Our farmhouse was modernized around 1955, that’s when all the interior plumbing and kitchen cabinets seem to have been installed, and a point well was dug into the basement.

Toilets came to the farm. One by one, the 1950’s generation of once new fixtures, tanks, pumps, and pipes have cracked, snapped, leaked, smoldered, gasps and died.

I won’t even try to explain what a wellpoint is; if you are curious, you can go here.

I’ve called grown-up plumbers who nearly cry if you ask them to come and look at a well point. Last year, a good point pump blew up, and it took us three days of freezing weather to find someone to help us.

I never heard of a well pressure tank either until two weeks ago when a friend and his wife came over, and he went into the basement to look at our Dracula-designed basement water system – he’s a fix-it wizard.

When he left, he looked grim and said he noticed how frequently the new point well pump was coming on. He said it sounded like our Well Pressure Tank bladder was missing; the pump was coming on too often and would blow out if the tank wasn’t replaced.

I knew right away that he was right. I’ve learned living in an old farmhouse that the trick is to fix things before they blow; we’ve had too many close calls in the bitter cold.

For some reason, I can’t understand; the plumbers up here are all Divas. They don’t come running, they have to be happy with the work, and they are not happy going into old basements with dirt floors and well points.

Mike likes it.

So we have a new hero in our life, his name is Mike Conklin, and he is an angel descended from heaven to take pity on us when an integral part of our old farmhouse begins to fail, which seems to happen almost monthly.

The 1950’s stuff is coming of age and rusting and disintegrating in unison.

Mike is a neighbor and also our landscaper and mower. He is a very nice and extremely competent person we met earlier in the year when our second new point pump started leaking, and we could find no one to come and fix it.

He fixed it in 10 minutes and came again when I poured a drain solution into the clogged bathroom sink. The drainer cleaner was so powerful it melted the washers, and the leak became a torrent. We sometimes fight about the bill; I think he sometimes charges too little.

It is fun talking to him; he explains his work in ways that even I can understand.

I liked him; he is a great addition to the Bedlam Farm orb. And he is a neighbor with two small children; he’s not moving anyone soon. And since his landscape work starts next week, he won’t be available for anyone to poach.

He is honest and careful and figures out what he doesn’t instantly know and learns from it. He actually takes phone calls and returns them.

Our friend was right; it turns out.

Our existing well pressure tank was a wreck, rusted and falling apart.  There was no functioning bladder, and we were heading for a pump and water blowout.

The pressure tank feeds water to the point, and if either one fails, there’s no water. I rarely get a plumber up here even to call me back, let alone come and fix something.

“Point wells frighten me,” one plumber told me, “and I have enough regular customers that I don’t need to bother with them.” At least he was honest.

Mike built himself a new kitchen this winter; it’s gorgeous.  He learned a lot about plumbing. We like him very much; he is a find, and now, a friend. Next week he comes to help us take care of the grounds around our house.

I think he’s the nicest person to ever go down in our basement, and he lured me down today for the second time in many years to show me his excellent word – new pipes, valves.

He doesn’t mind being down there; it gives me the hives.

He insists on explaining things to me as if I understand what he is saying – he and Maria get on very well –  but I am grateful to him and our friend who sounded the alarm.

This tank was just about disintegrating, and we were hours or days from the disaster.

That’s my new motto: fix old things before they break, and while there is time to find someone to fix them.