Pump Or Faucet

We haven't had a lot of rain lately, so I've been watering my flowers and plants. It's relatively simple this year, compared to other years, because we splurged last fall and had an outdoor faucet put in. Instead of bringing the watering can to the kitchen sink and filling it, I can fill it outside – or, if I feel really adventurous, I can unwind the garden hose and water directly from the hose! That outside faucet is a wonderful addition to our house. Hubby's also enjoyed being able to mix up his weed spray outside, too.

When I was growing up on the farm, watering was a whole different issue. We didn't have running water – we had a pump at the edge of the yard. We were fortunate that our well was spring fed......I remember some summers when other families with regular wells had to have water hauled in (at a cost) to fill their wells when we were short on moisture. We didn't have to deal with that.

Mom did our laundry on Mondays and Fridays. During the summer, I had the dubious pleasure of pumping and carrying water to the house to fill the wringer washer and also the rinse tub. That effort wasn't wasted, though. Once all the laundry was hung on the line to dry, the remainder of all that water was put to use. Rinse water was emptied by the bucket and poured over the flowers, which was all the extra watering they received. The sudsy wash water was used to mop the floors and then the front porch.

Sometimes when it was very dry, we would pump water to water the garden plants. Usually, they were just out of luck if it didn't rain. Dry happened.......just like snow happened in the wintertime, or other times too much rain. It was the country, you just dealt with it and went on.

Sometimes during dry periods, we would have to pump water for the cows. We had a couple of ponds on the farm, as well as a meandering creek. But when it was really hot and dry, the cows didn't have much available water. There was a watering tank in the barn lot, just across the fence from the well. There was a long water pipe that we could hook over the pump and then pump water for the cows. It was good exercise – but what a wonderful cold drink you could get from that well after pumping all that water!

At other times during summers when we had plenty of rain, I was known to use that watering tank as a place to climb in and cool off. It was great, and I was never bothered by the cows (or vice versa).

The watering tank served us well until I was around 21 and accidentally shot it with a .22 rifle while target practicing! For some reason, Dad wasn't too happy with me.

I enjoy reminiscing about growing up on the farm. It's such a different world than where I live now! But even with all the memories, I'd never trade my running water for that pump!