The Rain(bow) Report

Whew -  barely made it back inside with Clove before another downpour started.  Poor dogs had to be satisfied with a pee dash instead of midday walkies today.  The rain has been generous and fairly well-behaved over the last 6 days.  Daily rainfall has ranged from 0.7 to 1.7 inches each day, with a chance for more than 1.7 inches yet today (1.2 so far, with more coming down now).

Last evening, Barnie and I spotted this lovely rainbow as the sun was setting.

A hint of a double arc.  The main arc spans from approximately Pine Ridge Creek to Great Monkey Cay.

Unusual (to me, anyway) to see a rainbow this low.  The brown water is from a plume of fresh water from Monkey River due to all the rainfall in the recent days.

The colors at the base intensified as the rest of the rainbow faded away.

We were greeted this morning by a rainbow in the western sky as the sun rose.  I have learned to grab my camera any time I notice the sun shining while the rain is falling - chances are good there is a rainbow in sight!

A single arc over the swamp and jungle.

Always a great way to begin the day.

I call this rain well-behaved not only because it gave us rainbows, but also because it was spread out over time and hasn't caused any flooding, it topped off our water vats, and still let enough sunlight through to charge our solar power system.  The rain that fills our water vats is our only source of fresh water for drinking, cleaning, etc.  Dennis keeps a close eye on the vats and their maintenance.  We have to make sure we have enough water on hand to make it through the dry season.  That includes watering the garden.

Dennis also keeps a close eye on our solar power system, making sure that we don't shorten the lifespan of those big, expensive, batteries by letting the charge drop too low.  If it gets too low, we will need to run the generator to recharge them.  We have become very spoiled with our solar system.  When we first built down here in 2005, we had a big diesel generator for power.  The power tools for construction ran straight off the generator.  We soon added a small battery bank for the generator to charge so there would power 24/7 instead of only while the gen was running.  Our goal always was to move to solar power, which we did in 2015.  We installed solar panels on the roof of the new cabana, which we had oriented to maximize solar gain, and installed the baddass batteries we have now (here is a post Dennis wrote with the gory details of solar system we installed).  We were able to decommission the big diesel generator and get a smaller gas-powered generator for backup power.   The sound of silence when we turned off the big generator for the last time was magical.  The bit of red roof in the next-to-last photo is the generator shed, which was actually the first building constructed here.  With that generator and its big barrel of diesel fuel gone, we can use the shed for storage of gasoline for the boat and new generator; it also houses the water pump.

As I am finishing up this post, the sun is out, the batteries are charging, and the water vats are full - life is good.

Sunshine in the Rainy Season

Another beautiful dawn after another night of rain.  We could get used to this!  Especially since the rainy nights have not been stormy, rainy nights.  The music of rain during the night, or anytime really, is the music of our water vats being filled and that is lovely music, indeed.

Sublime start to the day.

We have had measurable rainfall for 21 of the first 26 days of September, for a total of more than 20 inches in September.  And the good part is that most of it has fallen at night, leaving our days nice and sunny.

It looks like a postcard when you frame the photo so that the eroded beach doesn't show!  The beach is slowly building back now that the night-time winds are from the northeast instead of due east.

September is a hot month, second only to May for high temps.  And all that sunshine seems aimed right at the solar panels on the roof of the addition.  We are awash in solar power!  Never before have we been replete with power and water at the same time.  I am almost giddy - no wait - I AM giddy!  Of course that could be giddy with heat stroke ...  The sunshine that gives us power also bakes down on the metal roof.  And that brings us to our current building project.  But first, click here to listen to "Sunshine", a great anti-war song of the 1970s that, unfortunately, remains far too relevant.

Ok, now to our project, namely roof insulation.  Dennis had the foresight to order 4 big rolls of thin foam insulation backed on both sides by reflective foil.  We are stapling it to what are locally termed "lapboards" because they are the boards over which you lap the metal roof and screw the metal down to.  You can get an idea of how in works in the photo below.

The corrugated roofing is screwed down to the "lapboards" (2x4s in this instance) that span the distance between the roofing trusses.  The flexible foil-backed foam insulation is stapled to the sides of the lapboards.  A partial roll of the insulation is visible in the lower righthand corner of the photo.

We will come back and put rigid foam insulation between the trusses. It will be mounted flat against the lapboards, giving an airspace between the foil and rigid foam that will also increase the R-value of the roof insulation.

The stack of rigid foam insulation awaiting installation.

 A high R-value is very welcomed on the south-facing roof.  I checked the temperature of the interior of the roof right at noon today.  I measured it at 4 places on the south-facing roof:  1) the bare metal; 2) bare metal covered with  the foil-backed insulation; 3) under the solar panels without insulation; and 4) under the solar panels with insulation.  The results were astounding and scary!

The south-facing roof with solar panels.

The hottest part is, of course, the bare metal without insulation which averaged 137F (58.3C).  Ouch - you could cook on that!  Next was the area under the solar panels, but without the insulation, which was 123F (50.5C).  Still uncomfortably hot to the touch.  With the insulation, but without solar panels was 93F (34C), and with insulation and solar panels was 91F (33C).  The air temp in the loft was ~91F when I made these measurements.  It will be much cooler when we get the entire roof insulated.

They will finish with the foil-back insulation next week, so we are ready for more hot, sunny days.

Lots of sunshine and clear, calm seas!

I played in the water today for the first time in ages.  It is now clear enough and I can get to the water without having to leap off a cliff.  It was delightful.  But I could see up close how the seagrass beds have suffered with those rough east winds.  In some places the grass has been scoured down to the roots and what does remain is brown (dead?) or sickly green.  I hope it will grow back from the rhizomes. The breakwater is still a work in progress and we are very happy with it so far.