Life On and Off an Acreage

In-sights into moving from an Acreage back to Town, plus a few things I find of interest.

Two things that horses are scared about:


1. Things that move
2. Things that don't move




Old enough to be eccentric, but not rich enough

March 5, 2011

Rest Day!

After the previous week and a half, I declared a rest day. This can be seen in Brooklynn for one. She got herself worn out watching all the shenanigans going on with the Well Technician, the steamer truck, and all the work going on trying to keep the horses, chickens, dogs and us all watered.

It is amazing what we take for granted! You turn the tap on, you get water. You flush, water is taken away. After a week with neither water, or unlimited flushing. we got to realize just how lucky we are. Going back to "early primitive" I found it to be a full time job just getting water for all the critters, in a form that was usable.

We don't pamper our horses with a barn, heated stalls or things like that. One of our dogs, Boots, will not drink water from a tap in a bowl, but prefers to eat snow. Yep, even at -40 C . The rest of us like warm water. This gave us a look at what it must have been like in pioneer days, in the dead of winter trying to survive until spring, when a harvest could be planted. My ancestors showed up in Canada from England, had a crop failure and barely made it. Their homestead was never registered as they didn't make the first year let alone the three years required. We still had heat, so did not have to spend a whole bunch of time cutting and hauling firewood. We are truly blessed in these days. We figured we did good at -30C, surviving a week with no water and a few days with a frozen sewer line.
Life as a horse is much simpler. Give them food, give them water and they can make it. The cold made them go into hibernation mode, sort of. Don't move, huddle up and conserve energy.

The Canada Weather office is forecasting another month of severe cold, but I don't agree with them. I have one dog shedding hair, two horses shedding hair, so what do they know that we don't? I will take a horse prediction of spring over whatever a mere rodent can predict. After all, gophers are just slightly smarter than wheat. We shall see.

The last two days have been spent doing the bare minimum as far as acreage work goes, and a lot of time sleeping, 12 hours the first day and 10 the second. The activity also caused a weight loss of 8 pounds over the week. The balance of the awake time was spent mostly eating.

Come warmer weather, I will likely be replacing the water well pump. The controller failed, not the pump, but the well tech guy says it is due to failure as it's life of 14 years is getting up there for a hard water service. I also see some changes that need to be made in the sewer lines, such as clean-outs that are pointed the right way, and a proper "Y" drop leg to the underground part.

Some day, about 10 years out, we will look back and think "Remember the Good Old Times on The Acreage?" You betcha!
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8 comments:

  1. We have had water issues here on our 100+ yr old farm, but I cannot imagine the well issue. Hauling water to use is a full time job, not to mention if you had to heat with only wood. Glad things are getting better and I hope things will warm up a bit for you.

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  2. I'm glad things are returning to somewhat normal. Heckuva way to lose 8 pounds! And that Boots is a real tough hombre...no wonder he's Boss.

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  3. Did things get fixed,hope so. Sounds like you all have had it rough. I can't imagine being without water for very long,I know it's no fun. Hang in there. Blessings jane

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  4. I think the animals know better than the weather man.

    Glad we have springs, if the power goes, we can carry water.

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  5. Sounds like you needed the down time. Good for you!

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  6. I really appreciated reading this post. I love your attitude. I have started a blog on positive attitudes when faced with difficult situations. I have a contest to get people sharing. I think this post would be perfect for my contest. Take a look. www.triumphandtears.blogspot.com

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  7. Replacing it sooner is a good idea.

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  8. Brooklynn is a very smart dog. Animals seem to always know when it's time for a nap. Just like Old Geezers :-)

    Hang in there. Springtime is coming. I think? :-)

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