Why is everything always so complicated?

First, our hot water tank went out.

Okay, we adapted. We’ve been heating water with the tea kettle for washing dishes, and taking showers in our outdoor shower.

Then we got the bright idea of upgrading our propane tank to a 500-gallon model, as we had in our last home. We wanted to install one last year, but there weren’t any tanks that size available, so we settled for a 120-gallon size. However this year we were in luck. The propane folks will be here next week to install the larger tank.

Before they arrive, however, we needed to dig a shallow trench (12 inches deep) to lay the pipe. Don started digging by hand, which proved impossible except for a surface scar.

Not only is the ground still rock-hard after the long dry summer, but the ground is almost pure clay.

Instead, he used the subsoiler on the tractor, which is designed to break up soil.

So yesterday he easily got the trench dug, and he was feeling quite pleased … until he learned the power to the well was out. Not the power to the house; just the well. Suddenly we had no water. He figures he must have snapped the electrical wire to the well while trenching, even though he felt nothing (no tug, etc.) and had set the subsoiler to only dig down 12 inches.

So he examined the trench minutely, trying to find the broken wire. And let me tell you, he was on his hands and knees looking for that broken wire, to no avail. If he did snap the wire, it means whoever laid the wires on this home must have laid the wire very shallow, and directly from the power pole. Normally wires are buried much deeper, and he was only trenching at 12 inches.

Now before anyone chastises us for not calling the power company in advance of digging, we tried. They will only locate underground lines between the power pole and the meter; and since our meter is ON the power pole, they won’t look any further. Finding stuff that’s underground is up to us. (And no, there’s no regional company that specializes in locating underground lines. We’ve checked.)

That’s one of the problems with moving into an existing home with a history of multiple short-term previous owners. Knowledge of where critical infrastructure is located (such as buried pipes, septic, wires, etc.) is long forgotten.

At any rate, we have no water. We’re waiting to work with an electrician to dig a new trench and lay new wire to power the well. (And this, boys and girls, is why it’s so necessary to store water.)

Sigh. Why is everything always so complicated?