CITY PEOPLE HAVE NO CLUE

I have a habit of apologizing to most of the service people who come to our place, almost as soon as they step out of their truck -- for the difficulty in finding us; for our crazy steep driveway and all it's curves; for how hard it is to park and turn their large vehicles here; and most of all, for anything we might have done to cause whatever problem they are here to fix. They just laugh, then usually say something like "This is nothing! You should have seen this one house we went to!"

When the well guys got here the other day, I was quite proud that we'd moved all our vehicles out of the way ahead of time. I told them they could pull all the way to the end of the driveway, so they wouldn't have to carry their equipment too far. They laughed. Then they explained to me that they would have to back their giant two-ton vehicle down these steps and across the patio, until it was butt up against the pump house, in order to use their crane dealiebopper to pull all the pipe, and then the pump, out through the roof of the pump house. They also told me that, since their vehicle might crush these steps, they would call their supervisor and get him to bring some blocks and ramps to help prevent that." Oh. Okay. I'm so sorry!" They just laughed again, then said "Oh don't worry. This is nothing. You should have seen this one house we went to. They put their well pump in their house! We had to pull it out through a skylight!" They were even nice enough to move our big Green Egg barbecue pit and all my heavy flower pots out of the way, while waiting for the ramps to arrive.

 
These guys were just kids, really (Hubby got depressed when he heard one talking about how his Grandpa used to have these eight track tapes), but when I complimented them on their driving skills, they again laughed and said "Aw, this is nuthin'! You should have seen this one time, when I had to back this heavy truck right up to the edge of a cliff to get to this one pump. I was prayin' the whole time, 'Please don't collapse! Please don't collapse!'" And here I thought learning to drive in the city was tough!

Anywho, the new well pump is up and running now, and it's a good thing, too! The very next day, when Hubby went out to change the filter on the rain tank, something broke on that one, and caused water to start squirting into the pump house. Soooo, we had to shut that pump down now, and switch the house back to well water temporarily. We called and left a message with Tank Town, but of course it was the weekend. Turns out they're not open on Mondays either. Ick! Well water is fine for washing and flushing, but not so great for drinking and cooking -- especially since we got rid of our water softener a while back. At least I haven't been smelling that horrible sulphur smell this time! Instead the water smells like a highly chlorinated swimming pool, which isn't so bad.

I sure hope we hear from Tank Town soon, and that this doesn't cost a fortune to fix. My poor hubby is beginning to feel biblically beleaguered!