Gun shots and the well cover

When I first went outside this morning I heard a gunshot. Was it from my pasture? I grabbed my binoculars and went to the corral. No sense going out in my pasture if someone is shooting. I heard a few more gun shots but could not see who was shooting. The gun shots were very loud. They also sounded like they were from my north pasture else my northern neighbor, Mr. D.'s, pasture. Finally I seen him in his yard walking to his house. He was carrying a gun. I have no idea what he was shooting at as the gophers are not out anymore this year. He has a couple horses in his pasture so I doubt he was shooting there. Then again he seems to be an excellent shot, even having only one eye, so maybe he was shooting in his pasture.

The guy across the road trying to trap the beaver... he hasn't caught it yet. How do I know? The creek is rising noticeably each day and is out of its banks and now flooding his lower lawn.

I talked with Dan about the cattle and learned that the Missoula auction is up for sale. Man, if that place is sold and closes, the nearest livestock auctions are in Great Falls, else in Three Forks. They are on the other side of the mountains and a long way away.

I know I should rest my wrist but tomorrow night's forecast low temperature is now 32 F (freezing). I need to get the one side and the door back on my well's shed.

First I needed to replace half the boards over the well's concrete casing. The pump is lubricated with water and the excess water was sent down a short tube whose end lay on the boards over the well. Not a good thing as over the years some of the boards started to rot. Now is the time to replace 2 and a half boards before they fall into the well.

The problem is that the pump sits on two metal pieces that lay on top of the boards, one north/south, the other east west. I needed to lift one end of one metal piece to be able to slip the rotting boards out from underneath it. That meant using my hands as I could not get a jack underneath the metal nor get anything long to leverage it up. So much for resting my wrist. I set my recovery back a few days.

One board was especially rotted and I took care in removing it. The ends were nailed to boards that went around the well casing. The middle of the board was the part that rotted and was coming apart. I removed the nail on one end thinking the other end and nail would hold the board as I removed one half of it. Wrong. As I removed the one half the other half fell into the well. Argh!

I removed the other rotting boards then found a long wire to use to fish the board out of my well. I measured and found the water level is 8 1/2 feet down. That is not far down, but then the aquifer in my part of the Valley is close to the surface.

Still, 8 1/2 feet is far enough to make it a challenge to retrieve the floating board. To make it more difficult the well casing is only two feet wide and almost centered is a metal pipe in which the pump's pipes go into down into the well. Add in that only half the top was opened as I only removed half the boards. And I had to work around the pump and the electrical wires.

I had a barbless two-strand interwoven wire. I un-wove the end and spread the two wires apart and then bent them to make a "hook". The challenge was to get the wire and "hook" the right way under the board so I could pull it up and out. The board wanted to float behind the metal pipe and under the boards covering the well. Once I maneuvered the board to the other side of the well I experimented until I got the right size "hook" that fit under the board. With all the effort to get the hook the right size and in the right direction, I was surprised the wire held the board on my first try at pulling it up and out once I finally snagged it.

With the board out I turned my attention to retrieving the smaller pieces of wood floating in the well. The wire wouldn't work on these small pieces so I worked at finding a pail that would fit through the opening at the top. Using the pail and a long rope I fished out the smaller pieces of wood.

You know, if you want a pail to float on water the pail will tip and sink. When you want it to tip and sink the pail floats upright. I had to jiggle the rope to get the pail to tip. It was quite a few tries at working it so the water flowing into the pail also got some of the wood.

I found this was harder on my wrist that lifting the metal piece. I took the splint off my wrist as I couldn't easily pull up the pail and dump it with the splint on my wrist. Over and over I pulled up the pail of water so I could empty it outside the shed. The only position I could be in the shed meant I had to use my sore wrist to reach outside the shed to dump the water.

I needed three hands as I needed two hands to work the pail and one hand to move the light around so I could see down in the well.

Retrieving the floating wood was the most difficult and time consuming part of the whole project. Why did those boards have to fall in the well?!

I am left handed and my sore wrist is my left wrist. Sawing boards to the correct length and nailing them in place didn't help my wrist any.

But, the boards are replaced. Tomorrow I can close the side of the shed and put its door back on before it freezes. Then I will have time to cover my garden with blankets and tarps. Naturally many items are not ready to be harvested. Oh joy, Fall and covering the garden. It seems so soon.