A river runs through it

It's amazing, really, how little things can suddenly occupy your "brain time." There are big issues in the world to consider. Thomas Friedman wrote in his column yesterday, basically, that nothing we do to conserve energy (oil) is going to make a difference. The Red Sox are in the process of losing a massive lead in the American League East. And there's a little pin-prick of a hole in my rain barrel.

Want to guess which one is driving me crazy?

Figuring we'd have a drought this summer (we did), I bought the rain barrel from Aaron's Rain Barrels last spring, mostly to keep my new perennial garden in bloom during the dustbowl season.

It worked really well.



This picture was taken fairly late in the season, so you can't really see how much the butterflies, bees, and hummingbirds (and me, of course) enjoyed the oasis on McKinley Drive.

We had a day of rain earlier this week and when I got home last night, I found this.



Talk about your water torture! It's just a little pinhole there... somewhere. But I have no clue how to fix it. I'm pretty sure duct tape won't work.

Update: Got a note from Aaron this afternoon while I was out having a great day of golf shooting a bad game of golf with #2 son (108).

Yes, you can easily fix that, if barrel(s) go dry sometimes the metal hoops loosen, what you need to do is get a hammer and a flat piece of metal and tap the hoops up tight. I use an old railroad spike to do this at home before I ship the barrels out and every once and awhile I get an email about this. I have yet to have a barrel out there that someone is not happy with but if after repair this is the case feel free to let me know.

Makes sense to me. Let me clarify that I'm completely happy with this barrel. It's the coolest thing, and I don't even mean because I water my plants and get a whiff of old bourbon at the same time. I highly recommend Aaron's service. I just don't know much about barrel construction in order to handle these things. Now I do.