I Think It’s Chucky!

We try, and we plan, and we try, but sometimes plans don’t work out, and then sometimes you might just think that maybe your house is haunted. Christmas is close, my daughter is here, my son will be here soon, and so will my mother-in-law. The tree is up, but the living room is not painted. Robert will have a bed, but the room will need a lot of work. My yard is a mess. We may have to flush the toilets with a bucket, but only if we can get water out of the faucets. Barbara told us to buy the movie “Money Pit”, and we did. The similarities and some of the quotes are eerily similar. It is a blessing that we can laugh to keep from crying. OK, step by step…

Our Water:

It has been a while since my last update, but you should know that the water expert showed up with a well digger. When I showed them a sample of the sand we were pumping, the well digger said there was nothing he could do with sand that fine. They call it sugar sand, but it is finer than sugar. And so we agreed to a new well. What a shame! The old pump house, which is attached to the house, would become storage for lawn chairs and flower pots. Plus I would have to endure a pump house out in my lovely yard somewhere, but at least the well digger promised me good clean water, free of sand. After running into an assortment of problems the well digger finished my new well this past Wednesday. It was a glorious moment when he could announce “We have good water and you have a new well. Hooray!!” That night, Deborah said that she felt the cleanest that she has felt since we moved in when she took a bath. Glory be!! Something right is finally happening. That was Wednesday. Thursday afternoon we discovered that something black was streaming out of every faucet and filling up every toilet. Suddenly all water systems were filled with black mud and no longer worked. You have to put this into perspective…I am a guy whose worst fear is plumbing, and nothing could frighten me more than my entire plumbing system emitting black mud and clogging up beyond use. But that was what was happening. We called the well digger and left a voicemail message. In the mean time I realized that the well digger had not capped off the old well or pump and I could switch back. After all, sand is better than mud, and I did just that. He came the next day, much to my relief, and said that something in the well must have fallen and created this problem and a good flushing would solve the problem. Minutes later he was at my back door and said that it was worse than he thought and he may have to drill another well if this one collapsed. So…we went from having sand screwing up my plumbing system, to have having a new and excellent well for one day, to pumping mud, to going back to sand screwing up my plumbing system. Currently we have water, although restricted, in SOME of our faucets and toilets, but others are just plugged with sand and mud. Joy, Rapture! And Christmas is only a few days away!





The Washer and the Mud Room:

The new washer and dryer purchased at Home Depot is still in the carport waiting for good water. You might be a redneck if you have two major appleances on your carport. The mud room has floor leveler down and is almost finished except for the new tile floor.




The Furnace:

The furnace goes into Lockout about once per week and does not turn back on until I turn the power off and on. Also, the thermostat still does not program correctly. We are calling Rusty to let him know.

Lizards and Mice:

The lizards are on vacation and have gone to Miami due to cold weather. The mice are hibernating, and those that chose to live in our house for the winter have been dealt with. So no new friends at this time (that we know of).

The Yard:

The well digging rig, compressor, water tank and two other trucks have not been good for my yard during this recent bad weather. In fact, it makes me want to cry. I have a new tractor wagon, so I will be moving some dirt and ruts around the yard to level things out.
I have not had time to rake, trim bushes, and clean up the mess from the well. Kind of depressing. This well has really done a number on my yard.





Church:

There had to be a bright spot somewhere, and the church is it. I told Father John that I thought it was cool to go to a church with a screen door and I think he thought I was kidding, but I wasn’t. This church was built in 1849, is open 24 hrs/day for prayer, and the people are so friendly. This past Sunday we took our daughter Barbara to church with us and when I sat in the pew the lady behind us said “Good morning, how are you?” I said, “Great, how are you?” And she said “Great now that you folks are here.” That has to make your day. What a wonderful place, Epiphany Church! We absolutely love it.







Traffic:

Deborah came home the other day and said, “This Christmas traffic is awful! There must have been 4 cars out there!!” There are three stop lights from our house to church, and none of them last more than 30 seconds. There is one stop light between our house and Holly Hill.It takes me less than 10 minutes to get to town. Oh these modern times. What shall we do? The view is quite a problem as well. All there is to look at is farm fields, pine trees, farm houses, and did I mention pine trees? Most things are 7 miles away. Santee is seven miles away and that would include fast food restaurants of every flavor, Santee National Golf Course, and Santee National Park (including Lake Marion and some of the best fishing in the country). Holly Hilly is 7 miles away, That would include the Piggly Wiggly, our post office, the gas company, and Westbury Ace Hardware (where I bought my new tractor cart). I know where the fire department is, the EMS station, the golf course, and Barry Hutto’s pond to go fishing in.

Christmas:

No, we are not ready like we would normally be ready. But the tree is up, some of the decorations, and even the stockings on the fireplace. There are like no presents this year, but who cares. Christmas is Jesus’ birthday, not mine. Mama will be here, Robert and Barbara, and me and the wife. Life is good!





We obviously have one major stumbling block and that would be the water situation. But sometimes it seems like Murphy’s Law is prevailing in everything we do. The light fixture in the blue bathroom has some confusing and creative wiring that I am afraid to touch. The toilet in the master bath was running and so I shut the shut-off valve. Now the toilet fills up and doesn’t run. Go figure. The aerator on the master bath faucet won’t come off and is full of mud and so no water comes out. I still have to replace the light over the kitchen sink, which works only when it wants to. The stereo skips and starts when you least expect it to. We’re making great progress.

When the faucets started to flow black mud, Deborah suggested that we ask the priest to perform an exorcism on our house. Not a bad idea. I began to remember packing and I know that we packed a My Buddy doll (JJ’s toy as a child). But we always were a little nervous at the similarities between My Buddy and Chucky. Could Chucky be wandering our hall at night? Could Chucky be jinxing my well? Is Chucky fooling with my plumbing or electrical? We shall see.

Chucky by day:


Or Chucky by night:


Or maybe it was Teddy Ruxpin:


Perhaps I should put a lock on the attic door.

We recently had a visit from some excellent Navy buddies. Such a treat! We just want to let all of our friends and family know that you are always welcome! Let us know you are coming and the bread will be fresh and the soup hot! It may just be worth the trip! Merry Christmas!

Thank God I’m a Country Boy!

Country Life Is Good for Me

Country life is good for me, and I am proud to say that I am doing my best to boost the economy of Orangeburg County, South Carolina. Yesterday my dear daughter suggested that for entertainment I should rent “Money Pit”, a movie about a couple who bought a house with a few problems.



Let’s see…where were we?

Water:

Yesterday morning I went in to the common bathroom (called the blue bathroom) and found the bucket that my parents were using to flush the toilet over Thanksgiving. They had to use the bucket since the toilet tank stopped filling with water. I was shocked and surprised to find two handfuls of sand in the bottom of the bucket. The well guy was coming later and I told Deborah that this was not good. When Randy the well guy came and I showed him the sand in the bucket, he said that there was nothing that he could do with sand that fine. “So what then?”, I asked. He said you need a new well. Oh Boy! This ought to be fun. Tom Owens, the water expert that brought Randy out, said he could add a filtration system and we would have great water. Unfortunately they can’t put the pump where the old pump was, so I will have a new pump house out in the yard somewhere. I can use the old, rather substantial pump house to keep lawn furniture and flower pots. I have to have an electrician put a new electric box on the outside of my house to connect to the new pump. So we’re looking at $6000+ for the whole job. If I don’t bite the bullet quick, all of this sand will ruin the plumbing system the rest of the way. The $70 I recently spent to test the water is a waste since the test will not apply to the new well. Sunday I put a new pressure switch on the pump and I would not have to kick this pump again, but by next Monday this pump will be trash and that will be a wasted expense of time and money. I’m just not timing some of these activities well. So we have to get a new well and pump, pressure tank, pump house, filter system, and an electric connection. As my dad would say…”Joy, Rapture!!” The only silver lining to this cloud is the fact that a new well will cure my last major problem. I mean after a new roof, fixing the two large holes in the ceilings, repairing the floor that had buckled from the leaks in the roof, changing the plumbing in the missing bathroom, closing up the floor and crawl space and removing the trash in the missing bathroom, replacing two faucets and a drain, replacing 4 light fixtures, new carpet, new furnace and A/C, new hot water heater, new gas line and LP tank, painting 4 rooms, a couple of dozen truck loads to the dump, trees cut down, burning, cleaning, arranging, etc., and now the only major project is getting clean reliable water, and we are less than a week away.

The Furnace:

The furnace went into lockout twice since we last saw Rusty, but it has been working since then. We called Rusty and told him we would just play it by ear and as long as the furnace was working we would not bother him anymore. Today I tried to program the new thermostat. Every time I would program the thermostat it would change the temperature settings on it’s own. I called Honeywell. They said to call Rusty, so reluctantly I did. We will see Rusty Monday. Otherwise we are warm and comfortable. At least I am…Deborah is always either hot or cold.

Lizards and Mice:

Carl really did a super job on the lizards. The population has been reduced to a more reasonable number and there have been no more in the house. However, that has not kept my life-partner from screaming.



We were sitting in the family room watching TV Sunday night when a small little rodent decided to wander through the middle of the room in clear view.



They say that mice have really bad eyesight. But if that is true, how can they see the broom coming, because I could not get near that mouse. Deborah was petrified. I did whatever I could to calm her, but she went to bed and closed the bedroom door tight. The next morning she asked if I caught the mouse. I looked in the traps and thought that I hadn’t gotten lucky. Then I went to feed Dixie and found the mouse drowned in her water bowl. I was so relieved, but Deborah was skeptical. The next night, the mouse that drowned is gone, but new mice started to entertain us in the family room. We had put a trap in the kitchen by the refrigerator and Deborah and I sat and watched as this mouse came out from behind the refrigerator and started to eat the cheese on the trap. He ate until he was full and then went back behind the refrigerator. Now we call Carl and buy some traps, and do a full court press. Since then we have caught 2 in glue traps, one of them is still trying to wiggle off the trap, and I hope that we have them all, but I’m sure this will be an ongoing problem, at least in the cooler months. Lions and tigers and bears…Oh my! Lizards and roaches and mice…Oh my!

The Yard:

The yard is looking better all of the time. The large trash pile in the back is gone except for a couple of logs. My neighbor lent me a saws-all to cut up the satellite dish and a larger chain saw to get the last few, larger logs cut up.



The fall leaves are beautiful.







Church:

Father John showed up Monday to see why weren’t in church Sunday. I couldn’t tell if he believed our story about water problems and watching the fire in back, and the dog, etc., but that was all true and I think he was convinced. It was so nice to see him. We haven’t run across a pastor like that since Peoria.

Christmas:

Just over 3 weeks away! We’re getting there!

Otherwise:

My neighbors are great. Pat brought us some cookies to welcome us to the neighborhood, Betty brought us some fruitcake. The treats were great. Terry and Bonnie have been very helpfull. Bobby came over to tell me the best place to get a pressure switch. We love our neighbors.

Yesterday was a beautiful day, and in between taking care of some Home Depot business and fixing my email after I got hacked, I sat out with my better half, called the folks and smoked an excellent Dominican Cigar, Bauza to exact. I also made some good Italian seasoned bread and turkey soup. Life is good!



Lastly, Deborah starts work Saturday at the Home Depot in Summerville.

More to come...

Thank God I’m a country boy!