my clever husband......

my husband is a wonderful, likeable guy. i make him think that he has many flaws, but he actually only has a few. one of these is a major flaw, but also a major attribute. he is always looking for a new project. that in itself is great. the flipside is the fact that very few of these ever get finished. he has been talking about a "grey water system" for the past 6 months. i listen, but i keep on hoping that it will be a passing idea. this week, though, the "grey water system"-project was kickstarted.

Stix dug the hole last saturday, and the whole thing was assembled. there was a slight problem with something floating, but last night Marius sorted it out. and voila! today we are recycling our "grey" water!!! in our instance it is just the water from our main shower, but as we shower twice a day, it should be ok. in the picture above, you can see the water running into the barrel. the green thing in the barrel is a little pump that kicks in when the water reaches a certain level. and then, this happens.................

water comes out of the sprinkler and your garden is happy!!!! we are in a terrible draught again here in the eastern cape, and i moan all the time about the high cost of water (marius LOVES his garden and he always has a hose in his hand when he is home) so, for once i think one of my husband's projects is really fantastic! the challenge for him will now be to COMPLETE it..... and keep me impressed!! on a more serious note, we watched a documentary last night about soil. how soil is being covered in concrete and eroded by fire, urbanisation and litter. one lady from Nigeria ( i think) told a fable about a beautiful forest that caught fire. all the animals ran to the edge of the forest where the river was, and stood watching as the fire set about destroying their habitat. all of them, except the little hummingbird. she flew to the river, and scooped up some water into her little beak. she then dropped it onto the fire. all the animals thought she was crazy. "what are you doing", the elephant said "you will never be able to put out the fire. you are too small and your beak only holds a few drops. you are wasting your time." the little hummingbird looked at all the big animals, shook her little head and said " i know i am small, and i know that i can only carry a few drops at a time to put out the fire. but i am doing everything i can as a hummingbird to put out the fire." WOW. this really made me think. we are all essentially hummingbirds. God made us custodians of the earth. we were told to take care of it and work it for the benefit of mankind. are we being obedient? i am not big on environmental issues. but i am thinking that just maybe, i should also do my "hummingbird" best to make a small difference. and if that includes letting my husband put in 10 grey water systems without finishing them up 100%, so be it!!!!