Water witching

After working on 1060 Philadelphia, where there was one unexpected delay after another, we are guardedly optimistic about the progress on the Midcentury home. Most of the kitchen cabinets are in, most of the electrical work is done and most of the sheetrock is complete. It is looking really great now, and I can't wait to see how it will look after several good coats of paint.

All right, let me say it, this home is moving along quickly, and maybe, just maybe, we will finish and be market-ready by August 1.

This week while working with the electrician, John found two pieces of coat hanger wire bent into right angles. The electrician told John that he used them to help pull wires. John then told him they were the perfect shape for the old-fashioned way of finding water underground called water witching and asked him if he had ever done this. The electrician said no, so John took him out into the front yard to show him how it works.

He demonstrated how you loosely hold one wire in each hand with the exposed legs parallel. You walk, and if you cross a water source, say a water line, the ends somehow move to point toward one another. As John walked across the yard, sure enough the ends turned to meet one another when he crossed the water line that runs from the house to the street.

The neighbors must have thought they were batty. Fortunately, this was not their first impression of us.