Possibilities

My brother said he'd sell this house, at some point, so I could move back out to the fringes, the country in other words. I've always had this dream, if I ever came into money, which I never have, of living in a small community, almost a commune. Everybody however would have their own private sleep house with a community kitchen and entertainment room. The entertainment room would be where people could get together to talk, play games, watch movies. There are a lot of lonely people out there.

So lately I've had this thought, if this place could be sold, I wonder if I could make something like that. It'd cost a lot more, however, than this house is worth if sold. I have people I've known forever also always with housing issues. It'd be like that co-housing thing in Corvallis, only not brand new and fancy like that is. And it wouldn't exclude the people that co-housing thing in Corvallis excluded, namely anyone who has ever been in the mental health system. It's a dream of mine. It would be smaller, too.

For now, I turned over the earth in back for a garden and have been creating compost there. There's a big drainage issue in the backyard. Even the grass dies. I asked someone about this and they said it was due accumulating water and lack of proper drainage. So I have to build above the yard, in raised beds, for a garden.

A long time ago, I saw a big yellow metal container at a woman's house. She didn't want it so I took it. It'd be perfect for collecting rainwater. I thought for awhile I'd put it on a rolling cart, punch a hole in the gutter system, extend a pipe from the gutter down into the tank, after inserting a faucet at the bottom. I would have a piece of metal I could flip back into place, to redirect water into the gutter system. I would also have an overflow pipe at the top of the tank if there wasn't space for overflow in the lid.

I don't know what kind of water pressure is created by water in a barrel five feet tall and 16 inches in diameter. As the water in the tank got lower of course the pressure would fall. So I thought about cutting a wooden circle that would fit inside the tank.

On the top of that wooden circle I would attach two 2x4's that could be as long as four feet, with a crossbar attached at the top of the vertical 2x4's, that extended horizontally beyond the edges of the tank on both sides.

I would put large solid hooks on the crossbar on each side of the tank, to which I could add weights. This would provide weight downward, hence more water pressure, when I needed it, to get water from the tank or propel it a distance.

I could even attach two horizontal crossbars, in an "X" to add weights on four sides. I could keep the contraption from falling over by running two or four metal pipes up the side of water tank and drilling holes the diameter of the pipes in the crossbars and extending the pipes up through them and attaching a cap. This would prevent the weight contraption from falling over and provide a track to guide it downward.

I did not get around to rigging this last summer, but I will get to it, because it sounds fun to even try to do this.

I also wonder how much water force would be required to generate electricity. I don't know much about this at all. But I start wondering if in these huge rainstorms we've been having if rainwater from the roof could be channeled and funneled into a narrower and narrower space to turn a paddle wheel of sorts to generate or store even small amounts of electricty. This is just a curiosity to me, a wondering if its possible.

I've got to get back to trying to finish the garage cat run. I had to stop for a couple days because I hurt my back lifting that thing up. It does weigh 80 or so pounds and was awkward. Raising that overhead by myself until I get some nails into the supports to hold it was a bit taxing on my back and shoulders. Yesterday, if I'd turn a certain way, I'd just crumble. Then the whole thing turning that garage upside down looking for the escaped by male last night inflamed my back again.

When I'm in the heat of such an endeavor, I notice no pain. We were crawling up into the highest sections of that garage shop, upper levels, by standing on chairs then pulling ourselves up atop a cupboard, standing on that, then from there, hoisting ourselves up into the loft to search unstable materials up there. It was probably stupid. Maybe we should have just let it go.

In the end, the cat tired of our chase and a 50 some year old woman and seventy some year old man prevailed. I was down on my hands and knees on the concrete floor in the end, waiting as the man prodded the cat from behind a shelf overloaded in old car parts. He bolted out and immediately leaped upward, to go over me, but my trusty net did not fail me nor did my reflexes and I got him.

The cat weighs 14 pounds or so, and the slight aluminum framed net, onto which I had sewed some volleyball netting I found at a thrift store once, twisted with me twisting with it, until I could rip my coat off and get it over him, to calm him. Cat caught. Cat netter gets more bruises and aches. But no matter. The big guy will be neutered tomorrow.