October 3 -- I Change Out The Well House Water Filters (With Help), And Oh The Clouds...

The ubiquitous sunrise, both at a distance (17-55 lens) and pulled in (100-400 lens with my new 1.4x TC; my previous 1.4 TC broke when the 500 f/4 lens came crashing to the ground during the lunar eclipse) --

Just after sunrise I soaked the Desert Willow until the water well I'd dug around it was full and sitting for about a half hour (it was heat stressed and needed more water than was recommended). The water well leaked a bit, in between a few rocks that I'd placed in a circle around it, so after watering I packed dirt between the rocks, and that should solve THAT. Then as the day was becoming fleecy with clouds, unlike the past few days, I took a photo of the view to the west and my back yard --

It really is hard  to get outdoor chores done when you have this as a backdrop...I've been checking up on the Patchnose snake who's taken residence in my back yard. He's been gone these past few days, or just so deep in his burrow during the day that I can't see him (but he's probably out and about at least part of the day as he's active during the day and dormant at night; for most snakes it's the other way around). But in the early afternoon he was back -- 

Friends Lori and Mark came over in the early afternoon, Lori to boil some eggs (their stove isn't working and the repair guy won't be able to come out until late this month -- one of the drawbacks of rural living) and Mark to check out the well house. I'd told him about the 3 tanks for softening water that the original owner had installed, and he agreed that it was "overkill". Two yes, but three?And where does that third one go? I'd heard that it softened the water to the drip irrigation system, which now isn't working -- but why soften THAT water? There were mice droppings everywhere -- Hanta virus, anyone? -- and I'd put shavings of Irish Spring around and in the well house; the smell is supposed to keep mice away. But Lori said you have to place entire BARS around and inside; she's done that with hers, and she's never had a mouse problem. (Later, after dinner, she plies me with 6 bars of Irish Spring for me to use for the well house; I'll place them today.) But the main thing I wanted Mark to check out was my water filter. It hasn't been changed possibly for nearly 10 months, when I had a local well company replace the filter, so it's way overdue. But the filter is hard to crank off and unscrew -- I'd been unsuccessful in doing it, and Mark tried, too (and he's a big guy) but he couldn't budge it. So Lori said "Let's call Bob!" She'd told me about a retired "jack of all trades" living down the road who's done plumbing work for them, and had recommended him to take a look at my water setup in the well house. So she called, and 10 minutes later a battered pickup truck pulled up into Faranuf's driveway. Bob's about 79 -- and he looks a bit battered, too. But he comes into the well house, and we work together to take off the water filter. But there is a procedure as you have to turn off the water, otherwise it'll shoot out all over the place. There are two handles on either side of the water and sediment filters which, when you shut them off, will keep the well water from entering that part of the piping. So now the water is shut off, and Bob tries to unscrew the water filter. Nothing; it won't budge. There is a wrench for taking it off, but I don't have one, and the original owners never had one, either; apparently he just unscrewed it off with his bare hands. So we tried using 4 hands -- mine and Bob's -- and we managed to get the container holding the water filter off. We cleaned the inside of the container holding the filter and put the new filter in (it should be replaced about every 6 months at least as there is sediment in the well water). Then we had to unscrew the sediment filter, which the water goes through before going to the water filter. The holder is clear, so you can see through it -- and it's pretty brown, having trapped a lot of sediment. Using 4 hands again, we manage to unscrew it, drain it, and put the filter in a bucket of Clorox to get it clean for re-using. Bob asks if I have a brush that I put inside the filter to clean it -- and I use the bottle brush I have for cleaning out bird feeders. Works perfectly. So the filter and holder are "cleaner", and after rubbing Vaseline on the O-ring that sits on the threads, I screw both filters back on -- and give a little "grunt" to give them an extra bit of tightness; I don't want to have problems unscrewing them again next time. We turn the water valves back on, and -- presto! -- everything is working fine, no leaking, and I now have clean water for another 6 months. Bob asks for only $20, a bargain as the local well company would have charged twice as much,and not given me as much info as Bob did, so I give him $30. He's an interesting guy, as is pretty much everyone here; they all have a story to tell about their past lives. I agree to meet Lori and Mark for dinner at the Portal cafe, they leave, I take a short nap (I'd been up since my usual 1:30am wakeup), check the skies outside as we'd had a short "microburst" of rain earlier that afternoon -- and the clouds are weaving their magic once again -- 

Gorgeous sunset colors...Oh, I nearly forgot -- earlier that afternoon, before Bob came over, I had another visit to the water feature -- and bird seed trays -- by a male Coues deer -- 

but this time he'd brought 2 fawns with him. Alas, I was out on the back deck and didn't have my camera, and knew if I moved to get it, they'd get spooked and take off, so I just watched them for a few minutes before they wandered back in the brush. But now I know they're around, so they just might come back to visit...Dinner at the Portal cafe is excellent as usual -- 3 chicken enchiladas with beans and a small salad -- and we meet other friends there having dinner and chat with them. Lori and Mark are heading out to Guyana on Monday for a birding trip, so I'll be going to their place so they can show me what needs to be done while they're gone, and have a last dinner with them. So it was another successful, fulfilling day at Faranuf, Portal, and the east side of the Chiricahuas...