GROWING UP IN NORTH PREPARED ME FOR HARROWING DAY WITHOUT WATER
Lois Cooper | MuskokaTODAY.com
Why Mouse Drops?
My nickname was “Mouse” as a child and teenager — “Auntie Mouse” to some.
As for drops, you find clues to a problem sometimes by following a trail of mouse drops.
P.S. The publisher hates this name.
Nov. 27, 2021 will stick in the memory of every citizen living in Gravenhurst, Ontario.
It is the morning we woke up to no water flowing from our water taps, no flush for the toilet.
What a shock.
I came to be quite delighted that I grew up in a small unorganized district named Dance, in the Rainy River District of Northerwestern Ontario. We had no electricity service, no telephone until 1960/61.
So well I know the job of carrying water from the well each day — often twice a day.
Catching rainwater from the eaves into barrels for wash water; packing snow into a barrel in the kitchen in winter for wash water. Smashing the ice from the well to carry water to the house and then down to the well for the cattle and breaking it open before letting the cattle out for their morning drink.
My public school had no indoor plumbing, but my high school one and a half hours away on the school bus had all the facilities.
I never lived in a home with indoor plumbing until I finished school and went off to live and work in the grand city of Winnipeg, Manitoba.
I spent most of my adult life living in the country enjoying all the comforts of septic tanks and weeping tile, water lines, water pumps, dug wells and frozen pipes.
So, yesterday when I realized I had no water in my home in Gravenhurst, I was shocked.
What could be wrong? It was Saturday. Who should I call? Bill Allison came to mind as he solves all kinds of problems. However, first a quick check of my email revealed a town-wide problem.
No telling how long the problem would exist and with any municipal water problem a week before the water is truly trustworthy to me.
The advisory to boil for one minute seems lax as it takes at least three minutes of boiling water from a pond or stream to be sure it is safe. Ten minutes is best.
What to do? I really needed water to flush the toilet. By chance I had not emptied one of my rain barrels. Out came the trusty axe and soon the ice was chopped and water dipped.
Another learning experience: the water needs to be in the tank of these new small toilets in order to get a satisfactory flush.
And because I garden, I have a good supply of large pails, so I have lots of rainwater in the house in pails now. My rain barrel is again hooked up to the eaves — just in case.
Since the tornado of 2009, I have kept large glass bottles of water stored in my house. Both my properties suffered damage at that time and we were without power for three days. Those bottles sure came in handy with no water in the taps.
Remember those wonderful large Teacher’s Highland Cream bottles with the handles. They are doing double duty.
I taped the kitchen tap so I can not open it by rote of memory.
Then I harkened to how we washed dishes in those days of a wood stove and no plumbing.
Out came the large pots from the days of operating the Train Station lunchroom and soon on one burner a pot was ready with soap and a spoonful of chlorine (Javex) and on another burner one clear for rinsing. So easy to keep the water hot on the electric stove.
We picked up our grandson, Alex, who lives on the farm in Bracebridge — and while there filled many, many bottles with wonderful water that is treated with ultraviolet and tested regularly through the health unit. What a blessing.
We had our bubble group of five for our usual simple Saturday simple meal and a great time recalling all the things we have learned in the past that are so useful in this complicated time.
The dishes were washed up and shining in no time afterward. Better than the dishwasher.
And so I have learned to quickly get prepared for another type of problem.
Reminds me of the saying that one must fail to learn and learn to be able to grow.
P.S. That four-gallon pail of sanitizer that I purchased in early 2020 surely looks like a wise move now.
November 28, 2021 @ 1:34 pm
Such a good reminder to all of us who have forgotten the resourcefulness of our pioneer ancestors. I sent this to three friends here in Etobicoke.
November 29, 2021 @ 4:06 am
Owning a home in Beaver Ridge for the last 15 years, I am always ready for unexpected water issues. We have had numerous leaks in our water lines, which leaves those at ‘the end of the line’ with no water. In stormy or icy weather we may experience power failure. No power, no water pump. I always have a few four-litre jugs of ‘flushing water’ in the house and a case of bottled drinking water for such emergencies.