It's About the Rain

ARE YOU KIDDING ME? Look at the size of those plants!

{Pondering time filled with oo's and ah's}
Okay that's the rain garden update (back to you, Fred).

Here's the real reason I'm writing today...The North side of my house has some directional challenges with rain water.


When the folks who replaced my downspouts left, I don't know if they double-checked the direction of the downspout from this long gutter, which headed straight into the base of the gate, choking off the water's exit in any direction but to pool below it. In the winter, this is an ice issue, in a downpour of any magnitude, I get some water at that corner of the basement, which is just a little lower than the sidewalk.

So I'm going to punch out the rivets on the downspout up near the top of my deck rail and use the new privacy fence to support the downspout, as I redirect the water flow further back into the yard.

With the purchase of a spanking new elbow (shining brightly in the upper right corner of the photo), the downspout is basically flipped so that the last bend directs the flow straight into my new rain barrel.

Looks like it should work, doesn't it?

I'm pretty pleased, since popping the rivets was the most labor intensive part of the job (drilling them out at an awkward angle while either on the ladder or leaning on the deck rail). It's supposed to rain this afternoon, which is why I have this as my goal. I wanted something relatively quick to get done, and my new rain barrel has been sitting under my deck for well over a week.

Right on cue as I'm wrapping it up, the clouds are gathering to the South and it's starting to darken. I secure the bracket to the outside of the privacy fence.

The thunder rumbles as I bring my tools and the ladder into the house. The first drops, big ones, begin to fall...perfect timing to see whether or not my new downspout configuration will work and whether the rain barrel needs to be relocated.

From the looks of it, the whole thing works just fine. Now I have to fix the cover screen. I took this shot after the rain filled up the bottom third of my rain barrel. Excellent.