Hello Everyone!
Storms galore, So much thunder so little lightning, Rainwater abundance, Meeting utility water goals & Searching for an underwear wearing creek bather with the law!
Alright, at long last... I find myself in the writing tent when it is not either baking hot inside of it... nor a roaring thunderstorm outside... that has me spending way more time cooped up in my camping tent than I would like to be. Being exposed on a west facing knoll making it feel like I am in the heart of the storms sure has not tempered the intensity of them... regardless of how little actual lightning they have been producing.
With how damp everything is after all the constant high volume rain events... I feel good that at the very least... if lighting did happen to strike one of the numerous tall trees... that a fire would not spread very easily. Thankfully, there has not been a whole lot of wind during many of the storms... because lately I have found myself hanging up laundry (to wash in the rain) everywhere that I can... and I do not want to have to later retrieve any of it from the muck.
I am so glad that I got everything covered in straw that I could... like paths and such... before all this wild weather began rolling in. The other thing that I have been pretty stoked over... is never running out of water with my gravity-fed rainwater system... and yup having high pressure water sure makes washing everything (including myself) a heck of a lot easier.
I have continued to make progress on the earth bridge between the camps... and although that rain barrel that I installed in the 'cellar' hole worked good as an overflow catchment... it also got a lot of topsoil splashed into it during the heavy downpours. All that I really need to do to solve that problem... is to slip one of those heavy mil bags over the top of it... and poke an inlet hole in it that can receive the rainwater barrel's overflow tubing and/or piping.
Below the earth bridge the grass pond is rather full of rainwater... and much more of an 'aquatic zone' than the grass garden that it used to be. Having all that water available has been quite handy... because I can bail whatever water that I need out of it for utility purposes to wash tools (or my boots) and not feel like I am wasting water.
Overall, I have been staying ahead of the curve with drinking water as well... and even hand washing and cooking water... so... not too shabby for how I began the journey with a limited amount of the stuff. Folks keep bringing me water (and water containers) so that has absolutely been helpful... and at this point the entire water tent is filled with jugs/containers... and I can easily have a hundred gallons on hand if I filled them all at the public spring near here.
Anyways, there is so much that I should probably write about... but I should tell some of the story of how I got a visit from the local law... about a report of a man in his underwear... spotted in the little creek downhill... across the road... whom then (of all things) was seen walking into the woods of my farm... near said road. Which would be tricky to do... given the location of my camp... where I was sitting at the time... and of course the dogs having clear vision of that area... but okay.
Long story short, we hiked around and never found anyone either lost... in distress... or who knows what... in the heavily wooded area where the fella was supposedly last seen. The entire affair was quite amicable... and before parting I even got to make it clear who I was... and that I would immediately contact them if I spotted the individual in question.
With how the world is these days... I just took it all in stride... and felt incredibly relieved by the professionalism and 'equal footing' (I dunno how else to describe it) treatment. In other words, I felt that if there was someone around these parts that I was gonna have to call... if I needed help (or emergency services) that it is reassuring that they would be involved.
That was day sixty that all that jazz occurred... and I gotta tell ya that after that... I slept a bit easier. Mostly, I would attribute that to... knowing that no matter what all else has gone on (with the challenges here) that much like the neighbor folks that drop off food to me... that there are good folks around.
A good example of that is how yesterday this huge windfall of food, other supplies... and two months of dogfood arrive... via a friend... and I am just choked up inside... because I can feel this huge weight of anxiety just evaporate... along with my constant concern over my dwindling supplies as the kindness washes over me. Today is the first day in a long time that I woke up feeling like everything is fine... and my strict rationing routine can come to an end.
Well, a lot of other stuff has gone on... but I have run out of words for this entry and the sun is rising over the treeline and heating up the tent perched on its platform in the trees. I hope that everyone is doing well and all that feel good jazz. Ciao (and Ta Ta) for now.
Wes & Grindan
