Wednesday morning, Brian, our well driller was back bright and early–there’s no sleeping in around here! Early on that morning even he was a little discouraged by the amount of water he was getting–at 380 feet he just had seepage and was in a pocket of basalt rock. Basalt rock is found in clay soils–the clay doesn’t allow the water to flow. Drilling, drilling–at 420 feet he hit water, lots and lots of glorious water!!! Brian drilled the well down to 520 feet, the last 40 feet had no water but then the well casing will fill with water and the pump will not sit on the floor of the well–it will instead hang suspended in water–much better for the pump! One hundred gallons a minute glorious water! Early Thursday morning Brian and his wife Diane came to lower the pump into the well–he had the well pumping water before the rain/wind/cold drove them back to their garage to finish all the pipe fitting work. Late this afternoon Brian and his son came back and we have water in the guest house!!! Amazing–no more Navy showers!!
When the Cowboy and I first married houses in Big Timber were so reasonably priced and I wanted to buy one to fix up. The Cowboy was having none of that–“I would rather build a house from scratch than fix someone’s problems.” Well–he must have changed his tune over the years–we remodeled the North Ranch house extensively and extensively doesn’t even begin to describe the remodel these two dwellings need!
So far we’ve only discovered a couple leaks around the hot water tank. This house has not been lived in for at least 10 years if not more–no leaks in the kitchen or bathroom and the toilet flushed and worked.
I was vacuuming spiders and spider webs Wednesday afternoon when the Cowboy came in and crooked his finger at me, pointing to the door. I went outside and he pointed to his right–I literally jumped three feet sideways and screamed bloody murder then danced around and screamed some more. There were two dead rattlesnakes beside the house–one small, one absolutely huge! There had been a sheet of old plywood there with concrete blocks covering it–we were attempting to keep critters from digging under the house and it had worked. The Cowboy needed to move that board and blocks so he could hook the water to the guest house. When he moved the board he disturbed the snakes. Yesterday afternoon I was ready to pack my bags and move back to North Ranch but I calmed down. We had rattlesnakes at North Ranch and we have them at home in Montana–it’s just a fact of life but geez that one snake was huge! I elected not to post a photo–it gives me the creeps just to look at the photos I took!
The Cowboy noticed an antique dining table for sale in the Sierra Vista Facebook buy/sell group. I drove over to have a look at it today–with no leaves it measured 54 inches and had ten 12 inch leaves!!!! It’s slide mechanism was in good shape and worked well but the rest of the table had seen better days and I declined. I quickly made a run through Fry’s, the local grocery store and headed back over the mountains to see what trouble the Cowboy had caused–not much, he was gabbing with Brian the well driller.
Wow–for over two weeks we’ve been complaining about our 80+ degree temperatures. Well–that’s what we get for complaining–today our high was under 60 degrees and the wind howled plus we had rain squalls blowing through–not nice!
It’s amazing how something as simple as water can change your attitude. Over the weekend and during the early part of this week I was having serious doubts about our ability to make this place work–we halted all spending on the place, not even a nail until we knew if we had water. I held off on going to Sierra Vista to look at the antique table until we had water. We just weren’t going to sink any more money into a property without water which could not be resold. Now, we are both thinking–this place is going to be amazing–stay tuned!
Restoration Cowboy Style 
Wahoo!!! I can only imagine your joy when Brian hit water. That is truly exciting. Water makes everything better:) Enjoy!! Yuck! Two rattlesnakes!!! It gives me the shivers and I’m not even there. Your weather sounds like our here in Holbrook, but we never got over 50 with howling wind and rain…brrrr! Thank goodness it is only one day:)
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Water does make everything better Pam–now I can get in there and really clean that nasty house! Yes, sunshine and 70 degrees here today–we will take that!
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Yay! So happy for you. None of us appreciate being able to walk to the water faucet whenever we want and have water – plenty of water. Washer and dryer next purchase???? Good luck.
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Washer and dryer all ready here Sandy–it came with the house, a stackable unit which will do for now. We are so thrilled about the well and the amount of water!
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I thank you from the bottom of my heart for not showing pictures of the “legless creatures” … I would have thrown my IPad across the room if I’d seen that! I’d have to be a city girl if I lived in Arizona, just for that reason. Anyway … enjoy all that water!
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Candy–we lived in a “city” type environment at North Ranch in Congress, AZ–our friends killed a rattlesnake beside their motorhome yesterday at North Ranch! It’s just a fact of life in Arizona.
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Yippyyyyyy, WATER! I am so happy for you! Do you have a washer yet so there need to be no more trips to that nasty laundromat? Best get a dryer too if the rain keeps up. Number on task is to hold on to that black little doggie to keep it safe from those rattlers. They don’t scare me when they are dead but I sure would not want to meet a live one.
Best wishes!
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Washer and dryer were here Vera–a stackable unit which will do for now. That’s my biggest worry about rattlesnakes–Emmi–they have snake avoidance training down here but I think they shock the begeez out of the dog and I’m not sure I want to do that to Emmi. But–I sure don’t want her sticking her nose to a rattlesnake either!
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Glad you hit water, finally!!!!! There are rattlers here too!!!! Don killed one today behind our motorhome, here at NR.
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It’s been too warm and the snakes are out!
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Best way to deal with rattlers is declare war on mice. No mice no snakes! 😉
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That’s exactly what the Brian the well driller said–he has cats and no mice or snakes.
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Wellll…my brother in Tucson installed a snake-proof fence all around his house to keep out the snakey critters. Occasionally he finds a snake near his outside fence but not inside. I’m sorry to say Arizona summers include snakes and watchfulness..occasionally in town.
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Yep, you are right Emjay–Arizona means snakes no matter where you live. Our friends in North Ranch killed a rattlesnake beside their motorhome yesterday.
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Yeah! Water, that presious item we all need. I know how you feel, take a nice long shower!
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Once the Cowboy hooks up the hot water tank I am going to do exactly that Ms. Geri!
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Water from above water from below
Rattlers in the yard with nowhere to go
What a great life you lead
What a great life indeed:))
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Before the well driller hit water we might not have agreed with you about the “great life” Al!! But we do indeed have a great life!
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Having to depend on a well at my home I can feel how happy you are…One time after the power was out for 10 days I got a back-up generator..Have to have water!
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David–I would rather do without electricity than water! I grew up in the country in Arkansas with a well in the backyard–our power would go out in winter for days during ice storms.
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Wonderful!! Full speed ahead once again. Sad the snakes were dead 😦 They’re so good at keeping the rodents and bugs away, although next to the house is way too close.
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Bull snakes can keep the rodents and bugs away, it’s just too dangerous for us and Emmi to let the rattlesnakes be that close.
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