I wanted to paint the house.

We were entering the dry season, which in recent years has become 11.75 months out of the year. So why not paint the house? It started raining before I got the first section done. It's been raining regularly ever since. It even flooded. Probably the flood washed something into the electric well pump.

The rain that halted the paint job and flooded the well and probably washed something into the electric well pump also flooded the cellar. All the y2k remnants had to come out. There were still several hundred pounds of remnants in there. We were planning to feed at least a hundred people this year. You remember, we thought y2k was gonna wipe out things as we knew it and we planned to feed at least a hundred people. All the stuff had to go into the house. If there had been room for the stuff in the house, it wouldn't have been in the cellar in the first place, now would it?

Let's see if the software will let me cry my cry...

-- helen (still@the.funny.farm), July 24, 2000

Answers

So the stuff was in the unpainted house, the cellar was flooded and the electric well pump was acting funny probably because the flood had washed something in there.

Edna goat broke my husband's finger, so forget any more help bailing water out of the cellar or hauling things around. He was manly enough to admit from his prone position on the floor that it wasn't really her fault. This was a day no goats would die. (Have any animals been killed here? I mean, for food?)

The day after Edna goat broke my husbands finger we spent in the hospital trying to convince someone to set it properly. That night I was possessed with the need to fill the y2k water barrels. In the dark I stood, filling barrels with unneeded water. They thought I was crazy. hahahahahahahahahah aaaaaaaaaaahhh!

The next morning the electric well pump quietly gave up the ghost before we'd even had our coffee. Mike Mule left. Instead of painting the house or bailing the cellar or fixing the electric well pump or hauling y2k stuff around, we hunted for a mule. Did you know that you can suffer a sunburn on the same skin that is reacting to poison ivy?

The y2k water barrels were clean and the well water properly disinfected with the correct amount of bleach. Unfortunately, my husband was unable to drink that water without barfing. Good thing we found out before something really bad happens on the world scene.

The next day Mike Mule returned and the house remained unpainted and the cellar remained unbailed and the electric well pump remained broken along with my husband's finger, but no one cared.

Will the software let me continue my tale?

-- helen (here@the.limit), July 24, 2000.

The day after Mike Mule returned, a relative of a relative suffered a severe health problem and we inherited two little girls. The well man couldn't send anyone out for another two days. Luckily we had the hand pump. We don't drink that water, but the animals and garden were taken care of. We could flush the toilet like arrogant American consumerist resource-wasting pigs.

The day after that ... I don't remember any more.

The day after THAT, the well man sent out two young boys who couldn't fix our electric well pump in two attempts. I hurt myself catching the well assembly when they accidentally dropped it. The little girls went home. I told the well man not to worry about us because we still had the handpump and could wait. He had a handicapped man who needed water badly. A few minutes later the handpump failed.

The day after that, the well man came out himself and fixed the electric well pump in a few minutes. The handpump would have to wait. As I went to the house to turn on the blessed water, one of the kids met me. The little girls needed to come back.

The day after that the little girls went back home. I went back to the cellar to start the long process of hauling the y2k remnants in to restock the shelves. Unfortunately, the flooding had caused the shelves to collapse.

Next, the good part...

-- helen (ducking@imagined.fears), July 24, 2000.

What possible good could come out of all this?

I gave in to the compulsion to fill the water barrels and we needed them within hours. This is something good to know. Sometimes we should follow a feeling or a hunch.

We discovered that my husband is allergic to levels of chlorine that don't irritate other people. It's always better to discover problems before you actually HAVE to live with them.

We have an electric well pump that is likely to last several more years with no maintenance. We also learned why the well was damaged by flooding and how to avoid this in the future.

We learned that the handpump was not as reliable as we thought. We hope they come back out and fix it in such a way as to avoid this type of failure for many more years -- just in case we have to use it as a primary source again.

We discovered that two more kids would be a desirable addition to the family.

We found the design flaw in our homemade shelving and fixed it. We also rearranged the shelving to make it much easier to use.

We had the scare of the year when Mike Mule walked away and have taken steps to keep that from happening again.

Parts of the house that were scheduled for paint have been revealed to need replacement in the meantime. And in the meantime we happened to have picked up a large amount of good used lumber. We were wondering what we would use it for.

While the y2k remnants were stacked in our house, a neighbor called and asked for help. Now we have considerably less stuff to haul back in.

A broken finger doesn't look like a positive thing, but maybe it's keeping my husband out of some trouble that I'm not currently aware of. :)

I hope to go back to painting the house some time soon.

-- helen (hanging@the.edge.of.heaven), July 24, 2000.

((((((Helen)))))) ! ! !

-- Brooke (Happiness @Hill.top), July 24, 2000.

I second Brooke! ((((((((Helen))))))))

-- Tricia the Canuck (jayles@telusplanet.net), July 25, 2000.

Last night I told Helen my theory that she is the receptacle of all bad luck cuz it's easier for the rest of us to keep track of it that way! Plus, we really, really enjoy her stories!

Helen, you do have a way of putting other things in perspective for me. Thank you!

(Still working on Edna's role in all of this. I don't think she does much of anything by accident.)

-- Brooks (brooksbie@hotmail.com), July 25, 2000.

Helen,

What I want to know is, where do I send you the fruitcakes too? I mean, after that, you need all the fruitcakes that I have. Is it the farm on the left or right side of the road?

Waiting to lick the $50.00 worth of stamps to mail this baby off to ya!

Hope things get better, Sheeple

-- (Sheeple@Greener.Pastures), July 25, 2000.

Geez Helen, you've made me *really* jealous.

Shure wished things were goin that well around here.

Hope your good luck continues.

.

Y'all really don't want to know.

-- Greybear (greybear@home.com), July 26, 2000.

Sheeple, we are always on the right side of the road. Them other folks over on t'other side are flatlanders. Nice, but flatlanders.

Greybear, we want to know EVERYTHING.

-- helen (home@the.funny.farm), July 27, 2000.

But of course you're on the right side of the road. You're always writing on the right side of the road 'cause the other side of the road is under the dirt and there isn't any room to write on the wrong side of the road.

... and if we rode on the leftover side of the road then we'd be on the other side of the road and it woudn't be the right side of the road. It would be the top of the road - unless you're in OZ or NZ......THEN you'd be on the right side of the road.

Which is the bottom - which you said was flooded.

Unless you rode on the left side of the road - then you'd be on the right side of the road only in places that speak English; unless you're on the wrong side of the road in places that speak English.

But the Japanese drive on their side of the road.

-- Robert A. Cook, PE (Marietta, GA) (cook.r@csaatl.com), July 27, 2000.

Well, there, now we have the best explanation of sides of road we could ever wish to give a bureaucrat :-)

Greybear, ofcourse we want to hear it, if you want to unload. If you want to whine just a little while you're at it, you could use the rant of the week thread... it's back in the archives, though, I think. (((Greybear and Lilly)))

-- Tricia the Canuck (jayles@telusplanet.net), July 27, 2000.

Everything???

-- LillyBear (homesteader145@yahoo.com), July 31, 2000.

Lillybear, EVERYTHING! :)

-- helen (home@home.home), July 31, 2000.

Everythign......Well - or nothing, Lilly, depending on what your wearing in public.

Or not wearing in public.

Or whatever you're wearing whereever you're not wearing it.....

Or was that the other thread.....the thread talking about the absence of threads?

-- Robert A. Cook, PE (Marietta, GA) (cook.r@csaatl.com), August 01, 2000.

Well, Robert, sometimes I wear it, and sometimes I don't...oh, this is the wrong thread...never mind.

I am working the night shift (10 p.m. to 6 a.m.), so I am suffering from insomnia, even though it is 11 p.m. at this time. But this blinking curser is making me sleepy.

So everything will have to wait....zzzzzzz

-- LillyBear (homesteader145@yahoo.com), August 01, 2000.

(((Lilly!)))

I know *exactly* how it feels to be wide awake at 11p.m. and dragging myself out of bed at 11a.m. Sometime we'll have to discuss coping strategies.

Still waiting for your tale of woe - hoping that trouble shared is trouble halved!

-- Tricia the Canuck (jayles@telusplanet.net), August 01, 2000.

(((Tricia)))

Today I need to stay up...have an appointment at 10:00, and so it is working the night shift isn't it?

We replaced a well pump also, and a zillion other things that just come and go each day. My biggest complaint is not enough time with the Bear (darn this having to earn a living). Of course I miss him if he is just in the next room. :-)

-- LillyBear (homesteader145@yahoo.com), August 02, 2000.