I don’t even know what happened when this week, but it wasn’t any better than the last week. I ran out of water again, and after fighting with the pump trying to coax it to give me the water that I needed I gave up, and called the well people again. My biggest fear is that the well is going dry, and sure enough they confirmed that that is exactly what is going on. They were able to drop the pump another ten feet, but I know that’s not going to be enough. So much for a 750’ well, try 400’. There isn’t even enough to sustain a 3,000 gallon water tank so that idea’s out. I simply can’t afford a new well. I did run into my neighbor, and she has a 300+ gallon water tank I can borrow, and plenty of water. They are strictly on solar so they have a tank system, and turn the pump on only when needed. We cart the water up her hill (good thing we have 4-wheel drive), and fill the tanks for everyone. I move the three mares in the arena pasture to the big pasture, and so far the water is holding. I have the main water line to the barn on again, and it seems to be able to support the automatic wateriers. If I only have to fill the pasture tank, that will make life a lot easier. When Rudy comes home he can rebuild the faucet in the pasture (it leaks naturally), and I can put a float on that tank as well. I think (I hope), the well will support the tanks if they all have floats, and I am very conservative with my water usage. The weather has cooled, and that has helped as well. The horses aren’t drinking near as much as they were.
We did get one gully washer, finally. It’s nearly the end of the rainy season, and at long last we got some real rain. Albuquerque normally has about 7” of rain by now, and they don’t even have 2”. The entire state is suffering, some areas more than others. La Nina is not a very nice little girl. I like her brother (El Nino) a lot better. It is also driving hay prices up. My friend is having a hard time finding hay to sell at a reasonable price. They are a small supplier, and struggling. They did turn someone on to us who wants a place in Capitan for her two horses. She’s five years older than I am, and makes me feel like the old lady. I’m going to rent her the arena pasture for her horses. She’s quite the character, and will be good for me. She said she’d bring her horses over in two weeks. What the hey it’s company for me, a horsey girlfriend for her, someone to trail ride with, and a little money I can most certainly use. Add to that that she can train in both English, and Western, and she may be able to give me some tips with working with the youngsters.
April (my neighbor) is also going to be coming over to help with the horses, and the ranch. She is another of my offbeat friends. Why surround yourself with normal sane people? Life is much more interesting when you are surrounded by characters out of a novel. April is shall we say a bit rough around the edges. She has had a very difficult life, and can put people off, but she has a heart of gold. I hadn’t heard from her for a long time, but I knew when she was ready she would come around again. She did, and just in the nick of time. She’s the one providing me with water, and the big tank. She plans on coming over about three times a week working with the horses, and helping around the ranch. I may be poor, but I am rich with friends. If we survive this recession, it will be because of people like April, and Katie (boarder), and Mark, and Penny who have helped us along the way. I may also have found a home for Lizzie, and Jeri with April. She doesn’t know about Jeri yet, but I know it would mean the world to her if I gave him to her. Her mother now has a boyfriend who doesn’t really know about horses, but wants to learn. They have a TB, and Lizzie might be a good horse for George (two George’s right next to each other is a bit much, don’t you think?). Lizzie is older but still has some spunk. She will be good for Shudabee, as they are about the same age. I have no idea how she is under saddle, but we’ll find out. If she’s calm enough for a beginner then it might be a good fit for George. April’s mother promised to get April a horse as well only she wants something with a little more spunk. I need to find a home for Jeri, and he’s the right size for April, a sweet boy, and definitely still has spunk. He’s sterile so he can safely be pastured with the two girls. Besides he won’t be able to reach either one of them. He’s barely 14.3 if that, Shoudabee is 16+ hands, and Lizzie is at least 15.2. Even on his tippy toes, I can’t see him getting it in there no matter how hard he tries. He’s used to being pastured with girls, and Lizzie is used to being pastured with a stallion so there’s no problem there. If he does manage to conceive I’ll take the baby as payment for the two horses. The only problem might be Shoudabee. I don’t know how she will take being pastured with a stallion. It’s just a thought right now but it could turn out to be a good thing. We’ll work on that.
Last but not least is my ongoing saga with the automatic wateriers. I decide that I may as well fix the other waterier as it leaks sometimes too. I take it all apart, and come up with the idea of converting them to the same float that I put on the arena water tank. I talk to the guy at the Mercantile, and he said it would work. I get all the fixtures, and put it to the side. What with having to haul water, our one (and only) rainy day, and going to Roswell to visit my mother, I didn’t get to it until today. It’s been an up, and down week, but if I can finish this one task at the very least it will improve my mood considerably. I feed everyone, and talk to Rudy then I set about gathering all my supplies to finally put this project to an end. I start putting the floats together, and discover that there really isn’t enough height to put the float where I want it, but that’s ok. It will be high enough to keep the water level where the horses can reach the water with their noses. Having learned from past experience, I start to connect everything before I actually start to glue the pieces together. Simple enough, only the one connector doesn’t fit. It states that it is a 1” to a ¾” fitting only the ¾” pipe doesn’t fit inside the fitting. Don’t ask me the real names for these things, because I don’t know. Everything else fits except for this one piece. This is two weeks now (or has it been longer) that I have been trying to fix this one simple little float. I could just scream. This is the last straw, and I wallow in despair all day. April doesn’t come over so I can’t even get a video of Storm, and Star, which I also wanted to get done this past week, and didn’t. Can you get do overs on an entire week? Despondent I waste the entire day watching old movies instead of cleaning stalls, which would have at least got out some of my frustrations. I will go to the Mercantile tomorrow, go to town (Ruidoso), and hopefully put this project to rest. Enough is enough, and I have had enough of trying to fix this stupid waterier. If I can’t get this fixed tomorrow, I’ll just leave the faucets on. There won’t be anything automatic about it, but it will work. I hate cowboy repairs. It just looks tacky!
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