Long Term Water Storage

I've been interested in storing water in my home incase of an emergency.  

You see, if our electricity goes out, so does the pump to our well.  If the pump in the well goes out, no water. If the wires to the well go bad - no water (just ask my neighbor). If we have a serious earthquake the well could be permanently damaged. This means no flushing toilets, no washing dishes, you get the idea.

We are NOT on city water.  

I've looked at several types of containers such as the 55 gallon drum, aqua paks, and these water bricks.  

55 gallon drum 

 Impossible to move once it is filled with water

Difficult to store several in our small mechanical room

Awkward shape

huge mess if it spills

But it would have some water pressure if we used the attachable hose

$50 at Smithfield Implement 

aqua pak

7.5 gallon size or 5 gallon size would be easier to carry

Easier to rotate the water supply

you can only stack them 2 high or they will split

$13.95 for 5 gallon at beprepared.com

water brick

heavy duty and bpa free

can also be used to store grains and legumes

3.5 gallon - even I could carry that and rotate the water supplied in them

stack them 10 feet up and they hold up  - you can even make a house out of them - I thought you'd get a laugh out of that one

small enough to stick anywhere

I don't have to store them all in the mechanical room - I can put a couple under the sink in each bathroom.

$16.95 at Shelf Reliance

Check it out - it even comes in CAMO - perfect for camping and we love camping!

What have you used in the past to store water?  I could store water in soda bottle - but we really don't drink that much soda.  And they don't stack. 

So what do you think of these bricks?  Have you seen any other great ideas you could share with me? The price makes my heart skip a beat but I think that maybe it means they will last longer, they are made with a more environmentally friendly material, and well, they use space efficiently. Am I jumping the gun here? Or do these really make sense?

Camping

I'm very lucky to live in a place where I can go camping during the summer.  I am even more lucky to be married to a man who is a much better photographer than I am, technically speaking. No way could I even capture an image like this - campfire, glowing tents, silhouetted trees, and yes - STARS.  Just click on the first image to see it larger.  The stars show up better.

Here is one of the lakes we hiked to.  The kiddos did great and it was a pleasant temperature.  The mosquitos loved it too.  This time the repellent only kept them 3 inches from our face - don't breath too deeply in swarms like that! But it was gorgeous.  We were there only a week before and it looked like this. That kind of melting explains why the reservoir we live near is still filled to capacity.

 And I love this photo with the moon in it.  That is why the sky was so light in the first image and even some bright light on the trunks of trees. But the first photo takes the cake!

Camping in June

You can see here the start of a new tradition.  

That's me on the left side of the photo. I started out cooking the bacon.  Then I had to put the fire out.  Then when we got  it all figured out and the bacon cooked to perfection we tossed the hash browns in.  When they were nice and crispy we took them out and started eating.  Then we added the eggs into the skillet.  Tyler then added the cheese.  Then we ate some more. 

We enjoyed the beautiful morning and then headed home to work in the yard for several more hours. I slept perfectly that night!

Camping - a first this year

We normally spend our summer weekends up in the hills. Well, not this year. It's just been non-stop. Tyler and I added up the miles spent traveling (and this does not include errands, driving to work, etc). We are each up around the 6,000 mile mark often traveling apart from each other! That's a lot of time spent in the car for each of us. Anyway, we finally made camping a priority. Haeley spent a lot of time drawing camping pictures while in the Jeep. We took a few minutes to get photos of us together as a family and then it was time for tin foil dinners and roasting marshmallows over the fire. Then I let Haeley take a few photos. I love handing her the camera. Even better? Sorting through to find the treasures of her work. We really had fun and CJ slept through the entire night - a first! Maybe we can do this again...

Thank goodness for timers! We celebrated 10 years of marriage in August. What wonderful blessings have come to us through being together. My husband and my children make me a better person.


Campfire - perfect for tinfoil dinners and roasting marshmallows


I love quaking aspen trees.


Photo of berries by Haeley


That sleeping bag is almost as big as he is. I wish I had a video of his face when I rescued him from it. Pure relief. Hilarious!


Photo by Haeley of her brother


My sweetie!


I stayed to keep the campfire attended while they went for a walk. I love photos of people going places.