Water, Water.

A couple of weeks ago I heard David go outside at some point during the night- I briefly wondered why but then fell back asleep. FYI - I am not your Go To person for emergencies, I tend to sleep right through them. Years ago our yard was on fire during the night - the whole nine yards including firetrucks, neighbors, etc... yep. Slept right through it. But I digress. I got up a little later to get a drink of water......nothing.  

No water.

 

Here in Oregon you can have a well, city water or....a neighborhood community water system which we have never had. Water can  be quite expensive here, especially when you get inland. We had never heard of community water before. Here is how it works:

Where we live they can't build anymore houses, there are a total of 16 which are supported by one big pump house. The big benefit is the cost - $15 dollars a month for unlimited spring water - no chlorine, no chemicals - it's a clear as a bell. It's actually weirdly clear but we love it. Then there is the downside - you cannot leave your hose running as it will reduce the water pressure to the other houses, not  a big as I wouldn't do that if I had city water either. But the big drawback is if it breaks - you get a leak, the neighborhood is responsible. And did I mention it's an honor system? And not too many are honorable? From what I understand from the neighbors years ago most of the people living here were farmers so everyone was essentially home. If it broke you had a lot of hands. Later, there was a group of retired guys who considered the water system sort of a hobby. And now, now you have a small group that goes out. Unfortunately we have a much larger group of people that hide in thier houses waiting for someone else to fix it. 

David waited til the sun came up, took his shovel and headed to the neighbor's, he and two others worked for about 10 hours - then had to stop. The next day another showed up but David said two of the neighbors on thier daily walk stopped to thank them for their help(??) - I wonder if not everyone knows they are supposed to be helping too. The leak was underground so one of the neighbors called his friend who is a witcher and he came with his dousing rods. David said that was pretty neat and he found the leak pretty fast. This is only the second time it's happened (once before a cow stepped on the line) and thankfully it never goes on for a long time. And it's not all bad, David does enjoy spending time with the neighbors, everyone standing around after telling stories and laughing. I suggested to David maybe they need  a rotating roster but he said maybe when they have the yearly meeting - he said he was pretty sure the lazy neighbors would be raising the roof over that! It's not a huge deal - more of an annoyance - while it's being fixed if it goes on for longer than a few hours they turn it on for an extended period of time so you can shower, wash dishes,etc....   and we do store water just in case - glad it was over fast.