rainwater collection – The Hermits' Rest

Lovely memory in a lovely day

What’s a small moment from your past that you still think about years later?

I often think about my father, who was one of the people I loved most deeply in my life. The last time I saw him was after his 80th birthday party, and it was time to go home. I was the last one out of his apartment, so we had a brief moment of just us, something we always treasured. I hugged Dad really hard. Then I hugged him again and told him how much I loved him, and he reciprocated. I’m so glad I did that because I never saw him conscious again. His fatal car accident was just a few weeks later. But, I know we both were happy with each other.

As for today, it was my ideal autumn day, neither hot nor cold and neither too sunny nor too cloudy. I sat outside and watched birds, animals, and the backhoe for much of the day.

It was cool to see the Greater Yellowlegs and small sandpipers in the very dry pond.

The rainwater collection project is now ready for the pumps and filters. The tank behind the garage got all hooked up this morning and the drainage pipes connected. Any overflow from the tank will head out to the pond behind the house, which will probably be much fuller in those circumstances!

Everything is all covered back up except pipes for hooking up the equipment. Nonetheless, when it rains tomorrow, both tanks will catch the water. That’s a milestone.

The other drainage project at the house is in front, where the backhoe has been digging a swale for the past two evenings. It will direct water beside our driveway and into the front pond, rather than rushing down the driveway and washing our road base into the arroyo.

It’s not shaped up and graded yet (or it may be but it’s too dark to tell)

The swale will be gentle, so we can still drive across it with our many vehicles.

It won’t mess with our faithful rain lilies

I think the yard is just about graded enough to put out grass seed, but I may be wrong about that. It’s been a fun project to watch. My family menfolk sure are good with everything that goes into such a big project!

As you can see, naked Alfred is impressed.

Dogs seem to be doing better, and I’m happy that Anita knows what has been causing her abdominal pain. Gotta remove (yeet is the new word for that) the offending organ soon. We had a nice reunion of our Ruidoso travel gang this morning at the bakery and she told us all about diagnostic procedures. It’s good she knows a lot from all her medical journal editing.

O graphic medical pictures, just Benito showing his love of Lee.

I’m still soliciting healing energy for all my friends with health struggles, though. And I’m staying centered by sticking shiny things on sticky bookmarks. It works for me. But I’m gonna have lots of bookmarks.

Photos? I always have photos

Share a few recent shots from your camera roll, no context needed.

Sure, I’ll do that. But first a quick update on the big rainwater collection project. Much of today was spent grading the area around the house to keep the drainage good. In addition, my son put together a very nice exit for the drain pipe, which will protect the PVC and look like a design feature. It’s now graded perfectly to flow well, and theoretically to not erode thanks to hidden barriers of a shower pan liner and a hunk of cement that formed at the end of our big pour. Very clever.

I’ll save other news for tomorrow and instead follow instructions and just share photos. It’s so hard not to describe them!

Feeling sentimental about childhood heroes

What’s one thing you own that holds deep sentimental value?

I think the appropriate answer to this question, today of all day, is to share my attachment to my favorite action figure, Jean-Luc Picard. Today he’s sitting on a hastily constructed altar to honor Sir Patrick Stewart, the actor who played him.

The pansy is attacking his head, and I can’t find a lighter, but I’m trying to honor someone I admire.

I’ve had this Jean-Luc for many years. He’s kind of been like my elf on the shelf in that he’s always getting into shenanigans. He’s climbed many Christmas trees, hidden in Thanksgiving centerpieces, and most famously, served as the “God” on our monthly tarot group altars way back when we lived in our first Texas house (a decade or more ago). The Goddess figures were usually more serious figurines or such, and he always brought a note of levity.

Sometimes he went to work with me and served to intimidate certain colleagues (in my mind, anyway). Until today, he was guarding a big hunk of crystal on the mantel, awaiting his next mission.

I’m sure he’s hiding somewhere in this photo.

Picard is my favorite Star Trek character, and I enjoyed all his appearances in the franchise, including the Picard mini-series. He and Supergirl are my only action figures. (Not true, I searched for action figures in my phone photos and was reminded of Elizabeth Warren.) I’ve never been much of a doll person, though.

More importantly, though, I’ve admired Patrick Stewart, the wonderful man who advocated for animal welfare, human rights, and the rights of humans to love whoever they want to. He always came across as an intelligent, humorous, and kind person. I’d hoped we’d have another decade to admire his work in additional roles, but dementia hits so many of us.

Thinking of Stewart, his family, and friends

Yikes. I just want George Takei, William Shatner, and Brent Spiner to hold on for a while. This is a hard enough time.

Learning to let go of those you love or admire is one of the hardest parts of aging. That and letting go of hopes and dreams.

Speaking of hopes, we’d hoped to get the rainwater collection system set up enough today to get some water in, and the guys did it! I was there, as sprinkles were falling and the valve opened. Water went right in! Now, we got .05” of rain, so it probably has just enough to cover the bottom of the tank. But it’s a start! It helped me feel less sad.

Getting back to normal

It’s the middle of the last week of October, which is usually a great time of year to be here at the Hermits’ Rest. And yep, it was a beautiful day!

Look! Blurry butterfly! Gulf Fritillary.

It was also a fun and challenging day at work, the kind where you solve problems and take on interesting challenges. I’ll need more of these, because I agreed to stay on into next year.

I’ll still be able to sit by the pool on nice days, though. It looks especially good because our new worker weeded and trimmed the beds. He may have a future as a yard worker.

It could rain tomorrow, but that’s okay, because we can deal with any runoff! Rain will land in the concrete pad for the water tank and promptly drain through the pipes and out into a gentle swale. It’s ready to go!

Plus, the tank is in place! Hooray! Its hugeness now looms across the side yard and acts as a bit of a privacy screen. The land is almost all smooth and graded, so this phase of the rainwater collection project is about done. Next: collecting rainwater, which involves more tubing, valves, and stuff.

It’s farther out than I thought it would be.

I appreciate the peace and harmony this week has brought. It’s like a calm before a storm. I get to feed fish, talk to the turkeys, de-bur at least one horse a day, and walk around in search of pollinators. I can even feed and water the wild birds (replaced the broken birdbath). And no one’s stopping me. I’ll remember this feeling.

Oh, travel, oh, drainage

What’s one piece of travel advice you always follow?

My blog today has two topics, travel and drainage. They go together so well, right? So, let’s tackle that blog prompt.

The thing that makes my travel easier for me is to book seats near the front of the plane when I fly, even if it means paying a few extra dollars. It not only gets me more legroom, but gets me on the plane early enough that there’s plenty of space for my carry-on bag, then gets me off the plane quickly, which makes quick connections much less stressful. Less stress is good for me.

So many lines at airports! Get TSA Pre-check!

For car travel, I try very hard to go on days that are not Friday or Sunday, which avoids weekend travelers in a hurry. And don’t go to Buc-ees on a holiday weekend. It’s torture.

Not following my own advice, some years ago

And now for drainage. I’ve spent much of my time recently thinking about flooding, since I had five hours on the Texas Hill Country floods of last year during the Master Naturalist meeting and also since there is horrible flooding in the Navajo Nation right now. It’s especially hard there, with so little infrastructure and such scattered populations. Keep them in your thoughts!

Today I watched the drainage system for our rainwater collection system getting set up. It’s important to have a good plan for what will happen once the tanks are full and overflow (seems far fetched right now, but our pattern is drought followed by flooding).

The drainage pipes for the tank behind the garage will go to the field behind us down to the tank (pond) behind the house. That pond drains to a pond further downhill and then to the creek. I’ll have pictures of it later.

Currently the tank could use some water.

The tank next to the house will go into the pipes you see below. The idea is that the water will end up in the lowest part of the front yard, which flows nicely down to the creek. There will be a little retention wetland area to slow the flow a bit. It’s not all 100% worked out yet, so that will be a fun surprise.

The ditch for laying the pipe is very popular with the dogs, who think we’re building them a playground. They are so dirty! Might as well wait until all the yard is smoothed down again to bathe them!

I enjoyed checking on the construction work between meetings and I also did some searching for pollinators. One giant swallowtail was fascinated by my red shirt today and kept following me around. So pretty! This is such a great time of year here in central Texas!

Concrete and more concrete (and proof of my Boomer status)

What was your first ever videogame?

Well, I was born in 1958. The dawn of the transistor age. So, yep, my first video game was Pong. When you only have 2 television stations to watch, Pong is an entertainment option.

That was probably the last video game I ever played enough to get good at, though I was OK at Pac-Man. I’ve saved a lot of time by not playing video games, so that I could knit, read, or listen to birds. Everyone gets to choose how to spend their downtime, and we all need it, right?

And now for concrete. I was a little bummed that I had to be in Waco when the long-awaited day of pouring the cement pad for the water storage tank finally arrived. But my family didn’t let me down, and my son and spouse kept me updated. They even sent a video.

The pad is rather complex, because it has to be below grade to fit under the spouts coming off the roof. But our nephew is quite the engineering genius, so we have it in a depression with a raised lip that will capture any overflow and send it out toward the creek. It will work!

In addition to the pad, we now have a concrete pad that will be a horse maintenance station for washing, grooming, etc. The water spigot that’s awkwardly placed near a former fence will move over, and we will finally get a utility sink, if all goes to plan. We will see.

They had to get a bit of extra cement, so an addition was made to the front porch. It will eventually tie in to the second concrete project, walkways to the front porch and pool area. Fancy, I know.

Today the work of removing the forms for all the pads began. According to my son, that’s even harder than building them. Besides that, some of the supports were screwed in, and a few are now encased in concrete. Of course they can remove them, but ugh.

Why no, I don’t know how the inner forms get removed, or if.

I like how the edges are getting beveled on the parts that stick up. The horse area is also beveled for safety.

There’s a lot of cleanup and dirt redistribution left to do, but the end is in sight! The pipes and other equipment needed to get water flowing into the tanks is next, plus pumps, filters, and purification equipment. This is a big project with so few workers. Thank goodness I have a talented family and they have a helper who is learning.

Lesson 1: don’t make sparks on dry grasses.

Who do I want to be?

If you could switch lives with a famous person for a week, who would it be and why?

You know, being famous doesn’t appeal to me very much. I’d like to be appreciated by those who matter to me, but being famous and surrounded by “fans” is not appealing. Maybe I could switch with someone who’s famous for being an anonymous benefactor would be okay. I’d enjoy benefacting.

I always feel magnanimous feeding the fish.

Nah, I’m all accustomed to being me. I’m used to my quirks, my personality, my pleasantly average looks, and the friends and family who can put up with me (and vice versa). Since there’s always something new to learn right here being me, I’ll just stick with it through all the ups and downs.

My nails are ready for the Master Naturalist annual meeting!

Here in the adequately interesting world of Suna, I found a few more butterflies for the Bioblitz, but I’m ready to blitz hard tomorrow in Waco.

The team at KCC Construction was at full strength today, which means the form for the big slab to hold the huge water tank now has buttresses to hold the weight of the concrete, an area all smoothed for the pad to hold pumps and filters, and the drains set up. Plus much rebar has been bent for more strength. That pad’s gonna be solid!

I tried to do two errands at lunch, but once again managed to hit the pharmacy during their lunch break. Sigh. However, Lee and I did manage to vote. It felt good to vote for people I actually know and like. I did have a bit of a panic attack when I was finished. I guess my internal angst about the outcome slipped out. I chatted with a friend and feel better now. I’ll deal with what happens later when it’s later.

Thanks for all the nice thoughts on what I share. I feel like I’m talking to very quiet people. Thanks, too, for your messages, texts, and calls.

Blown away!

It’s not hot anymore! The weather today would have been quite pleasant, except that the cold front literally blew in. Like a leaf blower on steroids.

Merlin only heard 8 bird species. Luckily my eyes saw three more, but 11 is a real low!

The mountain was gradually moved back to where the backhoe is, so the area could be smoothed down.

And the guys working on the forms for the cement pads had to be careful so pieces of wood wouldn’t blow them around. All the dirt moving also left a film of dust everywhere.

Worst: the cattle ranchers had spread fertilizer yesterday. Everything smells like poop. I was looking all over the house to see which dog had pooped, sprayed Lysol all over the house, and was totally baffled until I finally remembered that tractor pulling something behind it yesterday. Dogs are forgiven, but some horse is in Trouble for messing up yet another water trough float. (Spice)

I did manage to get out and snap some pollinator photos for the bioblitz, though the plants were very wiggly. I was surprised at how many butterflies and dragonflies stayed still long enough, and the workers found me a cool rabid wolf spider with eggs (not a pollinator, but interesting).

The wind had started to die down when we went to eat some Mexican food this evening. That bodes well for a chilly tomorrow!

Can you dig it?

Yes, I can. Today a lot got done around the house, and some of it was by me! I can dig that. I managed to go to the #1 Cameron meeting place, the bakery, and not be late. That’s because I mis-remembered the meeting time. So I got to talk to all the employees and other friends while I waited for Mike and Martha. We discussed our upcoming trip to Ruidoso (for longer this time).

My view as I waited. There’s a kid quietly playing in the kid area. A nice change of pace.

I steeled myself to be cheerful and positive as I did all the errands I was too slothful to do last week. I paid more for gas today than I ever have in my life. For some reason that inspired me to give the random sad-looking person sitting outside the station the change from buying my soda. Maybe it balanced out my irritation at the gas prices.

The first cheerful sight today was three Great Egrets all at once. That’s unusual here.

On my way to Tractor Supply to get animal feed in Rockdale, I passed all my favorite political candidates and waved. I also noted yard signs and a billboard. Wow! That cheered me up enough to enjoy the folks at Tractor Supply even when I had to wait to get loading help (I have tweaked my back). I got a shirt that says “Positive Vibes” to commemorate my improved mood. ) I could dig that, too!

Next I headed to the pharmacy, because I couldn’t drag myself over there to pick up a prescription before it expired. The bonus was my expensive prescription my insurance won’t pay was also ready. AND they had time to vaccinate me for flu and COVID, which we elders need. The new pharmacist is a very sweet young man who’s fun to talk to. He has a button earring. It’s so cute. I’m glad one of the new pharmacists is nice, since my favorite one finally escaped (I’m going into all this detail to show I made an effort to be a good influence in the world today.)

There was actual digging at the ranch today! The next phase of our water retention setup got into motion. It was great to see our ancient backhoe finally fixed and back at work! It’s more than a lawn ornament!

The dirt has to be dug away to build the foundation for the water tank next to the house, as well as pumps and filters. It was interesting to be reminded just how much dirt we brought in to create our foundation and get the drainage right. The black at the bottom of the reddish fill is the black land clay.

The white pipe is the sewer line that must move.

All went well with the digging except the sewer line out of our bathrooms got nicked. It was going to have to be moved anyway, it turns out. I’m relieved to report it’s fixed enough to work until the line gets moved into its new position.

There’s a lot of precise measurement required to do all the digging correctly, and I’m really impressed that the huge machine can be made to do such fine work. We’re lucky to have a resident tractor ballet expert at our house!He can dig it, very well!

What did Lee and I do during all the digging? We’ve been watching Lee’s favorite YouTube channel, which is a guy in Canada who does bookbinding. (Find the videos under Four Keys Book Arts.) What a complex process that is! The guy has a very pleasant demeanor, so calm and relaxed that you almost miss his puns.

Three books the guy bound for the author Andy Weir. The video series was called Project Hail Andy.

My favorite parts are when he does paper marbling and leather tooling, but it’s all more interesting than you might expect. I do think it’s funny that we’ve turned into people who spend their weekends watching stuff like this, but it’s certainly less stressful than the news.

And I can dig that!

Take that, giant data centers

Like many other rural parts of the US, the county we live in is having lots and lots of farmland bought up to either produce energy or use a lot of it. We have seas of solar farms stretching for miles that were corn or cattle just a few years ago.

Google’s largest solar farm. Right in our county. Opened in 2024. Photo from KTBX.

We are also seeing land sold for our benevolent buddies, AI data centers. There’s a big one going in north of here and I’ve noticed a new electrical substation going in down the road from us, as if there wasn’t already one a mile or so away.

This is under construction now. (I miss Micah Wilson—he was too good to be stuck in our small market)

As you may be aware, data centers use a lot of water. So do suburbs in the adjacent county. (I’m aware that data center proponents assert they recycle water, and I’m sure some of that does occur. But anyway, much of the water in our aquifer is going to people and places who aren’t us.

Many folks in this part of Texas are concerned about our water sources, and concerned about drought, as well. So, Lee decided we should get some giant rainwater storage tanks.

There are two 5,000 gallon tanks now in our back yard. Each will collect water from one of our roofs, the house and the garage. I’m told we can also supplement with city water if necessary, but the hope is to get all our water this way.

Yes, there are filters and stuff. I’m supposed to go to some class about it, after which I can speak more knowledgeably about it. Until then, I shall trust the family member who did take the class already to set it up.

The pad for the garage tank was already built, so now the second pad has to be built and the tank loaded on it. Because of how many water lines, gas lines, and such there are beside the house, the tank will have to block the guest room window. But the residents never open the blinds anyway.

I didn’t think this would happen so soon, but it’s good, I guess. Those data centers can take all the groundwater, but we will still have some as long as we get at least some rain. Yay?