Well! Whaddya know?

Bright and early Monday morning, just as we were sitting down to breakfast, the two trucks from the well company backed up the driveway.

Roscoe celebrated the excitement by running off with the bacon packaging.

They jacked the truck up to spare the shocks from the drilling.

Then they raised the drill.

I don't think I've ever seen a piece of equipment like that except for an amusement park ride.

You can see the first drill bit hanging on the left, with some of the extension poles hanging to its right.

Larry rode up top the drilling apparatus to hook up the drill bit.

Then they swung the drill bit into place.

After the first 20 or so feet, they switched to this funny-looking drill bit.

Larry checked that the drill extension remained level as the drill continued its descent. (You can see more drill extensions laying in the truck on the left side.) You can also see the dirt beginning to push its way out through the cracks.

Larry worked hard to keep everything cleaned off as well as possible.

After drilling a certain distance, they pulled the drill out and set in the metal casing.

Larry welded the joints of the casing together.

I (Sarah) loved his old-fashioned oil can! (kind of in the center of the picture, to the right of the tool with the circle on top of it)

Eventually, there was a gray slurry running everywhere. I think they pumped water into the hole along with the drill.

It was quite an impressive scene as we headed up the driveway. You can see more of the slop near the back tires of the truck.

The drill made a sort of a jackhammer sound, and I thought it moved relatively quickly. Still, I figured it took about 10 minutes for each extension, which we estimated to be 15 or 20 feet.

The animals didn't entirely know what to do with the noise. (It was REALLY loud.) Roscoe, having finished his bacon packaging, had his tail about as far between his legs as it could go.

The birds huddled as far back in their pen as they could go until their curiosity got the better of them.

The rabbits didn't like the noise either, but it didn't stop them from their activities.

At the end of the day, we had a 260-foot well (which is about what we expected) with a flow of 8 gallons per minute (which apparently is really good for our area!). We also have a large pile of shale and weird clay-colored material that used to be down in that hole.

The property feels really different with a well! Now all we need is a way to get the water out...... Stay tuned! :)