Attitude of Gratitude - Day #16
Today I am thankful for skills we've developed over the years so that we can take care of a lot of household repairs without calling a repairman. Last night we went outside while the sprinklers were supposed to be on and discovered water squirting all over the place, coming from the valve cap on the top of our well (if that's what it's called - I haven't figured out proper terms yet). 
In the light of day (because of county regulations it's dark when the sprinklers can be on), it looks like that gray cap got a crack in it and just needs to be replaced. Hopefully we can find the new part without too much trouble. Of course I think I would be more grateful if I didn't have to worry about things like this, but I've learned it's much easier to count our blessings and just deal with the challenge. One of the blessings is that we were actually outside at that time to notice the problem. (I had wanted to put the seat back in the van as soon as the kids came home from school, but we forgot and didn't get to that chore until later.) Another blessing is that I knew which breaker switch to pull to turn off the power and stop the water flow. (Label your electrical panel - it makes life easier.)
In the light of day (because of county regulations it's dark when the sprinklers can be on), it looks like that gray cap got a crack in it and just needs to be replaced. Hopefully we can find the new part without too much trouble. Of course I think I would be more grateful if I didn't have to worry about things like this, but I've learned it's much easier to count our blessings and just deal with the challenge. One of the blessings is that we were actually outside at that time to notice the problem. (I had wanted to put the seat back in the van as soon as the kids came home from school, but we forgot and didn't get to that chore until later.) Another blessing is that I knew which breaker switch to pull to turn off the power and stop the water flow. (Label your electrical panel - it makes life easier.)Fortunately, or unfortunately, it seems there's always something going on to remind us that this is a very real blessing. Just in the past few weeks we've repaired a pipe leak (including patching and painting the wall that we had to take out to find it), a leak in the pool chlorinator (which kept changing spots as we fixed one hole), a break in the electrical wire from the pump start relay to the well pump (two days of digging to find the spot that needed repair), and a couple of sprinkler heads and pipe elbows (our lawnmowers need to watch where they're going).
I remember being told that one of the blessings of having a son on a mission was that things didn't break; we didn't get that blessing. However, we did get other ones instead, so that's okay. And now I'm off to add Home Depot to the list of errands.
Comments