Texas Spring/Summer Thread

[txdon]

Kyle, you must have got all the rain this time.

 

[DABSGT]

Farmgirl

Stop doing your rain dance or turn the other way! It keeps raining here in the northeast!

Sent from my iPad using TractorByNet

 

[farmgirl19]

Feel free to bottle it up and send it back here!

 

[robbyr]

The sun did shine today

 

[bindian]

Hold off before sending any bottled water down here. I am off tonight and have a 5 day weekend. I have rented a Bobcat E42 excavator to help my Big RED Beast widen and deepen my island pond I built last year. With the E42, I'll be able to dig the bottom of the pond at the base of the island, swing around 180 degrees and dump the spoils on the back side of the dam or on top of the dam. With the Big RED Beast only, I would be digging at the bottom and dumping on the dam water side slope. Then either back drag with the loader bucket or move the spoils higher up the slope with the BH................and that is way too much work!

Then I am gonna line all the yellow clay with good old RED clay. Maybe will need another ton of Bentonite.
hugs, Brandi

 

[jinman]

With the E42, I'll be able to dig the bottom of the pond at the base of the island, swing around 180 degrees and dump the spoils on the back side of the dam or on top of the dam.

Oh! The joys of EX over BH. Good luck with the weather. You won't need good luck with anything else to have tons of fun and git-r-done. :thumbsup:

 

[Western]

Brandi, out side of this past Monday, the weather looks good here in the Houston area. 93* here today, but 104*+ back up in Wise county:shocked:

Worked right on the Seawall the last 2 nights in Galveston, decent day's, but as expected, nighttime "rain" (humidity). By 1am, we could feel the salt on our skin:thumbdown:

 

[Kyle_in_Tex]

Kyle, you must have got all the rain this time.

I can not tell a lie, we got about 0.9" (Thank the Lord), which is the most in months (at one time). Too bad the temps are back up to 100° + and the ground is drying back up.

 

[Western]

My fruit trees are really showing stress, so I have been out for an hour watering each one with a couple 5 gallon buckets. I haven't looked at the temp gauge because I dont want the added "depression", but I am sure the temperature is around 150*!!

It's warm gang!!!

 

[farmgirl19]

I'm not sure what the temp actually hit here today. I worked an 11 hour shift, so that I can try to have Monday off. It was plenty hot. Met a good friend for a margarita after work, but I was so tired, we didn't hang out long. Maybe we can meet up again in a couple of months. She lives north of Dallas, so we have to plan a meet up, somewhere near the halfway point.

 

[bindian]

Brandi, out side of this past Monday, the weather looks good here in the Houston area. 93* here today, but 104*+ back up in Wise county:shocked:

Worked right on the Seawall the last 2 nights in Galveston, decent day's, but as expected, nighttime "rain" (humidity). By 1am, we could feel the salt on our skin:thumbdown:

I hate that clammy salt spray feeling. Wednesday night was kinda nice at work. A little warm in the hangar, but nice outside the hangar.
hugs, Brandi

 

[bindian]

Oh! The joys of EX over BH. Good luck with the weather. You won't need good luck with anything else to have tons of fun and git-r-done. :thumbsup:

That Bobcat had me spoiled before I loaded it on my trailer today. Boom swing, 360 degree rotation. I had about an hour of free time today before meeting a friend to shoot at the local range and dug down to about 11 feet and hit water at 10 feet. Yippee. The deeper I went, the REDDER the clay got.:thumbsup:

The Bobcat and the Big RED Beast make a great team. The Bobcat dumps spoils on the dam and the Mahindra moves it out and spreads it. But going over a rain water runoff berm too fast had me putting on the seatbelt. I found out real quick that the rops canopy is hard on my head!
hugs, Brandi

 

[two_bit_score]

Yeah, that's kinda what you'd expect, but not the case in this instance. I was out talking to the Co. Commissioner and Supervisor this morning since my property has the only sufficient shoulder to park on. That's where they are staging equip. for the job and I'm good with that. The Commish told me that Wise County is improving all their county roads thanks to the proliferation of oil and gas well drilling. The taxes from those is being spread around to road projects all over the county. It's just another benefit of sitting on top of the Barnett Shale. Some counties might build new barns and self-serving projects, but our Commish. seems to be spreading the wealth around. He'll sure get my vote, especially since he was driving an older Chevy Blazer. He seemed really down-to-earth.

They are laying down oil/tar today and the paving should start on Thursday. They promised me no more dust after today. Also, I have an area where water drains off my road and onto my property. The road barrow ditch feeds that spot in two directions. As a result, the ground is eroding away and there's a 15' drop down to the bottom of the gully. Only some scrub oak trees in the area are keeping the erosion from eating out under the road. I pointed that out to the Supervisor and he said he'll get down here with some big rip-rap and fix that cut before it gets any worse. Even without a lotto ticket, I feel like I just hit the lottery jackpot.:dance1:

Yes Sir! You did good!

 

[jinman]

Well, before I buy too many lottery tickets, my air conditioner has a way of keeping my head on straight. It stopped cooling at 2 AM this morning. I'm calling my AC guy at 8 AM and telling him to bring plenty of starting capacitors. It's been over two years since I popped the last one, but I've lot's and lot's of power drops lately, almost one-per-day. With the attendant low voltage, air conditioners really take a beating.

 

[Western]

Jim, I know the feeling, replaced ours (s capacitor) about a month ago, 2nd time in 5 years.

At least your down stairs probably stays cool for a time, while waiting for the part.

 

[jinman]

Dennis, Saturday night is movie night in the basement normally anyhow and the AC works well there. It'll be like camping out until the repair guy can get here on Monday. He can't make it today.

 

[Bird]

Dennis, Saturday night is movie night in the basement normally anyhow and the AC works well there. It'll be like camping out until the repair guy can get here on Monday. He can't make it today.

Ouch, that would be tough to me. Of course our house is only one story. I had a new A/C unit installed in May, 2010, and paid a little extra for a 10 year parts and labor warranty. When they later wanted to sell me a service agreement, they admitted that I don't really need it, since I have that warranty (and yes, it's in writing). However, I went ahead for $12 a month, they call me to schedule an appointment at my convenience twice a year to check everything (and they really do spend some time checking everything), and they say there's no service call cost and they're available 24/7 if needed. And after the first year or two, one of their service men showed me on the A/C wiring diagram an "optional" capacitor that my unit didn't have. Again he said I didn't need to spend the money, but that it would make the unit last longer and cut a little on the electric bill. It did make a difference in the sound when it kicks on. And fortunately, I've not had a reason to try their 24/7, no additional cost, service.

And I have a window unit A/C with heat strip in the shop/recreation room. If the A/C didn't work in the house, I guess I'd find out what it's like to sleep on a pool table.:laughing:

 

[farmgirl19]

Wow, if memory serves, that is 3 of ya that needed to replace those capacitors this year. I am holding my breath, as that is one thing I don't know the first thing about working on. Maybe my unit will stay "happy" for another couple of months.

 

[bindian]

....................and I got hit the hardest with a new outside compressor unit............$106.05! But I found it in the am and it was replaced in the pm.
hugs, Brandi

 

[NativeSon]

Yeah, I ran into my A/C guy yesterday at the cafe having breakfast looking rather worn out. He always looks like that about this time of year. He said he was wanting to get out of town and go out to his deer lease (it's a tradition here in Texas to go to the lease on the Labor Day weekend and to do a little dove hunting), but he had to make some service calls. Those guys really earn their money during the summer, especially summers like this. It was 106* on the covered deck yesterday afternoon.

Hopefully Sept. will bring us moderate temps and rain, rain, rain. It's been a tough summer heat, floods, and forest fires. We're kind of use to wild weather swings here, but it's been like that for the whole country.

Charlie