#Hot #tub wars vs. #mice in #Santa #Fe

Three days after starting the spa pumps, I turned them off and stared at the pool.  The water seemed to be nearly the same depth as when the pumping started.

But we couldn’t get in the hot tub.  Not yet.

First, I had to completely drain of the hot tub and the Fix-a-Leak.  Although I was given no warnings, other than not to get in water with Fix-a-Leak, I feared if any of the chemical touched us, our skin might become sealed, causing our bodies to bloat with perspiration and eventually to either float away or suffer a noxious explosion.   Since I didn’t know what I was doing, such fears were easy to come by and difficult to put aside.  If anyone said, “There, there, you probably won’t explode,” I would instantly ask, “How do you know?  Have you ever met anyone who survived a Fix-a-Leak bath?”  There would be no possible answer.

 After draining, I had to re-fill the hot tub with water.  Hundreds of gallons of water.  And this was the second filling of my hot tub.  How long would this parched community allow me to fill, empty and re-fill my hot tub before I was branded as a water thief or worse?

After the hot tub was re-filled, Grace and I stared at it for several minutes, fully expecting to hear the steady drips of a leak.  But all was quiet.

That night, after the leak was apparently repaired and the water heated to low tepid, we enjoyed the hot tub, noticed the three-quarter moon, saw thousands of stars and had a wonderful romantic time.  The hot tub was fixed and ready to be used.   

  Almost as if on schedule, three days later, the leak had returned.  And I began searching for another spa repairman.   Tom the Tub Guy was a perfect storm of a repairman: almost never showing up when promised, overcharging including an hourly fee for watching water flow into a tub and not fixing the problem. 

  When I spoke of my hot tub frustrations during a dinner party at John and Barbara Berkenfield’s home.  They are a fascinating couple that spent years in Europe with IBM.  John is the guy who revived Rancho de las Golindrinas, a 500-year-old stage and first-day rest stop on the way from Santa Fe to Mexico City in the 16^th Century.  He suggested Rick Ortega, who installed his hot tub and who repaired the hot tub of friends of theirs.

  That sounded like a good recommendation, until John continued.  When he got frustrated with the hot tub he had (because of leaks) and the endless repairs it needed, he gave the tub to Rick if he would just haul it away.  A few years later, John changed his mind, called Rick and purchased another tub, which was rebuilt and refurbished and cost a fourth of what a new one would be.  After it was installed, John realized that he had just bought and had installed the same tub he gave away to Rick a few years ago! 

  When I called Rick, he asked me to fill the hot tub before he got to our house to take a look at it.  This put him well above water when compared to Tom the Tub Guy.