Flying Bugs, Water and Deck Progress

After the fiasco with emptying the cistern a few weeks ago. I asked Rick's to put in a water usage meter so we could check what our consumption actually is.

Yes, I understand that this doesn't help in watching the cistern, but it does give us get a feel for water flow and the amount going into the house.

This is a pretty standard water meter made by Master Meter. I apologize for the poor picture quality, but again it was the phone camera... in the dark ... the basement... at floor level.

Our usage from Friday evening until Sunday at noon, which included heavy washer usage, was 190 gallons.

The last time I measured the recovery rate on our well, which was 2005, we recovered at 265 gallons a day. This is the key measure, not the pumping rate, as that is more a factor of the pump itself, case in point our well report says 5 gallons a minute, which it does for 15 minutes at a time.

I have our Pump Saver set to pump the well dry (to pump suspension level) every 180 minutes, unless the cistern is full.

On to the deck.

The deck is almost complete. Yahoo!

Then I get to start Marlys next project ,which is the cabinetry for the laundry room, which I believe is going to include a wine cooler.

I, of course, was told I could look on Craig's List for a used refrigerator to put in the barn for beer. I guess I know our priorities.

I am still short four pieces of Trex for the deck itself and the top rails. Chuck at Sonny's called and said they were in last week, so I should complete this project on Saturday. Then Marlys' work begins in sealing and finishing to match the front.

I don't know if you remember from a post in late 2006, but our electricians had left one of their impact drivers behind after the rough-in (they claimed it during the finish) and I had mentioned to them how much I liked using it. They got me one, which I use virtually every weekend on different projects. Securing the decking was made for this tool.

This is not some high(er) voltage cordless tool, but a 12 volt, 3 AMH Panasonic impact driver. It has driven in every fastner on this deck from the 8" framelocks, 2" joist hangers and the hundreds of 2.5" composite decking screws.

It hasn't missed a beat and the battery has only been switched out maybe 6 times. I know this since the charger is in the barn and I need to walk down the hill to swap them out.

I noticed that Fine Woodworking or Homebuilding has an article this month on why it is you need to have an impact driver. Haven't read it but I can tell you I am sold on their use.

OK, now to the next subject, entomology.

This summer I have noticed a new (to me) flying insect around the house. Its identification has be the subject of an ongoing email thread with the CSU Extension Service.

This insect is about an 1.5" long and only seems to fly a few inches to a foot off the ground, alone or in small groups of ~6. The insect has a wide reddish orange band around its adomen. Initially I didn't have a picture of it so it was thought to be some species of a robber fly. Robber flies are predator critters that tend to go after spiders and other insects.

I was finally able to capture one of these critters, when it wandered in to the insecticide kill zone around the house and went into convulsions and died. Guess that isn't so much a capture, as a pick it up.

I made an exceptional (CSI quality) post mortem picture on the edge of the pickup box.

Whitney has now identified this as a:
Response (Whitney Cranshaw) - 07/21/2008 03:04 PM This looks like a hunting wasp in the genus Ammophila. They are solitary wasps (i.e., do not make a colony) and nest in the soil. The females hunt caterpillars that they paralyze, drag back to the nest, and provide for their young to feed on.

I mentioned about a month ago the number of woolly bear caterpillar's around this year, which may explain their presence (and the tiger moths).

Tune in for next week's episode - The Treasures Found on Craig's List, or I too tripped on to a wood shop liquidation sale (so there Bill).