Good morning!!!!

[Kyle_in_Tex]

ArlyA, I sure like all the nice wood in your camp house cabin. Even the table is heavy duty logs.

Hope you all have a blessed day.

 

[WinterDeere]

I'm smiling just reading about your happy dogs. Thanks!

We have two: One is just about the cutest Boston terrier anyone has ever seen, and entertaining as hell when you're in the mood for it, but usually a PITA who wants constant entertainment. The other is a French bulldog that we rescued from an Amish breeder who was keeping her locked up 24/7 in an outdoor rabbit hutch, who is not much to look at, but probably the sweetest gentle soul of a dog that I've ever had the pleasure to own.

The Frenchie spends most of her day sleeping in any weather, the only thing that changes when the stoves get lit is the location she chooses for her slumber. But the Boston Terrier will pester us and the other dog to play with her all day every day, whenever those stoves go cold. The only way to get her to lay down, other than overnight, is either a warm stove or a warm spot of sunshine on the hardwood floor as the afternoon sun shines through.

 

[daugen]

good trip downtown at supermarket on senior day, saved a whopping 3 bucks, and then
home to get a few projects done, including mounting the leaf vac on the mower.
I'm guessing it just might not fit in the doors, will have to see.
no problem to leave it outside for several months if need be since I have a good outdoor cover for it
that is big enough to cover the leaf vac too.

I slop a lot of plastic protectant on the mowers to keep the UV damage down

need to be careful to not screw up back, think three times before lifting

 

[sodamo]

67°F and .25 inches rain

Yesterday’s mowing cut short by rain. It a complaint as we need the rain. Only 57 inches ytd compared to 141 inches by end of October last year. Once it dries a bit I’ll get back out there

25.1g of diesel in back of truck. $99.97.

Nice HH in town. A new place for us, but old establishment. The didn’t have a published HH before so we didn’t go. Now they have one but later. Doubtful we’ll be frequent HH participants. Service not very good although pleasant and a bit on pricey side for me if you partake of the non HH menu which we did. But we still had enjoyable time.

Resume mowing today once it dries enough. Goal is get this round done be Thursday wx permitting

Prayers for all
Be safe
Have a great tractor day

 

[rswyan]

54.7F and partly cloudy @ 12:00, calling for a high of 63F for the day with a slight chance of a rain shower ...

It rained earlier ... nearby LWS reports 0.07" since midnight. Rain yesterday totaled around 1".

Low this morning was 37.5F.

Got meds doled out first thing yesterday.

Then spent a good bit of time on the phone researching water well fracking.

Called and left a message with the original driller of our well to see if they knew of anyone doing it.

Then spoke to a supplier of fracking equipment up in New England to see if maybe he had a line on any drillers doing water well fracking not too distant from us. Sounded like the closest was somewhere up in Michigan, but none in Ohio.

Found out that there may be an issue with us getting it done with our small well bore size (5") due to the size of the packer needed to seal off the well bore. Typically they'd like a 6" minimum bore. At the very least, the pitless adapter would probably have to be broken off and sent to the bottom of the well after pulling the pump so the packer could be inserted.

He suggested checking the state licensing database as sometimes they will track that per contractor as a capability they provide. Found out Ohio doesn't but Pennsylvania does.

He also suggested checking with NGWA (National Groundwater Association), a trade association for well drillers ... since they are headquartered in Ohio.

Called the NGWA and spoke to a customer service rep, she was completely unfamiliar with the process. Emailed her a couple of links on the process.

Then put in a call to a driller up in Stow to see if they did it. Got a call back from them fairly quickly and the guy I spoke to was unfamiliar with water well fracking but offered that they did do water well rehabilitation which sounded like it involved chemical treatment, cleaning the well bore (brush and bail ?) and punching the hole a little deeper. Minimum charge: $2,000 to bring the drill rig out for a day and no guarantee that it would accomplish anything in terms of improved production. Cost could go higher if they had to be onsite for more than a day.

Got a call back from our original driller. Yes he has heard of water well fracking, no he doesn't know of anyone in the area who does it. Would be happy to help us out if we think there is something he can do.

Called and spoke with a driller in extreme western PA, probably about an hour away. Ended up being a bit of an odd conversation - due to conflicting info. First thing the guy said was that they personally hadn't had much luck with fracking, doesn't work that well in soft sandstone and it's mostly used further east in harder rock formations. This kinda flies in the face of data I read where a survey was done on the efficacy of water well fracking in various strata and sandstone yielded the highest increases in production.

At some point I asked if they actually did it since they were listed in the PA database as providing the service, and the guy said no - they didn't have the equipment. Which raises the question of how they "didn't have much luck with it" ...

Refilled the hopper feeder, both tube feeders, both suet feeders, also scattered some seed for the ground feeders.

Got the Cub refueled, turned out that the amount of gas The Woman got was just enough to fill both tanks completely ...

Ran down to the corner gas station and noticed our original driller was at a neighbor's replacing their well pump.

Stopped on the way back and talked with him, discussing our situation a little more in detail. His take on brushing and bailing was that it was a waste of time and unlikely to result in any significant improvement.

Said "well if you plan on being there for the duration ..." he'd suggest just drilling another well ... of course, that would come with a price tag of around $15K to $20K ...

Told him that probably wasn't going to happen ...

Then I mentioned that one solution we had considered was plumbing a large storage tank into the system, probably in the basement, and using a second booster pump to provide water pressure in the house.

And he pointed out that even if the well only produces 1 gpm that's still 1,440 gallons in a day.

A-yup.

Said he figured that with only two of us in house that 500 gallons of storage would probably be more than enough to cover peak usage.

Cost would be substantially less than getting a new well drilled, maybe on par with getting the well fracked ($3K) ... if we could find someone local to do the fracking.

Said to let him ponder it for a bit and he'd give a call later ...

Decided to go ahead and see if I could get the 2nd gate post on the north fence line done once I got back home.

Got the post in the hole and set plumb and braced, then set the top cross beam connecting the two and got it lagged together with The Woman's assistance.

Then She helped get the hole filled and compacted.

She did a little weeding too while She was out there and found another 2 Honey Baby squash hiding in the flower bed which I picked and brought in.

She ended up taking the trash up to the cans at the road after dinner, wasn't all that much.

Not sure what all is on the agenda for the rest of the day.

Possibly that trip down to Menards for returns and order pick up.

Otherwise see what else comes up.

Hope everyone is having a decent Tuesday ...

 

[sodamo]

Sad story, Ron. Prayers for the family.

Noticed in town yesterday that one of the local station was charging 5.79 for E0, 1.20 more than their Reg. Criminal!

 

[sodamo]

Rswyan
Awhile back you mentioned freezing squash. Any effect? Such as the breakdown where the water is released when thawing?

Adding a storage tank to your well would seem to be a reasonable, cost effective solution. Look into availability of quality poly tanks. Sadly their prices have soared over the years, but great longevity. I would plumb so the tank stays full and house feeds directly from tank only. RNG did a similar at his old place as I recall.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

Got 2 tons of pellets stocked in the barn today, and the box on the porch filled. That was my all day project. Get the pellets up in the town where L4 mentioned the E0 gas available, but that is out the other end of town. It's 20 miles from house to the pellet store, probably another 5 miles to that garage. Did get gas for truck for 2.69 today.

 

[rswyan]

Rswyan
Awhile back you mentioned freezing squash. Any effect? Such as the breakdown where the water is released when thawing?

Not planning on freezing any pumpkin or winter squash whole or even in chunks. All of that will get baked and run through the food processor to turn it into puree. Kinda like pumpkin pie filling ... only a bit thinner. That will get used for baking (pie, bread) or soups.

On the summer squash, I think we blanched some of that (slices mainly) before bagging and freezing it. Started skipping that step primarily due to how we use it: typically it gets sauteed with onions and maybe some peppers.

On the summer squash we shredded it mainly would get used for baking so probably not issue there either ?

Adding a storage tank to your well would seem to be a reasonable, cost effective solution.

Yeah ... seems like it could be. And it could largely be done as a "roll my own" solution ... potentially saving the labor cost of having a contractor install it.

Look into availability of quality poly tanks. Sadly their prices have soared over the years, but great longevity.

Will do ... thanks ! ...

I would plumb so the tank stays full and house feeds directly from tank only. RNG did a similar at his old place as I recall.

Right ...

A couple of issues I need to research further, as I have some concerns:

1. Potential flooding in the basement. A good quality tank and float switch would hopefully eliminate those.

2. Sanition: Storing water inside would probably raise the cold water temp.

The growth range temp-wise for Legionella bacteria is 77F to 108F. They can survive at 118F to 122F but don't actively multiply and below 68F they can survive, but are dormant.

That was partly the reason for wanting to install a tempering valve on the hot water supply: to be able to run the hot water heater higher than 120F but reduce the risk of scalding by lowering the actual temperature to the fixtures to 120F or slightly less.

The other benefit of course is a larger effective supply of hot water.

 

[kenmbz]

Not planning on freezing any pumpkin or winter squash whole or even in chunks. All of that will get baked and run through the food processor to turn it into puree. Kinda like pumpkin pie filling ... only a bit thinner. That will get used for baking (pie, bread) or soups.

On the summer squash, I think we blanched some of that (slices mainly) before bagging and freezing it. Started skipping that step primarily due to how we use it: typically it gets sauteed with onions and maybe some peppers.

On the summer squash we shredded it mainly would get used for baking so probably not issue there either ?



Yeah ... seems like it could be. And it could largely be done as a "roll my own" solution ... potentially saving the labor cost of having a contractor install it.



Will do ... thanks ! ...



Right ...

A couple of issues I need to research further, as I have some concerns:

1. Potential flooding in the basement. A good quality tank and float switch would hopefully eliminate those.

2. Sanition: Storing water inside would probably raise the cold water temp.

The growth range temp-wise for Legionella bacteria is 77F to 108F. They can survive at 118F to 122F but don't actively multiply and below 68F they can survive, but are dormant.

That was partly the reason for wanting to install a tempering valve on the hot water supply: to be able to run the hot water heater higher than 120F but reduce the risk of scalding by lowering the actual temperature to the fixtures to 120F or slightly less.

The other benefit of course is a larger effective supply of hot water.

I added a UV bulb where the water leaves my pressure tank in the house.
Replace it every year along with a sediment filter.

Could do this post storage tank so you would not have to worry.