No Eau

This morning, after slapping the snooze button repeatedly, I stumbled into the bathroom and turned on the shower.

Only there was no shower to the shower. From the shower head, a tiny trickle pattered onto the tub floor.

Arrrrgghhhh!

I turned on the sink faucet to double check, as if somehow only the shower might be waterless. Only a few token drips fell into the sink.

When you live out there and your water comes from beneath your feet via your own well, being waterless will occur much more often than those who live where water comes from a municipality. Any disruption in the power supply or any of a host of pump/pressure tank mechanical problems will leave you high and dry.

Such is life in the sticks.

Realizing the situation would not be resolved quickly, I drafted some subteacher plans for my classes and gently, nay cautiously, awoke Mrs. FC and informed her she had a showerless morning ahead.

Poor Junior, he takes a waaaaaaaaayyyyy too long shower every morning and today he had to bath with the contents of a gallon jug of store bought water that was in the back of the pantry.

We had a case of store bought water bottles left over from the Gulf camping expedition, so coffee and tea were made, and teeth were brushed appropriately.

Toilets are another matter of course. You get one flush per toilet from the water in the holding tank, so you have to spread things out between the various bathrooms in the house. This is also where living in the middle of dense woods with no neighbors comes in handy.

The black barrel full of water in the picture is just one of the two barrels of emergency water that I keep full for hurricane season. They are actually full all year, but their primary purpose and most likely use is as a temporary water supply during hurricane caused power outages.

The water pictured was actually put into the clean food storage barrel (Greek pepper shipping container) with some chlorine bleach last year as Tropical Storm Ernesto headed this way. Ernesto fizzled as did the whole 2006 hurricane season and the water sat for a year.

This morning I dipped some out for various uses and it was of excellent quality.

Even so, a year is long enough and today I will give both barrels a scrub and refill with fresh water and a bit of Clorox.

(Yes, I know I posted recently about the taste of chlorinated water, but it is an effective germ killer, and this water is gonna sit for awhile.)

Of course, being without water on the same morning as Hurricane Humberto is pounding folks across the Gulf of Florida makes me want to check the Emergency Supply Box in my closet. It's a big rubbermaid box of storable food, meds, and comfort supplies. Nothing in the box is expensive and it's all off the shelf items like canned goods, dried beans, rice, pasta, coffee, tea, Tang, pancake mix, salt, pepper, batteries, am/fm radio, granola bars, basic first aid items, and peanut M&M's (mmmmm, a complete meal , protein, fat, carbs).

Everything in there was purchased last year, so certain items should come out for use while new items are rotated in. The tub itself is portable so if we had to bug out it could easily go with us.

I'm no survivalist, but I believe strongly in personal responsibility for the safety and well being of my family. We won't become wards of the state because we failed to take a few simple precautions.

Will you?

But what about the waterless Pure Florida HQ situation you ask? Did we get our water back?

Yes.

Here's a little contest. The winner will get ... hmmmm ... a Florida style surprise in the mail. Yes, you'll have to send me a snail mail address if you win and want the prize, but you can still play just for the fun of it if you want to stay undercover. (email me: natcoast@msn.com)

Contest question:

What caused the water shortage at PFHQ today?

Be specific.

Contest closes at 9:00 pm tonight.