Saul and his son cover the well head to prevent a geyser .

become disconnected . This was good news , an actual tangible problem . Saul then dropped a special camera down , which confirmed Charlie ’ s finding that there was water at the bottom of the well .

Saul posed a choice for us . Should they return to do what they refer to as “ blowing out the well ” to clear out whatever had caused the disconnection ? Oh yes !

Two weeks later , Saul and another of his sons returned with an enormous compressor to blow out the well . With a hoist , they lowered 150 feet of a different type of pipe down the well and then started this powerful and thunderous compressor , forcing air to the bottom of the well . We were so excited , expecting a geyser would shoot up . To our surprise , they covered the hole with an upside-down metal tub so that the geyser was contained and no one needed raincoats . Indeed water was forced up , but was trapped by the tub , creating lots of noise because the water was full of sand and gravel and rust that had been at the bottom clogging the works . They did this a couple more times , and Saul decided to attach another 20 feet of pipe to send farther down , past the original 150 feet the well had measured . Indeed he was able to send pipe down a total of 173 feet until he hit “ rock bottom .” He found that there was water from 120 feet down to 173 feet , a veritable lake !

Although all the wells of our neighbors rely on solar pumps , Charlie had decided to preserve the windmill . I love the sound of the blades , called ” sails ,” spinning in the wind and our friend Brad , a windmill expert , assured Charlie that all the parts were still there and just needed a little repair . Before lowering the windmill pipe back down into the well , Saul replaced the “ leathers ” which need to be tight enough to cause the suction that brings the water up . He also climbed the windmill , hanging from the frame to replace the brake ( you have to be able to stop the “ sails ” from turning so you can control how much water is pumped out ).

Saul is not a young man and yet there he was , suspended and remarkable .

Saul and his son drove away that day leaving us dazzled . We were mesmerized by the sails going around , the suction pipe going up and down , the water coming out of a hose Charlie attached in order to direct the onegallon-per-minute flow into a 500-gallon portable tank we had on our utility trailer . With a small transfer pump and a generator , Charlie was able to fill our tanks and ease our worry . And then it snowed . And then it rained . And did you know that there is water under the ground you walk on ?

Cenizo Summer 2021