Monday, February 16, 2009

Water Freezes When It's Cold!

Oy. The Bag Lady has had quite a day. The Rancher started on night shift last night, so when he got home at 6 am, the Bag Lady made him something to eat, and he tottered off to bed. Shortly thereafter, the Bag Lady sat down to write a blog post, but first she settled in to read her email. She had just opened the first one and read the first line when the electricity went off.

She waited a few minutes, then phoned the power company. Got a recording saying that the power was off in her area due to a vehicle striking a power pole. It would be restored by 11 am. This was at 9 am. So she did a little puttering around the house, read a little and waited. And waited. At 11:30, she called back and the recording told her the power would be restored at 1 pm. She did her chores, and tried to be patient.

She also tried not to cuss out the dumbass who blew through a stop sign at a T intersection.... who must have been driving far in excess of the speed limit not to notice the 5 rumble strips he drove over, nor the BIG ASS stop sign at the corner, nor the fact that there was no road where he was heading, but there WAS a big ol' power pole... dumbass. (She has no idea if he was injured or killed - she had no electricity, so couldn't listen to the news on the radio...)

Please remember that when you get your water from a well, you have a pressure tank that runs on electricity. No electricity means no water. Cattle drink a lot of water. They sucked the waterer dry, but that didn't stop them from fighting over it.

"Let ME try - you must not be doing it right!!" Pushing and shoving and fighting. The Bag Lady lured the cows away from the waterer with a hay bale, but the calves are locked in the corral, and were perplexed by the fact that there didn't seem to be any water where there had always been water before!!

The electicity was finally restored at 2 pm. so the Bag Lady suited up with all her winter gear yet again and went out to check on the waterer. Naturally, after 5 hours with no electicity and no heat, the lines under the waterer were frozen. Fortunately, the heater was doing it's job (the Bag Lady could tell this because there was steam rising from the empty water bowl...) so she covered the bowl with a few boards so the calves wouldn't sizzle their noses and to help keep the heat in and waited. And waited. And waited some more.

She went back to the house for a few minutes, but could see that the cows were now in the corral, milling around, fighting to get a drink, so she got togged up again and stumbled out to the corral. Still no water. The cows had knocked the boards off so the Bag Lady put them back on, then stood guard. Finally, she thought she heard a gurgle. Then a swish. Finally she heard what she knew was water filling the bowl. She waited until it was almost full, then took the boards off and let the cows have a drink. Of course there was much fighting and jostling, but they did finally all drink their fill.

The Bag Lady sent the Rancher off to work, then made herself a little supper. She finally sat down in front of the computer and started to read her email. And the phone rang. It was her mother in law saying she had a little problem with the waterer at her place.....

24 comments:

Hilary said...

Baggie you're just going to have to stop using the expression "When Hell freezes over" because you're just tempting fate. Sounds like a lousy day. Did it take much to get your mother in law's water going?

the Bag Lady said...

When MIL's waterer thawed out, it started overfilling - so water was running all over the place! Of course, it was almost dark, and it was cold out and the bolts were not easy to take out.... but I finally got it apart and determined that it needs a new float. Got it to stop filling, and will have to go to town in the morning to find replacement parts. Hopefully the weather will be warmer tomorrow!

Rupal said...

oh geez! What a day! I hope you got a good night's sleep after the day you had, soaked in a tub with a glass of wine...something like that!

The image of the cattles fighting over the water, good stuff :)

This one WILL be better!!

~rupal

Reb said...

Do cows freeze to the ground like ducks on a pond? Sounds like a tedious day for sure. Tomorrow will be warmer and the repair will be simple - fingers crossed!

Anonymous said...

WHAT A DAY.
and Im sooo glad you didnt cuss out the dumbass because it appears you did NOT have a camera with you----that would have totally required video.

Hang in there friend,

Miz.

Anonymous said...

WHAT A DAY.
and Im sooo glad you didnt cuss out the dumbass because it appears you did NOT have a camera with you----that would have totally required video.

Hang in there friend,

Miz.

Missicat said...

It's always something isn't it??? I got cold just reading that story!

Tom Rooney said...

Isn't life just grand without electricity? Sorry that some jackass ruined the nice day you had planned. I hope today goes much better.

Leah J. Utas said...

What a day! But at least you got a blog post out of it.
That's something good, right?

Anonymous said...

I hate when that happens!!

Believe it or not, one year here in northern Florida, we had a severe ice storm and lost power. It wasn't just the cold, but we lost water also. My folks were visiting, so we all just headed to a motel, about 5 miles away, for a few days. I would run from the motel in 10 degree weather to my place to feed the horses, then back to the motel every morning. Don't want to do that again! Very glad you got through this OK!!

JavaChick said...

Never a dull moment at the ranch! I don't know about you, but this winter thing is getting old...

Geosomin said...

Wow...I never thought about the lack of power affecting the poor cows like that.
I love hearing about the little things like that on the farm that...:)

Anonymous said...

Oh man. I am so not cut out for your life.

I hope the repairs go well.

Crabby McSlacker said...

Oh man--when the electricity goes out here we whine about it, but I never thought what a big deal it would be with no water and thirsty cows to contend with!

Glad it was restored, and I hope the dumbasses stay the heck away from utility poles from now on.

Anonymous said...

I'm sorry, I couldn't help but giggle at that last sentence. That sounds like a rotten day! Big hugs.

Charlotte said...

Good heavens!
I have to say I'm impressed with your tenacity and ingenuity though. I'd have had no clue what to do in that case. Here's hoping that today is better!

the Bag Lady said...

Thanks, everyone, for your comments today. I've been on the run since this morning - had to go to town to get parts for the waterer, and do chores and on and on, but the waterer is now fixed and everything seems to be working fine.

solarity said...

Still making me grateful for city water out here. Even when the electricity was out to the water plant, because I'm downhill from the road I still had water that lasted until they got it back on. And I had eight gallons stored in the basement, and only two humans and one dog to water.
Your day makes my day of packing boxes of books, loading concrete blocks and boards and boxes into the Jeep, unloading them over here, and doing it all over again, seem much less exhausting than it did before supper. Now, well fed and sitting next to the stove, it seems possible to do it again tomorrow.

Mary Anne in Kentucky

Redbush said...

Ah, yes! You gotta love those power companies. We had the power off from 9:00 a.m. to 1:30p.m. It totally screwed up anything we had planned to do. We, however met the neighbor and he said that after he complained to the company about his hot tub freezing up, that they had his power on by 10:30! Go figure! How could they turn his on and not ours. You had better give those dumbasses a call and see how that works! Hope you had a better day today!

the Bag Lady said...

Mary Anne in Kentucky - sounds to me as though you had a very productive day! Mine was more reactive than productive!

Redbush - silly power company! I'm not sure how they could turn your neighbour's back on without turning yours on!! Very strange. I'm assuming yours was off so that they could make some repairs or something, without electrocuting themselves!
Wonder if I can send them the repair bill for my waterer?

Anonymous said...

Oh, NO!! It's a good thing days like that are the exception rather than the rule.

the Bag Lady said...

kcinnova - exactly!

Anonymous said...

lunch date cannot fix waterer?

the Bag Lady said...

Marianne - fix waterer cannot do lunch....