When I was a child, my dad worked on a ranch near Ridgway. He made $150 a month. We were furnished with a house and utilities. The utilities boiled down to coal, and enough electricity to run a radio and a few light bulbs.

Our house sat on the bank of East Dallas Creek. There was a pump house by the creek from where water was pumped to the house. Oftentimes during the winter, the pump would freeze up. We were prepared for such emergencies with an ingenious backup water supply system. You simply s...