Smokey Mountain Breakdown

I ended up not going to First Monday today, much to my regret. Betsy, The Goat Yoda, went...she left a great comment on Sunday's post about it. . I would have loved to have gone with her! She saw Red and the Missus and they asked how to get in touch with me. I must go next Sunday...if only to catch up with them.

My well ran dry again, today. My fellow who built my house told me to cut the power to the pump when it did that. All I did was try to fill up the 5 gallon water buckets up at the goat shed. I maybe got 15 gallons of water before it stopped. So...I'm sitting here again wondering what in the world is going on. I've gone over the entire house for leaks except the crawlspace. Will call Clinton to come and look under there....then I guess the next step is to pull the pump up and see if it has something wrong with it. I really don't want to have to redig the well...aside from being hugely expensive...I have a really sweet pocket of water and there's no telling if I go deeper if I'll maintain that quality.

The Dreaded "Grampus"

The first year I lived here, I attended a large 4th of July gathering that went on well after dark. I stayed late to help clean up. I used my jeep to shine light on the food while we were putting things up and left my doors open.

Anyway, it filled up with hellgramites...the evil looking creature on the left there. Those pincers aren't just for show. That's a four inch long bug, too. The locals call them "grampus".

So, I give two lads a lift up the mountain with me and about halfway there, the grampus' start gnawing on my legs.

I do indeed scream like a girl.

The boys thought this hilarious. They get the larvae of these things, huge white grubs with pincers, and use them for trout bait. Even then you have to pinch off its head since they'll bite you.

I want to publicly say thank you to everyone who has supported the Breakdown. It is really appreciated. Truly...it is.