The ongoing well saga

On Monday, March 3, Sal showed up, as expected, to dig the trench for the piping for the well. He was having a great time there with his big digger and his little digger and his big truck. I was a little curious about what Lee was doing with an extension cord out there, but he and Sal explained that they had a back-up plan for us in case the well guys never showed up. We could live in the tent that was housing the new wall. I guess Lee was arranging for electricity out there.

But, the well guys did actually show up! Unfortunately, they couldn't do anything because in spite of their previous instructions to Lee, they would install the pump while Sal dug the trench and then they would hook up the pipes. Apparently, the pipes have to be laid before the pump can go in. So off they went, but not before Lee had a couple of heart-to-hearts with Brett, the foreman that Lee miraculously got to come out to the site, and with the big boss on the phone.

Sal kept digging the trench, and began thinking about how to furnish the tent. So imagine my chagrin when I came back to the house on Tuesday to find the tent was gone. I wish we had kept the box that the big fridge came in. It's really good to have the tent gone because now we can get a sense of how the wall and the steps look and how to integrate it all into the landscape (or vice versa).

Naturally, we had some more torrential rain, so Sal couldn't finish the trench until Thursday.

Imagine my surprise when I got to the house on Friday and the well guys were actually there hooking up the pipes! Too bad for them that they did this about 3 months later than they had committed to. With the - hopefully permanent - change in weather, they were about knee deep in mud. I have no sympathy. They said everything would be done on Friday except for the installation of the pump. I asked if they would come back on Monday to do that, and got a not unexpected hedge: they don't do the scheduling; they just go where they're told. It's a shame, really. They work so hard when they are here, but they'll never be considered part of the team.

Sal wasn't at the house on Friday since he can't fill in the trench til the pipes are completed. But I guess some digging had to be done, because I saw Lee firing up Sal's digger. I wonder, did Lee organize this whole thing just so he could have another chance to play with the machines??...


Mike the mason and his team have managed to keep working around diggers and trenches and are finishing off the steps for the deck. So far they are steps to nowhere, but they look great.