Oh, No, No Water!

   When I was getting ready for bed last night I discovered that we were without water.  I had done a load of laundry w/o any trouble after supper but by 11pm there was barely a trickle of water coming out of the faucet.  Jeff checked the pump and all it's lights were on so he was stumped. He thought it might be a valve on the holding tank. This morning I called the usual 'pump repair' number but when they returned my call they said they couldn't help us...too many dairy calls, and suggested someone else.  I called the number they gave me and left a message.  Then I heated some of our drinking water and got ready to go to work.  I was at the shop in Cooperstown until 3pm but Jeff was home trying to figurer out what had happened.  We didn't want to think that it was the pump...at the bottom of our 300+ft deep well...but the only way to find out is to pull it out!  Jeff talked to the guys at Lowe's and between them they came to the conclusion it's probably a faulty valve.  Now, I'm somewhat of an expert on faulty valves and I resist repairing any and all valves for as long as possible, but the valve they're talking about here is under the pump so it still has to be pulled out of the well.  At supper tonight (which I served on paper plates) Jeff pointed out if we're going to go through the bother of pulling the pump out of the 300+ft deep well we might as well replace it, too. It's at least 10 years old and it has been sitting in sulfur water for all that time. Tomorrow we hope one of the pump experts will show up and render an opinion.  If it's something that has to be done, let's do it and get it over.  Jeff also suggested restoring the outside entrance to the cellar...that would be an easier way to pull the pump out of the well than dragging the hose across the cellar, up the cellar stairs, across the kitchen, through the enclosed porch and outside...since the well is just outside the cellar in the little room where the outside entrance use to be.  In the meantime, we can live  with bottled water and sponge baths. This is one of those times I can hear my mom telling me that there is an saying in Italian to never curse somebody, just tell them to buy a house.