Put on the Orange, Country Water, and Kittens

Monday was the first day of deer hunting season with shot guns. Bow and arrow season was for the last 6 weeks or so. Our farm is situated next to acres and acres of Massachusetts Fish and Game land and other bits of protected land. I always pay attention to "opening day" because hunters come from Vermont, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts to our road - especially during the first week of the season. I usually don't take Kate for her walk for the first few days because I don't want her to get hurt. Chances are very slim that anyone would shoot at a black and white dog who is much smaller than a deer but I worry just the same. Today we went out and the hunters are still there. It is rainy, cold and raw. They are hardy fellows out there doing their sport.

Yesterday I spent part of the day dealing with our well - the underground source of the water here at our farmhouse. If you have been here, you understand that water is a problem. This hill and many of the hills around us don't have good supplies, even though down at the bottom of our hill is the Leyden Glen which supplies most of the water for Greenfield MA. We hired Lynde Well Drilling out of Guildford, VT. It was very interesting to watch what they do and find out where our water comes from - 500 feet below the ground. I got a real kick out of Ken, one of the owners who knew most of the people on our road, considering he has fixed everyone's wells, done hydrofracting of the well to increase water supply, and replaced pumps and tanks.  

Winston loving the excitement of people visiting.

Dan and Ken attaching the pipe to the well line to begin removing pump

 

Here's Ken reeling up the plastic piping that holds the electricity in the well onto a giant reel in his truck. The pump was at the bottom - 500 feet down!

One thing I learned that I will pass on. I asked the guys why after it rains buckets and buckets and there is water in the basement, how could it be that we still had water problems. Dan told me that it takes 5 years for the surface water to get down to the bottom level of the well. Fascinating.

 I only write this kind of stuff to help me remember when we did what on our house and when. It also helps to inform any city people reading who have dreams of living in the country of some of the stuff we deal with. It's all part of country life. It isn't cheap to be here - everything seems to cost a few thousand if you ask me. At Thanksgiving, I made the so un-Kristin-like choice to use fake plates and silverware. At that point we were very low on water and I couldn't imagine how the toilets would even flush for the 20 people who were visiting. Thinking of starchy foods sitting on plates for days before I could wash them sounded like a nightmare. Next year, it will be back to china plates and real utensils.

I'm happy to report that Julia had her "best shower ever" last night. Seems we have been limping along for years here with no water pressure and a well that wasn't quite pumping right.  

We have a new litter of kittens that are ready to go. If anyone knows a family who would like a farmbred, friendly mouse-hunting kitty, please contact me. They are ready to go now and I can keep them until closer to Christmas if needed. There are 2 all black kittens and 3 gray tigers - one with some white socks on it. I think some of them will be short hairs and some will be medium length hair.

All of them are highly social and will make great family pets. One of the black ones is quite a scrapper and I'm looking for him to obtain a position as barn cat as I think he is going to be an incredible hunter. 

The kittens were born during the Red Sox run up to the World Series. They are called Boston, Manny, Little Big Pappi, Teddy, and Babe after team members current and past. We will really miss them and are hoping they will find some nice loving homes. The photo below shows the mama Mittens and Manny.

Have a great day everyone!