Friday, June 20, 2008

New Rain Barrel is Ready for Action

My new rain barrel is ready for rain. I bought the barrel for four dollars at a local feed store. Of course we washed it out very well. The gutter attachment, plumbing parts, and gutter guards cost less than twenty dollars. We were able to put this together for under twenty-five bucks. Considering the rain barrels I have seen for sale were all more than one-hundred dollars, I think we came out pretty good pocket book wise.
I finished up a big project today for one of my customers. It was pulling up and replacing a brick patio and adding on to it. The bricks are called Chicago antique. Apparently, they were hand made. Every brick was slightly different in size. This job was like trying to put together a jigsaw puzzle from Hades. It didn't help that the temperature was over 100. We were almost finished and taking a break when the Ozarka delivery man showed up. He was a very cute, well dressed young man and very friendly. Before he left, he walked back over to us and handed each of us an ice cold bottle of water. That was the best water I have ever had in my life. If I have to buy bottled water, I will stick with that brand.
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15 comments:

  1. Hi Aunt Debbi. The rain barrel looks great! Hope it fills up quickly for you.

    Thanks for dropping by my blog again and commenting. Yes, we've called this sort of thing a "Vacation Bible School" in the past but Kids Games is so big - it's international so there would be concurrent programs run in the US too, I'd assume. And they just go by "Kids Games" so we sort-of dropped the term VBS.

    GdeE

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  2. Wow, Debbi! I just posted minutes ago about (among other things) making your own rain barrels as opposed to paying big bucks on Poor Richard's Almanac. Talk about great minds!

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  3. Hi GdeE, I have not heard of the Kid's Games, but it sounds like fun.

    Hi ofb, We seem to be thinking along parallel lines lately, or I just have ESP. I so don't. I don't even have womens' intuition. Pretty much clueless over here.

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  4. Now I have a serious question and I know you always answer these questions. So here goes. How the heck do you get the fitting screwed in at the bottom of the barrel? My husband and I have three barrels waiting for us to figure out how to do this! Our arms can't reach down to the bottom, yet we know somehow we have to get a fitting in there-securely. How? He is the mechanic and spatial guy, I am the gardener but no luck!

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  5. Tina, My man drilled the hole from the outside and screwed the fitting in. The drill bit he used was the same size as the fitting. He used pvc primer and cement. On the outside he sealed it all with a silicone product. Worked great, no leaks and no cutting the top off and crawling in the barrel.

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  6. We've got rain coming out of our ears this year (it's raining as I type) but I remember the drought of last summer. I don't envy you having to save and savor every drop.

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  7. Sherry, seems like everyone has to much or to little rain.

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  8. That's a fantastic rain barrel set up. I never thought to look at a feed store for one. I'm going to check ours out!

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  9. Kathleen, do look at the feed store. They had plastic, metal, and a white square thing. This was the easiest for us to set up.

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  10. I am so jealous of your rain barrel!

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  11. We did the same thing, but have yet to get it hooked up - yet another summer project!

    And I wanted to pop by and say hi now that I hav a moment. Have been appreciating your comments over at life of 'Pie, and always love meeting a new blogger!

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  12. Oh my god Debbie .. it has been ages since I was here and look what you have been up to ? Love the rain barrel ! great bargain !
    Love the GIANT grass with monkey attached .. and holy crap look at that flower ????? what have you been feeding it ? LOL
    OK .. got to get off here .............. zzzzzzzzzz !!!

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  13. Hi lewru, you too can have a rain barrel for under $25.

    Hi, Kittenpie. I have enjoyed reading yours as well.


    Hi joy, it is always so much fun to read your comments. Welcome back.

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  14. Great idea! I haven't been by in awhile, either...that grass is crazy huge! The bunnies are just adorable...pets or roasts? (With the boys involved, I'm guessing pets.) Is the german shepherd your dog? It's beautiful!

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  15. Hi Lisa, pets. The GSD is Abby. She is my body guard. I have never been safer or more likely to trip over an obsessive dog and break my neck.

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