October 2, 2002

• It
  doesn’t get much uglier than this.  Yesterday, when Doug and I
  went to the spring for water, a cold rain was falling and traffic on
  the highway was kicking it up in a dirty spray.

  .

  

  I took “scenic” shots of the hillside, the muskeg into which the
  little creek flows, and all, but decided to show only this little shot
  of the creek that flows from the spring.  Everything else was just
  too bleak and autumnal to qualify, in my mind, as “scenic”.

  .

  .

  .

  If
  you’re curious, you can see the aforementioned hillside to the left of
  the sign here, and the muskeg to the right of the sign.

  Locals use the spring here year ’round, for household water. 
  Some with wells at home use it only in winter, when their water systems
  freeze up.

  Visitors often leave trash scattered in the highway turnouts next to
  and across from the spring.  These spaces are popular places
  for RV parking in summer, and even on winter weekends when
  Anchoraguan snowmobilers come to the valley to play.  Sometimes
  their trash finds its way into our waterhole.

  This
  spring could well be the reason the road runs by this particular
  spot.  For as long as anyone here recalls, it has provided water
  for travelers and residents.

  The state highway department controls the land.  A few years
  ago, earlier “improvements” had deteriorated, and the spring was dug up
  and a new length of culvert pipe put in to raise the outflow high
  enough to get our jugs and buckets under it.

  

  Each container gets a rinse before filling.  Buckets versus
  jugs is a perennial topic for debate.  We discuss it at home, and
  we’ve talked about it to others both at the waterhole and at the
  lodge.  Jugs take longer to fill, which can be hazardous in
  winter, especially if gloves get wet, or one has to take off a glove
  for better finger control.

  Buckets are more convenient in several ways, but the water in them is also more likely to become contaminated.

  In our household, we use buckets for wash water and jugs for drinking water.

  Our new used car, Streak Subaru, has a more capacious hatch area
  than Lassie, the AMC Eagle.  Five buckets and two jugs go
  back there, and two more jugs fit on the floor behind the front
  seats.  This gives us about forty gallons of water per carload.

  That extra weight in the back has always, until now, improved our
  traction in whatever truck, car, van or SUV we were driving.  Now,
  however, in Streak with his front wheel drive, it makes the nose go up
  and the steering get a little bit squirrely.  This winter when
  things get slick, we may go back to using the Eagle to fetch water.

  Today is only partly cloudy.  There was enough of a break in
  the clouds last night to allow some frost.  The sun has peeked
  through the clouds twice this morning, and the weather guessers say
  there will be, “partial clearing this afternoon.” 

  I will probably be on the roof taking advantage of the dry weather
  and calm winds to finish up the sealing, and to do some rearranging of
  the new stovepipe.  The way I assembled it, it left a joint
  between two pieces of Metalbestos® in the roof/ceiling space, just as
  it had been before.  Charley (Doug’s dad) has told me this is
  probably why we had the ceiling fire a winter or two ago.  Doug
  and I are going to pull it out and rearrange it so the uninsulated
  joint won’t be so close to the flammable materials.

  To any of you who is waiting for a reading, it won’t be long
  now.  After the roof and stovepipe are done, and I’ve cleared
  enough space in my clutter to lay out the cards, I should be able to
  shift mental gears.  I’ll get out of my crummy old jeans and into
  my wizard’s robes then, metaphorically speaking. 

  • 2:42 pm
  • 16 Comments