It took me over two weeks to get my last post posted. Why
you ask, what can possibly happen in two weeks? My wonderful fantastic 2014 is
off to a slow start, the wonderful part that is. Well my truck gave me a good
two weeks before it started breaking down again. It was doing fine then all of
a sudden it started to die on me. Do you have any idea how scary is to be
carrying a load of water (275 - 330 gallons of it), and suddenly be dead in the
water? It would be fine then start to loose power then stop. It took a while
(once George rescued me, and pushed me from Capitan to our road), but I finally
figured out it was the thermostat. Meanwhile I replaced the airflow bypass
valve, and screwed up the timing that I just got fixed after Rudy replaced the
distributor. Oh did I tell you about the episode with the distributor? I was
bringing a load of water from Capitan, and the truck died on Hwy 48 in a very
bad place. There was no room to pull completely off the road of course, and it
just died. Luckily a sheriff’s car pulled up right after, and stayed behind me
till AAA finally sent a tow truck. Why is it that when you tell people not to
do something that’s the very thing they do? I told them I was carrying 300
gallons of water, I was in an unsafe place, and not to send the tow truck from
Ruidoso, which of course is exactly what they did. When he finally got there he
took one look at my truck with it’s load of water, and went right back to
Ruidoso. The tow company in Capitan, which is 10 minutes away (as opposed to 45
minutes away), has a heavy duty truck with a flat bed. By this time the Sheriff
was getting a bit peeved, but I finally got AAA to send the right tow, and he
managed to get me, and my water safely up to the house (after three hours that
is). Such fun. Anyway Rudy ended up spending our anniversary replacing the
distributor. He was working on the timing when he had to leave. He called
Andy’s the next morning, which was freezing cold, and snowing, and had him come
up to the house to fix the timing. Needless to say when the truck started dying
on me yet again I was very nervous about going to town to get water. It would
work then not work, work then not work. We figured out it wasn’t the fuel
pumps, and it wasn’t the fuel pressure regulator. Rudy was afraid it was one of
the sensors, but said I could replace the thermostat with little trouble, and
it would be a cheap fix if that was what was wrong with it. I replaced it, and
the truck stopped dying, but he didn’t tell me to put gasket stuff on both sides
of the gasket so I had to take it apart again, and the second time I put it
back together one bolt didn’t go in right. I was going to Andy’s to find out
about the check engine light, and of course it boiled over. I just can’t win
for loosing some days. They re-taped the boltholes on the motor side, and fixed
a vacuum line that had come loose, and I was good again. I still have to
re-adjust the timing (George fixed it after I replaced the by-pass valve but
timed it too slow), but the thermostat is working fine now that it is broken
in.
Lest you think that 2014 isn’t turning out to be so great,
there have been some positives. Everyone is healthy again. Marina’s feet are
doing fine, Lizzie got over her Pigeon Fever, and it only takes me less than an
hour to feed again. Thank you Lord for that! April (God love her) got on the
roof for me, and cleaned out the top of the chimney. We now have heat in the
main part of the house again. I’ve split a little more than half of the wood I
got from Sherry, and spring is definitely here. Patti, and George are going to
give me their chickens I just have to fix the chicken run so no more little
foxes can dine on their favorite treat. I fixed the barn water pipe (brass can
only stand so much cold weather) so we now have water in all the right places.
There have been no more run ins with porcupines (don’t know if I told you about
that one), and the skunks haven’t started coming out yet. I haven’t taken down
my Christmas stuff, but hopefully now that I’m not exhausted all the time, and
I actually will have some free time (once I get caught up on laundry that is) I
should be able to get that taken care of very soon. Best of all, I made a new
friend today, a very good new friend. I was going to get water, and at the
dumpster two friends were visiting. They saw me coming, and ended their
chitchatting. As I pulled up the man going back home stopped me, and told me he
had been trying to catch me (to talk of course). Anyway we talked a bit, and he
offered to let me use his 400-gallon water tank. It’s one of the round ones
that just slide in the bed of the truck shaped to fit over the wheel wells. Of
course I said yes so up to his house we went. We sat, and talked for quite a
while, and traded tanks. He only gets water for the horses leaving his well for
household use. He said I could just keep it as long as I needed it, and if he
needed to get water he would use my tank. He also offered to go with me using
my tank, and that way we could fill both tanks, and get my storage tank full
(God how I love small towns). His wife loves to ride, but he’s not always able
to go. Besides a heart condition (not unlike Rudy’s) he’s been battling
hernias, and tumors. He’s beat cancer so far, but he’s not as strong as he used
to be. With all he’s been through it’s no wonder. Anyway we exchanged numbers,
as he wants to bring his wife over to see our horses. The place is a mess since
I haven’t had time to keep up the stalls, but all that will be changing with
the fair weather. Who knows I might even get the rest of my house clean. Now
that I have water again I can’t wait till I can wash the floors. Then too I
need to groom the two little mops that run around the house. You have no idea
how wonderful it is not to worry about having enough water.
Last but not least, I think the underground river that feeds
our well has been growing with the warmer weather. We didn’t get a lot of snow,
but we did get some in November, and December. I shouldn’t have as much water
as I do considering there were two days this week I couldn’t get water so I’m
hoping. It may not last that long, but even a little break from having to get
water every day is greatly appreciated.
Thus ends my saga. I can’t wait to get things squared
away again, and start doing the things I love to do like riding!
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