A Productive Day of Not Getting Much Done

Today started a little differently than usual.

Most mornings at Memory Lane I'm awake around 7:30.

Today I didn't even wake up until about 9:30.

Even then, I wasn't exactly motivated to get moving.

Honestly, I was tired.

Not exhausted from hard labor, just one of those mornings where the blankets felt better than whatever responsibilities were waiting outside.

I spent another hour or so laying in bed watching the hummingbirds feed outside the camper window while convincing myself it was finally time to get up.

Eventually responsibility won.

Barely.

The Well Strikes Again 🚰

The first task of the day was checking the well.

After yesterday's battle with cloudy water, I wanted to see if things had improved overnight.

The first few minutes looked familiar.

Dark water.

Cloudy water.

A brief moment of concern.

Then, just as it had yesterday morning, the water cleared up remarkably fast.

Within a few minutes it looked crystal clear.

Encouraged, I let it run.

And run.

And run.

Probably longer than necessary.

I let it flow for more than an hour before shutting it down.

Later around lunchtime I turned it back on and accidentally let it run for nearly two hours because I got distracted doing other things.

When I finally shut it off, the water was cloudy again.

At this point I wasn't really sure what the well was trying to tell me.

New Toy Day 🍃

Since the water was off for the moment, I decided to assemble the new leaf blower.

Thankfully there wasn't much assembly required.

The blower tube came in a few sections that simply screwed together.

Five minutes later it was ready to go. But Wyatt made sure to supervise the project.

No missing parts.

No mysterious leftover hardware.

No instructions written by someone using an online translator.

Just simple assembly.

I appreciated that.

The Workshop That Never Got Organized 🔨

My actual goal for the day was to organize the workshop.

That was the plan.

At least initially.

I loaded up the new blower along with the tools that had been riding around in the back of my truck and headed over.

The mower got moved farther back into the building.

The spreader got put away.

The bags of weed and feed got moved inside where they would stay dry.

Everything seemed to be moving in the right direction.

Then I looked at a huge pile of cardboard boxes sitting in the corner.

Suddenly those boxes became the priority.

So instead of organizing the workshop, I unloaded all the tools onto the workbench, loaded all the cardboard into the truck, and drove everything back to the burn pile near the camper.

The workshop remained largely unorganized.

I basically spent an hour moving things around and somehow accomplished everything except the thing I originally intended to do.

That pretty much sums up the day.

The Main House Project That Became Tomorrow's Project 🏠

While I was already moving things around, I decided to bring the dehumidifiers and the motorhome skirting up to the main house.

The skirting was easy.

The dehumidifiers were not.

Once I got into the basement, I discovered there was no power.

Then I remembered I had shut off several breakers weeks ago.

After some experimenting, I managed to restore power to the basement without restoring power to the workshop.

The workshop wiring still looks like a fire waiting to happen, so that remains off for now.

Success.

Except then I discovered all the basement light bulbs were burned out.

So now I had power.

But no light.

At that point I decided tomorrow sounded like a better day to deal with it.

The dehumidifiers stayed where they were.

Future Josh can figure that out.

While I was there, I pulled away a giant tarp that had been covering the basement stairwell since before we purchased the property.

Calling it a solution would probably be generous.

The tarp is crumpled up, difficult to move, and honestly may be directing more water toward the basement door than it is keeping away from it.

Eventually I'd like to replace it with proper basement doors and address the drainage issues correctly.

Water comes down the hillside, water comes off the roof, and much of it finds its way toward that basement entrance.

Since the basement is a stacked stone foundation, the real solution isn't keeping water out after it gets there.

The real solution is keeping water away from the house in the first place.

That will likely mean French drains, grading improvements, and other drainage projects somewhere down the road.

Small Town Coincidences 👴

One of the more interesting moments of the day happened completely by accident.

As I was driving back toward the camper, I noticed a vehicle moving slowly up the road.

Since this road sees very little traffic, both of us slowed down.

Eventually we stopped and started talking.

It turned out he was a well driller.

A very friendly 79 year old well driller.

Even more interesting?

He was the man who drilled my well.

The exact well I've been fighting with for the past several days.

What are the odds?

We stood there talking for quite a while.

He explained what he thought was happening and gave me some advice.

His recommendation was simple.

Run the well continuously overnight at a very low flow rate.

Just a couple gallons per minute.

According to him, by morning the water should clear considerably.

Considering he drilled the thing, I figured his opinion carried a little weight.

As it turns out, his son is currently drilling a well for my neighbor.

It's a small world.

Fire, Family, and Doing Absolutely Nothing 🔥

Back at camp I started a fire and settled in for the afternoon.

I spent some time talking with my cousin on the phone while enjoying the cool weather.

Honestly, it was one of those days where doing less felt perfectly acceptable.

No pressure.

No deadlines.

No major accomplishments.

Just enjoying the property. And watching Wyatt steal the firewood. You have to wonder if he thinks we are burning his toys.

The Well Experiment Continues 💧

Following the well driller's advice, I set the hose to a slow flow and let it run.

Interestingly, it seemed to be working.

The water cleared fairly quickly.

At one point I stopped the flow long enough to top off the motorhome water tank.

When I disconnected the hose, the water was cloudy again.

But this time I wasn't overly concerned.

My theory is that stopping the flow allowed sediment to settle and then get stirred back up when the water started moving again.

Kind of like shaking a snow globe.

Once the water continued flowing steadily, it began clearing again.

So tonight the well is running slowly.

We'll see what tomorrow morning brings.

No Patrol Tonight 🐾

Unfortunately, tonight's usual 7 PM patrol with Wyatt was canceled.

The rain moved back in and neither one of us seemed particularly excited about wandering around in it.

I don't think Wyatt was disappointed.

We'll make up for it tomorrow.

Hopefully by then the water will be clear, the well driller will be proven right, and maybe I'll actually accomplish one of the projects I set out to do.

Then again, days like today are part of what makes Memory Lane enjoyable.

I didn't get much done.

At least not the things I planned to do.

But I learned more about the property, met the man who drilled my well, spent time by the fire, talked with family, and enjoyed a quiet Sunday in the Catskills.

Sometimes that's enough.