Genesis 3:17-19 NKJV Then to Adam He said, "Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, 'You shall not eat of it': "Cursed is the ground for your sake; In toil you shall eat of it All the days of your life. (18) Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, And you shall eat the herb of the field. (19) In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread Till you return to the ground, For out of it you were taken; For dust you are, And to dust you shall return."
Ain’t that the truth. I don’t know how many of my blog readers have worked the land, but it’s a hard task. Around here lately, it seems that everything is broken. I don’t remember exactly when but a few days before David died, I was working on a windmill and the standing pipe fell. A well consists of a hole in the ground. Inside this hole in the ground is a “casing” pipe; this is what keeps the hole from constantly caving in. Inside this pipe is the “standing” pipe; it’s fastened at the top with a thick metal plate and is basically free-hanging from this plate inside the casing. Inside the standing pipe, is the actual pump, whether electric or windmill. So, when the standing pipe fell, it dropped inside the casing for an unknown distance, but at least 15-20’. This effectively kills the well unless it can be retrieved.
To retrieve the standing pipe, a variety of “fishing” tools are used. These basically either fit inside the pipe or over the pipe. The problems are that the pipe is usually leaning against the casing at an angle- it’s rarely a straight shot into or onto the pipe. Another problem is simply the depth of the well and the fact that you have to work blind. And finally- because the pipe has fallen and because it’s been down there for 100 years and the joints are rusty- it’s common for the pipe to break.
So, our well man came out and fished and sure ‘nuff, the pipe was broken and sure ‘nuff, he can’t get all the pieces out. I’ve called in help and different opinions and have spent hours and hours and days fishing for this lost pipe. Of course, we were still working blind and had no idea what we were actually fishing FOR.
 |
| A sad (and expensive) sight |
 |
| Capped off to keep stuff from falling down |
 |
| We stuffed a pipe with wax to get an impression |
First thing we did was stuff a pipe full of canning wax and send it down to get an impression of whatever was down there. That worked pretty good, but took some time.
Finally, I got the bright idea of sending a helmet camera into the hole. You’ve seen the footage from these by skiers, dirt bikers, etc. Well, they make waterproof models, too. So I bought a POV model for $100, a waterproof flashlight for $50, and 400’ of ¼ 100 lb test cord for $40 and strapped all this into a PVC tube and sent ‘er down the hole. Here’s some of the footage:
 |
| Downloading video |
 |
| The Video Capsule |
This has been very useful. Even though we still haven’t caught the pipe, at least we know that a) the end’s not crushed in, b) it’s at an angle, c) there’s not a sucker rod sticking out the middle of it, d) etc. However, unless we get that pipe out, this whole episode is big FAIL and we’ll have to drill a new well, to the tune of around $30,000-40,000 (and hey, what’s $10k here or there!?).
 |
| "Life"- picture by David Kimsey |
Adding to my problems, my Case 90XT skid steer is leaking oil by the buckets. I’ve had this thing worked on twice already, for $1200 and $350 each time and it’ll be fine for about 5-10 hours and then it’s Leak City again. Well, it’s leaking again and I need it working right now. With the crippled windmill and some other draining expenses, I just don't want to spend the money to get the skid steer fixed. I guess it'll just have to sit there.
 |
| Happier Days |
 |
| Moving Dirt- picture by David |
So, we’ve got broken well, broken skid steers…. What else is broken? I don’t want to know. I know that I’m looking forward very much to this:
Revelation 22:1-3 NKJV And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb. (2) In the middle of its street, and on either side of the river, was the tree of life, which bore twelve fruits, each tree yielding its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. (3) And there shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and His servants shall serve Him.
It’s been a month since David’s death and we are, for the most part, coping okay. The week of the funeral was busy and then the following week was my daughter’s graduation party and that kept us busy. Week 3 is when it started to sink in and there were some rough moments there, but I just went back and re-read the things I wrote and refreshed my memory on how sick David was and his superior status now and felt better. I have pictures of David on my desk and I can look at them. Video is a little harder, esp video where he talks- I can only handle small bites of video before I have to turn it off.
As part of the local Ministerial Alliance, I was on the radio station last week, for the week, and the topic I chose to speak on was “Dealing With Death”. If you care to read my messages, you can find them here:
Bottom line is that we all have to deal with death. So, I guess we’re dealing with it. In addition to the lifting of the curse, I’m looking forward to this:
Revelation 21:4 NKJV And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away."
Until then, though, we have to wrestle our living from the thorns and thistles, by the sweat of our brow. We have death, sorrow, pain, and crying. We can roll over and give up, or we can press onward and fight.
No comments:
Post a Comment