For the past couple of months, I’ve been enthusiastically sharing updates on our utilities.  First, we had electricity at the barn, which allowed me to power the trailer.  Then, we got a new power pole and the electricians showed up to run a new, main supply wire to the house, which set us up with a temporary outlet so I didn’t need to fire up the generator to run my power tools.  I had DirecTV set up, and then we struggled with customer service agents (who just don’t seem to have mastered the English language yet) to get all of the local channels here.  The well needed a new casing, wire and pump, but that was up and running after two crews spent nearly a whole day working on it so we could run hoses up to the trailer for water.  And, of course, we had the phone line installed, which gave us a landline and Internet service.

I’ve been a little less enthusiastic about the monsoonal rains and the unusually high rainfall Colorado has experienced this year.  Mostly, it just impacts how we plan our days: anything that requires being outdoors needs to be done in the morning, while it’s dry, before the storms hit in the afternoon (every afternoon).  Along with the rains come thunder and lightning.  In fact, according to a local news report, there are over 30,000 cloud-to-ground lightning strikes in El Paso County to our east (Colorado Springs) and Teller, our own county, each year.

How do these two subjects relate, you may wonder?  Last Sunday, we sort of took the day off.  It was absolutely beautiful in the morning; warm, dry and clear with gorgeous views for miles.  We basically just hung out until late in the afternoon, when Sandi decided to go to town for a few groceries.  I stayed home, intending to work on planning our upcoming trip back to Washington.  Very quickly, the sky began to darken, the rain began to fall, and within a few short minutes, it started to hail.

This was my view during the first few moments of the storm.  If you look closely, there’s even a small river running past the truck already.

As the storm grew, so did the intensity of the thunder and lightning.  I was frantically trying to shut everything down when I saw a flash, heard a loud thunder clap, and felt a sort of jolt go through me, all at the same instant!  I wasn’t entirely sure the trailer hadn’t taken a direct hit.  Oh, and all of those utilities we’ve worked to get turned on so we could enjoy a little modern comfort and convenience?  Gone!  No power, no TV, and no Internet.  The hail had piled up against one of the barn doors and forced enough of a gap underneath that a good portion of the floor flooded, soaking several boxes we had stacked inside.  Fortunately, most of our household goods weren’t affected, but it sure made a mess.  The hail in shady spots didn’t fully melt for three days.  A day or two later, we discovered that we couldn’t get the well working, either.

I took the truck down to the road to get Sandi, since she wasn’t able to get her car all the way back up our driveway.  The power company got the electricity back on late that same night, and Century Link sent a tech out with a new router a couple of days later.  Our satellite receiver is fried, but they sent us a new one.  Unfortunately, they sent it to our Chehalis address, so I guess we’ll be bringing it back in a couple of weeks.  Apparently, it also took out both of the HDMI ports on our TV, so we can’t get the DVD player to work, either.  The well guy came out and ran some tests before deciding the pump was damaged and would need to be replaced.  Unfortunately, they don’t have a repair crew available until Monday at the earliest, so in the meantime, we’re hauling water up from the Ace Hardware store in 6 gallon water jugs.  They’ve been nice enough to let us fill the jugs from their hose.  We can still take showers and wash dishes, we just have to work for it a little more.  On the upside, the pump is covered under warranty, so we were thrilled to hear that.

This has been a trying week, to say the least, but I think we’re on our way back to where we were before the storm, though we weren’t able to watch the ‘Hawks last night.  As far as the house goes, we’ve made some real progress there, too.  Our new electrical panel passed inspection, so we have working lights and outlets inside the house now.  Our 1000 gallon propane tank is full, so we can use our new furnace and hot water heater.  The chimney was inspected and cleaned, and Digger Guy came out to look at the septic tank again and promised he would be starting on Monday.  It’s the last piece needed to get all of the systems in the house turned on and working, so we’re hoping he’s true to his word.

We’ve made some great progress inside, too, but I’ll save that for my next post.