365 Photos: The 1pm Picture Number Twenty-Four!

Today’s (Saturday’s) 1pm pic (retrospectively uploaded) is of the bath in the motel in Wanganui. It was filled to the limit with no guilt or worry about water! The Luxury! The E.I.C. was most happy!

The spa-bath

Rain, Rain Everywhere

It has been rather wet today. As the rain eases of we have had around 75mm of rain since this time last night, which is at some points a months worth or rain. Our water tank is now full.  While it wasn’t that cold I lit the fire so we could take advantage of the rain have lots of piping hot baths.

Otherwise we have played a bit on the Playstation and tried to occupy the kids. A cake has been baked and decorated for tomorrow and there is much excitement within the house for Mr11 turning into Mr12

What A Lovely Wet Day

Our water-tank is looking a lot fuller! We had a lovely 42mm of rain yesterday. Which was more rain in one day than the previous eight weeks combined! And more is on the way…

22mm Of Rain in 45 Minutes: The Excitement Continues

We are doing a very happy rain dance here. In the last 45 minutes 22mm of rain fell! If we get more falls like that over night we may even be able to cancel the tanker of water we ordered for next week! To show you how dry it has been over the last couple of months I will present a table showing the rain totals over the last four months. Note that when today’s rain fall is added tomorrow it will more than double the months total!

Pools In The Backyard – Shame About The Weather And It’s The Drinking Water!

We have a clean tank.

Water from the tank being put in temporary pool

A full pool. Anyone for a dip?

The second being filled

What couldn't be saved been flushed away!

Shame it’s too cold, and that’s our drinking water… Looked good enought to swim in

A Flower And A Filter

So the third pump died. The only good thing is this time we think we know what’s happening. Somewhere along the intake pipe from the roof, grit is getting into the system and ripping apart the filters in the pumps. So we have to close off the intake, empty the tank, get it cleaned, install a new pump, and then find and repair the point of contamination before reconnecting the  intake to the tank. Hopefully the tank will be cleaned tomorrow. The company doing it will also clean and store 16,000 litres to put back into the tank, all in all it’s not a good.

Below are some pictures of what has been killing our pumps. But before we start with those here is a daffodil from the garden

A flower

Builders paper that was in the pipe

Damaged filter

The Tide Is Turning

Well it better be anyway….

We have water! Yahoo! [We had better have water....]

The tank people were back today, and replaced the pump. Again. We are starting to laugh about it all a bit more now. Actually when the nice chap arrived this afternoon, he was a little peeved to learn we had been without water all day and the office had known in the morning… Words were going to be spoken!

On the illness front the E.I.C. is in full holiday program planning mode. It’s one of the advantages of being married to a teacher trained ex children’s librarian.

Being trapped at home for the next nine days is causing her nightmares, so to cope she is getting the old activity book out today… The boys don’t know what’s about to hit them…

All our horoscopes are saying things should be on the up so here’s hoping… After all it’s only 18 sleeps till we take the eldest to Melbourne…

There I Was, Looking At The Stars, Sitting On Top Of The Water Tank…

Imagine if you will, a clear night sky, stars twinkling against the deep dark. A crescent moon letting slivers of light play across the grass. Two planes passing across the horizon, lights blinking in that steady unnatural way.

There’s a slight spring chill in the air, but no breeze to speak of. Across the little valley the Morepork’s are talking to each other, and in one of the fields a lamb is calling to it’s dam and siblings. The rumble of the engines from the airplane grows as one of the planes glides across the darkness, and then fades as it heads off towards the coast. There is no other sign of civilization except for the faintest of glows trying to edge up over the hills, marking that thriving metropolis Dannevirke.

It’s all rather peaceful.

Now picture a concrete water-tank, sitting just down the hill from a small wooden house. Light spills from the windows, but barely reaches the fence-line let alone the water-tank.

And then picture a man. Bearded and wearing glasses that reflect some of the light. He is wearing gumboots, and tidy work trousers, shirt and jersey. You might notice the slightly muddy, damp patches on his knees if there was more light. In his hand is a torch, and a flat-head screwdriver. He is kneeling in a slightly damp spot on top of the water-tank, peering into the open top. Sitting back he listens to the thrum of the pump that he has just lowered back into the tank and connected back to the pipe that leads to the house.

He may pause for a moment or two to enjoy the stillness of the night. Mainly he is waiting to see if the pump dies yet again, as that is the third time he has got it going that night.  Peering at the house he can see figures moving with haste from room to room, as his family fill as many buckets, bottles and pots as possible befoer it dies again for the evening.

After a while, satisfied that it will keep going for a little while longer, the figure pops the lid back on the water-tank, having one last look at the 21,000 litres of water, before leaping down to the muddy ground and squelching his way back inside.

Yes that was my evening as the pump plays up some more. We shall be on the phone first thing to the nice people at the tank company, and imagine they will not be best pleased to hear from us.

Just A Wee Bit Of Rain

It’s a bit squelchy this morning. We had 23mm of rain overnight, and it’s still falling. Before this last weekend we had had a total of 60mm for the month. Now we are sitting on 100mm with 40mm falling in three days.

So it’s a bit soggy, and our water tank is overflowing again

There was a slip on the road just below our place, fortunately nothing serious enough to block it, and the river is up…

I felt very sorry for the chickens actually, as they trooped across the fields in a bedraggled line, eager for their breakfast.

I am hoping it eases off though…

The Noisy Pump

Since we installed the watertank, with the pump being in the actual tank, the pump has made some sort of noise. Thinking that that was just how it goes, having no experience in owning a pump, we sort of just got used to it. On the weekend the pump decided to up the ante, and started making a lot of noise.

We called the technician people out to look at it, as the racket was disturbing our sleep.  At first it didn’t want to make a noise for them, but then it finally did.

We now have a new pump, and apparently our old one should have been quiet from the start!  Who knew?

Now when you run a tap, there is silence and not a grinding noise running through the pipes.