God has blessed us with blue skies and sun today. We can hear the cows lowing in the fields; such a soothing sound. The weather has been very crazy here; rain, rain and more rain! I do believe we have had the entire year’s rainfall in a matter of six weeks. It has rained so much, We have had pillow talk about gutters and rain water collection drums 🙂 We continue to make progress here, but also some challenges have been presented to us as well. So, as you read the challenges, know that we are both happy and continue to grow in many ways.
Power situation: we have been experiencing a scarcity of solar availability, the skies have been very dark and rainy. On days like today, solar keeps up with demand just fine. We have noticed that it is taking longer to bring the batteries up with the generator. Furthermore, as soon as we shut the generator off, we experience an immediate 2 volt drop in the bank. Based on your experience, any ideas what might cause this?
The big challenge of the moment is we have had a catastrophic failure of the septic system. We don’t have a high water consumption as far as black and gray water. Laundry we have been taking to town and shower use is minimum. Toilet we utilize the outhouse on and off. So, with just two people, the tank has backed up and cannot handle the load. The status of the tank is it has surpassed its service life as it is rusting in many areas. We found a place in Okanogan that has a 1000 gallon cement tank for $750 but the weight is over five tons. Next best is a fiberglass tank for about $1,200 in Tonasket. As I write, James is looking for the intake valve. We have not found anything that would give us an indication as to the direction of the drain field. Wondering if it goes straight east from the tank or maybe north back towards the hill and down the driveway?
The other challenge is the rain (can you believe it?) We are experiencing a lot of runoff and erosion already. There is a good amount of runoff coming from the rocks to the east. The water comes down the upper driveway and then apparently feeds an underground stream. The stream travels (still underground) across the driveway and then flows heavily down the ditch on the west side of the driveway. This is happening on the steep portion of the driveway, so wheeled vehicles are struggling, at best, to make the climb. We have just parked the vehicles on most days as the mud and goo is severe.
Say hello to everyone at study group tonight! Wondering if you know where the key is for the hydra unit at the old homestead site? Hoping it is on the machine somewhere.
Peace & grace,
Angela & James
