Getting ready for monsoons

No rain is forecast but it's getting closer to monsoon season. I got tired of procrastinating so today I plumbed the inlet going into the new tank. I had filled the tank via a temporary pipe when it was installed. No need to get it plumbed to add water when it's been full since November 2018. But now I'm using the water and need to be ready to fill it when we get our first flash flood. Occasionally that happens in June. The curved pipe going into the top of the tank wasn't there until today. That flat blue hose laying on the ground is what I'm using to take water out of the tank when I water. Like tomorrow. The tank is less than half full now. (Big pipe in foreground is overflow)

In order to fill the tank again I'll run a nearby gas pump and take water from the leaky stucco tank when a monsoon fills it. I'll hook up the pumps outflow to a hose and fasten it to this plumbed in pipe. Quick and easy.

Next I made sure the oil was clean in all the gas pumps. And finally I tackled the hex tiles that I bought with money leftover from the go-fund-me tank project. They've proven to be very disappointing. I think I purchased around 1000 floating tiles for around $1 each. Soon they started sinking, one by one. So I'm taking out the water-logged ones. Don't know if I can patch them or not. Probably not. Most just have pinhole leaks at the corners. Maybe from rubbing against the concrete tank wall. I was too exhausted to finish today. Tomorrow I have to water trees but maybe I can work on the tiles some. Getting the heavy water-filled tiles out of the tank in 100° heat wore me out. I'd say at least a third of them leak. Here's the worst one I've encountered so far.

I'm proud of this photo taken by a visitor to the oasis two days ago. It's a Giant Darner. I usually get at least one every year. They don't stay long and they don't perch, so it's hard to get a decent photo. This one is by Nancy Norman. Way better than any in-flight shots I've gotten of that species.