Wednesday, October 23, 2013

Overprepared

Otis Redding was one of about a thousand people who did the old song "You Don't Miss Your Water" ('Til the Well Runs Dry)." It's true!

As I write this, there is no running water running into the house.  A big water main break a couple of miles away has left us high and dry, and that's when you appreciate the face that we have progressed past the frontier days when getting water meant going out to the pump and giving the handle a workout. Then, you had to haul the water inside and heat it on the stove if you wanted it hot.  No wonder the Wild West was so full of ornery people, ready to shoot each other in gunfights or hang people or drag them behind wild horses.

But the least we modern townspeople can do is to be prepared, which is why I keep three or four cases of bottled water around for drinking and washing up, and then I keep old gallon milk bottles down in the basement for doing the dishes and what-all else.   I don't expect the outage to be in effect all day, anyway. By this evening, we'll be taking big sudsy bubble baths or long steamy luxuriant showers and just letting that water run and run and run.

For now, though, water is liquid gold.  Better store some away for the winter!


No comments: