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Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Running on Empty

Empty water tanks that is. We have never had both of our water tanks on the house go dry before but it happened on Sunday night. I'm thinking that there may be something amiss with the tanks because we have had much drier conditions before, had an extra household member and haven't run out of water before. I am definitely giving thanks now that we installed other tanks for 'just in case' because we now need that water. When you live in town with mains water, it is easy to not give water much of a thought. Turn on the tap and out is comes but relying completely on rain water is a completely different matter. Anyway, we have water at the turn of a tap now that we have pumped some into our house tanks from the auxillary tanks. A spot of rain would be much appreciated though just to be sure.
 
California poppy- Red Chief

 I know others are feeling the dry too but unlike the garden at Thistlebrook, my garden is looking pretty good. Things are growing well although the grass areas are quite dry but I have never been one for a manicured lawn so that doesn't trouble me a jot. In fact, if the grass doesn't grow too much then I don't have to mow it which can only be a good thing. Grass in the paddocks is another matter entirely, that I want to grow and be lush and fresh.

Chameleon rose (always in bloom for Grace's birthday)

So, even more careful water usage is on the cards here.Mulching the garden(almost all done), perhaps using a wetting agent, watching for ways to reduce evaporation of stock water and being vigilant in the house. I'm not sure if the predictions for a hot, dry summer are going to come to fruition or not but I am going to act as if they are and take the right actions and precautions. It doesn't hurt.
Tracy

5 comments:

Anne said...

I was surprised that you are already feeling a water shortage. although it is dry here the tanks and dams are still almost full, but I think we have had lots of little showers of rain. Also we have always lived on tank water so our usage doesnt really vary, we always assume there is not much. i am glad you had the extra tanks.

Lisa said...

I sure wish I could divert to you some of rains we may be getting early next week, when the hurricane arrives. (Oh, I hope it doesn't come this way!)

Unknown said...

ours are getting low too, its a horrible feeling, and you start really questioning every time you turn on the tap, do I really need to use this water? The worst time was when we had dust storms and I'd left all the windows open, but we had hardly any water, so I couldn't wash anything, just had to shake the blankets and hope it rained soon! Can't believe the tanks were overflowing this time last year, bring on the rain!

Sherrie said...

Hi Tracy I really understand what you are saying we are are semi rural and we rely on our rainwater tank just like you...a few years ago our rainwater tank was hit by lightning you may have read that on my blog and we lots all our water every single drop, thank goodness the insurance paid for a new one but still no water. We quickly went and bought a 720 litre water tank just for drinking ,we were very lucky it rained that night and filled it up now at least we had drinking water, we didn't have a shower for over a week, we do have a bore but water is too salty to drink we washed using that which we boiled up to wash with...lets say it made for an interesting week or two...water is so precious and we appreciate every drop, not like the city dwellers that take it for granted...Sherrie from Simpleliving :)

Elisa {With Grace and Eve} said...

Gorgeous flowers. I hope you get that rain x