A Birthday, Water Leaks & Gratitude!

Today is a beautiful day. The sun is shining. A breeze is blowing. The contractor is here trying to find that last water leak. It is so wierd. The thing that spins to indicate a leak has gone off and on. It went off. Then when he found a leak and fixed it, it went back on. He is a bit beside himself, poor guy, trying to find where all the water is leaking at. I really feel for him and have been praying that he can find it.

In the meantime, I am so thankful that we have tanks for water. They are getting low, so I am not sure how much we have left. I don't particularly feel like pulling the front of the couch off to eyeball it. Hmmm...that sounds like a "Kodak" moment! *smile*

Today is my birthday and the anniversary of my sister's death. I am pretty much spending it in quiet contemplation listening to the beautiful and soothing music of PBN. Pat has played some especially mellow, soothing sets in the last few days. It is ministering so much to my heart. I am feeling very much in our Abba's arms. Right now, all the struggles of this life seem so far away as the music helps to sweep me into the presence of Almighty God. He has it all under control.

I am taking advantage of the contractor being here to let our son follow him around to watch, help and learn. The contractor is a young brother in the Lord who has had no business in the last couple of months or so due to construction slowing way down. We are praying for him and his young family.

I feel better than I have in along time. I cannot explain why...other than this day marks a personal milestone in more ways than one. So, I sit and think of my sister and of how very blessed I am...and I am thankful.

Leaks...Ugh!!!

Well, we found out how much we are leaking. We knew the leak was between the RV hookup and the water meter. So, we turned off the water to the RV and ran off the water tanks. Dave read the water meter on his way to work. About 21.5 hours later we read it again and turned the water back on to the RV. We had lost 80 gallons. So, we figure we are losing about 100 gallons every 24 hour period. That is no small loss. Yes...it is smaller than the other leak...but not small. It is about 3000 gallons every month.

Tomorrow we will call the contractor and let him know. He definitely needs to come out and find it. We also need some dry days. It would sure make it easier to find the leak.

I cannot believe that I am sitting here smiling. I guess that just goes to show how deeply the Shalom/peace of Yahweh can run. Not that I am always so peaceful inside; but boy does it feel good when I am!

From our little RV on the hillside to wherever you are...may your home be blessed and your pipes never leak!

Major Water Leak Fixed After All!

Well...it turns out we do NOT still have a big leak! Praise Yahweh!

But...now I feel really dumb. When Dave turns on the water at the main I always have the kitchen faucet on so we don't get a huge water surge. Well...with the kitchen faucet on...of course the thing that shows a leak is going to be spinning like crazy! But I did not think of it until Sunday.

So, he went and turned the water back on then. Once the water was back on, I turned off the kitchen faucet. The thing still turns...but it is VERY slow...as if there is maybe a wee bit of a drip somewhere. He said you have to really watch it closely to see that it is turning at all. The meter itself shows zero movement...only the leak detector thing does. It does it even when the water to the inside of the RV is turned off, so we know it is somewhere outside. Anyway, it is not something to be majorly concerned about at this point.

I left a message at the number for the trustee below our trustee's name to see if that trustee could give us our trustee's number. Or, it could be that the two of them share a number? I don't know. I have not heard back. If I don't hear back, I will try the trustee above our trustee.

Gosh, do I feel as if I have egg all over my face!

Water Leaks & Continuing to Trust!

We still have a water leak. The thing that spins and tells us we have a leak has started spinning faster again. We did take care of one secondary leak, so we are not sure if we have one or two leaks. Today, we are going to turn off the water and go back onto our tanks.

We are pretty sure it is two. We are trusting Yahweh to provide for this water bill coming up. We already know it is going to top $200... and that was before we continued leaking. We do have the name of our trustee, who we are told might be able to help with it; however, we are not sure what his phone number is. There is no number next to his name, so I am trying the numbers above and below his name (for other trustees of other townships) to see if they have his number.

*sigh*

Gotta keep trusting in Yahweh. He works through all things! We praise Him and thank Him in all things, and for all things.

Abba, we know that You are doing something in all of this. Help us to see it and to always keep our hearts and minds focused on You. Amen and amen!

Leaky Hoses & Water Pumps!

Well, we found our minor leak, which turned out to be not quite as minor as we thought. It was in our water hose going into the rig. One end actually had a slow spray, but it was covered with insulating foam. We also found an occasional drop or two from our water pressure regulator that is between that hose and the water pipe. The hose is now replaced with one of those braided steel hoses. At 2500 pounds of pressure capability, I don't think we are going to have to be concerned about the hose splitting or spraying or anything else...only freezing!

The pressure regulator drip is VERY slow...an occasional drop or two. When we get the chance, we need to get a big regulator and put it at the meter so that there is not so much pressure on the regulator by the rig. That might even stop the occasional drop we now see. If not, we do have another regulator somewhere. The water pressure is so high here that we have actually had pressure regulators by the rig explode...literally! We need to check the water meter again to make sure it does not still show a leak.

Today, I call the water company to see what the new bill is likely to be. They came out at the end of last week to get another reading after the major leak was fixed. Then, I also get to call our county trustee and find out just what it is that trustees do! Since I was told they sometimes have funds to help people out with emergencies, I figured I would ask for help with the water bill. Our electric bill is also high because the remote reading portion of our previous meter did not work. So, they estimated our electricity and fell way short. When they put the new meter in, they did a manual read on the old one and yikes! So, maybe we can get help with that, too.

Thankfully, both companies are willing to work out payments with us. However, when you already live so close to the paycheck, that can get a bit tricky, especially trying to work out payments with TWO utilities at the same time. Of course, our electric bill should hopefully be going down with the warmer weather on the way...that is, if the weather would please get here and STAY here! It has snowed twice in the last few days, not sticking, of course! If we use less electricity, then the added amount to help pay for the current bill may not hit us so hard!

Yahweh/God HAS taken care of us. He has not provided what we have wanted...which is actually probably a good thing in many cases...but He has gotten us through many things. We have not been wanting for food, clothing or shelter, although we have not been very comfortable many times in that shelter! *smile* He has made us use our creativity a LOT!

We would also not have known about the water leak at all if we had not gotten a higher bill that I called the water company about. The way the meters are read, it could have been a bill for up to a month and a half, which would have made sense. They insisted on sending someone down to check the meter reading and I thank Yahweh they did! The leak could have all been on one bill and it would have been even worse because we still would not even know we had a leak! He IS watching out for us. I truly believe that!

We have also grown in ways that we just would not have grown. That is something that, looking back, we would not trade. We have changed...in good ways! We still struggle with some things, but we just keep working on whatever we can do to make it better. Some of it is simply going to require either a miracle or acceptance and being content to do without...to accept what is. There is nothing wrong with acceptance and being content; however, there is also nothing wrong with continuing to hope for the miracle!

Today is laundry day. Hopefully, our hose to the laundry room is not frozen. We are also concerned about our water pump in the washer. We had a few really cold nights when we did not get the washer all wrapped up. I will be SO glad when/if we finally get the laundry room finished! Then all we will have to do is keep a little heater in there to keep it above freezing and pray for no power outages. Hopefully, the water pump is fine. I will find out today.

I also get to dump the black water tank again. Woohoo! Oh, such fun! NOT! *laughing* I am SO grateful to have a black water tank to dump...seriously! What if our rig had not had a bathroom? Where would we be now? Well, obviously, Yahweh would have had to provide another way! Outhouse, maybe? *smile*

Well, it is another day here at the Little RV on the Hillside! The sun is shining here upon us. I hope that YOUR day also has sun shining...both physically and also mentally, emotionally and spiritually! Trust your spiritual wellbeing to Yeshua/Jesus. He will NEVER leave you or forsake you!

The Water Leak is Fixed!!

This is before it got fixed after Dave dug it out almost down to the pipe.


Woohoo!!! The major water leak is fixed. The contractor who put in the lines came out and fixed it. The water company sent someone out to read the meter again so that we will know what the final "damages" are.We are all so grateful that it turned out to NOT be under our laundry room! It was about a foot out from the edge.



We are leaving it open for a few days to make sure it holds. The ground slopes downward where the leak was, so Dave is going to put a pipe from the leak to the side of the hill. That way, even when it is filled back in, if it leaks again, we will know right away because the water will run out the pipe and down the side of the hill.






Now that we know how to tell from the water meter if we are leaking, we have also confirmed another leak. We suspected that we had a very slow leak where the water hookup to the RV is, but with all the rain, we could not be sure.

Dave dug along the side of the pipe and drilled into the side of it so that the water could start to drain into a trench he dug that runs over the side of the pad. This will give it a chance to "dry" out and we can see if it is leaking there, too. If water persists in dripping into the trench, even when it is not raining...we will know we have found the other leak.



The leak area is behind the hay bales. We had hay bales around the water hose going into the RV so that it would not freeze in the winter. The hose was also wrapped in insulation.

Well, signing off for now from the Little RV on the Hillside. :)

Update on Water Leak!

UPDATE:

Hubby found the leak. It is under our laundry room. It appears to be right near the edge so he is hoping that it can be dug out or worked around easily. The contractor who put the lines in is coming tomorrow. He does not know yet that we found the location of the leak, but we had told him it might be under the laundry room. He said that, if it is, he thinks he can work around it without us having to dismantle it. Hubby and son are clearing out around it as much as possible.

The water company will work with us on the bill. I will also call the trustee and see if we can get any help from that resource. First, I want to see the leak fixed so that I can get a better idea of what the bill will really be. So far, it is going to be close to $200. Our normal water bill would be around $45, so that is a huge leak for us.

We did get the holding tanks flushed and filled so we do have "running" water. Praise Yahweh! The water pump needed to be primed. We had to drain the tanks and turn off the water after filling it. When we went to start it up again, we could not get the pump primed again. It is a very old pump. Hubby was getting discouraged. So, we prayed, accepting our Abba's will, whatever that might be. After praying, I got up, tried it again...and it worked!

We are always learning in more ways to trust Him and thank Him in all, and for all, things!