The sound of rain being caught

Ma Nature is giving our new rain barrel and gutters a test drive. So far, we're passing the test with flying colors.

"Rain drops keep falling in my barrel..."

Besides the sound of rain being caught and preserved for future use, that other sound you are hearing is our vegetable garden kicking off a massive party.

Rain barrel now on duty

Whew.

Glad it was a 3-day weekend. Because this was definitely a 3-day job.

It would have been a lot faster if I didn't have to hang the gutters too but that would have taken all the fun out of it. As it is, 3 sides of our 2-car garage will be caught and delivered to the barrel. Since it holds 60 gallons, I'll be interested to see what kind of rainfall is required to fill it up.

Just need a day for the gutter sealant to cure and we should be all set for a cloudburst. Both I and our thirsty vegetable garden can hardly wait.

It's raining. It's pouring. Wait... not just yet!

On this long Labor Day weekend here in the US, I'm taking time off from writing to install a rain barrel. That's right. A catcher of nature's gift, which we'll use on our vegetable garden. For years, my wife has farmed a small plot behind our garage. Peppers, onions, tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini and squash have all come out of the garden. Soil and water have gone in. Lots of water. So I decided some time ago that a rain barrel would be a splendid addition to the garden.

Silly me.

What I should have told you is I'm spending the weekend putting up gutters on the garage. The rain barrel is just an extra that comes at the end.