Thankful Thursday

I'm thankful for my determined Hubby!

This soggy tale started two months ago when we noticed that a large patch ground was awfully soggy around our water meter. We suspected it must be leaking on the water company's side of the meter, so we called to ask someone to come out and check.

The good ol' boys from Okmulgee Rural Water District 7 came out, stared at it a while, confirmed that the leak was on their side, and said they'd come fix it sometime. Uh-huh.

A couple of days later, the good ol' boys came back, planted some flags, painted the grass with orange paint, and left.

We haven't seen them since.

This morning when I was paying bills, I nearly fell out of my chair when I saw the water bill. It was nearly 3 times our normal usage. I thought maybe the old meter reader misread it, so I waded out to the meter, bailed the water out of the box, and found the little dial on the meter was just a'flyin' round and round! Gak!

Well, I guess that leak wasn't on their side. I've been ignoring the growing pond in the back yard because Dim Bulb water dude told me it was their problem! I'm livid over this mess.

Sweet hubby started digging up the back yard around noon today. Soggy, water-logged clay is hard to move. When he finally got down to the water line, he found that tree roots were wrapped around the pipe and had squeezed it until it shattered.

It gets better.....

He finally moved enough earth and bailed enough water to cut out the damaged PVC. He had me lift the end so he could slide a brick under it to keep it out of the mud, and "Crrrack!" The PVC shattered.

More digging. More baling. More colorful conversation.

He finally unearthed more line, was feeling around to see how far it had cracked, when an entire length of PVC slid out of the ground. It had come loose at a joint.

More digging. More baling.

Finally, around 6 PM, the PVC was uncovered, dried, and a new piece was glued in place. Now we wait to see if the ground dries up, or if there's still a leak on the other side of the meter.

I think I'll be attending the water board meeting next week. I just might have something to say!

Post Script: You can tell I live on a hay farm. Baled that water, yeh-buddy! Nice square bales stacked against the fence. Uh-huh.....