Water Service Revisited

As you may recall the Lewis' had an episode of repairing their water service 2 years ago....welcome home and it needs to be done again!
This time water was flowing even better (worse). Yes, right next to the neighbor's mailbox, the other neighbor's water service and the ever daunting powerpole. Enter self-excavator, Taylor:
And some want to be helpers of course
And a good friend of the family's, Bill - welcome back!
It was the neighborhood event - all the on lookers and questions of why T was digging and not the water company or someone else.
Problem found - the recent joint - figures!
With no running water how do you clean up? The pool of course!
Turned out there was a second leak (2 feet in the other excavated wall) at an older repair joint unknown to the Lewis'
Then the neigbhor kids insisted on helping fill it back in - they were great workers! Maybe now the Lewis' will invest in the water service insurance.....? It's bound to leak again, right?

Sand & Water

No, no beach visit. A sand box & pool were both set up in the backyard this week. Abie and Benjamin both had fun with the sand box before there was any sand. Jacqie was even tempted to put off buying sand to avoid the mess. But sand was on sale and grandma insisted.
So far Abie still hasn't learned how to keep the sand in the box. She's been caught several times throwing a shovel full at Benjamin. Benjamin on the other hand loves to eat it. ? It can't taste that good?
Either way it's a perfect fit for both of them, thank you grandma!

The lawn had to be mowed before the pool could be set up. After only a few minutes of hearing the lawn mower going, Taylor popped his head in asking for the pool to start being filled. He'd started mowing the lawn where the pool could go first. So while he continued mowing Abie helped fill the pool.
Both Benjamin and Abie loved playing in the water, but the cool breeze made it a bit chilly to stay too long. Just as well, the evening was fast approaching! But before calling it good, the most recent yard sale bonus was added, a slide. Abie loved it!

Water Service Please

Previously it was stated that the Lewis home was without water. That duration was approximately 6 hours. However at the end of the 6 hours it was determined that the leaking water was on the Lewis side of the water service. Translation: Lewis family pays for and arranges the repair. At least the water was turned back on, and the water company was paying for the lost water since the water meter was at the house and not the property line. Due to it's location near a power pole, mailbox, fence, pine tree and neighbor's water meter the work was initially estimated at $1500! However with Taylor willing to dig and Grandpa available to help out as well the work began at about 3 pm a week later. Coordinating a key to turn the water off and a lot of digging through the lovely Illinois clay (wet = muck) the pipe and leak was found. With all the holes though water was not turned back on until the repair was actually made by the plumber at 11....am, the next day. Impressed with the hole dug, the plumber offered Taylor a job and only had a bill of $200. What a savings! The Lewis family is happy to have that episode behind them and grateful to at least have had some of their 2-water supply on hand (which was enough for this emergency).