Settlement... a deep subject

Well.... many of you will recall what a  time we had last summer when our water turned to mud. Yes, we had to dig a new well. The old well was filled in and sealed. There hadn't been much settling of the dirt where the old well was... until yesterday morning. This is what we saw:

Have a closer look:

Yeah, Patches... have a really close look!

Careful, Hairry!

All our recent rains (another 1.4" or so Sunday night) must've finally soaked down far enough to make the dirt settle. And boy, did it settle! Yep, it was about 10 feet or so, straight down! Grandpa will fill it in as soon as things are a little less muddy. Meanwhile, I'll keep Courtney out of there.

There's been a little settling, too, next to the new well cap. But that's minor.

Plenty of weeds around there, too. They're doing much better than the newly seeded grass. But I mowed 'em off yesterday.

Update:  Thought I'd let you know that the hole was filled in the next day... so no one will have to worry about it. :)

On another note... I finished the sewing for the pattern test! All done... so cute! And I get to show you SOON! Like in only a day or two! Do come back and see! Meanwhile, I have another sewing project ready to start... and ideas for more!

Well... finished business

The well digger guy came back a couple weeks ago and finished up the job, so the top of our well is no longer in a temporary less-than-sanitary state like it was here. I mistakenly said it was going to have a concrete top on it like our old well, but that was an augered well, and the new one was drilled, so it's much narrower and has a smaller cap on it.

This is our new well:

I just like that photo for some reason. :) Here's a closer view:

Mama kitty was standing behind me, and I asked her to go over by it for a little size perspective. Much to my surprise, she did it!

So the job is done, and the old well filled in. Now all that's left is to pay the bill (which we haven't gotten yet but oughta be "pretty")... and to hope the sand someday finishes washing out of our pipes. Yep, still getting some. Aargh.

Oh, BTW, did you know that this is what a well is like?

Now you know... and I do, too. I happened to find that picture online and thought it was interesting. (I don't know who to give credit to... Michigan, I guess. ;) )

Well, well, well.... WOOHOO!!

WE HAVE NEW WATER!!! Everything went very smoothly, and by 5:30 or so, the new well was hooked up and water was running from our faucets! Amazing!! It's only a temporary hookup until they have time to finish it "properly", but we are able to use the water. Ahhhhh.... what a relief!!! We thought it might drag out a week or two, but it didn't! WHEW!!

The water is quite clear already, too... barely any grayness to it at all. And it smells so good and fresh! I'm so delighted!

Here's how it looks out there now:

This is how we're connected temporarily. The connection will be moved 6 feet underground eventually and a concrete top put over it. I guess it'll be awhile before the well guys will have time to get back and finish it up, but that's okay. They done GOOD today!

It's kind of a mess out there yet, but that's minor.

Now if only the pipes didn't have the sludge from the old well in them yet. We're still getting pretty dirty soft water. But it'll work its way out eventually.

All's well that ends well.......

Well, well, well.... update 2

It's begun. The well digger showed up around 8:00 this morning and got right to work. This is my view from the house (that hunk of round concrete on the grass is the top of our old, dead well:

Here's the diggin' rig (and a trailer carrying pipes, etc.):

'Nuther view of same:

Ahh... look at the top... it even has lights! Does that mean they'll be working long hours into the night to get the well done for us ASAP? Ha! No.

It's been very noisy around here. But I'm not complaining! Noise is good... means work's getting done! But let's just say I'm a little more grateful for the warmer weather that causes the windows to be closed with the AC on. ;)

This is what they've dug out so far:

Looks very similar to what I dug out of my sink, doesn't it? Eeuww!

I just got word that they're down 170 feet. That might be far enough! They've gone to get casing to start putting down the hole. Then they'll determine what's down there for water. Still lotsa work to do yet.

While I was at it, I snapped a pic of the current water supply tank:

Not so pretty, but I was informed that it's actually better and cleaner than the other one. It lets no light in, so algae can't grow in it.

That's it so far. I'll keep you posted!

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.