Midian Ranch Blog

This is the web log for Midian Ranch, an isolated homestead in rural Nevada. It is owned by Jason and Tina Walters, whom are also its regular posters. This blog is exclusively for the enlightenment and edification of our friends, family, and colleagues.

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Location: Gerlach, Nevada, United States

Friday, February 09, 2007

January 28-31

Water, water everywhere, and I can’t get a drop of it to flow through the pipes - probably because they’re frozen solid. Well, they’re frozen solid in the places where they haven’t burst, but why spit hairs? Apparently, while we were always from the ranch, the thermometer dropped down below the negative five mark, at which point a temporary plug I had inserted into the water system popped loose. Instead of flowing into the house – and, not incidentally, through the taps I always leave on when I’m not around – the water shot out of the side of the house, dropping the water pressure inside and causing some copper pipes to freeze and burst.

So, that’s what greeted Tina when we got out the desert on Sunday: a lot of water, but not anywhere we could use it. Dutifully, I reinserted the plug, cranked up the water heater, and shut off the part of the system that had burst; but somehow, in the time it took me to do these things, the flowing water froze straight into the ground. The next day I replaced the damaged pipes, attempted to heat the lines up, and even went to the source of the spring to try and flush the system out using my portable Honda pump – but nothing worked. As of January 31st Barker Spring is frozen solid.

Well, enough gripping: the ground will thaw eventually (heck, by the time you read this it may have already) and free up our water. Besides being kind of filthy, we actually had a very nice trip to the ranch. Because we won’t be able to get back to Midian until the end of February, we spent an inordinate amount of time simply cleaning things up, strapping them down, and generally tidying up the place. It wasn’t easy - the Black Rock Desert is as cold as a Norwegian’s lunchbox in late January – but we did what we could. The next step (though probably not the next trip) is the big one: we’re going to move everything, hopefully next month. I’m not certain that we are going to move ourselves (the Richmond house still needs a bunch of work), but we’re going to move 99% of our stuff.

Soon, now. Very soon.