Well problem: water. New cow and now a car problem

I have water.  Finally.  I spent the afternoon putting the pipe puzzle together.  Of the previous piping I had to remove/replace or move every piece except the pipe coming out of the pressure tank and the elbow on that pipe.  I am not sure why I even had to replace the elbow going into the black plastic pipe to the house, but I had to.

You'd think I could have left the cross piece with the four openings alone, but I had to rotate that piece because one piece of pipe was in the cross piece so tight, and the pipe was so short, the threads would have been ruined if I continued trying to get the pipe out.

It was a challenge to get everything to line up. After everything was put together and the water turned on, I had to re-do one union as the pieces didn't line up 100% and the union leaked even though it was completely screwed together.  I had to get a rock and place under the pipe going to the pressure tank to raise the pipe that last 1% for the union to be 100% together.

Not the easiest to match the high pump height, then the low tank height then the medium black plastic exit pipe height.  But I did, and with the pieces I owned.  The only piece I had to buy (other than the plastic pipe in the well) was one elbow for the pipe between the pump and the well pipe.  Another victory for my 'treasure pile'.

As you can see the pipe is more streamlined making access to the back of the shed, and the pump, easier. And I now have more room in which to place a space heater in the Winter time.

I replaced the old shutoff valve with the turn handle with a ball valve with a lever.  I think the old valve only closed the pipe 99.5% and not 100%.  I even had to replace the faucet as the previous faucet's handle broke and I didn't have just a handle that would fit that style of faucet.

Something I will have to check tomorrow is where the pipe goes into the ground (concrete).  I heard a small hiss when I opened the valve to let the water in and now I see a small amount of water around the pipe.  Some years ago it leaked in a similar manner but then quit.  My work may have re-started a leak.

The plastic pipe appears to be around a flexible metal pipe.  Right where the pipe comes out of the concrete (and perhaps where the pipe leaks?) are two metal clamps.  Why?  I don't know.  But it is an odd location to have clamps.

Tomorrow I will see if there are any leaks elsewhere.  This pump is a 1/2 hp pump, while my old pump was 1 hp.  I noticed it took longer to fill the cattle's water trough.  So far I haven't noticed much difference in the house's water pressure when running the sink faucets.


Also on my list of work on Thursday was a getting another cow. Dan came with an open cow he wanted to pasture (and to get pregnant by Buddy).  With this drought I don't have extra grass but I accepted the cow but told him: "No more!".

Dan wanted to put his ear tag on the cow so we unloaded her into the loading corral to use the head gate.  The cow had been no problem but she did not want to go anywhere near the head gate.  I still hadn't fixed the wooden gate in the ramp back when the one cow cracked it when Donna and I were spraying the cows.  I have 2 by 4s I place through the fence by the railroad ties.  The cow is huge - at least 1500 lbs.  She stands taller than Beulah.  Dan's cow backed up and snapped a 2 by 4.

I had a three more 2 by 4s nearby, but I went to the yard to get four more as we would need multiple boards with this cow.  Dan knew what I was doing but he didn't wait.  He risked breaking his arm reaching through the fence to tag the cow at that location.  He tagged the cow without getting hurt.  But he put the tag on backwards and the cow broke the three remaining 2 by 4s.

Dan went to back his stock trailer to the head gate so we could reload the cow and haul it to the middle pasture.   The cow was still excited, and at my cracked gate she had backed up.  She was trying to turn around.  Remember I said she was huge.  The railroad tie posts held but one of the 2 by 6 boards broke.  Before she could break the other 2 by 6 boards I rapped her on her head to get her to stop trying to turn around.  She stopped.  I then got her straight and then finally she moved forward past a railroad tie and I put the four boards behind her.  At this point the loading ramp is narrow enough she could not even try to turn around.

I have odds and ends of boards but I was not happy Dan didn't wait for me to come with more boards. While cattle can be hard on fences, we could have avoided damaging my fence in this case. So I am having him replace the board.

Once Dan's trailer was backed up, and I opened the head gate, out the cow ran into the trailer.

I had Dan back his trailer to the south pasture gate as I wanted to move the cattle back to the south pasture.  I called and they came running.  Once we unloaded Dan's cow the bull came over to check her out.  He was happy - another cow for his harem.


Lastly, this morning I took my car to a repair shop Donna recommended.  The brake fluid started disappearing Wednesday and I barely had any brakes left.   If it's not one thing, it's another.  No wonder I am behind on my ranch projects.