200 Gallons

The rain tank is up and running! And thanks to tropical storm Alex we got enough rain to load up our 200 gallon tank with about 150 gallons, even with the faucet being left open for the first 20 minutes of rain. It was more of a process than I expected, getting the stand strong enough to hold the weight of 200 gallons of water, level, and drained, and a couple trips to Home Depot for the right pipe fittings. Using some perforated drain pipe we picked up at Habitat ReSore, we trenched from the downspout the tank is attaching to all the way to the drain outlet along the side street to keep the extra water from the tank and roof from piling up under the house or turning the back yard into a mud pit. Of course the minute the trenches were dug an abnormally large storm came through and turned the yard into a slip & slide that left me flat on my butt, all in an effort to keep the chickens from getting soaked. (No pictures necessary of that) The trenches were filled back in with the concrete and brick walk that we broke up, instead of buying any new materials. We've still got some more work to go, but finally we have a big project completed! Now if only we could get that shed door painted...

{see, I do more than take pictures}

{the chickens approve - drain out to the street}

{trench}

{faucet attached... getting closer}

{complete.}

Now we'll see how long it will take us to pay off this thing. With a montly water bill of around $10 I think we've got a ways to go. 

On another note, we attempted The Wednesday Chef's latest post for roasted chicken with mustard  only with a slight variation by cooking it in the BBQ, because quite frankly turning on the gas stove in July is just miserable. It was DELICIOUS. Finished off with some chocolate chip cookies with a little something green hidden inside (nope, not what you think) and we were stuffed.

Let the inside projects begin.