The joys of country living

Had a full day in town doing stuff, came home, went out for pasta at a local steak-house and then came home again. Filled up the dogs dish with fresh water and noticed that it was the color of weak tea... Ran out to the store and picked up a couple gallons of 'spring' water until I find out what the @#$ is up. The well is 220 feet deep -- most residential wells around here are at 50-60 feet but this one goes through an impermeable clay layer and taps into the Sumas aquifer. Or so I was led to believe. I'll go out to the well house tomorrow and see if there is any gross malfunction, let a couple hundred gallons of water run and see if it clears up any. I took a sample and will bring it into a local test lab tomorrow or Wednesday. I will also ask the neighbors if their well is OK. When the wells are at 50 feet, there can be some problems in the dead heat of August but this has been a very wet and long spring so there should be plenty of water. One of the things I love about living out here is that you are directly responsible for stuff like this. You are not insulated from the elements -- want heat? Split and stack the firewood. Want water? Be ready to maintain a well and pressure tank. There is no way that I would ever be off-grid -- sweet sweet electrical energy flows through my veins and powers the work that I do. Still, I like to look at other ways to reduce my footprint and I think that I do a credible and realistic job.