I am rattling on about my house and occasional power outages and mention the pump that brings water from the well and she says You have a pump in your kitchen? And I realize she is envisioning a Little House on the Prairie style hand pump.After I recover from an extraordinarily rude fit of laughter, I explain that the pump is electric and brings the water into the plumbing system where it's carried into pipes and then comes out of completely normal faucets.
I also explain that no, I do not cook on my woodstove (although I do keep a kettle of water on it so I'll have some hot water if the power goes out) and have a perfectly boring normal electric kitchen stove.
And I'm going to try to get her to come up for a visit, so she can see that dirt-road living isn't all that bad.
But I won't mention the the beavers who come into my yard to fell small trees to drag into the river to build dams, or the porcupines or foxes that meander into my yard. Or the coyotes that sometimes howl horribly in the night.
8 comments:
Love it. You can imagine some of the hilarious things people said to me upon hearing I'd moved to Ireland. The whole explaining that we have indoor plumbing thing got old really quickly. :)
It's amazing how dark it gets, huh?
Still, those hand pumps ARE kind of cool. Maybe you should get one anyway?
and do NOT mention Big Foot. no. no. no.
I lived, for four years, on forty acres with no (normal) power, no (normal) running water, and six children. Fun.
We had batteries and inverters and a big water tower to provide water to our faucets, but I did have to charge said batteries and fill said water tower every day. Not fun.
When it rained, the driveway doubled as a creek, complete with feeding Great Blue Herons. Fun.
My grandmother's water was situated at the base of a mountain and the water was piped in from a mountain spring. I've always thought that was pretty awesome, but I am one of those people who thinks it really would be cool to have a hand pump (like the one in the picture) in my yard!Came here from Vodka Mom's place.
Stopping over from Vodka Mom's to say hi.
It sounds like you live on a sometimes, very DARK dirt road- Great read. Thanks.
jj
Dare I own up to being the New York City friend?
Listen, I had relatives who lived on a tobacco farm in Virginia. When I hear "water pump" and "dirt road" and "wood stove," I think of them. I see a pot-bellied stove, buckets and trips down to the brook to bring back water. I see a funky outhouse and snakes in the grass you've got to walk through to get there.
Okay, okay, so now I know that Sara's arrangement is not quite that ... quaint, but give me a break. To a city kid, born and bred, water pump and dirt road -- that's synonymous with Little House on the Prairie.
Oh, as for Vodka Mom, who mentioned Big Foot: I take that seriously. Ask Sara: She knows I'm scared of the dark. I wouldn't be surprised if there is a Big Foot out there, roaming around. You never know what's waiting, in the middle of nowhere, waiting to pounce on a little house at the end of a dirt road. :-)
The concept of "town water" is completely foreign to me. I've never lived anyplace without a well...lol. The coyotes that live in our woods scare the crap out of me. Some nights it sounds like they are right under the clothesline out back. <<>>
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