Well...

No that's it, we're getting a well. = ) . No crazy hidden socio-political meaning behind this title... we're just getting a well. We had the property inspected today, a highly scientific process which I will get to later.

Let's face facts first though, as much as you want to simplify life you're going to need water. Our property is 10 miles past the middle of nowhere, where public water doesn't go. That's fine by me. Momma always said "Public water is like a box of choc-o-lates, you never know what you're gonna get". Yes, I will likely have to treat my well water, but for the most part it's pure and has been collected in a natural reservoir right under our feet. Translation: Clean water is almost free. ('almost' being I don't know what it'll cost to treat it... in the long run probably less than your tap water, ha ha) and factor in excavation / pump, etc...

I am trying so hard not to get all socio-political up in here, I have enough of those, but (and there it is, the 'but') do you know what's in your tap water? I know D.C. has some of the worst public water there is. And I know som Marines stationed at Camp Lejeune North Carolina are having health issues due to the high metal content in the public water in the barracks.... the same base where I was stationed for 5 years, lived in the barracks, drank the tap water, and knew 15 years ago it had a high metal content. There's also the stuff we don't know about (bacteria gets in everywhere, so I will know my water very well (pun intended on the 'well' part)). But, let's talk about what we do know.... check online to see what's in your local area's public water. I can't say what you have, but, I do know we were all raised on good old fashioned, all American "Fluoride"! Let me shatter that illusion, fluoride might not be exactly what we think. Matter of fact there have been some studies done by other countries on what fluoride does, and how to effectively employ it. But... that all crosses over the line for where I want to go with this blog.

What I want to talk about is the engineers and state of the art science and technology that goes into locating the right spot on your property to put a well. Namely, an old man and a stick. I don't think any old man or any old stick will do. It takes a 'dowser' or 'water witch' to do it. For us, our little old man was in his late 50's, in a t-shirt and jeans, and he snatached a green branch off of one of the trees on our property, split it halfway up the middle so it made a 'Y', held onto the handles of the 'Y' and went where it took him.

That thing took him across the field of debris I've been clearng where he locked onto a stream he said was about 20 feet down. But, he said at that depth you'll probably get a high iron content (gets convolluted to get that drinkable). Then the stick took him back across the yard where he found another underground stream and followed it to where it intersected with the first stream. He told us that if we dig about 300 feet down we'll hit that second stream and get ample, clean, water.

I am a studious man of the world, and love to figure out how things work... what makes them tick. For the life of me I don't know how some people can dowse. But, if you ask me if I think that old man with the stick is right, my answer is "Yes". I think if we dig down to about 300 feet or so where he said, we'll find an ample amount of clean water. I don't know how it works, but, I've seen enough of these types of things to believe that they 'do' work. This is a 'technology' almost every single one of our ancestors relied on not much more than a hundred years ago.

I don't where the story is in this. Where this goes, I usually like to draw a conclusion. I can't figure out the trick, I don't know HOW it works, I just know that it does. So, I suppose that's the conclusion I'm supposed to draw. These are the things that God put on me, be a scientist and a skeptic, follow how things work. But, accept there are somethings that we just won't 'get'. Maybe one of you know how this works. Don't tell me, I either want to figure it out for myself or live on the faith that I have. While I might not understand it, once I connect to it I will tap into a refreshing, life-giving , wellspring. Kind've like having a personal relationship with God.

It's almost like I had planned to reach that conclusion all along, huh? Wanna know the truth, I didn't. I just let that last paragraph write itself pretty much, literally started at a loss for how to end it. Followed that on faith, like an old man with a stick.