Bad things come in threes and spring has FINALLY arrived!

Mar 30 2018
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Well that was one hell of a winter! I wrote a post awhile back called When it Rains it Pours and I really can’t begin to describe it better then that. This winter attacked me and I attacked it in every way possible. Things I wanted to save up for forced me to deal with them RIGHT NOW. I haven’t mentioned any of this yet simply because I was so fed up I didn’t want to talk about it!

Being divorced in early December meant that the heat in my home was entirely dependent on me and I have only wood heat as an option. (That will not be true of next winter!)

Because I work a full time day job that meant, when it was really cold, I was having to drive home on my lunch break to fill the wood stove. Not to mention it meant I was hauling wood (by hand) several hundred feet to my house every weekend (or more often) so I would have enough to get me through each week.

No, my back is still not yet talking to me and yes, I am walking with a limp.

Bad things come in threes and this was literally the winter that would not end. My septic froze, my water exploded and my car quit running! But, like with everything in my life, everything is going to be ok and winter did finally end and I have a new car and everything fixed!

Regardless of how much wood I burned though this was a VERY cold winter and I had to turn the water off to my main floor bathroom after having discovered ice in the toilet one morning… but that was only the “tip of the iceberg” of what this winter had in store for me…

It all began with my mom leaving on a two week vacation. (This lady is literally my rock.) A few days after she left my water exploded in my barn.

So this is how I’ve been filling my horse’s water tank. Out in my VERY OLD barn is a VERY OLD dried up sand point well shaft that is about 18 feet deep and about 3×3 feet around. (We call it the Pit of Doom.)

Sticking out of this well is a spigot that is also VERY old, that has been leaking about 8 feet down inside my Pit of Doom for years. It goes all the way down the pit then underground 300 feet to my basement where it hooks up to my water.

Because of the leak the faucet freezes up every winter.

Bad things come in threes and this was literally the winter that would not end. My septic froze, my water exploded and my car quit running! But, like with everything in my life, everything is going to be ok and winter did finally end and I have a new car and everything fixed!

SOOOO to unfreeze said pipe I had to haul 5 gallon buckets full of boiling hot water from the house to the barn and dump them down the pipe to unfreeze it.

This has been going on since I moved in and I had every intention to move it/fix it this coming summer.

Literally I was willing this damned pipe, “Just make it through one last winter!!!!”

So after over an hour of my hauling hot water to the barn (in sub zero temperatures) said little leak EXPLODED down into my empty Pit of Doom. After all of that I couldn’t even fill my horse’s water tank!

I sprinted to the house and turned the water off (thank goodness I put a turn off valve in my basement!) and then I proceeded to lay down on my kitchen floor for a good long while because at that point I just COULDN’T EVEN.

Then I did something the next morning that went against every DIY bone in my body.

I called it in.

That’s right I HIRED someone to fix it.

It was great. For the first time a man actually fixed something for me!

I HAD TO PAY HIM… BUT STILL!!! (he was also kinda cute!)

Moving on to the second week my mom was gone. Just like with the leak out in the barn I had been telling my ancient, little car, “Just make it through one last winter!!!!” Aaaaand she didn’t….

She died in town at my best friend Rachie’s house and there they were (her poor husband Shane who was SO sick) out in literally -18 degrees, loading my car onto a trailer for me.

THERE ARE NO WORDS FOR HOW AMAZING THOSE TWO ARE.

So, even though I did pay for my little old lady to get fixed, it felt like the Universe gave me a very clear warning. It was time for me to get another car.

So I got a new car as soon as my mom got back from her vacation. (I told her she could never leave again.) And I do really love my new car and my old car is still with me (I’m retiring her to a quiet life as my little farm cart.)

I pulled my “new” car into my garage for only the SECOND time and then, not six hours later, I went upstairs to take a shower and all of my drains in my master bedroom just stopped.

MY SEPTIC WAS FROZEN.

At that point I just laughed.

Fortunately my grandparents had put in another septic tank at some point so I actually have two for my house. So, my second floor (my master) and my basement were draining into the one that froze but my main floor was on a separate line.

So, I had to turn my main floor bathroom back on so I didn’t have to go outside to do my business… But at least I did, in fact, never have to go outside to do my business!

My mom came by while I was brushing my teeth in the kitchen sink and I told her, “This is fine.”

Bad things come in threes and this was literally the winter that would not end. My septic froze, my water exploded and my car quit running! But, like with everything in my life, everything is going to be ok and winter did finally end and I have a new car and everything fixed!

Said main floor bathroom does have a working toilet but, unfortunately, since the day I moved in, the shower has always leaked SO, because I really didn’t want to have to bathe in my kitchen sink (again) I cut the hole in the wall and I fixed that damn leak.

This all happened in the couple of weeks leading up to my birthday in February and, fortunately, we had nothing but higher temperatures from then on out so my only working bathroom never froze again.

I put a thermometer on the toilet out there and it never got below 41 degrees but I still stressed about it considerably (because indoor plumbing is kinda awesome and though I am so appreciative that I have a nice big kitchen sink its still not quite designed for a full grown adult to bathe in…)

The following is the “cake” my best friend made for me for my birthday (not four days after my septic froze) and I told her, “Honestly I don’t know if that’s going to be enough beer!”

Bad things come in threes and this was literally the winter that would not end. My septic froze, my water exploded and my car quit running! But, like with everything in my life, everything is going to be ok and winter did finally end and I have a new car and everything fixed!

In the middle of ALL of that this little blog started doing INCREDIBLE. So, I don’t know what happened, but I do feel like I have whiplash and jet lag lol.

I told my aunt about all of it and she said about my septic freezing, “Oh good then you’re done! Bad things come in threes!”

Wow what a winter! And it was SO cold, we had some hardcore cold snaps that lasted at least two weeks a piece (wind chills down into the -40s and temperatures dipping down to the -20s EVERY night) and then, when March was almost here, we got dumped on and after all of that cold we saw over a foot of snow come at us.

When it finally “warmed up” we broke our snow fall records lol.

It really felt like the winter THAT WOULD NOT END.

Bad things come in threes and this was literally the winter that would not end. My septic froze, my water exploded and my car quit running! But, like with everything in my life, everything is going to be ok and winter did finally end and I have a new car and everything fixed!

But, of course, it did. I have a “new” car that I love, I fixed that leaking shower that’s been bugging me forever and now my horse’s water is perfect, fixed and working great.

My back is NOT great, but it is getting better and though I am still hauling wood (this is still Minnesota and we still have two days left in March and it literally just SNOWED FIVE INCHES!), I am not having to bring in nearly as much as I was.

And I just kinda feel like I do about most things, “Its good to get the bad stuff over with as soon as possible!”

And, NO, I did NOT have that good of an attitude when all this was going down lol. To be honest, I text my best friend that I was going to have to start swearing in another language because English swear words were no longer cutting it!

For the record: I had several offers for a place to stay (or at least to shower) during all of this (there’s even a shower at my day job) but I’m damned stubborn and I also knew that even winter in northern Minnesota could not last forever!

Cheers to spring!

Bad things come in threes and this was literally the winter that would not end. My septic froze, my water exploded and my car quit running! But, like with everything in my life, everything is going to be ok and winter did finally end and I have a new car and everything fixed!

Comments

  1. March 30, 2018 at 8:45 am

    Misery does love company, so just know that you are not all alone this winter. We’ve been burning through the wood at a greater rate than usual, our septic system froze up a month ago so we had someone out to pump it. We don’t dare to use it to do laundry, so have only been flushing the toilet when we do number two. Hopefully we will get a break in the weather soon and the drainfield will thaw. Will have to look more closely at it this summer. Mostly we’re just fed up with the continual snows coming and then beginning to recede and then coming back. Perhaps another 6 inches tonight. Oy! Keep blogging, it’s fun to see what is going on with others, and as I mentioned at first, misery does love company.

    • April 2, 2018 at 9:15 am

      Thanks Bruce, always good to hear from you! Sorry to hear about your own winter woes, I’m starting to think we just need to mentally give up on summer lol I am most definitely getting that outhouse built this year and making lots of plans so next winter won’t be so darned hard on me. Stay warm!

  2. March 30, 2018 at 8:55 am

    We thought we were a bit chilly when we had 2 inches of snow down here in the SW of England at the beginning of March…. then when the temperature outside dropped to 10 below we thought it had never been so cold because we ran right out of oil for the central heating. We burned the entire contents of our log shed and were just considering starting on the chairs when the oil arrived!! BUT. We had no leaks. We have no horse to water. We didn’t freeze anywhere inside the house. You done good!! Spring is on the way, and you can get some jobs done and get on with life. Here’s to sunshine and flowers, Tarah.

    • April 2, 2018 at 9:17 am

      Oh Susan, I am so sorry to hear about your own winter woes! Gosh this is just the winter that will not end currently we are over 20 degrees our average temperature and expecting even more snow! Its just crazy! Yes, cheers to sunshine and flowers though, they will arrive someday ๐Ÿ™‚

  3. March 30, 2018 at 12:18 pm

    Oh, WOW Tarah, I have been the biggest baby!!!!! Thank you so much for letting me see this. I have complained ALL winter long about how harsh it has been (here in MD…oh boohoo;)). It snowed last week to start off spring with a bang and guess who was the baby over it all. Your post really puts so much into perspective!!! Everyone is going through something and most likely a lot worse! You would never know too because you had such great diy projects this winter and to think you were enduring all that. That sounds like a ridiculous winter! I just can’t imagine and I probably would not have survived it with my weak self…geez!!! Your post was pretty eye-opening for me…I couldn’t stop reading. You deserve and will have a wonderful spring and summer! Think about how much stronger you are now:) Great post- good luck with everything on that beautiful farm!

    • April 2, 2018 at 9:26 am

      Thanks so much Kathleen! Omygosh so many of us had it so rough in this winter that would not end! And we have more snow coming (if you can believe it) everyone here is about ready to get in their cars and totally drive south lol. But after those 3 weeks that were so hard I found my rhythm and at least I did have indoor plumbing etc which wouldn’t be true for most folks if their septic froze so I tried to keep that in mind when I was brushing my teeth in the kitchen sink lol. Cheers to flowers, sunshine and NO MORE SNOW!

  4. Sue
    March 30, 2018 at 6:21 pm

    YOU ARE MY ABSOLUTE CLONE! Got a rain (storm!) cloud over your head that stays “forever”. Get one thing fixed and two more blow up in your face, Stubborn!! Won’t let anyone try to make things easy for you you (who needs a nice uneventful shower in a pleasant place, I’M GONNA FIX THIS MESS… I’M NOT LETTING THIS THING BEAT ME!!! ) Am I right??? OHhhh, you make me relive my own LIFE almost every time I read anything you write… (giggle)
    Love you, Tarah! You made my whole week with this one…

    • April 2, 2018 at 9:31 am

      Yup Sue that is totally it LOL I am SO STUBBORN. When something goes wrong I just get so annoyed like, “Nope, I’m gonna handle this, this thing is totally not gonna beat me and I WILL FIX IT!!!” And everyone around me is like, “Just let us help, or hire it out etc.” I’m just like NOPE that would be ACCEPTING DEFEAT! It almost killed me to have to call someone to fix that leak in the barn but I will admit, it was pretty cool to finally just watch someone fix it and not me doing it for a change lol!

  5. Sue
    March 30, 2018 at 6:22 pm

    Oh I forgot… HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU ~~~!!!

  6. Jenny Young
    April 1, 2018 at 7:16 am

    Yuck!…triple yuck!

    One thought….I am sure you are getting lots of advice so scroll on past if you can’t take any more. ๐Ÿ˜‰ We started using space heaters a few years ago when we’re home. We’re aging & the physical labor became more than we can keep up with. We were pretty worried about how it would affect our electric bills but it has hardly affected it for us. It will depend on how much your rates are though. We just stick a heater in front of us & heat the space around us….not our whole house.

    We do have propane heat as well but it’s actually more expensive!

    • April 2, 2018 at 9:13 am

      Hi Jenny, that’s definitely something I’ve been doing a bit of! Especially now when we “should” be done with winter I am getting REALLY low on wood and have been starting to use space heaters more and more. I do see some impact on my bill but it hasn’t been too bad actually. Hopefully some day this winter will actually end lol Thanks for your tips, hope you had a good weekend!

  7. April 18, 2018 at 3:37 pm

    I dream of having winters that cold, I’ve literally never seen anything like that. Then again, everyone I say that to tells me I’ll regret wanting it so bad ;P I can also see where they’re coming from haha

    • April 18, 2018 at 3:50 pm

      lol well, I actually rather like winter for the first couple of months. The nearly 6 months of winter we had this year however got pretty old! Thanks for coming by!

  8. Dom D'Acquisto
    May 5, 2018 at 10:05 am

    With all those crisis constantly coming at you from all directions, it seems like you didn’t get the opportunity to enjoy the simple beauty of Winter. Yes, it’s brutally cold at times. And the snow seems to never end. I’ve lived a good part of my life in Wisconsin. So like you, I know winter. And for all the pains of winter, there is a certain beauty, a serenity, an inner peace that the blanket of snow brings with it. I hope your next one gives you the chance to experience the other side of winter.

    • May 8, 2018 at 9:15 am

      You have a very good point Dom! I usually don’t hate on winter nearly as much as this for sure, between everything going wrong and the constant worry of keeping my wood stove going winter this year just could not end fast enough. I have plans on getting a different heating system this year so I’m looking forward to far less worried filled winter!!

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