I discovered the day before yesterday that the pump to my well (in the basement) has developed a slow leak. There was a wet spot on the concrete floor about three feet in diameter.

Oh no. I've heard that replacing a well pump is very expensive. I'm hoping it's just a repair, but who knows? While I'm hooked up to a private company's well water for inside the house, I do have my two outdoor faucets still hooked up to my own well. Which was one of the best moves I ever made.

I hooked up to a regional water company a number of years ago as my very shallow well (only 27 feet deep!) kept getting coliform issues. But I asked the contractor who did the plumbing to keep the well hooked up to the outdoor faucets, and I do use plenty of outdoor water for watering my garden and plants.

Plumbers are so enormously expensive. I found a place online in my area that specializes in well pumps, but i always feel suspicious when a business website doesn't provide its address. Or, if they provide an address, it's a PO box number. If you see that, you've got to be careful, because if problems should arise with the contractor, you would be unable to bring them to small claims court since you have to serve papers. The court won't deliver summons to a PO box number.

So I called this outfit, but will ask for their location first. I like to know who I'm doing business with. Without the address, I might as well be doing business with a door to door salesperson. Here one day, gone tomorrow.

I want to set up an appointment today for someone to look at the well pump.

This morning i have TWO job phone interviews, although I'm not expecting much from either one of them. Then I've got a screening for a Yale study on yoga/stress, then I'm meeting a new friend at Ikea. It will be a long day, and I'll likely be driving home in rush hour traffic. On the way to Yale, I'll stop at the landfill. (Trying to consolidate driving trips.)