Tuesday, July 07, 2009

Grandma Comes to Town

Becky is about to embark on her long journey--driving herself, the boys, Frank, the' bikes, and all the luggage across country to Wisconsin and Minnesota for an extended summer break with the grandparents. Kathleen thought it would be nice to fly down and keep Becky some company in the van as she drove the sixteen hours across country, so she just arrived today from Dulles.

This will be a very long break for them. They'll be gone nearly the whole month of July it seems. I couldn't use that much vacation, so I'll be at home for 90% of that time.

I'll take the opportunity to clean the entire house from top to bottom while they're gone. No doubt, I'll make a few runs to Blue Ridge Hospice to unload some "obsolete" items in the household too. (That's easier done when everyone is gone.)

I'm sure it will be relaxing having the house to myself--for about the first day. After that, I will be -B-O-R-E-D-. I won't even have a dog to keep me company!





Earlier today, I got some nice photos of the kids performing tricks for Grandma on their various wheels. The sun was just setting, so the light was perfect.




Luke and I also finished up installing the two more auxiliary rain barrels. I now have a 150 gallon system of my own design. I've still got the first barrel catching the rain from the downspout, but if you look at the pictures, you can see that I've daisy-chained the second and third barrels to the first near the bottom. Then, I fitted a hose to the lids of the new barrels, with a Y-valve and an old rainwater wand sprayer (just the end piece). This provided air venting for the tops of the barrels, while still being mosquito-proof.

So now, when it rains, the level of water should rise and fall in all three barrels in equilibrium, and when the first barrel gets to the overflow spout, it should keep all three from overflowing.

Now I just need some rain to come!



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