No Water! Part 2

Five days without running water with seven preschool children! My mother could hardly wait for Saturday and water in the faucets.

The weather warmed up some, and it snowed about three feet before Saturday. The 200-foot driveway had to be shoveled by hand. They didn't own a plow. Friday night, another foot of snow fell.

Saturday dawned clear and cold. Dressed in white lace, the trees and bushes twinkled like rubies as they caught the rosy rays of the rising sun late that morning. Though not feeling well, after family devotions, Daddy started out.

First, the driveway had to be shoveled. He was just finishing up when the snowplow passed, dumping a wide five-foot pile of packed snow and gravel across the ten-foot wide driveway.

The driver laughed and waved as he drove on. Daddy groaned. More shoveling!

About noon, he dragged into the house. Mother hated to send him to the co-op for more water, but she couldn't wait until he checked out the reservoir. The family needed water.

After getting more water, he ate a hurried lunch and set off to climb the mountainside to the reservoir. No time to rest--the sun would set by mid afternoon.

Carrying a pick and shovel, he started up the mountain. Waist-deep snow made it almost impossible to climb, but determinedly, he struggled on. At last, he reached the reservoir, pried off the lid, and chopped through the skim of ice.

No water! The reservoir was dry!

He pushed on through the deep snow to the dam and chopped through the ice. The creek bed was dry too!

Why? In the 27 years the Bethel Beach Home had been in operation, that stream had never gone dry.

Daddy forced his way on up the mountain. Another 200 feet upstream, he discovered the reason. Someone had built a sturdy dam across the entire creek bed, effectively blocking every drop of water from flowing down into our reservoir. We had been getting the overflow. During extremely cold weather, homeowners let their faucets run continuously so the pipes wouldn't freeze. The water level had dropped below the top of the dam. No wonder we weren't getting any water.

Knowing he could do nothing about it, Daddy turned and plowed through the snow to get back down the mountainside. Although his feet were numb with cold and every nerve and muscle screamed at him to stop and rest, he didn't dare. Clouds were rolling in, bringing more snow. He floundered on. How could he tell his family there would be no water for a long time?

To be continued...

Have you ever faced an impossible situation? What did you do?