Rust in the Pipes

While living in Chewelah, Mom and Dad experienced the greatest financial strain of their married life, but those years gave us some of our family’s most unforgettable family stories. Dad would be gone for days at a time to earn money logging, leaving Mom alone with the kids at home. One of the times while dad was gone, we experienced what Mom diagnosed as “rust in the pipes”. Our tap water turned a murky orange and all of us kids refused to drink it. You can imagine the stress this added to a mother experiencing financial hardship and isolation from Dad. The water smelled bad, looked worse, and none of us kids would touch it. In her attempt to convince us it was ok, she would plug her nose and gulp it down. When Dad got home, he sent Alane out to the well to see if there might be a dead mouse in the well. She came racing back in the house yelling “There’s a dead cow in the well!”. 

Mom never showed any ill effect from drinking the water.