The kitten in the wellhouse

Well yesterday was pretty much the day from hell. Pretty much, I say. But wait, it gets worse. It was so much fun getting into the routine, planting beds of Celosia and Salvia (for the hummingbirds which have arrived in droves). I reluctantly pulled on my gardening gloves (rather work without them, but need to protect my nails these days) and went up to the daffodil bed to start my planting. I kept hearing this whimpering bark from the neighbors up front. I promised myself to go and check on the dog when I finished what I was doing. I hadn't seen a sign of life for several days, no vehicles there, so suspecting an animal in need I laid my gloves aside, got up off my knees (and that took some doing) to go see Mac in the main garden by the woods. I asked if had heard the dog and he had. I told him I was going up and take food and water with me in case. I walked through the brambles and a few trees carrying a jug of water in one hand and a bag of food in the other. I saw him at the same time that he saw me...I began to talk to him, soothingly, his tail began to wag him and I saw immediately that he had no food or water. I poured the water first, and he set to with a will...I patted his head and talked to him and put the food in the other dish and he began to eat. Then he had to offer his thanks so we spent about ten minutes in a mutual admiration mode and then I left him to enjoy his meal in peace. After returning to the house I went in to wash my hands and turning the tap...nothing. Just a little air. I could feel my eyebrows pulling together in irritation and went back out to the big garden. "We don't have any water," I complained. "Did you check the breaker?" was Mac's question. I had to explain that yes, I had checked the breaker and that it was tripped and I couldn't get it to hold in place. We have a well, you see. Some of the best drinking water in South Carolina runs beneath the ground of Chesterfield County...the best is in Jefferson. We had had to have a new pump put in before we moved in, and have only had minor troubles with it since then. Sure it was an electrical problem and not a pump issue, we began to look for help. As usual, when the help you can depend on to be there isn't there (Craig and Joanne had gone to Tennessee for the weekend) it's difficult to locate anyone else, either. Mac went over to the brick well house and opened the door. He called to me to come there and I joined him. I could hear the plaintive mewling of a kitten. Just one...and we aren't sure how it got in there...only about 2 weeks old, it needed help. It was cold and hungry. I took it into my hands to warm it and then into the house to try to fix it some warm milk. Pump and water issues far from my mind now, I got a bit of warm milk into it, plugged in the heating pad and got one of Mac's woolly sweaters and put it in a plastic tub to warm. After I was sure the little nursery was snug, I placed the baby inside, gave it a snuggle toy to lay against and went to the computer to look for help. I knew that the best alternative was probably going to be Pedialyte, but needed to know how often, and how much. I found a great site and copied the information. Then I went back to trying to find someone to come check the well. Then it was off to CVS to get the Pedialyte and a couple of syringes till I could make it WalMart for the pet nursing bottles and special kitten formulae he would need later. I finally got hold of a nice man who came to check on the well and he found that it had simply overheated, suggesting that we get the switch in the well checked. Thanking him, I went back into the house to check on our new boarder. I still have no idea how the baby got in the well house...It's a mystery.