The weather turned a little nippy the last couple days… in fact it got down to -4 here at the homestead and that was VERY cold. We took extra precautions with the animals, extra feed and water, extra straw and bedding to help keep the cold away. Maggie spent some time plasticing up some of the pony barn to keep the cold from Cody.
Inside the house, we’ve put up a little bit of plastic and sealed off the two offices. Since they are built actually as enclosures of the old porch, they are drafty and hard to keep nice and warm. So we figured it was time to condense the area that we were trying to heat. We moved the computers into the living room and bedrooms, just to make it easier.
The girls love to play video games and they have discovered that a good blanket helps to keep the chill away! And all the critters enjoy snuggling with them to pass the evening away. Actually it was kind of fun, playing games, watching DVDs an doing crafts. I’m working on a rag rug out of old t-shirts. We’ve been watching the first season of the Waltons on DVD and the girls are getting a big kick out of the show. I have to admit, it’s really good! We are enjoying it.
I’m surprised at how comfortable we are with just a pair of kerosene heaters and a pair of space heaters throughout the house. It was well insulated before it was lost through foreclosure, and I am certainly glad for that. It’s helping now to get us through the rest of the winter. Hopefully, by next winter we will be able to install a propane furnace. That’s the goal.
Well, the weather is due to change in the next 10 days or so. Instead of these very very cold temperatures, we’re due to start creeping up into the high 30’s! Yippeee! It’s soon to be February… and then March! Can’t wait!
This is the artesian spring that we are getting our water from right now. It runs all the time and has a pretty high flow rate. It takes only a few seconds to fill up a gallon jug.
It’s located on the side of Rt. 20, just east of Fayette, Ohio. Been there for as long as anyone remembers. In doing a little research about the spring, I discovered that Williams and Defiance and Fulton counties have lots of these little springs all over the place. The area is rich in a huge aquifer that supplies the Maumee and other big rivers in the area. They are naturally filtered through a wonderful mineral base, which has given the water crystal clear purity and reputed health rewards for drinking it. I will admit, I don’t feel all that much different in the last three weeks of drinking it, but it is good and clean.
Funny thing, we’re not the only folks at the well. In fact, it’s not uncommon to have to wait our turn to fill up! Lots of people come to the spring and fill up their jugs for drinking. The farm that this one is located on, they don’t mind at all. It’s nice that it’s so available and shared with the community. In fact, my friend Tim, who plays in our band and all, he remembers as a kid and young man, stopping there to fill up jugs on the way to hunting or hanging out at the lake. I even found a couple youtube videos about it!
He mentions a metallic taste, but we’ve never experienced that. I’ve heard that the purity was rated “excellent” by various agencies and if it were not good, I’m quite certain that the liability of having public access to the well would be so high, the landowner would have stopped folks from filling up.
I like the ice formation from the spray, on the grass. It’s always kind of cool to look at, see the odd shapes. You park right next to the spring, and then fill up. Takes very little time. We so appreciate being able to fill up our jugs a time or two at the neighbors, but to be honest, going to the spring is so simple and quick, less lugging the water and such. At 7 pounds per gallon, you pretty quickly don’t want to be carrying that stuff around! Especially our 7 gallon containers, they get pretty heavy for sure.
We knew we would be going past the spring a couple times last week, so we filled up the 55 gallon stock water tank for everyone, and made sure all the livestock water was full. That really helped. Now, when we go, we fill up about 25 gallons in our one gallon jugs and our two 7 gallon containers. It gives us about 3 days of water, if we’re not wasteful. Easily two days. One the warm, nice sunny days, we might go twice a day, and fill up that water tank and wash up, do dishes, clean up the kitchen good, mop the floors. Thankfully, we haven’t had to go in the super frigid temps, because you do get a little bit damp filling up the jugs! But with the car right there, you have it nice and warm and you just work quickly. We can get 25 gallons in less than 15 minutes. I think on Tuesday, I’m going to get another pair of the 7 gallon jugs because I am understanding that water is a very important thing to consider in your emergency planning needs. 4 of them would give a person over 28 gallons and in an emergency, that could last for days and days if you were careful. Flushing the toilet is still one of the most wasteful things we do with that toted water. I wish it was a little warmer out, we’d consider using our outhouse more! (haha) At 5 degrees out, that trip out to the outhouse and the visit therein, is just TOOOO cold for these old buns! We’re saving up for the repair, getting there. About a good third of the way, maybe a bit more if the repair is not as pricey as the top of the estimate. I do need to take the time and discover how deep our well it, as that really does help the whole estimating process. Perhaps this coming week, as the temperatures are suppose to rise and become much more tolerable. Right now, we’re doing fine. It’s still well in the tolerable task category and we’re adjusting to the routine just fine. I was surprised to learn that there are MANY people, even in America, that still have to bring their water in, either by tanker or buy purchasing it and toting it in. Often it’s because of contaminated water sources, or they live in areas where the water table it very very low. Or there are no public water sources and they choose to live in this manner. Convenient, easily accessible indoor plumbing is only a very recent development in the history of mankind. This whole adventure has given me a lot of insight and consideration to the generations before and all they did to have water at their command. It is a blessing for sure and I know that we will never take it for granted again.
This is an old tune called Southern Flavor, written by Mr. Bill Monroe, the father of Bluegrass music. I love how it is in a minor chord and just is not the traditional, sort of expected sound for bluegrass. Fun to play and Mr. Rob just really lays it down on the mandolin!
