Well, well, well.... an update

Yes, we do have to dig a new well. They think what happened is that the steel casing way down deep rusted through and allowed clay to fall into the well, clogging it up. Just to give you an idea of what our water was like, here's a picture of some of the sludge I scraped out of the kitchen sink (much more went down the drain):

Just imagine someone stirring up a mud puddle and having that muck coming out of your faucets. (I should've taken a pic as it was running!) I added a considerable amount to that bowl as the day went on. It's clay. I think I should take up sculpting.

At first they thought it was just that something shifted and knocked a little dirt into the well. But running water full blast from a hydrant all day long didn't clear it up. Then the water quit coming altogether. A look down the well showed no water to be seen. So there went that theory, and it was determined that we'd have to dig a new one. Not good news.

Hopefully the well diggers will be able to start tomorrow. They have other commitments for part of next week, though, so it could be a drawn-out process. :(

Meanwhile, this is our water source:

Or rather, it was when I took the pic. They switched tanks, and this is the one they're now using to haul the water from our dairy. Another was borrowed to hold the water here. So we do have water. But it's definitely not sanitary. Also, there's a lot of residual mud that has settled in the pipes, so the clay keeps coming, although in much lesser amounts. It'll be awhile before that all gets cleared out.

I washed dishes yesterday... and myself... but don't know how clean either actually is. We'll buy drinking water or bring it in cleaner containers from the dairy.

So that's it for now. Not great, but do-able, I guess.