~ Retired and Starting My Future In The Foothills ~

Hey, they're ducks! It's what they do.

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Tomorrow, a day I've taken off in HOPES of having running water at the house, I plan to head up the hill WITH Angus, the Toulouse gander (and Kate's prospective mate). This oughta be interesting, driving a RAV4 with a fully-feathered and quite hefty gander in the back in a Rubbermaid bin with side hopefully tall enough to contain him. Plus my two dachshunds in the front passenger seat. And a stop at my favorite feed store to pick up some pullet chicks for HHandbasket and Farmer Lew.

Plus maybe some more stuff to move.... Oh, yes, and the brand new oven range hood I bought on my lunch hour today. Along with the duct and clamps to vent it to the old stove chimney. John will meet me at the house around 11 a.m. to install the oven range hood and connect it to the vent on the roof.

John the contractor installed a dryer vent through the utility room wall yesterday. Whoever lived there before either didn't use a dryer or didn't care if it wasn't vented to the outside. I'll have to take a picture and add it to this thread; I think it's pretty nifty. I had been resigned to having some aluminum flap thingie poking out of the wall (not an attractive mental image but pretty much what I've known dryer vents to look like) but was pleasantly surprised. It's dark brown polyvinyl with a grill cover. John said that's so the squirrels don't store their acorns in my dryer vent. I don't know why that is such a silly idea to me. I imagine frustrated squirrels trying like heck to fit acorns through that screen, then opting for a cartoon sledge hammer to smash 'em into the vent.

The shipment of RatZappers arrived today, which is a good thing, too. Mice are making themselves at home in my house! (Both houses, the one I bought and the rental in which I still live. I think it's because I am only sometimes here OR there. Enough time for mousies to sneak in, think the place is vacant, and they own it.) Two units at each place will be a good start to reduce the rodent populations.
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Hung a third hummingbird feeder up there last night. This one is hanging from a holder secured by suction cups stuck to a window on the side of the house. Plus a couple more chicken-related wind chimes on the veranda. (Pictures to follow.)

I'll come back to W. Sac some time Saturday evening, then return to the house on Sunday. I'll pack some work clothes and Monday morning will be the first test drive to work, checking the commute. The alternate Mondays I work are "short" days, which I can start at my regular time or an hour later, shifting the end of my day an hour either direction to make up the 8 hour (plus an hour lunch) work day. Therefore, any miscalculations on the commute time won't adversely affect my schedule.

This is all predicated upon having running water, of course.
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Houston, we have a problem.

We (pump guy and his wife and I) eagerly awaited water flowing into the house this afternoon when the pump guy hooked up the electrical circuit on the wire he'd just played out in the trench the contractor had dug. But it was not to be...

They'll come back tomorrow to fix and finish what went wrong.

But I wanna natter a bit about moving to the mountains and the interesting people I am meeting. Joe is the pump guy, and his worker was sick yesterday and today. Joe is 75 years old. His wife, in her 60s, came with him to assist (and nag him to take rests and drink water and let her do some of the strenuous work). They wanted me to be able to take a shower here this evening. As did I.

John the contractor had trenched past the old, not gonna be used pump, all the way to the house. Joe decided to use the trench for water pipe to the old pump, then attach to the old pipe there, tying into the house in that manner, but lay the electrical the rest of the way in the new trench, by-passing the need to go through/under the patio concrete. Workable plan, saves PVC conduit, too.

Joe's wife is a hoot. We learned we have my real estate agent and broker in common, as Joe does a lot of work for them, for real estate jobs and at their personal homes as well. And once I'm all moved up and settled in, I will have her and Joe as egg customers. She also wants to buy a couple of started pullets from me.

On one of their breaks, they came to the coop to admire - oh, wait, I haven't yet told y'all about driving up with Angus, have I?

Angus was a great passenger in his bin in the back if my RAV4. A little bit of hooting, at first, then he settled down. The winding bit of highway wasn't his favorite part, but he was remarkably calm during the 80 minute journey. Although it had taken a few minutes to catch him, he was very calm as I carried him to the car, and when I carried him from the car to the coop up here.

He's fully feathered and a gorgeous gander. Kate has some of her hard feathers in, but she's still pretty fuzzy with goose down. I introduced them and then left the coop to stand at the Dutch door to watch how everybody got along.

Kate's minions accepted him right away, which startled him. (RIR packing peanuts, in their fugly stage, and honestly not all that bright.). The gift chicks are just as scared of Angus as they are of Kate and her minions.

Kate was shy. Angus was almost as shy; every time I did go into the coop, he waddled to me for a hug and to stay close to me. I opened the pop door but nobody used it before I closed it again, hours later.

Anyway, Joe and his wife admired the coop and its current occupants, the roll-out nests, the auto-door, and solicited information about the rest of my flock.

Then back to work, Joe powered the pump, water flowed....but didn't make it to the house. We heard running water; a "stray" pipe had been cut by the trencher, and water was spilling in the open trench where it shouldn't be flowing. Joe shut off the pump. His wife dug out the broken section, Joe cut and repaired the pipe, curious about its location, let the sealant cure, then started the pump again.

No water to the house.
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. He shut the pump off again and we investigated further with some shovel work.

It appears there is a bunch o' pipe leading from the old pump off into the distance OFF my property. Being long-time well and pump folks, Joe and his wife looked at each other and then asked me, "You know anything about your neighbors back there?"

No, but I know some more about the last owner/occupants of my property; neighbors on three sides and the clerk at the local gas station and market all have told me "the sheriff" has been up here "all the time" because the folks who lost this property to foreclosure were "into drugs."

Well, Joe and his wife will be back tomorrow to lay new PVC pipe in the trench, instead of to the old pipe that heads off somewhere to the back of my property. Into forest. Where there was probably a grow farm at one point in time.

So, no shower tonight.
 
Just catching up on your thread Linda. GREAT NEWS ABOUT THE WATER!!!!
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You must be so happy to have the water and now you can really finish up the move. So happy for you!
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