Ranch work...

[Bob]

Well, I have been working on diging out the pond with the O'l Furggy tractor... its too small for the job but it does the job if you are paitiant ! hehehehhe
.... I have 2 buckets for the tractor , a 6'wide one and a 3' or 4' smaller bucket that has seen better days.... so I desided to put on a cutting edge and reinforce the bottom lip of the bucket as it has bowed quite badly in the hard rocky soil here...
 I took an old trailer leaf spring and clamped it to the cutting edge of the bucket ( it had no cutting edge just steel plate) so after clamping the leaf spring to the edge of the bucket I welded it on and then cut the ends off flush with the bucket ends. Then took a grinder to the leading edge and tried to sharpen it a bit.... but I didn't get too far on  that because my grinder is an air grinder and the air compressor cannot keep up at all.
anyway I finished up and put the smaller bucket on the tractor and will try to dig with the smaller bucket , because the big bucket is almost useless as the tractor cannot push it into the soil, hopefully the smaller bucket will be easier for it ! ( in the past it has proven to be !)
.....
the project I am getting to is getting to our WATER Supply ! our Spring is in sad shape, its been neglected for over 20 years and is leaking very badly now,....
 I plan to remove the concrete box that my Dad made for the spring, and replace it with a 275 gallon stock water tank, this will be used to Hold the water that comes out of the spring so we can pump it up to the water tower.... I may do away with the water tower eventually, and simply go with a standard 60.p.s.i. water pump and pressure tank...running at the spring 24/7 and do away with the need to pump water every day.
....I may place 2 tanks side by side and join the 2 tanks via a cross over tube to increase the holding capasity.... once I have the tanks placed I will burry them about 3/4 up their sides to help insulate the tanks from the heat and weather. I will have to make tight fitting lids for the tanks in order to keep the critters out.... something a bear can't rip off so he can jump in and take a dip.... that has happened before !.... we wondered why the water tasted funny.... it tasted like well Wetbear bottom! LOL!  .... took a week to settle out !...he made a mess of the roof of the spring! ripped it off and crawled in and played for a few hours and then left ! ...I would like to keep that from happening again !  HAHAHAHAHHAHA
...
but as it stands I am about 1/2 way of digging out the spring as there is a good 4' of full that has washed in and surrounded the spring that must be removed before I can attempt to remove the spring box itself..... that will be a hard days work thats for sure !
....
Bob.......

[Tink]

Bob,
Get one of those electric fence heads that are good for 100 miles of fence and a single strand around the spring. That's what I did to keep my neigoubor's dog from getting my chickens. It knocked him back a few feet and he now takes a long way around my house, won't come near it. this type of fence head puts out something like 10 joles. Not much for a human wearing shoes and not touching it with a wet nose, but a dog or even a horse with 4 bare feet on the ground it will really shock them good. I had to use 3 ground rods to get that power from it but it is worth it.
Tink

[Bob]

hehehe Good idea ! that might keep the deer out of the garden too....if and when I ever get a chance to put one in again....  probly have to go 12 ft tall though as they can stand and Hop a 6ft fence with ease!  HEHEHEHE
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I was thinking of stringing a electric fence all around the 20 acers here and then connecting the wire as an antenna ! LOL the impeedance will be quite high but I bet it can be done.... problem is the radiation angle on lower freq's will be stright UP not horizonal because of its close proximity to the ground!
....
all it would take is a antenna tuner like the one I had years ago from Heath Kit ...that thing could tune to anything !
...
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  I did more digging today and made some good progress with the smaller bucket !
I am down to bed rock infront of the spring... and its getting very Muddy now... that may be a problem in the future... I tried to channel off the water seapage to the pond but dunno how good I did...
.... I need to be able to use the chain saw...but the fire danger says thats a NO-No ! so that will have to wait till fall.
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have you got your pipe tower up yet Tink ?
...
Bob......

[Tink]

I'm not done welding the tower yet. A lot more work to do on that but I did order the Wind turbine yesterday and it will be here in a month or two. I want to get one completely assembled to see what they are supposed to look like before I start building them from scratch. I have 3 potential customers already for these units. If it works for me I'm sure they will want them too. Here is the link to the one I'm getting:

http://www.forcefieldmagnets.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=22_30&products_id=188

There is a receiving antenna called a Beverage Antenna developed back in the '20's that is close to the ground and very quiet. I gave my ARRL Wire Classics Antenna book to another ham so I can't verify that but if I'm remembering correctly it can take up many acres of land and is only a few feet off the ground. It's not for broadcasting.

Good luck with that pond. I've watched a guy out here for the past 3 years working on a low piece of land with an old bull dozer and now he has a lake that must be at least 10 acres.

Tink

[Bob]

Tink !
its all in the Magnets ! and if those magnets are the Newer more powerful ones ,that thing should put out a huge amount of power for ya !
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that looks like a very straight forward design, one that I could even make !  they mount the magnets on a large disk and spin the magnets past the wire-coil.... a few diodes and you have pulsating DC, a few more diodes and you have DC.... its simple and effective and should turn even in the smallest breeze !
...for a wind generator, what more could you ask for ?
.......
Perhaps the same basic unit, but with a vertical turbin so it catches wind in all directions...
 and then you'll have the ultimate charger !
... but I figure you have that in mind already ! <GRIN>
...
Bob...

[Tink]

Bob,
Actually the verticals have been proven to be very inefficient. This axuial flux wind turbine is very efficient and starts producing at 7mph wind. Supposed to be quiet too. I can wait to get mine flying. They've made them as large as 20' rotor producing 3KW at 25mph wind. Their book has very detailed planes for every part of the thing. It seams the key is matching the plades with the alternator properly to get the best performance. I can't make it to one of their workshops and see the thing being made so that is why I'm getting the first one complete. I looked at my neibourgh's lake on the way back from work and the darn thing is over 40 acres easy. It's still holding water from last year's flash flooding.
Tink

[Bob]

Been a while sense I updated my work on the pond...
the pond is a Mess actually... dirt piles every where in it!...but the spring is almost ready for winter !... My intention was to set in one of the old galvinized water tanks for cattle to drink out of, that we got to use on the water tower years ago, and set it below the spring and pipe the water into it... well that didn't work out as planned !
...
 What happened was sense the original concrete spring box that I helped my Dad put in back in the 1960's was split and cracked and over grown to the point of crumbling and falling down!
and there was about 1 foot od fine silt/mud in the bottom of the spring...
after tearing down the down hill side wall, I realised that setting a tank there will have the upper lip far above the springs...and it wouldn't fill at all !
so I tried poking a few holes in one side and letting the water trickel in and it actually worked, but more went under the tank than went in it ! after trying for almost a week stright to seal up the leaks I finally gave up and took a hatchet and big hammer and cut off the tank edge on the up hill side so what I have now is a Hole in the ground that looks like a explination point !  I bent the edges of the metal over and lined the tank with plastic sheeting and then placed gravel on the ehd of the plastic in the upper part of the spring... to seal it up... that worked fairly well but again more was going under the tank than in it although the amount of water I got was about double of what I had... but still not enough!
the water was seeping by the edges of the vertical plastic so I got the bright idea of putting a pile of GRAVEL (thank you Tink!) leaning up against the side to hold the sides tight to the wall... and that helped a great deal ! ... I then put sheets of tin roofing flat accross the spring to cover the hole and keep out sunlight...and so far its been working great...
 Although we don't have anywhere near the VOLUME of water we used to have the water is clean and pure once again and I am glad to see that ...it was starting to look and taste like oak tree tea !  mixed with a bit of old pond water ! LOL
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I need to get back over there again and dig out the pond more and take out those piles that I had to stack in various places because I had no place to put it !...
the pond has some water in it now for the first time in 20 years in summer ! not much but enough for the deer to get a drink ! and that is a good thing!
I didn't get carried away with putting a good roof on the spring because I want more volume of water in the spring than I now have... and that means a back-hoe and lots'a Cement !
but for now...it'll do !
....
Bob.......

[Tink]

Bob,

'a pile of graves leaning up against the side to hold the sides tight to the wall... '

Reminds me of the catacombs in Palistine where they lean the ancestors agains the walls!

Anyway, when I was a kid my grandfather used an old referagator to catch the spring water. He had an in let and an outlet and the lid kept the dirt and leaves out so we were able to keep watermellons and any thing we could seal watertight in there as a natural nice and cool. Worked real good.

I'm still waiting for the wind turbine to arrive but have the tower up and lost the wind sensor twirleywig thing I had mounted on top. It just stoped giving me wind readings. I'm now wiring up the electronics and will send photos soon. I got a hudge heat sink to mount the 100amp rectifier on at a local tv repair shop for $10 and will use a 60amp DTSP breaker for a shut down switch along with the spare Xantrex C-60 to control the diversion load I building from 6 .5ohm 300W resistors.

More later....
Tink

[Bob]

LOL Graves ? ACK.... well that was supposed to be Gravel   LOL !
that would be hard on my drinking water.... Water with the "Essance of corps" just doesn't sound that appealing! BLEAH !
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thats a great idea Tink ! ...it just so happens I know where I can get a very large side by side refrigerator freezer that don't work ! HUMMMMMMMM
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problem is its too small of a VOLUME... but that would work fantastic for an Emergency spring container!
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 Please keep me posted on your wind generator project ! I am very interested in that !
... Hopefully you put that "Matt Valve" on your Truck by now and are getting a constant 30+mpg eh ?
...
Bob.......

[Bob]

you got me thinking Tink.... (scary UH ?)
 what I need is a very large metal box that I can drop in the hole, that has a lid (or cover it with Tin.... and a pick-up truck bed would do the trick !... all i need do is scroung up a pickup truck bed (fleet side preferred)and line it with plastic ! ... sure would be allot easier than pouring concrete,making forms and all that stuff... HAY...my old Dodge truck has a pick up bed on it ! .... it should be a flat bed anyway ! LOL ! HUMMMMMMM
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thanks for the inspiration Tink !
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yah with the wood-gas generator on the back of that truck I can mount the burner low on the side and build the bed around it and the burner should be level with the cab...much better looking that way....and easier to reach to re-fuel ! hehehee I like that idea !

...
Bob......

[Tink]

My great grandma at her homestead in Perry County PA had a small room dug into the side of a hill behind her house that had a big plank out across a pool that was feed by a natural spring. A huge old wooden Hobbit door lead into it. It was real mystical looking and a wonderful place for us kids to stay cool in the summertime. Those were the days....
Tink
ps. still haven't taken the time to get the Matt Valve hooked up but it is on my list of things to do

[Bob]

HAHA ! My Dad has stories of His grandpa Shootin' Geese as they flew over cuz they Pooped on him as they flew over ! LOL.... Hot headded little fella ! game warden standing there saying You can't be doing that Now ! .... ! it ain't Goose season... BOOM... ! Now Quit that ! Simmer down now, I'm sure it twern't intentional ! hehehe ...BOOM !  Now Stop that ! BOOM !  LOL ...said they were rolling on the ground laughin so hard ! ... feathers fallin' grandad fumbleing shells !
madder than a wet hen ! Poop all over his bald head ! ....  LOL !
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Dad and Uncle John dug a cave in the root celler.... worked on it for months.... till they hit the outhouse !.... that ended that !  LOL !  had to plug up the cave and quick too ! grandad mentioned that they were going to have to did another hole and move the outhouse, twas gettin kind'a full...... then all of a sudden it was empty... he never did figure that one out !
... LOL !
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I'ed like to build a big root celler here... I plan on it if I ever get a back-hoe...  their good for lotsa things.... like a good bomb shelter! , forest fire refuge!, even storing garden produce ! ... HAHAHAHA  probly make a really good shop too.... asorb the noise I make at 3:00am !  LOL

Bob.....

[Bob]

Well, I have been working on the spring again... our water supply is really LOW !
I ripped out the old plastic that had a zillion holes in it and cleaned out the entire spring (with my Kids help!) got it all cleaned up as good as it can get over there in the MUD HOLE!
so today I went back over to see if the concrete I pored the other day and troweled on, did any good....
but alas it did not ! water is still seeping UNDER the tank and not filling it up.
so I went in this morning and treated the wife out to Sunday breakfast at home town buffet and then went to Home depot and got some "POND LINER"... I put it down like I had the plastic before and its filling up now.... hard to say how high the water will get though , I hope it will fill up completely !
I sprayed the edge where the plastic meets the old concrete with a adhesive.... it looked like it was going to stick good at first but after a while it started sagging all over the place so I used the gravel and sand on the edge again to hold it down.... who knows it might work ! HAHAHAHAHAH!
.... I have to pump water soon as our water tank is getting fairly low even though we haven't been using much water for the last 3 days.  hopefully I can pump water tonight and fill the tank again !
...
Bob.....