Wednesday, September 24, 2008

It's gone

I have tried to be so careful with the water this summer. I let a lot of the garden die, because I was trying to save the water from the cistern for use in the house. I always use it to wash the clothes and floors, and when the water from the main runs out we use the cistern water to flush the toilets and wash the dishes. I have gotten used to having the garden hose coming through the salon window and running to the kitchen or bathroom. The kids are even used to using it for their baths, after heating some on the stove.
Today it was cloudy and on the cool side, but these pretty yellow flowers we beginning to get wilted looking. (I took the pictures a few days ago.) The orange ones have almost finished for lack of water. I am trying to train them to grow over the ugly chain link fence.So I decided to go out and water the garden. Before I got even half way finished, the water stopped. It's empty. We have got about a month before there is a chance of any substantial rain. And then this evening, the water containers on the roof ran out. So no baths tonight, no toilet flushing. I PRAY the water will come on tomorrow, inshaAllah.

8 comments:

Anne Selden Annab said...

I LOVE your blog! I like your wonderful photos ... such pretty flowers- and such nice pictures of wedding stuff in the previous post... speaking of which, I also really like what you write, and how you write: Such a pleasure to read your blog- THANKS!
annie

alajnabiya said...

Thanks Annie! What a lovely comment to wake up to. You made my day.

Anonymous said...

Assalaamu alaikum,

You only get mains water at specific times? Can you not refil the cistern once the mains comes back on or am I missing something?

I am thinking about how it is in Algeria and comparing to that... they have mains water,normally for a short time each day or every other day and the cistern refills when the mains is on. If they have had to resort to using the supplies from barrels on the roof they route the hose up there and refill the barrels too.

Khair insha'Alah sis - beautiful photographs as usual!

alajnabiya said...

Yes, once the water comes back on we will first fill up the barrels on the roof and then add some to the cistern, InshaAllah. I hope it will come on today, because I still have all of last iftar's dishes in the sink, and it is almost time to try and cook something for today. If it doesn't come on soon, I will send one of the kids to buy some plastic plates.

So in Algeria the barrels on the roof are the back up? Here the cistern is for collected rainwater and is usually just used for the garden and cleaning.

I just got a phone call, and it looks like my husband has decided to take us out for dinner since there is no water! Subhanallah! I have been Muslim for 25 years, and I have never eaten in a restaurant for iftar.

Anonymous said...

Go someplace yummy! I'm going out tonight, too...my first time this Ramadan. We don't usually leave the house unless we are invited to family's.

I feel your pain about the water. We do not have a cistern, only a tank where the baladiyyah comes in, and once that stops, it stops...about 36 hours per week it comes. But if they decide to be stingy with it, less. Washing clothes is done on one day only.

Allah, send us the rain.

alajnabiya said...

Umm Farouq, I guess I shouldn't complain. I know it is worse in Jordan than it is for me. We definitely don't have tanks big enough to last 5 days without water. How many do you have? We had a nice dinner out, prayed maghrib in the main mosque in Ramallah, and then did some shopping. My poor husband wasn't too happy, but I enjoyed it. I was hoping the water would be back on by the time we got home, but no luck yet.

Susie of Arabia said...

I am praying that you get early rains this year! As always, I love the photos of your pretty flowers, especially the orange ones - they are gorgeous.

alajnabiya said...

Alhamdulillah, your prayer was answered Susie! We were all amazed that it rained here on Friday and Saturday. And we didn't just get the little misting that just makes spots in the dust. It rained hard a few times, but only for a few minutes at a time. Now there are little green sprouts of clover all over the place. They seem to have come up over night. I hope we continue to get rain, inshaAllah. My husband also finally decided to get us another water tank for the roof, so we won't run out so often. The guy was supposed to come install it yesterday at 11, but he didn't show up at all. How typical. Oh, and our water finally came on Friday, but after Jummah prayer so no one got to have a bath before they went to the Mosque.