Today began with a balmy 17 degrees at 7:00 in the morning. The skies were clear and the wind was still. It was a perfect day for riding. Of course riding was not meant to be. We had our coffee, and as I proceeded to go and feed the horses, Rudy went to town for water and prescriptions to fill. With a little sleep, and a somewhat clearer head he came up with the idea that perhaps a fuse had blown on the pump as well as the water freezing. I can’t after all, expect him to be a genius all the time.
The inside barn horses still had water. I broke ice on the outside barn horse troughs, but there was still not enough water for them to reach it. The wateriers have a ball that rises with the water level. They push the ball to the side to drink. I first filled Lizzie and Sierra’s waterier with snow. Lizzie is a TB with a much larger head than Sierra who is my weanly stud colt. Lizzie was quite upset with the whole no water thing. She’s a sweet mare, but she can be quite stubborn and ornery at times. This was definitely one of those times. I had just filled their waterier with snow, and turned to get more when she kicked me. She didn’t kick hard, but just hard enough to let me know she was not a happy camper. Shocked (she’s never attempted such an outrageous show of displeasure), I turned and snapped, “you kicked me” when Rudy called with his brilliant idea. I told him I would check the fuse box and turn off the power to the pump. I filled buckets with snow for Lizzie and Sierra (who immediately tipped his new toy), and gave snow to Espree & Jazzy. The boys were next. I broke their ice, and stole water from Marina who had ¾’s of a bucket full to give to the boys. They had plenty of snow in their runs so I wasn’t as worried about them and proceeded to feed the pasture horses. They had no water at all but plenty of snow.
Next I went to the pump house and sure enough, one of our furry friends (field mouse no doubt) had found the fuse box to be the perfect place for a nice warm nest. She filled the box with soft insulation from around the pressure tank. The hole in the fuse box was too small for either snake or pack rat to invade making it safe for her tiny babies. Whoever she was, she was a very conscientious mother. I cleaned out the box, turned off the pump, and proceeded to feed the rest of the animals.
I had just finished when Rudy came with the water. Everyone was very happy to get their troughs filled especially Lizzie who wouldn’t let Sierra anywhere near the water till she had her fill. I understand horsey etiquette, but jeez what a hog she was. There was enough water left to give water to the dogs, chickens, and yes my toilets. What a joy it was to see clean water in my johns. Sad isn’t it when clean water in johns makes you happy, however, anyone who has gone for an extended period of time without water will understand completely.
Back to town Rudy went. You have to understand that Ruidoso is a good half hour away, making a round trip an hour plus. I putzed around while Rudy was gone but there wasn’t much I could do. When he got the fuses he also bought a construction heater for under the house. We have a modular so all the piping and electrical is in a crawl space. Besides the fact that everything is done piece meal and totally illogically, due to various owners adding a little here and a little there, half the water pipes under the house have no insulation. Whenever the temperature gets below 20 degrees we loose water in the house. The new heater should solve that in no time. Get this, we can have no water in the house and still have water to the barn, go figure.
This load of water went to the pasture horses. Now Rudy is not known for his patience and the water was coming out too slowly. He asked me for a rock in the hopes of tilting the tank (all 65 gallons of it) to speed up the process. He is tired, cranky, and frustrated so instead of waiting for me to get in the bed of the truck to help, he tries doing it himself. The truck doesn’t have a bed liner so it is very slick, that combined with snow and leather work boots sent him flying. He landed on his tush, and the tank fell in the water trough. Ouch! He collected himself and we managed to flip the water tank in the trough upside down empting the all the water quickly. That gives the horses about half a tank full which should last at least a couple of days. After all, their tank holds 175 gallons.
By now it’s mid afternoon and Rudy is exhausted once more. He got the pump running but we still have no water. I put him to bed for a nap, and half an hour later I check the barn for water while I feed. No luck, we still don’t have water.. It’s now 45 degrees out and all the pipes should be unfrozen so I check the water main to the pasture horses, and there’s nothing there either. After I feed I go down to the pump house, and it is not running even though it shows 55 pounds of pressure. I feed the rest of the animals and get Rudy up. It’s now 5:00 pm. The inside barn horses have gone through all their water so he goes back to Capitan for another tank full. Thank God we bought that tank some years ago just in case we needed to haul water for the horses. Rudy hasn’t eaten all day so he is doubly cranky, and frustrated. Like Lizzie he’s not a happy camper. While getting water at the feed store in Capitan, in talking to Mark he decides that the bladder in the pressure tank probably died with the hard freeze. He’s got to stay home one more day. That means he can’t make money when we are way past broke and we have to put out more money to boot. My main concern is trying to get the tank out of the pump house. There is absolutely no room in there. We could call a pump company, but that would cost way more so Rudy intends on doing it himself. I don’t think I want to be down there with him. It will be a nightmare to say the least. In addition he will probably have to go to Alamogordo to get a new pressure tank. That’s nearly 80 miles away.
I try to cheer him up feeling guilty all the while because I’m the one who is so into having a breeding farm. He can’t say no to me. Knowing this is my life long dream, he will do whatever it takes to make a go of it. How I found such a wonderful man to spend the rest of my life with I’ll never know, but I thank God for him everyday.
We are battered, and bruised, dirty, and frustrated (at least Rudy is). God willing, tomorrow Rudy will finally get the pump fixed and we will have water. I for my part have to get hay and do ranchy stuff. God always provides and I have no doubt that even though we don’t have the money to pay for it, everything will work out.
You really only have two choices in life. You can say woe is me when times are hard, and feel sorry for yourself, or you can believe. It doesn’t matter what you believe in, whether it be God, yourself, or the fates, if you believe and look at all that life brings as a gift, you will be ok, you will be happy. I choose to believe. One of my favorite songs is from the musical The South Pacific. You can call me a cockeyed optimist too, for I find in all things something good. I trust that in times of adversity we can find strength, in times of sorrow we can find joy, and when all is dark we can find beauty. As we waited for the water buckets in the barn to fill, I looked at the black night sky, and there were a billion stars bright and clear, sparkling with joy and promise. Even when things are bad life is good. Stay tuned for part four of our water saga.
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