I took a temporary job that our friend Ross offered me doing some field work for a mining operation. Ross is a Mining Engineer and needed someone in Winnemucca, Nevada. The job lasted eight weeks. For those of you who do not know where Winnemucca is, it is just east of the middle of no where. After wrapping up that job and working a couple months with another friend, Mike, doing concrete curbing and grinding, it was time to put in more time at the PPR. Working part-time affords me time for projects on the Ranch. Our next big project is building a well house to hold our water storage tank and the presssure tanks that will supply water to each of the three houses when the PPR is sectioned off into three parcels. Before starting the well house, we needed to get the well wired up to electric. I began by making a trip to Benson Lumber to gather materials. Having never done this before, I had lots of questions. With all the materials on hand, Jan and I headed out to the PPR. We started by digging trenches and installing conduit. Next we pulled wire from the meter box to the well control box.
Just for the purpose of testing the well, we did not hook up the pressure tank at this time. We left the 1 1/4" PVC pipe open so we could flush the well lines with the first water.
I had Jan double-check my connections and we were ready to throw the breaker and see if we did it right. With a quick flip of the wrist followed by a rapid removal of the hand from the circuit breaker (electricity makes me a little jumpy), we heard silence. For about ten seconds we stared anxiously at the end of the pipe. It seemed like an eternity and I had apprehensively begun to reach for the breaker to turn it off when all of the sudden we heard a sound. The check valve we had installed in the pipe began to make a low vibrating buzzing sound. Pressure was building in the line. We stood out of the way, not knowing how forceful the water would exit. With the passing of a few more seconds, we knew. We looked on excitedly as a stream of crystal clear water exited from the pipe and landed on the dry earth about two feet away. As the water flushed the lines, it felt cold and inviting on this hot summer day.
Next we had to hook up the pressure tank and flush it by filling and draining it five times according to the manufacturers instructions. With the flush complete, we hooked up our garden hose and prepared to taste our water for the very first time. We flushed the hose for several seconds and I told Miss Jan to see what she thought. She drank several swallows and said it tasted great!
She then passed the hose to me and I tasted the water. I had to agree it tasted great!
With another little project complete we bowed our heads and prayed, thanking God for giving us a little piece of this earth to call our own and for the cool clear water we just enjoyed.
Just for the purpose of testing the well, we did not hook up the pressure tank at this time. We left the 1 1/4" PVC pipe open so we could flush the well lines with the first water. 
I had Jan double-check my connections and we were ready to throw the breaker and see if we did it right. With a quick flip of the wrist followed by a rapid removal of the hand from the circuit breaker (electricity makes me a little jumpy), we heard silence. For about ten seconds we stared anxiously at the end of the pipe. It seemed like an eternity and I had apprehensively begun to reach for the breaker to turn it off when all of the sudden we heard a sound. The check valve we had installed in the pipe began to make a low vibrating buzzing sound. Pressure was building in the line. We stood out of the way, not knowing how forceful the water would exit. With the passing of a few more seconds, we knew. We looked on excitedly as a stream of crystal clear water exited from the pipe and landed on the dry earth about two feet away. As the water flushed the lines, it felt cold and inviting on this hot summer day. 
Next we had to hook up the pressure tank and flush it by filling and draining it five times according to the manufacturers instructions. With the flush complete, we hooked up our garden hose and prepared to taste our water for the very first time. We flushed the hose for several seconds and I told Miss Jan to see what she thought. She drank several swallows and said it tasted great! 
She then passed the hose to me and I tasted the water. I had to agree it tasted great! 
With another little project complete we bowed our heads and prayed, thanking God for giving us a little piece of this earth to call our own and for the cool clear water we just enjoyed.
1 comment:
Hey it's fun to see what's happening at the ranch!
BJD
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