Rain Tote filled!

We still have not had the gutter guy out yet, been too busy to take the time off to meet them. Anyway in the past 4 days after 2 pm it has rained cats and dogs in Durham and Raleigh. We missed getting these afternoon showers 3 out of the 4 days and we are only one half hour north of Durham. Now it is very wet here and the rain water is not needed in the garden.

So you might ask why is the 300 gallon rain tote filled then? I have placed 5 gallon buckets under the eaves, when they filled up I'd pour them into the drain that goes to the rain tote. On Wednesday night at about dark, the rain filled and I emptied about 30-40 buckets. Got quite wet but I had fun. The rest was a few rains and bucket pours. I thought the tote was maybe 2/3 full. This morning I cut in the 2 inch PVC over flow drain and saw the tote water level was only 1/2 inch below the drain hole I cut out.

Several people have asked how we got the rain totes so cheaply. I found them in the farm and garden section of craigslist (see the link in my side bar). Our totes were used for mulch dye. I have found that some dye remains and settles at the bottom. So I have been opening the valve and letting out about a gallon of brown water every few hours when I have had the chance. The water is coming out clear now. We'll be using the first water on the flower beds, then later move to the vegetable garden. The other tote I have rinsed it out and will likely put the pressure washer inside to clean it out even better.

Here is the over flow drain. I used 2 inch PVC pipe, think about it a 3 inch drain line is filling the tank, so a large drain is needed. I see rain barrels in the stores with 5/8 inch hose connectors for drains, hook a hose to it and the hose folds over and barely works. My advise it to cap the hose drain and drill into the barrel and attach at least a 1 1/2 inch PVC line and pipe it down and away from the house.

Hooking up this 2 inch drain required a 2 1/4 inch hole saw to drill the tank. I then screwed an 2 inch PVC male adapter into the hole and measured and glued on the rest of the fittings. The drain will water one of our camellias and flow down into the yard and then into the woods.

Thought I would share this morings breakfast with you. Told Meg I wanted 3 eggs, she always eats just one. This morning I ate 2 double yolk eggs. These eggs were bought at the local farmers market for $3 a dozen. I've only seen 2-3 double yolk eggs in my entire life, out of 3 eggs today we got 2 doubles!

Here is our beehive right now. I added the second brood box on Monday. My inspection showed the single brood box nearly full and no pests what so ever. Crossing my fingers we will not have too many problems. Like the background of the hive?

Last thing, remember the Japanese Anemones I order last fall from Holland? I got little root pieces, here is what they look like right now. The weeds here have been growing faster than the anemones, but I think that will be changing soon.