water 4

After about a year of this, it got old, and we decided to start going to the laundromat and to get water from a place closer to town.  It cost two cents a gallon there, where the other place was free, but it was closer so we used less gas, and it was easier.  You could pull right up and they had hoses, like at the gas station.  It was right near where Bill worked, so it was convenient—and it meant no more getting up early on Sunday morning!

    About nine months later, Bill tried again to get someone to go into the tank and fix the hole.  He had tried when the hole was first discovered and no one would do it.  I can’t say I blame them—the only way into the tank was through a small opening about 18 inches across.  Then the person would have to stand in there with a torch and weld a new piece of metal over the hole!  The thought of being in that tank, with such a tiny opening with flame and smoke makes me queasy!  But this time, he found someone who would do it. Of course, by this time, the pump was frozen, as was the line to the house.  And the water heater was shot, so we had to get those things fixed.  Finally, one day, we turned on the faucet, and out came water!  It was weird.  So we tried to get used to having water once again.  It didn’t last long.  By this time we were selling the house and the new one we bought had a septic system, but no running water.  We knew how to live like that—we’d had lots of practice.  So we were back to hauling water.  We knew though, that we had it easier than people who don’t have septic systems.  We had an indoor bathroom and drains and things like that.  

We could take something like a shower in our own house, and we could stay inside to go to the bathroom, instead of trudging through the snow at –45 degrees to use the outhouse.  Because of that, it really wasn’t that bad to be without running water.  In some ways, it was easier.  We never had to worry about running out of water because we could always see how much we had and go get it ourselves when we needed more.  It was much cheaper to get it ourselves than to have it delivered.  And our electric bill plummeted.  It is amazing how much electricity we had used in our first years there simply for water!  We never had to worry about pipes freezing or plugging in the heat tape.  It was annoying at times, but it was satisfying in a way too.  I felt that I was living in a more basic way somehow.  The water wasn’t the only reason for that—I had gotten to a place where I was eliminating lots of extraneous stuff from my life, and running water became one more thing that was eliminated.  And I suppose I felt somewhat virtuous—I was conserving, and conserving a lot!  As a family of three, we used less than 100 gallons of water per week in the house, plus whatever we used to do our one load of laundry at the laundromat.  It was a real learning experience, and one I am rather glad I had!  It helped me to understand that what we commonly think of as “necessary” can usually be revised!