{"id":218,"date":"2015-04-30T21:27:54","date_gmt":"2015-05-01T01:27:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/homeownerman.com\/wordpress\/?p=218"},"modified":"2017-03-15T20:31:10","modified_gmt":"2017-03-16T00:31:10","slug":"roll-out-the-barrel-and-well-have-a-barrel-of-fun","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/homeownerman.com\/wordpress\/?p=218","title":{"rendered":"Roll out the barrel, and we’ll have a barrel of fun!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Many years ago [a couple of\u00a0olympiads ago actually] the HomeOwnerFamily visited the FriendInRaleighFamily for a weekend. \u00a0FriendInRaleighMan is always a few steps cooler than HomeOwnerMan and just a few years ahead on technologies. \u00a0For example, he was the first person HomeOwnerMan knew who had given up cable TV for streaming content. \u00a0He described to his wide-eyed superhero friend how he had used an old computer and the internet to watch streamed content like NetFlix. While everyone else was going to their mailbox to retrieve damaged DVDs that would refuse to play just at the climax of the movie, FriendInRaleighMan didn’t even have to go to his mailbox! It was the coolest thing WifeGirl and HomeOwnerMan had ever seen, but it was still a year or two too cool for them. \u00a0But they all sat down and watched the olympics on broadcast TV.<\/p>\n

Later in the visit, though, there was discussion of a futuristic gizmo that HomeOwnerMan thought might be in reach for him. \u00a0The invention was so far out there\u00a0that HomeOwnerMan was sure that it was brought to earth by some advanced time-traveling civilization. The invention was called a “rain barrel” and it ingeniously captured rain runoff from the roofs of houses. This water could later be used to irrigate plants, wash cars, or even to flush toilets in the event of a water emergency. HomeOwnerMan was struck with awe and had to investigate further.<\/p>\n

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It was all HomeOwnerMan could talk about that year. \u00a0He looked up plans for how to build and deploy them. \u00a0He priced out the materials needed to make them. \u00a0He spoke to everyone who would listen about the virtues of them. (At the time, he wasn’t sure what the virtues were, but he knew it must be virtuous.) \u00a0One neighbor, we’ll call her PolesReversedLady, was listening to HomeOwnerMan and declared, “You know those things are illegal. \u00a0You aren’t allowed to take the rain water. \u00a0It belongs to the township, not to you. \u00a0And besides, it is really bad for the environment. \u00a0It will kill all the fish and dry up the aquifer…” \u00a0She went on and on. \u00a0Even though PolesReversedLady was wrong on every account and HomeOwnerMan was pretty sure it was all bunk, it was enough to stem his\u00a0enthusiasm for almost 8 years.<\/p>\n

HomeOwnerMan continued to research rain barrels but never with quite the zeal that he once had.But then\u00a0just a few weeks ago when WifeGirl was reading SocialMediaBook and found a site that was offering a seminar on “how to make your own rain barrel”. She passed the link along to HomeOwnerMan for the New Jersey Water Supply Authority (NJWSA,\u00a0http:\/\/www.raritanbasin.org\/rain_barrel.html<\/a>) and happy days were here again for HomeOwnerMan. \u00a0To begin with, it was vindication for him. \u00a0The rain barrel program was listed under the watershed protection program<\/span>. \u00a0They keep runoff from carrying pollution to the streams, allowing the water to filter naturally through the soil before returning to the water supply. \u00a0They help prevent stream erosion by lowering the volume of water entering the stream during storm events. \u00a0The water can be used rather than pure drinking water for watering plants and washing cars. \u00a0They use no energy, and are so beneficial that many municipalities offer a credit for installing them.<\/p>\n

Secondly, the program is\u00a0very inexpensive. \u00a0For just $35 you are given all of the materials to build one, and you could build more than one if you wanted. \u00a0There is some installation expenses, but they are minimal and might be done with materials HomeOwnerMan has around the house.<\/p>\n

C:\u00a0the three women who run the program (Sarah, Alex, and Kathy) were superhero nice. \u00a0HomeOwnerMan was reminded of a flight attendant he once met on a particularly long flight where the passengers had become angry and restless. \u00a0The flight attendant offered a perky “Turkey Sandwich!?” to 310 passengers with poise and grace and never lost her smile. \u00a0The NJWSA women were just as perky and nice.<\/p>\n

\"turkey<\/a><\/p>\n

and IV: It took less than a half an hour to put the rain barrel together, and I’m guessing about a half and hour to install it as well.<\/p>\n

So what are you waiting for? \u00a0Find out when the next seminar is in your area. \u00a0Build and install your own. \u00a0Save the planet. \u00a0Be a HomeOwnerMan (or HomeOwnerWoman) yourself. \u00a0You may not have the tights and the caricature (courtesy www.EmilyArts.com), but you will be a reasonable facsimile. \u00a0(FriendInRaleighMan had a facsimile machine, or Fax machine, before HomeOwnerMan, too. \u00a0He was just way cool!)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Many years ago [a couple of\u00a0olympiads ago actually] the HomeOwnerFamily visited the FriendInRaleighFamily for a weekend. \u00a0FriendInRaleighMan is always a few steps cooler than HomeOwnerMan and just a few years ahead on technologies. \u00a0For example, he was the first person HomeOwnerMan knew who had given up cable TV for streaming content. \u00a0He described to his … Continue reading “Roll out the barrel, and we’ll have a barrel of fun!”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,1],"tags":[9,16,11,17],"class_list":["post-218","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-knowledgebase","category-uncategorized","tag-humor","tag-rain-barrel","tag-superhero","tag-watershed"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/homeownerman.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/homeownerman.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/homeownerman.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/homeownerman.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/homeownerman.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=218"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/homeownerman.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":226,"href":"http:\/\/homeownerman.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218\/revisions\/226"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/homeownerman.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=218"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/homeownerman.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=218"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/homeownerman.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=218"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}