My parents were here visiting us last week. We had a wonderful time, and it was unbelievably difficult to watch them leave yesterday. *sigh* But, rather than focus on how much I miss them, I’m going to show you something my father and Bernie did for me last week. They built this for me:
An outside sink! How incredibly cool is that??? It’s attached to the back of my garden shed so I can work in the shade, and it’s hooked up to my rain barrel. Now I can work with my potted plants in comfort and I have a place to clean up the garden veggies before bringing them in the house. I can’t tell you how much I love that little sink. And the coolest part of all is that they used leftover lumber and an old sink that was laying in the cabin shed. Bernie and I started painting it yesterday, and I’ll put up pictures of how it looks once we are finished.
Bernie had hooked my rain barrel to a small pump a couple of weeks ago so that we could attach a garden hose and pump water up hill to my garden and greenhouse. Here’s the little pump:
It’s inside my garden shed, under the work bench Bernie built for me. He attached a piece of garden hose to the drain valve at the bottom of the rain barrel, ran the hose through a small hole in the garden shed, and attached the other end of it to the pump. He installed a spigot outside my garden shed so that I can hook up a garden hose and the pump will pump the water through it.
Daddy and Bernie added another spigot above the sink. It splits off of the pump and they ran it through the wall to my sink:
I am tickled beyond words with the results. Thank you, Bernie and Daddy! Bernie is now excited to add two or three more rain barrels around the property. He’s keeping his eyes open for small pumps that go on sale.
My parents brought their small dachshund, Oliver, with them for the visit. Oliver is a cutie. He’s a couple of months older than Diesel and Dolly, but he’s MUCH smaller. Oliver has attitude, and he didn’t let his size hold him back. When he wanted something, he went for it.
Those puppies played and played while Oliver was here.
And they chewed up lots of sticks.
And, when Oliver left, Diesel pouted a little.
We had a great time visiting with my parents and Oliver. The week went by entirely too fast. I’m extremely blessed to have such wonderful parents.
I love you mom and dad.
Bee Free,
Penny
I really like the idea of an outdoor sink! And I admire the relationship you have with your parents. I love your blog btw, ive been looking at it for awhile now, i started back when you were building the chicken coop.
I love your little chicken family and i’m waiting for more pictures and updates about the broodies! haha, thank you. And a hamburg thats broody? Thats not common, could you get a pic of her for me? I’d like to see. well thanks again, hope to see many more pics in the future =)
Hi J.P. Thanks for leaving a comment! Just for you, my next post will be dedicated to my chickens – and I’ll include a picture of the broody Hamburg. It took her a couple of weeks to decide she really was broody – but once she did, she’s sticking to that nest like glue. I have to remove her from the nest to make sure she gets something to eat and drink. I really hope she’s a good mama. My next post will have several chicken pictures for you.
Well thankyou! I am looking forward to hearing about all the little broodies!
Nice post. I like the pump idea.
Collecting rainwater for my bucket garden is a great way to help conserve water.
I too created a rain barrel using a vinyl trashcan and a few tools. Not as big as yours, but it works and only cost about 10 bucks.
You can take a look at my step by step pictures if interested.
http://gravitygarden.com/rainbucket/?page_id=46
Gravity Gardener..
Penny, how wonderful is that…an outside sink! I know you are thrilled. I’m jealous of your rain barrels. Colorado has some weird laws when it comes to water and water catchment is illegal. And so is using grey water, which is ridiculous. Not to say that people don’t get by doing both, but it’s a no-no according to state laws.
The pictures are great. I especially like the one of Dolly biting on Oliver and Diesel biting on Dolly! You are very fortunate to have such a good relationship with your parents. You look a lot like your mom.
Hi Gravity Gardener – thanks for stopping by. I love your rain bucket! We put our rain barrel in last year, but the vegetable garden is located at the top of our yard – up hill, so I could never use the rain barrel to water it. Bernie added the pump a few weeks ago and now that baby will water all over the yard if needed. I really love it. We’re hoping to get a rain barrel for the back yard and situate it on a platform so that the gravity will work to water my plants back there without a pump.
Lilla – I can’t believe you can’t legally catch water in Colorado! That is bizarre. And I wish you could have seen these puppies playing. It was a hoot. Diesel and Dolly have STILL not caught up on sleep since Oliver left. And I agree – I am extremely fortunate to have such great parents. We’ve always been a very close family. Bernie is very close to his parents too. We are truly blessed.
I love that last pic. Look how happy you guys are. And cmon. How gentle Diesel was being to Oliver in that one pic that you had on there….where they were nibbling on each others necks….
Ummm, an outdoor sink? Really? AND hooked up to a rain barrel? Ummm….Bernie…that looks really nice. You did a great job. Penny, I think he loves you just a little bit….
Hi Frugalmom – Diesel and Dolly really amazed us with Oliver. They were both so very gentle with him – he made them “IKE” several times by biting their ears and jowls, but they never got mad at him. They were just so good with him and just loved playing with him.
And I know! That sink is SO cool. I am just in love with it. Bernie and Daddy out-did themselves. I am tickled pink over it. I stand and stare at it at least once a day and wash my hands in it just about every time I walk by it – just because I can!
AWWWW I love Oliver. I had one who looked like him. His name was PeeWee. He thought he was a Rottie in a little body. He was so very protective of me. My Daddy gave him to me when he was so tiny you could fit him in your shirt pocket. He was the meanest little thing I ever met LOL. He was part billy goat to LOL. Hubby called me at work one day all in a frenzy to tell me my sweet little dog had ate a tear drop light bulb. Can you believe it did not kill him? I have never ever met a dog with such heart and gusto. This blog made me smile and remember my pup. He died of old age last year. I always swore I would never have another dachshund ever…but I ended up with 2 Chi-Weenie’s Mocha and Bambi who are just as mean as PeeWee was. They are spoiled brats. You can see Mocha and what shape she was in when she got here by watching the video I posted on my home page at http://www.ourcritters.net !
Betty Sue – those Dachshunds can be ferocious little things! They seem to have no concept of how tiny they are. Oliver is extremely sweet – but he amazed me playing with Diesel and Dolly as rough as he did. Diesel and Dolly were so gentle with him – but he didn’t cut them any slack at all! My parents are on their 3rd Dachshund now – I don’t think they’ll ever be without one. I’ve found most Dachshund owners are the same way. Something about the personality of that breed …..