February also brought a trip to Bemidji for a church retreat.  It was a great time and for one of the highlights was going shopping with my wife.  I found a couple pair of pajamas on sale and got some new pants - for an upcoming wedding.

     Somewhere in all of this I received my annual revied at work and it went well.

     David, after last months scare and trip to Fargo has continued to improve.  My wife did end up taking him back to Fargo and to the U of M for check ups and he did receive a clean bill of health.  He appeared to have set back earlier this week but seems to be doing okay at the moment.  Time will tell.

     Time will also tell what adventures await our family in March.