A Fun Thing to do on a Rainy Day.

On Sunday the deck refinishing was rain delayed. Two six foot sections of the rail are finished, one has a single coat of stain, one is almost sanded and more are untouched, counting them would daunt me. A bit over half of the deck boards are done.



Since no work could be done on that I set off for the barn where a soggy bunch of equines stood hoping that I was carrying treats. Treats, btw, extended far beyond grains and Marmite formatted for equine consumption, I've been surprised at which items, intended for the chickens, are seized before the birds can get them. These horses eat tomatoes, limes and stale bread, the donkey will also eat parsley, grits and popcorn.



I wasn't there as the result of a fridge clear out but to dig a hole, a fine pastime for anyone wanting to connect with an alleged Irish heritage.



The purpose of the hole is to try an deal with the problem of the water supply to the barn freezing, the hope being that the pain of digging once is less than the pain of carrying water repeatedly. This is a "frost free faucet"



or, rather what the miserable pumbing supply guy called "a frost resistant faucet, no such thing as frost free, you can dig all you want but you can't count on it". I suppose he was looking to be Salesman of the Month.

The way the faucet works is that the bottom is below the frost line, the handle operates a valve so that when it's closed the water drains out of the stem and into the earth leaving nothing to freeze in the tap. The idea's promising but, lacking faith, we added an electric tape heater, then insulation, then filled the protective barrel with hay. The cable dangling from the faucet is a hose, similarly dressed up for winter.



We can only hope there's less faffing around with hair dryers and dragging gallons of water through the snow this time around.