Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Damage Control

Yesterday, for the first time since last Thursday, the temperature crawled out of the 30s into the 40s.  In the morning, all the water troughs, buckets and puddles were still iced over.

I did my routine of breaking ice, carrying buckets of hot water and scooping frozen manure.  The pond had a small hole in the ice where the water was circulating.  I broke the ice around the perimeter and carried water back up to the barn in Jackson's blue bucket to wash out the rest of the buckets.  I had the routine down.

In the afternoon when the sun had warmed the air to 50, Brett went down to the barn and turned the water valve on.  Water rained down in the feed room through the ceiling, it came out of the wall by the wash rack spigot, and the main line was split.  Ice and pipes don't mix.  We tried to drain the pipes before we left for the show but I think we were too late.  They were already frozen; packed with ice.

Brett turned the water valve back off and called our plumber.  I was at work; I missed the excitement and, no doubt, the profanity.  Brett has quite the colorful vocabulary when things like this happen. 

The plumber comes tomorrow.  Don't you just love unexpected and unplanned expenses for which you are not prepared?  Me, too.

Today, the warming trend continued but there was a stiff wind.  I was going to ride Winston but my throat is scratchy and I feel like I'm fighting off a cold or the flu or something along those lines.  I stayed in the house all day, working and resting.



13 comments:

  1. oh, sorry about the broken pipe! i keep wrapping several of our outdoor spigots as the temps are expected to freeze and crossing my fingers. :)

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  2. You might want check with your homeowner's insurance, they often cover burst pipes. I hope you feel better soon.

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  3. Oh no! That sucks. I hope the pipes get fixed soon, and I hope you feel better too.

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  4. I hope you don't have the flu! That is quite a water system you have...and the ice! Far worse than any we have had here.

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  5. Oh no... quelle catastrophe!
    I hope the plumber fixes it quickly and doesn't have to replace too many parts.

    I was very luck (and we were very broke) to have a LSH who willingly turned his hand to plumbing, carpentry, electrics, welding, tractor driving... whatever it took, whenever it was needed! He isn't any good at gardening though :-(

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  6. Oh no. To both frozen pipes and being sick.

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  7. Oh I absolutely HATE plumbing issues and it seems that is about all I ever have!

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  8. Durring our holiday travels we came home to find that the pipes had frozen in our Laundry room...then they burst as we tried to thaw them. Oh the joys of living in North Dakota!

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  9. Glad you are feeling better. Did they fix the pipes today? No, I don't drink coffee...Gary has been going to Java every morning for years. He meets the same guys and they hang out gabbing. Frequently he and one of them go for a walk, then he comes home or we meet at Agape 3 times a week. I am usually still in the barn when he is down there, and do go on Sundays after we hit the farm market across the street from June to October. Not my thing on a regular basis. Tell Brett I'll make you guys that salad in my header shot (our own beets) when you come to visit us. Ha ha.

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  10. Oh Annette I am so sorry you have to deal with this. I understand your frustration in something you have no control of. Take care. B

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  11. Well, I can just imagine the colorful language. I've been accused of using some of it occasionally too. What a rotten day and to feel sick on top of it. Hope it all gets fixed and you feel better soon.

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  12. Yuk. Nothing worse than frozen and broken pipes. I'm jealous of your temperatures though. It's -18 here in NS :(
    Hope you're feeling better soon.

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  13. I'm sorry about the pipes. But very impressed with the icicles! Our morning weather has climbed from the low teens to 20F and now that feels warm. It's supposed to get warmer this afternoon, I hope so, because I really need to do some laundry and I have pipe issues in the shed that holds my machine. Thanks for your support on my "ranting" post.

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Thanks so much for commenting!