Pneumonia notwithstanding, I went to help my church friend price items for her yard sale. She doesn't mind if I have to work sitting down all the time, and she isn't freaked out if I cough. We had a really nice day; we got a lot done; and she bought a really wonderful and really huge veggie calzone for us to share for lunch.
All in all it was a very nice day.....until I realized what was waiting for me to do at home: the lightbulb in the pump house was out and wanted replacing.
Ugh. The pump house. One of my least favorite places.
I don't live in town so there is no public water service. Since I live in the County, I have a well with an electric pump that serves my home and my tenant's home. It is imperative that the pump stay running, and that means that I need to have a light on in the pump house from the first cold snap in early autumn until the very last risk of freezing weather is over, and experience has taught me to consider that to be the middle of April. The light keeps the pump house just warm enough to stop the pipes freezing.
Even though I could turn the light off during most days and during warm spells, I don't because there's a chance I could forget to turn it back on.....and also because I do NOT like going into the pump house.
It's supposed to be chilly the next couple of nights and there's a chance of frost, so there was no avoiding it: I had to change the light bulb.
I found a 60 Watt bulb (yeah, the old-fashioned kind--I can't figure out what Watts the new bulbs are anyway). I put on my oldest rattiest yard shoes. And I literally waded across my soggy yard.....until I got to the pump house.
The door of the pump house doesn't close properly, and I keep a brick pushed up against it to try to keep critters out. One time when I opened the door there was an opossum in there hissing at me; they're nasty rodent-y things and they smell bad. He sure didn't care that I had to change a light bulb and I was hard-pressed to scare him off.
But today I was met with something a bit worse: a snake. I did not scream. I was just sorta really annoyed. And the snake was just sorta cold and not wanting to move and he was just outside the door so we tried to ignore one another.
The pump house isn't tall enough to walk into properly and there's machinery in the way, so I have to bend over and creep in sideways with my head low until I can get far enough in to reach backwards to try to change the light bulb with my left hand extended as far back as I can reach.....this, of course, adds to the difficulty factor exponentially and, believe me, you don't wanna risk dropping the bulb on the concrete floor because that means starting all over again.
Today I had a feeling that things were not gonna be too easy, so I had a look-see before I stepped past the snake and sidled hunched-over into the building, and I was really glad I did because there was a great big fat wolf spider with a great big fat web stretched across the entire pump house. (For reference purposes, think of Aragog's smaller cousin.) I did not scream. I was even more annoyed. But I grabbed a long stick, gathered up the spider and his web, and deposited the mess outside, leaving Aragog Jr. to rebuild elsewhere (hopefully!) in peace.
Then I changed the freaking light bulb, and I got the dickens out of there. Of course, I had to avoid the snake again while I was trying to put the brick in front of the door. That was fun. And then I had to wade back to the house.
Yeah. Living in the County. (Not the country; the County.) I wish I could be all girly and scream. But that would be embarrassing. I still feel like I have ickies all over me and maybe even mud between my toes, and I keep checking myself for spiders.
That light bulb had better be a good one because I don't want to have to change it again anytime soon. I may even avoid turning the light off until May.....please don't make me go back out there!
.....the pump house.....EEEK!
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