Doings (1)

This is the time of the year I start my “projects” list.  That’s a list of things I want/need to get done before it’s actually spring and I start putting the yards back together (everything that normally resides in my yard is hither and yon right now). 

Hang the Rain Chain

I have always liked rain chains – well, actually I’ve only ever seen one in use but it was very cool looking.  And, this past Christmas, my sister gave me one. 

Next, figure out how to hang it so it will guide the water coming off the roof,

down the chain, through the little flower shaped cups and onto the ground.  How hard can it be – right?  IT’S VERY DAMN HARD! 

First thing I learned was rain chains are supposed to be used in place of a gutter downspout. 

Alright, well, I don’t have gutters.  I did have gutters across the front of the house but I am convinced that every tree in the neighborhood walked over to it and shook leaves, pecans, and acorns into it from September until December.  Rain and our warm/cool winter allowed all sorts of things to grow, thus making it way more work than it’s worth.  I had it taken down.  Okay – no gutter and therefore no downspout.

The next set of instructions to hang a rain chain without a gutter included buckets and metal rods and ‘S’ hooks and eyehooks and big potted (with a complicated drain system) plants and no pictures.  Finally I found this . . .

Okay – I can do this - - -  maybe . . . .

First, all the buckets I either have or found are smallish or big.  And, sorry – call me snooty, having a big galvanized bucket hanging off the house is just tacky.  So, I went with smallish. 

Next cut a hole in the bottom of the bucket.  Easier said than done.  Then, put a metal rod (I used a giant galvanized nail) through the bucket, side to side.

Ok, ok – not a pretty hole and probably bigger than it needs to be but there are no specifications – just “cut a hole in the bottom of the bucket”.  Besides, cutting a hole in the bottom of a bucket is hard and challenging and hard!

Then, because I don’t want even a smallish galvanized bucket hanging off the house and I do want the bucket to look like it belongs to the rain chain, I painted it.

So far, so good.

Now I’m to the really alarming part -

“Screw the eyehook into the soffit under the roof crease where you'll hang your rain chain. Position the eyehook about an inch from the edge of the soffit. This will allow most of the bucket mouth to be open to the streaming rain.”

Drilling a hole for the eyehook.  I don’t like the thought of (1) drilling a hole even close to the roof and (2) getting it in the wrong place and having to drill another hole.

Plus, I’m not sure I know how the rain comes off that junction of the roof – not something I’ve paid attention to obviously.  If we have a nice controlled rain, the water should funnel to the trough and right down into the bucket.  But, if we have a typical rain with 3 inches in 30 minutes, it may shoot right across the yard.  Big sigh!

So, now, I’m on hold.  I need to see what happens when it rains.  Fortunately, we are supposed to get rain tomorrow so hopefully I’ll be able to figure it out.  I will let you know how things go.

15 Jan 2019