UFFW -

Since Friday it has hardly stopped raining. Flooding in the area is limited but all the streams are getting close to bursting point. Luckily the firebrigade siren hasn't been heard.

Has now got to the point that the massive cellar under the horse stables is so full of water (must be in excess of 100m³ ie 100,000 liters) that it is ouzing out and on to the concrete area where the horses are enclosed it at the moment - no chance of letting them  on to the fields.

Would be nice to use the cellar for storage - it' about 5m (wide) x 10m (long) x 2m (high) and used to hold the oil fired heating for the greenhouses on the property. Would in theory be possible with a pump in the sump but one does need to ensure 24/7 electricity and as we are prone to power failures, it is quite likely one would keep having floods.

In winter I do pump it out as it usually eventually freezes and then acts as a massive fridge. In spring keep it flooded so that we have a reserve of fire fighting water. Nearest hydrant is probably 1km away and often the stream only has a few centimeters of water. The village FFW (Freiwillige Feuerwehr - Voluntary Firebrigade) vehicle can only carry about 800 liters, not a lot if a forest fire started next to the house.

Having in the past had a few floods, I bought a cheap petrol driven "chinese" water pump about 10 years ago. It can pump around 50m³/hour. Usually it has one outing a year for such things as emptying the swimming pool but this year have managed to keep the water from last year. It always amazes me that the motor springs i  to action after two pulls. A friend who know a bit about garden motors, says the motor while seemingly chinese, is an old Honda design presumably built on licence.

For the sake of a good Blip, attached the fire hose and posed for the shot!

Apart from pumping, did some work on the bee housing, making a second lower tier for the double decker hives. Makes inspection work a lot easier - a full frame of honey is very heavy especially when you need to lift several dozen and inspect them carefully.