Thursday, March 12, 2009

water in the bank

Low of 36 - High of 50. Cold dreary day today with lots of fog in the morning and low clouds all day - but no more rain for now. One of the few swamped in cloudy days I will get for the entire year. Finished pumping out the pond and filled the 3000 gallon tank by 4PM. That's 25,020 lbs of water earmarked for growin' food this summer. My little 12 volt pump worked 12 1/2 hours over the last two days to do the job. The good thing is the new dam holds the water till I'm done pumping, even at that rate. I think I will move the other big tank down to the reservoir as it has proved to be an easy spot to snatch and store the water when it happens. Had a brief bit of sun just as the tank was dribbling over and dashed out to enjoy a glimpse of my shadow.

Ordered one last set of the cheap (on sale) Harbor Freight solar panels to dedicate to my swamp cooler once it warms up to the point where I will need it. Will try to remember this chilly day fondly when we start hitting 110 this summer. Also ordered two 123 watt solar panels through my friend Bennett Jones in Alpine - one for fun in the future and one to supplement the wind turbine battery house. With all the cloud cover we have had for the past two days, I'm powering this blog tonight with the juice from the turbine battery house via an inverter and 300' of extension cord. Seems I've got water and power to spare now.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

You mentioned Harbor Freight solar panels, I have a set mounted on top of my Casita travel trailer, and they have worked great for the past year now. I got mine on sale for $179

Anonymous said...

A continually fascinating blog. Or is it a diary? Doesn't matter, it's well worth reading, all the time.

Jon H said...

Question about your dam. I can't remember from your previous posts about phase two for water we're you going to build a second dam downstream? How does the area look that your buddy prepped with his tractor?

Anonymous said...

I'm "upstate" in Canyon Lake (first time for a upstate reference). We are getting our first rain in forever. Feels good and conforting. We watched your show twice... great work. Hope we can come down and meet you sometime.

Ben in Texas said...

Thanks for the update. Here in the Fort Worth Area we are on our third day of rain and we sure need it. Hope it didn't come to late for the spring bluebonnet bloom. I did pass on your site to some RV friends who are planning on spending break down hear you.. hope they got it in time and get in touch with you.