So, it’s been raining some here. Well, it’s been raining a lot. We’re happy for the water but I’m ready for sun so I can clean and dry out the house. You couldn’t imagine how a stone house with walls two feet thick collects and retains moisture. MOLD! Bleach is my new favorite pal.
Anyway, during a crack in the clouds, Ruffino and I went up to get him a lemon from one of our lemon trees, only to discover (to my joy and amazement!) our vasca filling with water!
My stepson, Graham, came to visit a year and a half ago and one of the projects he and his dad worked on was cleaning out our “pool”. It’s actually, our vasca – built and maintained for the purpose of collecting spring water to give to all the vegetation we (should) have growing on our terraces. But the vasca looked to us, during a time of great water wealth, to be an excellent swimming hole during hot weather. So David and Graham drained the thing and cleaned all the weeds and algae out of it. This was the beginning of …well…a long story.
The drought really started then. And we share that “pool” with some neighbors, who, as it was empty, found it an opportune time to cut into it and add larger pipes going to their land.
It’s never been the same since.
Anyway, during a crack in the clouds, Ruffino and I went up to get him a lemon from one of our lemon trees, only to discover (to my joy and amazement!) our vasca filling with water!
My stepson, Graham, came to visit a year and a half ago and one of the projects he and his dad worked on was cleaning out our “pool”. It’s actually, our vasca – built and maintained for the purpose of collecting spring water to give to all the vegetation we (should) have growing on our terraces. But the vasca looked to us, during a time of great water wealth, to be an excellent swimming hole during hot weather. So David and Graham drained the thing and cleaned all the weeds and algae out of it. This was the beginning of …well…a long story.
The drought really started then. And we share that “pool” with some neighbors, who, as it was empty, found it an opportune time to cut into it and add larger pipes going to their land.
It’s never been the same since.
The neighbors did something wrong in the sealing of the new pipes coming from the bottom, so, even when there was water (ie: rain) to fill it, it leaked and never filled. The whole mountainside was experiencing a water shortage and our source (there has always been a small small small spring that feeds into this vasca) was hemorrhaging and WASTING WATER.
The neighbors, who made the mistake, fixed it by adding some temporary containers to collect the spring water that arrives. This trickle of water has kept David and I, our clothes and our dishes clean for over a year (you would be surprised what a collection of water you will have from a 24 hour drip – really, it’s incredible. It’s enough, well to keep two people, their clothes and their dishes clean!). We had such a collection that a neighbor, who has no rights what so ever to this water decided to put his own container below ours and rig it with a pump so he can have some water up at his place (this is a touchy subject, best not explored here!).
But today, Ruffino and I found the pool FILLING! It’s filling even beyond the leaking point (which happens to be at the BOTTOM!), I don’t know how or why – no one has been to fix it. It’s just filling, by itself.
Let's have a look again at that first picture...I'm sure you will now see it with new eyes.
I can’t wait for summer. I might have to knit myself a new bikini for sitting out by the Maberga community pool.
I can’t wait for summer. I might have to knit myself a new bikini for sitting out by the Maberga community pool.
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