A hail of a night

A long day at work followed by....
I get home and find that the Cornish cross chickens are in distress. They have food and water but both could use freshening. It is also 81 degrees and the barn is somewhat warmer. I opened the rear barn door for ventilation. The chickens are now happily occupied eating and drinking. I can move on. I check the trap, nothing. Did I mention the 2 squirrels and 1 small possum we caught in the last week? Probably not. It's been hectic.

After my usual look around I knew what project I wanted to work on today. Kristi has been hinting around (get this done NOW or else) that I get the watering system for the garden installed. I looked at the sad condition of many of our tomato plants and select this project for immediate attention. I grab my favorite shovel and a pair of gloves and march across the field. I take note that there are still some worms on the apricot tree and that I should do something about them. I continued on to the field. I begin digging about 7 feet from the end of the now worthless trench. My muscles twinge a bit looking over the chasm. But I continue on.

I will get this one thing done today and make Kristi happy. Not that she needs help, I just imagine that this will make her happy. It will save her labor and that is a good thing. She does so much. I start digging where I think the main water line will be and sure enough after a few minutes I find the pipe. Right where it should be. I commenced removing the dirt and rocks from around the pipe to give wide access to it as I needed to add a number of fittings to accomplish the task. I have not yet purchased any fittings.

In retrospect I might have been more thoughtful of the long day I'd had at work. I was tired and my aim could have been better. I might also, with better attention to my common sense, told myself that I shouldn't tackle a project involving our main water line into the house when I am tired. But I didn't do any of those things and instead I hit the water line squarely with the shovel and was so surprised when the pressurized water sprayed out that I left my mouth hanging open. It took 2 hours to remove all the grit.

Meanwhile the hold is filling rapidly with water. Thinking with adrenaline driven clarity I ran for the water shut off at the street. With the water off I could take my time to fix the problem. I had exactly 15 minutes before Kristi was to come home from work. She would notice we had no water, I was sure of that. I was equally sure it would not go well for me when she found out. I began figuring out what pieces we would need for the watering system and what we would need to solve the immediate problem.

At this point I should mention the upcoming storm.
All day the weather forecasters were predicting severe weather in the afternoon. Yeah right, I said as I always do. They're always wrong. Well, they were right the time I had the tornado blow past me about 300 feet away. Tractor trailer rigs blown over, electronic signs exploding in showers of sparks. Trees uprooted and snapped off at the trunk. It took me 4 hours complete my 30 minute commute that night. I'll give them that one.

So we go to Home Depot and get the parts. In the meantime I get to hear the life's story of the plumbing guy who owns 25 acres in Red Rock and how he planted a hedge of red tipped photinias to prevent the dust that is prevalent on his caliche road. Nice guy. I was on a nature inspired deadline. I got the parts I needed and headed home. I drove the truck directly to the site of the leak as I wanted to have the house water back on before the storm hit. At this point the leading edge of the storm had not quite made it to us. You could see the huge front moving our way. You could hear the thunder in the distance but no rain yet. No lightning yet.

Work commenced. I cut out the section of pipe that had burst. Hmmmm, schedule 125 PVC. For a main water line you would think they'd step up to the thicker schedule 40 but they opted to save a very few bucks. Working quickly I fashioned a tee and a bit of 1" pipe and a coupling and check it for fit. It's long enough. I smear on the primer and the glue and....uh oh. With the pipe buried in the ground there's not enough play to bend the pipe so it will slip into the socket. In the process of bending and trying to make it fit I have damaged the thin walled main pipe and need to fashion another piece to fix it. The thunder is getting closer.
Working in close proximity to the ground in Texas is an invitation for a visit by our state's foreign invaders. Fire ants. Pesky little things. They attack anything that moves. They attack anything made of animal or vegetable matter. The active ingredient in fire ants is formic acid. They chew it into your flesh and then it begins to dissolve you. You get a nice welt out of the attack and if you noticed it at the time of the bite, hopefully the fire ant is dead. But you still get the welts. They were in my shirt, on my arms and legs. But I couldn't stop. We HAD to have water. I make version 2 of my pipe patch.

The thunder is closer and I could see the sky brighten with the lightning. I had plenty of time. But before I can use my patch I have to increase the size of my hole so I can bend the pipe enough to get the fittings to fit. Feverishly I dig out the hole. I dig out about another one and a half feet. Plenty I said. Back in the hole now I glue my fittings. I fit them into each other. Oops. Won't fit. I can't bend the pipe up enough to get the two ends to go into each other. As I am pulling up on the pipe, my feet go up in the air. I can hear Kristi laughing in the distance as she's watering her plants. Somehow, this doesn't help.

Finally I get the two ends to fit perfectly. I being loading the truck with the tools and leftover parts. I sent Kristi up to the street in her golf cart to turn the water on. It works! No leaks.Then the wind starts and in about 10 minutes the storm is upon us. I shower the ants off but it still feels like they're biting me for 2 more hours. This turns out to be a heck of a storm with up to 3/4 inch hail. Poor Barbecue is running around in it barking at it. The barking doesn't help and I give her a bone to help calm her down. It works. Kristi and I share a hamburger for dinner commiserating about the likely state of the vegetable garden after the hail. A picture of the hail will follow.