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fallen water barrel
Thursday, December 26 2024
I always drain the rain barrels before the cold weather arrives, though this year I apparently didn't do it right with the one that collects water from the roof of the woodshed. I opened the tap on the bottom of the tank, knowing there is a leak in a sprayer at the end of the hose. But evidently that leak wasn't fast enough to drain the barrel before cold water arrived, and the other day I noticed the rain barrel sitting a little askew atop a bulge at the bottom, which I've seen in the past when ice is forming in a barrel full of water. By this morning, the barrel had fallen off the little four foot high wooden tower it sits atop, an event that must've made quite a thump given the weight of the water (400 pounds). I looked at the barrel today and it looked like it was still sound, though the tap at the bottom had snapped off. So I went and got a long drill bit and proceeded to drill into the the ice from the top. Initially I was using an auger-style bit, which didn't seemed to bite effectively into the ice. Next I tried a spade-style bit, and that seemed to work. Before too long, I drilled through the ice to the water inside. At that point the ice was about eight inches thick. Of course one hole wasn't enough to drain the water out, so I had to drill two more before the water came pouring out. Hopefully the barrel is still sound enough to hold water. (The strength of the HDPE used to make it is impressive given the forces it had survived.)
At this time of year, our friend Dina always posts pictures of the reticulate menorah I'd made for her as a wedding present back in 2005. This year a picture she posted of it on Instagram got reposted by a celebrity and went on to receive thousands of likes and shares, which had Gretchen thinking I might be able to capitalize on the exposure. She suggested that I make a website for Dina to post in the thread so that people who like the menorah can order new ones. So I spent some time today tracking down photos of my menorahs and lamps and posting pictures on a new website, hosted on Randomsprocket.com. It wasn't great, and it turned out that mail() wasn't working on the server, so inquiries wouldn't make it to me until I fixed it or implemented a work-around.
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