Water woes II

 Never be too quick to declare victory against the Fates prematurely.

We were sittng and eating lunch when we saw a man we did not know enter our back yard and start setting markers  out in the yard. We went out and not so politely told him to get off of our property. He explained that he was a surveyor setting out the boundaries betwewen our property and the lot next door. The problem was, he was putting the stakes out in my back yard.

We had a strongly worded confrontation. I basicly told he was trespassing and if he continued I would defend my property. I told him at the very least, he had neglecteed to inform us who hw was and what he was doing.

When the dust settled it turned out he was a surveyor hired by the people who bought the property next door. It turns out that when the previous owner had his well drilled, he drilled it on the property next door. What a maroon!

When we were purchasing the house, I had specifically asked the previous owner where the boundary was between the twp pieces of property was, and he pointed out a ditch and said "Just figure the other the other side of the ditch", there being a three foot deep four foot dee ditch four drainage across the south sid of the property. Planted on my side of the ditch is a line of mature trees, obviously planted at the same time the ditch was dug. Also the trees were non native species.

I happen to know a little about the law, and was sure that the ditch , having been accepted as the boundary between the two pieces of property for atleast twenty years, could be claimed by me by the principle of Adverse Posession the State of Washington would grant me title to the slice of land. As a last resort.

Since I now have new neighbors, I didn't want to get off on the wrong foot. When I met them they seemed like reasonable people. I figured we could work something  out.

I aproachd it from the angle that neither one of us had created the problem, and we needed to work together to find a mutually acceptable solution. Things went back and forth for several months. I finally came up with a solution where each of us ends up with the same square footage.

We are doing a boundary line adjustment. It is of course a very complicated and expensive process, But it needs to be done properly. I don't want any complications down the road. It was imperative that I gain title to the well.

So here it is six months later and the solution remains some undefined distance in the future, 

The guy that did their survey won't work with me. That's OK with me. The dude told several lies to the people next door, so I dont trust him any further than I could throw his transit.

Turns out the Olympic Penninsula is undergoing  a great expansion right now,nand every surveyor in the county is wrapped up for months. After a couple of months I ffinally signed a contract with a surveying company. The process is hideously expensive, unreasonably complicated, and takes too much time.

SO I am now obligated to  follow through with the process.

In the end it will cost me something like ten grand, but my conscience is a hard master.

At least I will be able too sleep at night and look at myself in the morror.

Water Woes

 I love living out in the country. We are about five miles from town (Sequim, Wa. Pop 4500). 

It is very quiet out here, We are seranaded by coyotes frequently. Deer wander through the yard, and I have a little war with them about who has grazing rights to the garden. The Sequim elk herd wanders through here a couple of times a year.

The major drawback had been Water. We have a well, which is rated at 6gpm, which is adequate for a regular sized ramily. The water is high in rust and calcium. it leaved a hard white deposit on things. But that has not been the major problem. Shortly after we moved in, rhe pump failed. Since the well is 180 feet deep, it needs a pretty poweful pump. To pull all the pipe and replace the pump wes a couple of grand.

Thw pump was 20 ywars old, so no big deal if it wears out every 20 years.

the next year, in August, the well got down to the point is startd sucking up air. Water supply up here on the side of the hill, water supply is really hit or miss. While our well is rated at 6gpm, there is a well next door that is about a hundred feet from our well that is rated ar 20gpm. Across the road and up a little the neighbor drilled two that turned out dry. The people up behing drilled twp wells ro get tw0 gallons a minute.

This summer, for the third time in fivr years, we started pulling air in the lines. I decided that it was time to address the problem, so I started calling around to find a plumber to work with. I went with the people that put in the new pump a couple of years earlier. Mind you, skilled tradesmen are in great demand out here. It took me at least a month to convince the plumbers that yes, I wanted to proceed, and yes I could afford it. By the time all was said and done, the tank did not arrive until early November. I had been trrying to get someone to build a pump shack and do the wiring. This included digging a 95 foot long trench to run the wiring through. There was already a 220 volt line running to the existing pump, but it was 12ga wire, and it would require at leasr 10 ga. 

I could not find anyone to build the pump shack, so I decied to do it myself. Not a big deal. I started looking at prefab building, and not only were they expensive, they were not very robust., so I decided to design and build it myself. so I did.

The plumbers don't do electric, and the electrician doesn't do plumbing, and neither one digs ditches. so I was promoyed to chief ditch digger, as well as conttractor and carpenter. The building got built.

Then there was the ditch.

The soil here is not conducive to ditch digging. There is about two inches of duff anderlaid by a layer of compacr clay and gravel. Think of it as concrete. It cannot be shovelled, it has to be broken up. I have a six foot prybar, pointed on one end I used to break up the clay so it can be shoveled. This is all a part of a natural drainage, so the ditch fills up with water as you work. It is cold, nasty work. but it got done.

When the tank first came in, I got an estimate for the electrical work, and set up a date for Feb 9th. The electrician showed up, but could not complete his work, because the plumbers had not communicated their requiremens, so he had no idea what amperage and how many circuit breakers were needed. the plumbers came a couple of days later and bitched that the electrician had not completed the elecrical work. I told them to go ahead and do everything they could, set up the tank and fill it anf get ready for the cutover.

One of the decisions I made early on was that I wanted to install a whole house filtration and water softener system. Kinda expensive, but worth it in the long run.

So here it is six months later, and I am out ten grand. The work is not complete, The iron extractor unit is being run off of an extension cord, and the water softener is not hooked up. The electrician is scheduled to come back on March 2nd.

I have filled in the ditch, and we don't have to worry about running out of water anytime.

Progress.