oh well

90% of the time I love being a homeowner.

I can do just about whatever I want to my home and property, I'm not paying rent to pay off the mortgage of a landlord, it's an investment, I feel accomplished when I tackle projects successfully, etc.

But then there are the rare occasions that it would be nice to not be the one responsible for maintaining a household and property.

Like when I am in the shower mid-cleansing routine with conditioner in my hair and cleanser on my face and I lose water pressure... and then there's no water at all. Fantastic.

I called my sister (we were supposed to meet in 45 minutes) to let her know I'd be a bit late. She had a mental image of me running out to my well in my bathrobe with a towel wrapped around my head. She found it quite funny, especially when she thought of what that would look like to my neighbors.

I opted to not venture out in 20-something degree weather in just a bathrobe and towel--I put on clothes and tried to get some of the conditioner out of my hair with a towel.

Then my well house door wouldn't open.

Seriously?

The moss on the concrete pad had soaked up enough moisture to freeze and "lock" the door. I tried to pull it open but it refused to budge. So into the house I went--and came out with my pink chisel and hammer (thanks Jess!) to scrape away the moss and ice. Finally, it opened...

Turns out the pipes in my well house froze. Again, fantastic. I had a light on out there to prevent freezing, but the light bulb died and clearly I didn't think to check it. I should have, considering it's been quite cold recently.

I replaced the bulb, went to my parents' to re-shower, and my dad brought out a space heater for extra de-frosting power. Thank goodness it thawed out with relatively little pain (especially financially)--but it was not the way I had planned to start off my weekend.

It was a reminder of how much I still don't know about being a homeowner. I am learning about wells (the hard way) but I wonder what else should I know about that is escaping my notice? And since I know so little about so much, I'm afraid that if I ask the "experts" they might take advantage of my ignorance.

Being a single-homeowner with a lot of learning left to do can be fun, challenging, and rewarding... but it can also be expensive, frustrating, and overall just suck.

I don't regret it one bit.