I am getting the idea from the recent emails we have received that you are all as happy about the current weather forecast as we are. So many of you out there are thinking about us and our water situation. You are all so nice!!!

When the rain falls off our beautiful new 1200 sq. ft. metal roof it goes through a Wisy filter into a 500 gallon tank under the deck. When it hits about 350 gallons the float valve triggers and it pumps the water 300 feet up the hill to our storage tanks. The trouble is, we watch the rain coming down and hear it on the roof but are left to wonder aloud if we think the pump has pumped yet. How much rain have we accumulated so far?”

This current storm has been predicted for days and it seems for once the weather forecasters got it right ’cause it is definitely coming down. The heavy winds also arriving this afternoon are hitting the island from the south so don’t really affect us other than replacing any thoughts of going on the water with thoughts of a second pot of coffee.

Yesterday, it was beautiful. Sunny, calm, no wind and the recent fire ban was lifted mid-day. I couldn’t wait to get to the burn pile and set fire to my summer paper and fallen twigs. With a big rain coming today, it really was the ideal conditions for the first burn pile of the season. One of our sons is a wildfire fighter and, I must admit, watching the rain brings an added sigh of relief. He is one of those guys they drop on the sides of mountains from helicopters to put out lightning strikes before they can escalate to bigger concerns. He loves it. Me, not so much.

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With forecasted rains of 65 mm over the next three days we wanted a really clear understanding of how much water that translates to in our tanks. We climbed up the hill last night and measured the levels in all of the tanks. We now know that we are beginning the storm with 1480 gallons of water. But questions remain, like how do we know when the pump under the deck has been triggered? How fast are we going to accumulate water through this storm and of course the most important question, just how many baths can I enjoy per day this winter?

So E rigged a light up to the tank pump and attached it to the rose trellis under our bedroom window. The theory being when the pump is triggered, the light will tell us. The rains began last night around 1:30 am and at 4:30 he awoke to a bright green light shining in the window. Now there was probably some water in the tank captured during the rains last week so we couldn’t get our hopes up that the pump will go off every three hours this weekend.

But, four hours later at 8:30 as we sat drinking our coffee listening to the lovely pitter patter of raindrops on the roof, the light came on again. Then, again at 12:16 pm!

With the change in weather the wood stove plays an important role in our lives. The hot water is switched over to the range boiler from the on demand system, so no more propane is needed. The onions, yellow tomatoes, red tomatoes, green and yellow peppers, which I grew in our garden, have been added together in a big pot with ground beef and hot Italian sausages to simmer for a few days on the stove. I don’t bother cooking down the tomato sauce when I can it in the summer ’cause it uses too much propane. I let the wood stove do the thickening. There is finally a bit of room in our freezer for packages of this sauce which we can then use for easy winter dinners.

The dogs are pleased to have the fire going while helping me with my quilting. We have made the unusual decision to turn the music off on the stereo as our preference is to listen to the rain this afternoon.

We are both just sitting and staring out the window now to see when the pump will come on again. Wagering is encouraged. Bets have been placed.

Who needs TV