Witching here.
Witching there.
Witching, witching everywhere.
Following our 240-foot disappointment last week, we’ve had three additional water witchings. I wasn’t present during the first one, but Steve-the-Builder brought a new water witch out there this weekend. Yesterday, Steve-the-Builder did his own witching. His first job was as a gas and oil driller. Believe it or not, they witch for gas and oil wells. Now he witches all his own water wells on his farm.
We have two potential well sites. One idea is to go back to the old well site at the far end of our farm in the meadow bottom where the people who previously owned the property had a 65-foot well. They lived there in a trailer, which is now gone, and we thought we were going to be using that well, but we discovered there’s not enough water in it. We don’t know what happened to it. Possibly, something caved in the well. Or the water went dry after the drought this past summer. Who knows. We know there was water there at one time. We could go back over there and drill deeper.
Or we could come up the hill, closer to our house, where there is a spring that had water in it even this past summer during the drought. (This is the site pictured in the witching in this post, near the house, by our driveway.) We’ve had both sites witched and witching says there is water at both sites. The upside of drilling closer to the house is that there will be less water line to worry about maintaining and the water from the hill/spring site may be better than the water in the meadow bottom because of the chance of iron in the water down there. (Witching, by the way, doesn’t respond to surface water. Standing right over the spring doesn’t bring any results. But near the side of our hill within feet of the spring, the “witching” current is strong.) My country guru Faye says: “Drill by the spring.” Steve-the-Builder says: “Drill by the spring.” My father, who was born and raised within a stone’s throw of our farm, says: “Drill by the spring.”
And added to that country wisdom, three water witchers can’t be wrong, can they?
Here’s our third water witch.
Apparently she has the magic.
Princess says there’s water near the spring, too.
Although we couldn’t move anything on Saturday due to snow, we did move quite a few things yesterday. No furniture yet, just boxes and kitchen things that I could move using my Explorer and 16’s Jeep. The new refrigerator came out to the house yesterday, too, thanks to 52 and his pickup truck. We painted trim while 14 and 16 put ceiling fans together and screwed on light switch covers. But today…. Today, it’s all about the water. Steve-the-Builder has the kitchen together and he has one bathroom ready. All we need is water and we won’t be moving stuff, we’ll be moving in.
To get the big drilling rig up the hill, a bulldozer will have to pull it. It’s going to be quite an event.
The bulldozer and the rig are coming today at 10 am and we will have one last, fourth, witching at the site. Unless we have a last-minute change of heart, we are planning to go with the flow of country wisdom, drag that giant rig up our slippery, muddy hill (the hill I won’t drive up right now!), and drill a well by our spring.
Wish us luck!!
Shirley says:
I wish you all the luck in finding that precious water, and I hope it will have a wonderful taste and be good to your clothes.
We have a lot of watered land in my area. I have no clue how they determine where to place a well. I guess I’ll have to call one of my farmer friend’s wives to see what they do.
I’m sure Steve-the-builder will be glad to be finished. We had a Steve-the-bilder six years ago when I built my oldest daughter a house.
On March 10, 2008 at 6:18 am
jan says:
:fryingpan: I think it is a no brainer…dig near the spring…you aleady know that there is water there. Praying for success today!
On March 10, 2008 at 6:21 am
Kim A. says:
Good luck, good luck, good luck!!!! Hopefully this is *it*!
BTW, we couldn’t move anything on Saturday, either — throughout the city, I mean — due to our 40cms (16 inches) of snow! 😮
-Kim
On March 10, 2008 at 6:45 am
Heidi says:
I promise to keep my fingers, toes and eyes crossed all day for you for luck in getting WATER!!! LOL How much fun it will be to move in and get settled and rock in the chairs on your pie porch…. **drools over pie porch*** How much snow did you end up getting? Looks like a little dusting. We got a bit of snow also, about 3 inchs and its a hot 14 degrees out this morning!!! :rockon: Hope we can hear from you later today – but good luck!!! ***BIG HUGS***
On March 10, 2008 at 6:54 am
Suzanne McMinn says:
We got enough snow to cover the ground. I’m not sure how much it was. Probably not more than an inch or two, really, but just enough to make things slick and messy, especially with our road situation. 😮
On March 10, 2008 at 7:02 am
Bayou Woman says:
Do you REALLY have to believe? Good luck finding water!
BW
On March 10, 2008 at 7:03 am
lintys says:
Good luck Suzanne! I hope this time’s the charm.
I’ve been lusting after banana bread pudding. . . I think I may have even dreamed of it last night. Today will be a good one for baking! I must try that recipe!
On March 10, 2008 at 7:43 am
kacey says:
Good luck with the well drilling (and getting the rig up the hill!). I find the whole subject of water witching fascinating. I’d think if there was a spring up there, it would be a good place to drill the well. Hope that holds true for you guys. And then Princess can think she’s a big time water witcher too!
On March 10, 2008 at 7:48 am
Lisa J says:
Good luck on the water and the move. Your journey is nearing the end, with a new experience ahead. Wow what a trip!
On March 10, 2008 at 8:32 am
Lora says:
Good luck on the drilling today!
Looks like you may have a “water witch” in training….
We’re all thinking of you guys. Let us know ASAP when you have news.
On March 10, 2008 at 8:34 am
Robin G. says:
Well, hopefully that’ll do it! Good luck!
(I suppose this isn’t the time to mention I tried the water witching trick once and almost burst a storm drain, is it?)
On March 10, 2008 at 8:35 am
Jill S. says:
BEST of luck!!!!
On March 10, 2008 at 8:36 am
Hetty says:
Good luck finding water. But I know you will – eventually! Best of luck!
On March 10, 2008 at 9:06 am
Blaze says:
She’s a witch!
:thumbsup:
Good luck with the water, also glad to see they got the tree out of the road too. Thats definately a plus, and glad to see you didn’t get snowbound or anything
:weather:
On March 10, 2008 at 9:11 am
Sarah in Sanford says:
It’s 10:30 right now so I assume they’re there digging. I’ll say a quick prayer for you. Hope things go well for ya’ll today. :shimmy:
On March 10, 2008 at 9:32 am
Treasia says:
:elephant: Ok this is me doing a premature happy dance that you’ve found your water. Good luck with it.
On March 10, 2008 at 10:00 am
Laney says:
It is 8:51 AM PST so you should probably know whether or not the witching was right 😉
I can’t wait for tomorrow’s post!!
Hooray for moving DAY!!!!
On March 10, 2008 at 10:52 am
Amy Addison says:
You know, Suzanne, I remember when Princess was born. And now she’s a water witch!
Drill by the spring. ::water, water, water::
I can’t wait to see the pictures of the bulldozer pulling the drill up the hill. Congratulations on starting to move stuff over. Doesn’t it feel nice?
On March 10, 2008 at 10:57 am
Maria says:
So close, so close….I especially like the photos of the water guy with the pencil in his ear. My dad was a carpenter for a number of years and ALWAYS had a pencil in his ear, even when he got home he kept it there. It’s oddly comforting to me, so whatever the guy in the picture says to do: DO.
On March 10, 2008 at 11:59 am
catslady says:
Hope you have water by now!!!! I think the spring water is going to be wonderful especially since a big study just came out today saying how many drugs are in our drinking water!!!!
On March 10, 2008 at 12:51 pm
JanC says:
Yep – that’s the proven error-free method of finding water out here in the west too. Never fails. Did you know you can “witch” for unmarked graves too? I do a lot of genealogy and met a man who taught me to find unmarked graves in old cemeteries. I was not a believer until I took the rods in my own hands and found 3. And then it was confirmed by old records and old people who lived in the area for a loooooong time. :yes:
Good luck with the drilling.
On March 10, 2008 at 1:13 pm
Tori Lennox says:
I hope the drilling is productive today and you hit lots of water!!! 🙂
On March 10, 2008 at 1:52 pm
Estella says:
How can 4 witchers be wrong?
On March 10, 2008 at 2:00 pm
Susan says:
I think you should drill by the spring. You just know Faye is right! :yes: Good luck Suzanne!
On March 10, 2008 at 3:20 pm
Brandy says:
Good luck! May your new Water Witch pick a good spot!
On March 10, 2008 at 4:04 pm
Hillbilly2 says:
I’d trust the country folk also! I hope you have found water. What a relief? Now comes the fun, moving in. Yeah!
On March 10, 2008 at 6:00 pm
Lis says:
Good luck!!
On March 10, 2008 at 7:05 pm
mary beth says:
Good luck! I haven’t seen water witching in years, but my grandpa was never wrong. I bet he’d say drill near the spring too!
On March 10, 2008 at 8:32 pm
annbb says:
LUCK!
On March 10, 2008 at 10:50 pm