Rain Barrels

This entry is going to be about Rain Barrels.  But first, I have a new cute picture of Sweet Pea. I don't know who the cutie pie is blowing the bubbles, but she has nice cheeks too.  And I'm so happy to have no beer or a trashy car in the photo for once. That's her daddy's lap she's in.  I love the jeans, tie die shirt, and hair ribbon. 

It's a gloomy day here today but at least it's cooled down a bit. And it rained a bit earlier.  We (and by we I mean Bob) recently installed a rain barrel in our front garden so we can collect rain water to use for watering our gardens. We figured it might save us some money in the end, and of course, water, which is a more precious commodity than oil.  However, we aren't sure when we'll exactly start saving money since the project already cost more than we imagined it would (because Bob does good work and he does it right, and always takes several trips to Menards for a project like this).  


He needed to elevate it so the water would flow out of the hose when we are ready to water with it (so gravity will help it exit the hose, or something). And of course he needed to level it perfectly. But before all of that he was concerned that if we ever got more than 55 gallons of rain water from the gutters the barrel might overflow and go down into our foundation and back into the sump pump, so he installed a very clever bit of PVC that will divert the overflow (after we turn a switch) down into our sump pump line. Or something like that. (There is so much more to this story than this, but I don't have the finger/wrist strength to type it all.  Let's just say in involved digging up our front yard and replacing 1.5" PVC with 3" PVC and be done with it.) Then after he did all that he leveled and elevated and leveled again and got the downspout in just the right spot. 

And then we waited for rain. For a few days. Of course it rained buckets (or should I say barrels) in the weeks before our barrel was installed.  Since then it has not rained a drop, and then it rained today! About a thimble of rain but still.  Bob went out midmorning when the drizzle got steady enough and watched it trickle into the barrel for a few minutes this morning. It was a steady, tho weak stream, kind of like that of an 80 year old man with prostate trouble peeing.  Eventually maybe we'll get enough rain some day to fill the darn thing (55 gallons) and water some plants. 


In the meantime here is a movie of the rain going into the barrel this afternoon. Earlier today it was a tad more  But I was too lazy to go film it then. No wait, I wasn't lazy, I was at the Post Office.

P.S. Did I mention we bought two rain barrels? Yeah, I didn't think so. And yes, we did. For the backyard gardens.  It is not installed yet, and will likely take a few more Menards trips and more leveling, elevating, and leveling.  I'll keep you posted.