This is the typical water flow during the month of June in our "new norm" at the ranch.
Our collection box and leftover firehoses are not depicted in the video because they were "eaten" by the force of the creek.
Our best efforts to salvage some sort of water diversion resulted in either no water or brown muddy debris ridden muck...
June presented afternoon daily thunderstorms which brought the fury of the mountain down our used to be "sweet little drainage" and deposited boulders the size of Volkswagens into the now canyon like drainage.
The simple pleasures of flushing toilets, taking a shower, washing clothes in a washing machine, and everyday dish washing just got a little more scarce...
This is a depiction of when things were good. Brown running water was the Cadillac of living when we first got here.
We got hit with another gulley washer in early June which not only took out our temporary water but moved rocks and boulders 200 yards down the creek.
The defining sound of rocks moving down the mountain towards the lodge was in itself terrifying to witness.
We solicited the help of our Cascade pilot neighbors to temporarily rebuilt a collection dam, reinsert the collection box with an influx of two -1" fire hoses. Our plan was to get temporary water flow through the old remaining 8" iron pipe to the power plant at the lodge. It worked well until the next day's afternoon thunderstorms washed the creek and all of our temporary apparatus into oblivion once again.
Nine straight days followed with no water...meaning NO water.
I don't know if you have ever turned on your faucet and there's no water. Resort to becoming a scavenger for dribbles of water and finding it certainly presents it's challenges...hauling water in open "Cobby's Sandwich Shop" 5 gallon buckets in a pull cart to the horse corral for horse trough water...
I soon realized a couple of things:
5 gallons of water in a pull cart, across the lawn, over the runway, and to the corrals, ends up netting about 2.5 gallons in each bucket.
Old people like us, get in really good shape hauling water in buckets somewhat kin to the Pilgrims but we also lose 50% of the load on the way which mathematically doesn't make a lick of sense. Less water in the buckets equals less weight and no loss...duh?
Subsequently, I have also relearned some basic Pilgrim skills as well:
My shower, now a hand bath consisting of a boiled bucket of water, another Cobby's Sandwich Shop 5 gallon bucket only half filled (slow learner but learn just the same...) with tepid water, hot mitts, a plastic cup (not pictured) and a good old washcloth. Ironically, after adorning each cabin with towel sets including a matching washcloth for the past 13 years, I never have had an opportunity to actually use a washcloth. They are quite handy!
Hand washing my clothes in the sink like I did when I was dead broke in my 20's and couldn't afford to go to the laundromat.
Water...what on earth do we do without it?
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