Awake: 5:20am Temp 58 Clear Overnight @ Nicktown, PA
James arrives @ 7:15am…..takes him 30 min to dig the ditch from the well
casing to the water faucet & power box (20 ft). He gives me thumbs up &
drives off to his next project.
Maybe an hr later, Steve & Eric drive in to do the plumbing, pressure
tank, lower the submersible water pump down 150 ft into the well & do the
associated electrical work.
Steve & Eric are brothers & these guys are good. It takes them a good 4
hrs to have enough plumbing & electrical work done to have water delivered
through the hose.
And then it happened: cold, clear water gushes out of our hose. We let it
run for a good 30 min, then Eric takes his testing kit & checks: PH
factor=7.2 Hardness=6 Iron = 1.5 parts per million. We think it’s a
good start. I let the water run for 2.0 hrs longer, and then it feeds into
our filters…..then our motorhome. It’ll be nice NOT to have to carry water
for our holding tank.
@ 3:30pm we drive to Lilly (30 min), stopping in Ebensburg for a bag of
ice. We are setting up the church basement for our cousins’ reunion. The
church, Our Lady of the Alleghenies, lets us use their basement
facilities…..no charge. It takes K & I an hr to finish up the
preparations: 6 rows of tables with 8 chairs to a table; 42 placemats,
plastic utensils for 40 people; paper plates, napkins, etc. That’s what my
chores consisted of.
Kathy did the easy stuff: making the coffee in a 30 cup machine, setting
up the soda bottles & plastic drinking glasses, etc. Well, I better be
careful here, she did help me with those tables & chairs.
Slowly the cousins begin arriving…bringing in the covered dishes; main
courses, desserts, beer & more soda. In all, there were 30 of us. We
mingled & updated each other on our lives since the last time we were
together. Of course with all that talking, we had to have a beer or two to
quench our thirst.
About 7:05pm Kathy announces: “Let’s eat!” Florence, citing one of his
poems, led us in saying Grace before eating. When most were done eating or
at least eating dessert, Kathy thanked everyone for coming and introduced
our 2 younger families, Neal & Lynn and their children and Melissa & Kevin
and their son. After that we had a series of funny but true stories told
by anyone who was willing to do so. We had some good laughs over the next
30 min or more. Then we say our goodbyes until we meet again next yr or
sooner.
Back to our bus @ 9:30. Gary C. called & left a message…… I return the
call. The rendezvous for tomorrow’s party has changed: It is now 7:30.
High today=79 Lights out: 10:43pm
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