dry times....

HermitJohn · #1 06/02/12, 03:12 PM

I am just in from watering garden and trees. I learned you cant tip over full plastic barrel in back of pickup safely. Barrel had set in sun several years and busted into million shards when I filled it and then tried to tip it.

And drum roll... I have one foot of water left in my well!!!!!!!!!! the old submersible pump is hanging in pure air. I can see the top of that old wheelbarrow that fell in many years ago when I was relining the well. Not sure how to grab hold of it with rope or I'd do my best to pull it out of there.

For well to be this dry this early, its amazing, havent seen this in 22 years I've owned this place. In past dry year meant hauling water in August and maybe September. Not June, July, August, and September....

Course be great time to clean 5 to 10 foot of crap out of bottom of well. It was an old mortarless rock lined spring fed dug well. Many years ago I dug down to where original diggers had went through bedrock and using bedrock as footing came up with concrete block. In process considerable bit of dirt and rock and one wheelbarrow fell in. But I am in no condition to do it and not like you can hire anybody to do it, so wont get done.

Anyway that means I am pretty much stuck hauling water rest of summer and dry camping. Not likely any drought busting rains are coming this time of year.

#2 06/02/12, 03:23 PM

Sounds like maybe you need to get a well drilled . Doesn't sound as though the well you have is very deep . It was starting to get a little dry here but we got a good rain night before last & yesterday .

ronbre · #3 06/02/12, 03:35 PM

PLEASE make sure you are NOT alone when working in the well and make sure you have a secondary escape route !!!

Sawmill Jim · #4 06/02/12, 05:00 PM

Most wells the only way out is up .Unless you want to visit China

jwal10 · #5 06/02/12, 05:17 PM

Can you make a grapple out of some rebar and catch the wheelbarrow. How deep is the well, I used a vac trailer to suck the sediments from my spring box but it is only 8' deep....James

LP Mini Models - Mini Trailer Mounted Hydro Excavator - Industrial Vacuum, Hydro Excavation, Air Excavation, Vacuum Excavation, and Environmental Clean-Up Equipment

HermitJohn · #6 06/02/12, 06:31 PM

It used to be around 30 foot. About 24 foot after all the rocks and soil caved in. But as I said, when I bought the place, this old well was open so goodness only knows what got shoved down into it over the years. It was dug I think in late 1800s. when I moved here, you could see where the old log cabin set not far from the well, though it was long gone. Tiny cabin. Unless it was some old hermit living alone, been pretty tight fit for a family. On other hand somebody spent lot effort building rock wall fences, so hard to believe that was one guy.

HermitJohn · #7 06/02/12, 06:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ronbre

PLEASE make sure you are NOT alone when working in the well and make sure you have a secondary escape route !!!

You must not be too familiar with wells, there is an opening at the top, none on sides or the bottom.... Otherwise the water leaks out!

But with my health I am not climbing down in there. Doing it alone would mean filling bucket, climbing out, pulling bucket out and dumping it. Then rinse and repeat again and again. Its more of a job for a youthful crew that are desperate for money and hope they dont bean the guy down in the well filling the bucket. Professionals dont deal with ancient dug wells.

And drilled wells dont do good around here, very slow recovery, you have to trickle them into a cistern and hope there is enough recovery to meet household needs for 24hr period.

There is rural water line down along county road, but thats expensive to hook up and you have to hire the guy's brotherinlaw to put in new septic for you to qualify, then you have monthly bill. With that rural water line, I imagine you couldnt get a permit to even try to drill a well. They want to siphon money from your pocket.

Freya · #8 06/03/12, 01:56 AM

The "bright" side IS the chance to get it cleaned out.

Anychance after cleaning it out that you can try to go deeper with it? Or can you dig a pond and hope for a few good rains?

HermitJohn · #9 06/03/12, 06:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Freya

The "bright" side IS the chance to get it cleaned out.

Anychance after cleaning it out that you can try to go deeper with it? Or can you dig a pond and hope for a few good rains?

Its spring fed, sure getting it cleaned out to however deep it originally was probably best one could hope for. But not like I am able healthwise and you cant hire people crazy enough to do this sort of thing. Even when I was young, would have had to be pretty hard up for cash to crawl down in a 30 foot hole in ground. Hmm, I did do it once for an old guy, even had some snakes down in hole with me. I got even, put them in bucket for the old guy to haul up! Luckily he didnt drop bucket when he saw them. Just laughed. Yea need somebody young and dumb and desperate for cash....

I have a small wet weather pond, only has water when ground is sopping wet... more like a big seasonal mud puddle than a real pond.

Just a bad year. Last year zero rain June through September. But May last year had a deluge, my county road was even closed temporarily after a minor landslide. They reopened it in June when things seriously dried out after rains stopped completely. Anyway that May deluge last year meant well kept water all summer with frugal use. This year May has been super dry and my well is dry. Not like we even had normal rains in March and April.

jwal10 · #10 06/03/12, 08:30 AM

You need a little of what we have arond here. When I was farming, I could dig down 8' in any low spot along a draw (ravine) and hit water for livestock to drink. A lot of springs run all summer. The spring at my off grid cabin runs a 2" pipe full all summer. It is 300 ft elevation from my cabin, way back up in the woods. There are areas between here and Dallas that have poor wells, many salt or sulpher with only 2-3 gallons a minute. Very small pump that runs 24/7 with a big holding tank. In the summer they have to haul water from town to have enough....James

ronbre · #11 06/03/12, 08:35 AM

secondary escape route meant..if a rope breaks have a second one ready ??? obviously I'm not THAT stupid

HermitJohn · #12 06/03/12, 03:46 PM

I barely have energy to water stuff, sure dont have energy to climb into wells and play with ropes and ladders and such. If I can snag that old wheelbarrow, will drag it out, but thats about it. I dont even have what it takes to supervise some desperate person that might be willing to climb down into there for money.

Sawmill Jim · #13 06/03/12, 03:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ronbre

secondary escape route meant..if a rope breaks have a second one ready ??? obviously I'm not THAT stupid

Kick me I just couldn't resist

prairiebird · #14 06/03/12, 04:41 PM

Hermit John...

where abouts do you live? I live in western Kansas and it looks like we're heading back into another drought after having a three year reprieve. Arg. I cannot believe the weather this year. We didn't have a whole winter. Spring came in February! Without much rain...just warm temps. Everybody put out their gardens thinking how stupid of us cuz ole' man winter is going to show up and freeze our baby seedlings off. NEver happened. In all my years, I've never seen anything like this.

HermitJohn · #15 06/04/12, 09:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by prairiebird

Hermit John...

where abouts do you live? I live in western Kansas....

I'm in NW Arkansas. Rains kept hitting very NW corner of Benton County or going south of I-40. Even Fayetteville/Springdale got couple good rains. Dry as dust here though. Very annoying.

But what a difference a day makes, twenty four little hours... Late yesterday afternoon, nice little shower and then about 3am a real light show and considerably more rain. Must have got 1 1/2 to 2 inch rain. Not a drought buster, but I'll take what I can get. Took walk and peeked in well. The derelict wheelbarrow is covered again and can hear some water seeping in. Who knows, maybe enough water that I can water my garden and trees one more time next week....