Water, water everywhere, so many drops to drink

    
   Eureka!  We have H20, and plenty of it! I arrived at the site this morning to find some frustrated 
well diggers. It seems the hammer bit that boss-man Jeff attached yesterday wasn’t done quite right,
so they were waiting for him to arrive and fix it. I went about my business of working on the
floorboards (almost done!), and Jeff arrived soon afterwards and fixed the bit. Then the drilling began
to commence in earnest. I watched intermittently, but to be completely honest, it is not that exciting.
All of the action is underground. I did keep my eye on the number of sections of twenty-foot pipe
going in the ground, so I had a rough idea of the depth of drilling. They charge by the foot, which is
why it is so crucial to hit water early.
     The day progressed uneventfully. I kept one eye on the drill, and one on the sky, watching the rain
clouds roll in and calculating how much I could get done and still have enough time to cover
everything up. A little before , as I was returning form a lumber pile, I saw Bill (today’s driller)
give me a thumbs up. He was wearing a pretty wide grin, so I ran over and saw a beautiful sight—
water, rushing from the hole and down the hill. 
Me: “That looks like a lot of water.”
Bill: “Oh yeah. It’s great. About 12 gallons per minute.”
Me: “Hey, that’s pretty good, right?”
Bill: “You will never run out of water with this flow rate. This is more water than you can ever use in
your lifetime.” (He was smiling big now. So was I).
Me: “How deep?” I knew they hadn’t been digging for too long, but I had lost count of the pipes in
the ground. 
Bill: “I hit the first big fissure at 180 feet. I went 20 feet beyond it and hit a few more, but all of this
water is coming from the first one. So, 200 feet.”
Me: “Whoopeeeeee! You guys just made my day.”
     Finally, something came in under budget. The well was the big unknown, a huge variable in our 
accounting. To be safe, we budgeted for a full 400 feet. Now, it was as if someone placed $2,000 
in the plus column of our spreadsheet. Oh, what a feeling.
     Cushing packed up, and after struggling with the mud a bit, drove away. I packed up too, and
not even another rain shower could dampen my spirits.      

    
    
    


    

        

    
            

        
                
        
            
            

                
Our very own river
            
    
        
    



    
    
    
    


    

        

    
            

        
                
        
            
            

                
Well cap