"Well" Done !!

The well is all drilled!!

It is only 200 feet with 5 gallons per minute. That's excellent in the well world. Hopefully Thursday or Friday the excavator and pump guy will come and set the pump, hook it into the power and tie it all into our water line. Woo Hoo! I am feeling seriously relieved.

Josh and Will got 2 of the 5 windows in today as well. Lookign good.

They Arrived!

The well drilling guys arrived mid day today. After 3 hours (including set up and all) they are about 40 feet down and hope to hit the bedrock soon. Guess it will take awhile to get to that 200+ level. Note well the protective hay bales around the drilling site.

All I want for Christmas is one nice well...

Ok.... not exactly true.... I would like some packages to open on Christmas day... but... I will be glad when the well deal is done. As of yesterday they were drilling about 1/2 mile down the road from me.... their 3rd well over 500 feet deep in one week. One was over 700 feet! Those are fairly rare around here so let's hope they are getting those deep ones out of their system and ours will be a nice 200 -300 feet with great flow. They now say they likely will drill ours on Tuesday.

Our porch sill replacement project is all done. That is a great relief. The siding & window work was also begun but is now stalled for a few days due to Glen's brother-in-law's being in a coma. Glen has needed to spend time out east with the family.... understandably so. Hopefully this next week will see the well and the siding /windows done (or almost so).

Meanwhile, preparations are on for the Christmas Fest here tonight. Expecting over 30 people I think. Hope we can park all those cars. Looking forward to food and fun with friends.... tonight and over the next week at various celebrations.

Deep Wells....

So the well people called today and said they hope to be here late Tues or Weds. They were a bit delayed in doing a nearby well (just over the Wendell line) b/c it went 700'. Yikes... that is almost 4 times deeper what I hope we have to go. For those of you unfamiliar with wells..you pay for the drilling... by the foot! Well, I hope ours is closer to 200'! I wil be so Glad when it is over. It feels like a cloud hanging over us... a huge unknown.

Regarding Ice, Door Knockers and Staying Put

My strategy for today's storm was to stay put, catch up on calls and paper work and do a bit of Christmas wrapping until after lunch. I supposed this would allow the ice of the night time storm to melt with the rain. That apparently accomplished, about 2:15 PM, I was packing my bags when a knock came at my kitchen door. This knock on an icy day brought back a memory of another icy day a few years ago when a nice young southern man, just out of the military and dressed in his black leather jacket and dress shoes, got lost on our road. He too had knocked. He was driving a truck, a brand new, small metallic grey Toyota as I recall. He was stuck. He was unaccusomed to snow and ice, being from the South. So, on that occasion, he pushed while I drove, we spun his little truck right around in the road and I drove it down the steep twisting road and past Patsy's for him.

Today the one knocking is a bearded man dressed in blue pants and a shirt, work boots and wearing no coat. It takes me a moment I but recongize him, a town highway worker. I swing the door open. Yes, it is true, he reports, the sander itself is stuck on our road and his truck radio doens't work in this territory. This time the knocker uses my phone and calls for help. He is not lost. He is accustomed to snow. I will not drive his beast, nor will he push. A rescue truck will come. It will take over an hour he explains. It is not warm enough to melt the ice on the road and the sand keeps getting washed away by the rain. Two thoughts flash through my mind: "I think I will just stay home." and, "All that sand and salt is being washed into our precious stream...better line that road with hay bales, fast!" I only speak the first as I wish him well, close the door, turn up the music and throw another log in the woodstove. Time to make a fresh pot of tea.

They Came, They Dug, They Left

While I was down in Amherst today Clark Excavating came and made a path and dug a pit for the drilling rig. Not sure what day the drilling will be...but...the process has begun. Oh, yes, they did put a silt screen between the pit area and the wetlands. Phew!

Our Tree at Night

This evening some photographers who are more experienced than Cabs were here ( namely Shnitzel, LR6 and Jet). Hence, thx to Shnitzle, I now have this night time, no flash, pic of our tree.

Our Garden Tree

This seemed like a year to make a departure from our usual family tree decorated with years of collected ornaments (mostly the kids'). With them both not living here this year, nor here to decorate, I wanted to do something different. So, we have a garden theme tree of sorts. It is decorated with several pink/white hydrangeas, pink berries, feathered birds, butterflies, and glass grape clusters along with lots of glass balls in silver, white, pinks and cranberry. There are several strands of clear mini lights of course. Oh.... and it is fairly huge... over 10' tall and 7' diameter at it's widest point.

Winter Wonderland at Night

It was absolutely beautiful outside tonight. Here are a couple of pics to prove it.

Surely Helps Decorate - Arthur Supervises

My 19 month old Maine Coon kitty, Surely, likes to help with whatever I am doing. This time, she climbs the ladder to help string Christmas tree lights! Her big "brother" Arthur, supervises from below.

O' Christmas Tree, O' Christmas Tree....

Today was the day to cut our Christmas trees... trees plural b/c Ben and Jess cut their tree too -- a first for them as a married couple as their tiny apartment last year just had room for a bough. For us... it is our biggest tree ever... huge would be a more apt description! It snowed a bit, creating a perfect atmosphere for the occasion.

Marilynne Robinson, Calvin etc....

For those of you wondering about the progess of my Robinson essay reading... and questioning why I have not written more about it.....
Well, I have had a really packed 2 weeks so I switched to "lighter" reading, hence I have begun Robinson's first novel, Housekeeping. Thus far it is captivating.. and so.. I am off to read some more.
ttfn

WooHoo!!! Hurrah!

At 7 AM the excavators arrived. Yes, it was snowing! They dug out the septic tank. Then they dug another big hole about 4' deep to find the leach tank. They told me old systems almost never pass... but once they saw it.. they seemed impressed. The inspector came and meaured and made notes and checked everything out...even verifying, by eye, that I really do NOT have a garbage disposal (a big no no with a septic system). The septic pump guy came and cleaned everything out.

After all was said and done... IT PASSED!! The town still has to accept the report for it to be official..but the celebration on our end has begun.

The fire pit needs to be put back together and the lawn will need some re-seeding...but...that's small potatoes compared to the total mess we would have had if we needed a new system!

BIG DIG: done !!
NEXT: the public hearing for our well drilling, required due to stream on property
WHEN: Thursday 8PM.

Big Dig Delayed

Soooooo.... no photos tonight. The big digger is parked here but the digging won't begin until 7AM tomorrow, Friday. Seems the digger and the driver of the digger got bogged down today working on a leaking water line job.
So... huge day here tomorrow.

A whole bunch of trash got taken to the dump today tho. That feels great.