Monday, July 5, 2010

(Day 186) Necessity of life

When we moved into our current home, we were warned about an open well situated about 30m/100' from the house. We had been shown it prior to buying the home, but had forgotten exactly where it was. Once I had time to look after we were settled in, I found it in a field of 2m/6' tall weeds - basically an open hole in the ground with a few boards thrown haphazardly over it. Eventually we turned the field of weeds into part of the lawn and I built a stone wall around the well using stones from the foundation of the old homestead.

This well isn't used anymore - a new one was drilled about 10 years ago. However, when the pioneers settled here one of the first tasks was to dig a well. About 3 years ago we had a dry spell over a period of a couple of months - and the well dried up, right to the bottom. We put the extension ladder down it and took turns climbing to the bottom - 5m/16'. We discovered that the well was hand-hewn from rock - all the way to the bottom! While we enjoyed the only time this well had been dry during our 7-year tenure, can you imagine what it would have been like for the pioneers when one of the necessities of life wasn't readily available! Today we take it quite for granted that there will be water when we turn on the tap.

(18-55mm  f4.5  1/2 sec  ISO800)

21 comments:

Unknown said...

What a fascinating thing! I love this photo; it's hard to tell if you're at the top looking down, or at the bottom looking up!

darlin said...

Rick this is another one of your astounding photos. I agree that we take a lot in life for granted and that many of us don't realize what we have until it's gone even if it's only temporarily.

Now my question is, is this photo taken from in the well or is it a reflection?

Anonymous said...

Interesting story! Life for us can't be compared with what our ancestors had. We are lucky but sometimes tend to forget that. We keep grumbling about the little things and forget the big things.

Awesome reflection! Thanks for sharing!

Rick said...

@EVERYONE: for some reason, blogger is not displaying any comments from any of you, here. I will try to respond to those of you who commented (I did receive the emails).

Also, I posted comments which did not show up - I'll try to reconstruct them.

Not sure if anyone else was having these problems yesterday.

Rick

Scott Law said...

Great shot and very interesting story.

Carolyn Ford said...

Our ancestors (world wide) never had a restful moment in their lives and taught and left us so much to make our lives easier over time. This is a unique photo from inside the well looking up!

chasity said...

great shot....
and yes~ we have it so easy today.

Ruth's Photo Blog said...

I tend to think that we are all a little spoiled,with all the conveniences we have.I am thankful that I don't have go fetch water from a well.
Blessings,Ruth

Rick said...

@Krista - ok - I'll give away the secret: I put the camera on the edge (with the strap around my neck!) looking down into the well - the reflection was (almost) perfect.

Rick said...

@darlin - thanks; I wouldn't be able to climb into the well right now - we've had a fair bit of rain and it's almost filled to the top - I took it looking down into the well where the reflection was.

Rick said...

@M. Hassan - you're right - by comparison, we have it pretty easy; I wonder what people will say about our 'difficult' lives 100 years from now ?

Thanks M.

Rick said...

@Scott - thank you; every place has its story - some are known and others remain to be discovered.

Rick said...

@Carolyn Ford - yes, we have a lot to be thankful to them for!

ps - had I not known how the photo was made I might have guessed the same; it was taken looking into the well.

Rick said...

@chasity - thank you; we need to remind ourselves of that on those 'difficult' days.

Rick said...

@Ruth's Photo Blog - I agree, and I'm also happy that I can just turn on the tap to get water.

imac said...

What a hard working chap you are Rick, nice shot too.

Rick said...

@imac - LOL; thanks mac!

Levi said...

Pretty courageous to climb down a well, imho. I'd not do it.
Love the photo and appreciate the courage.

Katherine said...

Wow Rick this photo is spectacular. The refection of the trees in the water, is almost as clear as if it were a mirror bottomed well. I love the history behind things... someones blood, sweat, love & tears went into the construction of that well, what a fabulous thing to have right in your own back yard. And now your blood, sweat, love & tears have gone into maintaining it's history & making it safe, so that it may stay. I love it!

Rick said...

@POD - I guess curiosity got the better of us. We had a look at the bottom to see if there might have been an old coin or something interesting. Alas, nothing.

Rick said...

@Katherine - I like old things, buildings, artifacts etc for the same reasons Katherine - for the story behind it of those who have gone on before. We do have a few interesting things here - any maybe others we haven't discovered yet. Thank you.