And now jumping on to another product
Even though we have high humidity here, there are times (too often) that we are in drought, as I’m sure y’all go through too. This next item is something that can save you money and is environmental. We have been talking a while about solar power and all that “green” stuff, not really so much for the money it can save and not so much for any environmental reason but because when we get hurricanes we would have lights and refrigerators and precious air conditioning. Yes it is selfish but hey such is the life of humans. And here is an interesting thing to use at the bottom of your gutters. Big barrels, nothing new in that; they have been using these for years – forever – even. But these are nifty barrels, they hold 50 gallons. At the bottom of them they have a hose connection so your saved rain water can used on the yard or for you know watering plants. The top part has a handy little place to plant some little plants like herbs or whatever. And there is an over flow spout so your plants won’t get washed away. Oh and they look like terracotta. Now if you don’t like terracotta you can pick up some handy dandy spray paint, they make some now that works for plastic.
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Now I can foresee possible problems with these barrels full of standing water. I believe mosquitoes will bred and thrive in them. So I bought some of those skeeter things you put in ponds and that should stop the problem before it starts. Now if it would only rain some.
So what do y’all do with the ends of your gutters / down spouts, if ya have ‘em?
18 comments:
Um...thanks for popping by and telling me that I've been tagged by Jannie. I haven't gone to see WHAT that is about yet.
As for gutters and downspouts, the condo complex has them, but so far we haven't had to discuss them on the HOA board...what with all our OTHER problems. However, in my own unit, I just replaced my horrible floors (they had stick down tile over linoleum when I moved in) with really bamboo. I also installed a new low flow toilet and a higher efficiency dishwasher! That's my contribution to the environment and in all, it cost me about $1100.
Unfortunately, most of the replaced stuff went in the dumpster. No one takes old toilets, no matter how nice, unless they are also low flow. However, the old dishwasher does get partially recycled!
Well, we're actually considering one of those rain barrel systems. I think they are like $150 (ughh) but Shane says we can make one.
We'll see. Everything 'we' try and 'make' turns out half assed.
:o)
Howdy, Paige.
I thought I'd just pop over for a second from my site Feel Free to Laugh seeing as how you were neighborly enough to visit me.
The deal with bikes and computers is thus. There's a little magnet bolted to one of the spokes every time the wheel goes around it passes a little tiny generator like a TV remote that sends a signal to the computer on the handlebars that counts it and adds it all up so I know how far and how fast.
I think you have to be east of the Miz sippy to be a Yank.
Weyrd1- That is one of the things that sucks about greening up, we spent money to save money and then trash most of the old stuff.
Sheila, half assed for me, always means it's gonna cost more then if I had paid someone that knows what they are doing in the first place; or in this case just got the store bought kind.
Lane, Oh I see and Oh I see, so really just the folks in the original 13 colonies are yanks--my bad. But still I like macaroni
Very nice! The first thing is like a Slip 'n Slide for rain instead of kids.
And when I was growing up, we always collected rainwater the way you describe it. Very environmentally friendly. But I read an article about a woman out west (I think it was Colorado or Utah) who actually got fined because she kept a rain water barrel! According to the water laws out there, she wasn't permitted to deprive her neighbors of their water rights! It's a different scheme in the desert...
Texas huh? I can tell by that southern yall and some phrases you have used here. :) Texas. I am from Ga. but I have lived in Tn. so long now that Tn is home. I would not trade the South for nothing!
So, you write poetry? So do I. I have gotten a couple of things published recently. I used to have a blog called poet's pen. I kept it for one year and then deleted it. The one you see now is not very old.
This blog is funny.
T
Teahouse, I hadn’t thought of it like that but yes it does look just like a slip & slide. That seems very wrong that the lady out west was not allowed to keep rain water that she captured. Surely she was only catching the water that fell on her property. It’s not like she rigged up some sort of catchments system and hijacked it from her neighbors (or did she- humm)
Tammy, If I actually typed like I pronounce no one would ever know what I was saying… I had a co-worker who said I sounded like a hick. Georgia is a beautiful state, we have driven though there and are thinking of spending a week in Savannah sometime, when it’s cooler. And Tennessee I have been through there at least 20-25 times, some of the highway rock formations and cut throughs are pretty, scary but pretty.
Thanks y’all all for coming by…
y’all come back now ya hear (not original but still very useful)
mostly my gutters have to get cleaned, N all the elbows fall down- n have to be put on, over n over aagin! the birds like them tho-
Rain barrels are good- maybe put a screen on them?
Heym, I always thought Yanks were from north of the Mason-Dixon line... (I am one) like from the Civil war-
Husband and I were trying to think of ways to save money. Our water bill is stinkin huge even though we are not in a drought area and that terra-cotta water barrel is cute! I think we might save more money by hanging out the laundry, but Husband is worried what the neighbors will think. Silly Man. I might just hang out his underwear anyway.
Snaggle Tooth, I think it depends on where in the USA one is as to whether not they are a yankee; and of course to all other countries we are all yankee. My family was on the north during the war I consider my self a southern yankee...But don't tell anyone
DA, are you trying to air you dirty laundry over here? How funny, when I was a kid (a thousand years ago) everyone's unders flew in the breeze and I don't mean just from eating beans either.
Withour downspouts we let them rot off until there is just a major gush or water coming straight from the gutters that floods our house and ruine our carpets, books, clothes and stuff.
Maybe we should not do that.
Hey, sorry it has taken me a while to get to the comment you left on my blog. So you all have been to Tn. and Ga.?
Those photos you saw there are in Gatlinburg Tn. If you ever get a chance to come to Tn. again, you should check that place out. you would love it. It is filled with stuff fun things to do, nice hotels, and my favorite- HOMEMADE CANDY SHOPS!! you should google it and check it out. Depending on what time of the season you go, sometimes you can get decent hotel rates.
Paige -
Hello from Chicago!!
I, too, just recently bought a roll out gutter thing....you, my dear, described it to a tee.
perfectly
Jannie, you do try to keep Austin weird don't ya? gushing water are you trying to say y'all get rain over there, if so send it this...pronto!
Tammy, I have and look forward to comming back agian and seeing some of the places you have photos of. Very cool.
Susan, I'm so sorry my post was too late to save you some monies. Let’s hope others will not let curiosity get the better of their wallet.
We buried our down spout lines in the ground and the water runs underground.
I expect the second coming of a malaria epidemic with all new rain barrels popping up. Glad you thought of the mosquito implications. I applaud your efforts to conserve. I wonder if rain barrels can be engineered to keep mosquitoes from breeding in them in the first place?
I dug trenches and laid pipe to carry the rain away from our house. I let it come out into the gardens down slope. It was a lot of work up front but has pretty well been maintenance free since.
~jon
Sandy I guess burying then works just as well as anything.
Jon, maintenance free (almost) just doesn't get any better than.
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