Aaaaack! My Water Broke!

Guess what, my water broke. At 45 years of age with two kids in college, having my water break could be the worst news of my life. It could mean I was having a baby; however, today, it is my well water that broke, so framing it like this makes me not quite so upset. It COULD be worse.

Today was a most unusual day. I found a dead baby kitten in my tomato plant and knew I couldn't leave it there for Eva or Tommy to find (Tommy, at age 20, is still very tender hearted towards animals-- ask me sometime about the spider he killed). Anyhow, I had to remove it without touching it or holding it very long, so I did. Then I began to think about showering and getting myself ready to work. I began to wonder how I’d get everything done today and also go visit my friend in the hospital who just had a baby. (her water broke) Then THAT’s when I noticed I couldn’t take a shower, our water broke. So I checked the breakers, flipped them, still no water. I turned off the hot water heater because I KNOW that much. I called the well man and he told me to check for faynts. It took me four times to understand he wanted me to go outside and see if fireants “faynts” had “et up” my wires at the pump. Well dang. I didn’t think of faynts. So I went and checked, but no, we’re not that lucky. No faynts.

The well driller said he couldn’t get out here until after dark so I went off to work without a shower. I was working at the hardware store today, how convenient is that??, and when I explained my lack of cleanliness, everyone began explaining to me how to fix my well without paying a well driller to come out. Hmmmm. It looked easy. They shoved this boxful of stuff at me, explained how to change the capacitor and shoved me out the door. Here I am going home and thinking, "Now what did they say to do?" I look lovely without a shower, don't I?

So I got home, shut off the water breakers, sent a goodbye email to my loved ones in case I got electrocuted and told Tom where I stuck the dead kitty so he could bury it before it stunk and I headed down under the house. Here I am going under.

I don't go under the house, it was not part of my marriage vows. I clean the toilet. I clean under the beds. I don't go under the house. So I was a litte a-scared. I made loud noises to scare away the varmints and I began creeping in. I screamed when I first touched a cobweb. I wondered why I was wearing my diamond ring in the dirt under the house and I wondered when I had my last manicure and why are my fingers so fat?? I kept creeping and found the pump.

Guess what. No capacitor. We don't have one. I looked everywhere. So.... on to possible problem #2 -- the switch. I was told perhaps the connectors in the switch are burnt. With much struggle, I opened the switch cover and examined all four connectors. One had silvery stuff gunked up in it. I huffed and I puffed and I blew that gunk away. I jiggled wires and tried my best to replace the switch, but I couldn't get the old one loose.

Feeling like a failure, I reassembled the old switch, left my tools and flashlight down there and emerged back into the sunshine. Back inside the house, I flipped the breakers back on and GUESS WHAT!! Water began gushing through the pipes!! We have water! Is that cool or what? I fixed it. I'm so proud. I imagine it's temporary and we still have to replace the switch when Tom gets home, but so far.... so good. I'm doing laundry, cooking.... hey, wait. Why am I washing clothes and cooking? I've changed our marriage vows. I go under the house and fix things, he cooks and cleans. That's the ticket! OK. You can wake up now, I'm done. I owe you a short one.