The roads were good today, so we came home. That sounds very simple and carefree, but nothing is ever that simple in this circus of ours. Up early, coffee, feed the kids, clean up after the dog whose stomach apparently had spent an unsettled night, pack 2 baskets of laundry. 1 kerosene heater, 1 bag of battery packs (fully charged), and 3 bags of personal belongings into the van. Catch 6 hens and a rooster, and get them packed into 5 smallish cardboard boxes (chickens were SUPER thrilled), and get THOSE loaded in the car. Potty breaks for everyone. Where are your mittens, child? And your boots? Get them ON, please, we need to leave. Potty again. Finally ready? Go get in the car.

Then of course, we must drive for 2 hours with said boxes of chicken in the van. A couple of the boxes had 2 hens in, and someone either kept getting stepped on, or pecked at. Either way, we kept hearing this squeaky-toy sound. The rooster kept trying to escape his box, and one of the kiddos is afraid of him, so there was drama…two hours can be very long…

Got home without incident (also found out I have a disc of oldies music somewhere in the console I dont know how to use. Don’t know how it got there or how I accessed it, but the kiddos found ‘The Twist’ entertaining, and were downright gleeful about a jazz trumpet solo. Kept things peaceful awhile). There had been some snow before and during the hard freeze while we were away. I didnt know how deep it would likely be, but I didnt want to have to carry stuff up the driveway, either. So it was a case of, turn, hope, and don’t slow down. We didn’t get stuck until about 75 feet away from the barn, so that’s not too bad. It’s beached pretty good, so tomorrow we plug the tractor in for the morning and then plow ‘er out in the afternoon.

Chickens were introduced to their new home, with a little bit of special feed and water to ease the transition. After lunch (bus was still freezing at that point, but one can eat with a jacket on just fine. Frosty toilet seats are zero stars unfun though), while I got the hooks into the ceiling and installed the feed and water dispensers, husband finished the nesting boxes and then we got their roost up. They will eventually need more than one roost, but for now, they’ll huddle anyway.

I mentioned disaster, though, right? So. After we dealt with the coop necessities, husband headed out to refill all the water jugs. We had used as many as we could before the freeze and dumped the rest, because blocks of solid ice arent useful. He got about 10 gallons pumped and then came and found me. “Babe? Really bad news. The pump broke.”

The pump is freezeproof, and he had already pumped quite a bit, so we knew it wasnt that. But abruptly, there was no resistance and no water. It’s a VERY simple mechanism, so there’s only so many things that could go wrong. The light was already starting to go, so we didnt have time today to take the thing apart. Our working hypothesis, though, is that one of the rods has either come unscrewed somehow in the pipe, or else one of the couplings has failed and fallen apart. One is fixable, one is a warranty item, both require completely pulling the pump mechanism apart. The dealer we purchased from has already been apprised and is in the loop. He’ll help us troubleshoot as best he can from several provinces away, and if replacement parts are needed, he’ll expedite as much as possible.

So…we are without water again. It IS winter. There is snow that can be melted in a pinch. And I’m sure the neighbour would happily fill a few jugs for us, if needed. It isnt a DIRE emergency, but it is yet another example of the Murphy’s Law of Homesteading. If it can go wrong, it will, and usually at the worst possible time. We just brought home 7 more little beaks to keep watered. Ah well, c’est l’aventure! Father has not failed to provide thus far. Seeing how He does it this time will be interesting