Pacific Northwest pie in the face

It is raining on the farm for the first time in 19 days, a nice steady soaker. Unless it turns into something of biblical proportions, though, this month will be the driest here since I started keeping records in 2009. We’ve had about 80 mm (@ 3 inches) so far in a month that has seen as much as 562 mm (22 inches) and averages 321 mm (12.6).

Winter rain is vital, to be sure. It provides all our off-grid power through micro-hydro until the sun shows up again. If you will click on “Tours” just above this post, then “alternative energy system”, you can see our rig. The barrel and pipes remain the same, but we’ve recently replaced the battery bank and electronics you’ll see Ian installing. We kept Ian. He’s indispensable.

The upper spring is nowhere near as active as in the photos due to the aforementioned mini-drought, so we weren’t getting ample amps to the house. I was able to clean and reposition two of the feeder pipes to get a decent stream out of them, but not enough. The third pipe was clogged with mud. When I finally got it dislodged, water shot out of it like a firehose. In my haste to get it to the barrel and me back inside, I accidentally jammed it between two logs.

I wish one of those ubiquitous wildlife cameras had recorded this. By the time I got the pipe dislodged I was drenched. Warming up by the woodstove later, I had to laugh at myself for my rural slapstick routine. Wiktionary defines “slapstick” as “a style of humor focusing on physical comedy, such as slipping on a banana peel, and with foolish characters who get into humiliating situations.”

That was me. Fellow Kansan Buster Keaton would have been proud.