After four exhausting days of scrubbing Milton from head to toe, two adults and two cats finally spent our first night in our new home. Milton, having been vacant for some time, required an enormous effort to get him cleaned up. We vacuumed everything: the nearly 12-foot ceilings, walls, woodwork, doors, and floors. Then we steam-mopped and scrubbed whatever the first pass missed. Despite our efforts, we still have a room or two to go, and I suspect it’ll take another round or two of cleaning to get Milton truly sparkling.
An Unexpected Distraction:
After four days of nonstop cleaning, you start looking for any distraction you can find. Enter the lawn hydrant – an innocuous feature standing alone had caught our eye during the cleaning marathon. Curiosity eventually got the better of us, and after staring at the hydrant for days, we couldn’t help ourselves. Does it work? Well, sort of…
With a quick pull, water flowed – incredibly rusty at first, but flowing nonetheless. Success! Or so we thought. Attempting to shut it off resulted in failure. There’s nothing quite like a plumbing emergency on a Sunday afternoon. Thankfully, after some fiddling, we slowed the water enough to make a mad dash to the hardware store. We quickly located a cap to stop the leak temporarily. Unfortunately, with a cold snap in the forecast, we’re now in a race against time/cold to repair or replace the hydrant.
Lesson Learned:
Don’t touch anything you’re not ready to turn into an all-day project – or more.
P.S. Milton’s Potential Shines Through
Despite the unexpected hydrant adventure, Milton is looking great. He still needs a lot of love and repair, but his potential is shining through more and more each day. We can’t wait to see what other surprises – hopefully more pleasant ones – Milton has in store for us.
P.S.S. A Warm Welcome:
About half a dozen plus folks from the local Baptist church showed up early Sunday evening to welcome us to town. It’s heartwarming that little gestures like this still happen across rural America. We’re going to like it here.