We live on a few acres about 15 miles from the nearest town. There's no water or sewage service out here, so we're dependent on a well for our water. This part of the country suffered under a severe drought for the last two years. Our well stayed wet, although some of our neighbors' wells dried up.
The drought is over now. We've received plenty of rain over the past few months. But the drought left us concerned about the wisdom of depending on the well for water in a location that is subject to frequent droughts and increasing demand for water. So to supplement our well we installed a rainwater harvesting system.
Basically, we just funnel all the rainwater from our roof into a storage tank, and use a pressure tank and booster pump to get the water into the house. It's a very simple and efficient system, and the water is incredibly pure and free of minerals and other contaminants. To be on the safe side, it's run through a series of filters before we use it. And therein lies the tale.
After each rain, we have to clean filters. The first one in line is a fine mesh sock filter, similar to the skimmer basket on a pool. It's designed to catch any large debris that might get swept off the roof into the capture system; leaves, twigs, frisbees, etc. After the rain a couple of nights ago, I assigned my wife to clean the filters (well, actually, I told her I'd make dinner if she'd clean the filters). So she went out the back door and I put a frozen pizza in the oven.
About 30 seconds later I heard a bloodcurdling shriek. I tore outside, thinking she'd tripped and broken a leg, or dropped her wine glass, or something equally appalling. I found her dancing around the filter, pointing at it and gibbering away incoherently. After I got her calmed down I took a look inside the filter. There was a little ribbon snake about two feet long in it. Evidently the snake had been on the roof and got washed into the gutter, down the downspouts, and into the collection system. Quite a ride.
Snakes don't usually bother my wife, but it was the unexpectedness of this one that got to her. When she took the filter off and it started moving by itself, she was a little startled, to say the least.
Bottom line - it looks like I'll be cleaning the filters from here on out...
Sammiches.
20 hours ago
2 comments:
I know that scream...I hear it a couple of times each summer when my mom pulls up a pool skimmer basket and finds a snake in it. (She lives about 1/3 of a mile away).
I've had that happen to me more than once. I screamed too the first time. Now I look first.
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