Little Shitty House on the Prairie

Update: The water is back on. Plumber Mark Fournier is a god, and ran out here when he was tight to teach a class to save the day. Temporary solution right now has the missing 120 main leg into the house back on.

The pole outside my house has the mains and meters. One was from 1960. When Mark opened it up, he found rain and snow had corroded the 120 main (one of 2) wire to this degree in the picture below.

When Mark touched it (after shutting the main down) it crumbled to dust. This explains all the brownouts for my tenants, the stoves randomly not working, and the water pump. And the variable water pressure. It was giving up the ghost and it did it last night.

There’s also this frayed wire on the mains, same telephone pole that has to be replaced. Shittily, I “own” all this equipment below the top of the phone pole, so this is my bill. It’s gonna be thousands, but it has to be done.

Right now Mark has the main rigged (legally, safely) in such a way that it restored full power. Water came on immediately, everything works perfectly. God bless him. I’ll know the estimate for the big job in a few days.

So, it sucks, but it could be worse. There are people plenty worse off than me right now, and I wish them the best getting through it.

Thank you to recent new subscribers.

END UPDATE

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I’m living Little House on the Prairie with none of the charm. I live in the country. That means I have a drilled well with a water pump. There is no water or sewer line out here, no natural gas lines.

Last night the water pump went out. No water to the whole house, including my upstairs tenants. Strange brownouts in my tenants’ electrical stuff.

Four hours of sleep, up at 6:30 calling emergency plumbers. Had a plumber out, then a well specialist. Found out that half the mains power into the house (120 volts) is dead. That’s why the problems and no water.

I replaced a bad circuit breaker switch-no dice.

Waiting on a third electrician to get here this afternoon or tonight. I hope to God he can find the problem and that my water pump will come back on.

Kevin and Phil are here to build the new studio in my second bedroom. The modem practically blew up. No Internet. So off this morning to get a new one. Now we have Internet.

Kevin drove his SUV down my hill driveway to the back and now can’t get out. The snow is blowing and it’s like 10 degrees F. A tow out is going to cost $200.

Meanwhile, I’m out in the snow field behind the house, looking at the frozen-solid river, shoveling snow into a trash can to haul it into the house. Then it gets heated on the stockpot-all so that we can flush the toilet. We’re all pissing in the backyard, but toilets have other uses that require water.

Haven’t had a shower in two days, the entire inside of the house is a construction mess, and I’ve begged off side gig job today because this post you’re reading is the last of my functioning brain cells. I need a nap; like a forever nap:)

At least Kevin caught some of my bellyaching and backyard shoveling on video, so we’ll give you some on the show!

These kinds of things stress me out badly; I overreact and catastrophize in the moment. There are reasons (aside from my obvious never-ending neurotic PTSD, this house flooded and the downstairs was destroyed in 2023).

But, thank God the electrician is coming out tonight. I have a house and heat. The people in Los Angeles are the ones I’m sick over and praying for.

Still, what a crappy couple of days.

And, uh, hey-it’s a great time to buy a paid subscription. Bills, ya know?

Misery loves company, so if you’re being thwarted in life, even a little, pour your guts out in the comments!

It will all look better with a good night’s sleep (remind yourself; it helps).

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