Even when it doesn't rain . . .

But first, the cistern. This is big. I thought it was going to be plastic, but it's concrete, and in two parts. This shows the first one. It's situated behind the house, next to the carport. That way, it's less likely to interfere with the underground electric and cable. And the underground geothermal. And it connects to the underground water collection system. But I'm getting ahead of myself again.

These pictures are from August 12, 16, and 21.

When I saw this, I thought it might be a place where we could bury the Cardiff Giant. Yes, Mom and Dad, that made more of an impression on me than the Baseball Hall of Fame.


And the cistern is big.


So big they build it in sections.


They seal the sections with green goop.


They use a specialized truck to bring it and place it.


And the truck needs special bracing so it doesn't tip over when the boom is extended. I'm glad the construction is done, so they don't use this board for anything else.


This is what it looks like when it's all put together. And remember - this is only half of it.


This is one of the two roof water washers.


We're scavenging the water that hits the roof and passing it through one of these washers before it hits the cistern. It's like the first stage of a reverse osmosis system - this is where the big physical stuff drops out of the system. The intake and outflow pipes are higher than the floor, allowing us several inches of gunk accumulation before it needs to be cleaned.

How does the water get here? Glad you asked!


It collects from the downspouts and then funnels along the side of the house, and along the back.


Here's the part about the pouring. We have a sidewalk on the front of the house.


And a front porch, and the beginnings of a side patio.

While they were doing all that, they poured the bottom part of the ramp. We decided to have a switchback and extend the carport, instead of having it be an L shape and take up space beside the cars.

They're doing work around the bridge, too. This is a retaining wall. We'll probably try to get some ground cover to hold the driveway edges in place. But it won't be kudzu.


Inside stuff: the tub in the hall bath has been taken over by flooring:


Neat sunlight at 6PM. The floors are not finished yet - they'll glow when they're done. And the difference in shadow height is because the doors slide past one another, and one comes down farther into the beam of light. If they were french doors, the shadows would be the same height.


This is the laundry room. The outside door here goes to the carport. The cabinet will have a utility tub in it. The shelves are for stuff - books, keys, mail coming in, things headed out. In this picture, your back is to the master bath.


Here's the same room from the hallway door. This is where the washer and dryer will go.


These shelves are in the little closet of the master bedroom, the one over the basement stairs.


And here's what those stairs look like. The light over the landing is attached to the bottom of the closet.


Yes, we have a safety wall, and a handrail.


On both sides!


The kitchen is shaping up nicely


and the bedrooms have the fans installed.


And yet from the outside, not so very much different.