Where's winter!

[Brent S]

I have both the fireplace and wood burning stove stocked and ready to light with one match. The wood box next to the woodburning stove is packed, and I have more than enough cut and seasoned wood for probably two seasons. The only problem is it hasn't been cool enough to even thing of lighting a fire yet. It's October 31st!!! Still no rain or temperature drop in sight.

 

[SheilaT.]

I woke up to this, this morning........ Proper Sherlock weather!

 

[Arcticdude]

View attachment 6270 I have both the fireplace and wood burning stove stocked and ready to light with one match. The wood box next to the woodburning stove is packed, and I have more than enough cut and seasoned wood for probably two seasons. The only problem is it hasn't been cool enough to even thing of lighting a fire yet. It's October 31st!!! Still no rain or temperature drop in sight.

Nice looking setup Brent. Its good to have a couple years supply of firewood on hand too. We've had a long dry summer but now we're getting a lot of rain. Still mild temps though. It's only been in the 30's and 40's and just 1 day in the teens. Just one little snow that didn't amount to anything. We didn't get all the gravel on the driveway done before the rain came. Still need another 10 loads. The road is going to be muddy in places until it freezes hard.

 

[SheilaT.]

View attachment 6270 I have both the fireplace and wood burning stove stocked and ready to light with one match. The wood box next to the woodburning stove is packed, and I have more than enough cut and seasoned wood for probably two seasons. The only problem is it hasn't been cool enough to even thing of lighting a fire yet. It's October 31st!!! Still no rain or temperature drop in sight.

We've had the gas fire on most evenings for about 3 weeks. We have only had one frost so far but temps are not getting above the low 50's now.

 

[Brent S]

I woke up to this, this morning........ Proper Sherlock weather!

View attachment 6271

What a great peaceful view.

 

[Brent S]

We've had the gas fire on most evenings for about 3 weeks. We have only had one frost so far but temps are not getting above the low 50's now.

Sure, rub it in.... I repaired a grape line that had fallen over and am soaked with sweat! I started at 6am and wore a light jacket, by 7:30 just a tee shirt, noon was time to find some inside work with AC going. I'd love to see 50 degs again.

 

[Brent S]

Nice looking setup Brent. Its good to have a couple years supply of firewood on hand too. We've had a long dry summer but now we're getting a lot of rain. Still mild temps though. It's only been in the 30's and 40's and just 1 day in the teens. Just one little snow that didn't amount to anything. We didn't get all the gravel on the driveway done before the rain came. Still need another 10 loads. The road is going to be muddy in places until it freezes hard.

At this rate I may have three years worth of firewood!

 

[Gazrok]

I have yet to really even use our fireplace. I mean, we get like 3 cold days a year here.

 

[Brent S]

I have yet to really even use our fireplace. I mean, we get like 3 cold days a year here.

Yeah, with this weather I feel just like I'm still in Fla.

 

[WGregMiller]

87 here today. A WHOLE 20% chance of rain Thursday, but at least it's supposed to cool off....

 

[Brent S]

87 here today. A WHOLE 20% chance of rain Thursday, but at least it's supposed to cool off....

I just looked for the next 8 days there's nothing higher than 10% chance here. Heck, I'm thinking Arizona got more than us this year!

 

[WGregMiller]

It too far from me, are ya? Lots of dried up ponds here, and with TVA having the river levels down for 'winter', looks bad here. And of course I'm sitting around with a lot of stuff to burn and can't.....


Waaaahhhhh.....

 

[Brent S]

It too far from me, are ya? Lots of dried up ponds here, and with TVA having the river levels down for 'winter', looks bad here. And of course I'm sitting around with a lot of stuff to burn and can't.....


Waaaahhhhh.....

I'm lucky with a large burn pile on the back of the property. It's out of sight so it can sit till we get a few good rains again. We are both in the same weather zone, so I sympathize! My three ponds in he front are bone dry. The upside is I was able to concrete and rock the spillways between them. The erosion had been slowly wearing away at them. It sure would be nice to see water flowing through them again though.

 

[WGregMiller]

Yep. One of my friends has a couple hundred head of cattle and he's living in fear of his next water bill because the well he uses is dry.

 

[Brent S]

Yep. One of my friends has a couple hundred head of cattle and he's living in fear of his next water bill because the well he uses is dry.

I started watering with city water today. Probably needed to a couple weeks back but was still hopeful we would have some rain sooner or later. I took the main line from the pump and connected it to the city water supplied line. The grapes got watered this morning, blueberries tomorrow, and fruit trees the next day. I have a full time job keeping this stuff alive right now. I'm not sure I'm going to like my water bill either.

 

[WGregMiller]

I understand that. I've been looking at pumps for use at our place on the river (aka the BOL).

 

[Brent S]

I understand that. I've been looking at pumps for use at our place on the river (aka the BOL).

I have a large creek on the back of the property that I've been wanting to tap into. It has never run dry to my knowledge, so should be a good resource. I'm looking for a pump that can use the force of the flow to provide power for the pump, but still have the lift to get up the incline. Electricity is the obvious easy choice, but I want something that will keep working no matter what happens.

 

[SheilaT.]

I have yet to really even use our fireplace. I mean, we get like 3 cold days a year here.

Showoff!

The weather reader has just given out notice of a cold front moving in today, so frost is forecast for tonight and the rest of the week. The central heating is being fired up thisavo.

 

[Arcticdude]

I have a large creek on the back of the property that I've been wanting to tap into. It has never run dry to my knowledge, so should be a good resource. I'm looking for a pump that can use the force of the flow to provide power for the pump, but still have the lift to get up the incline. Electricity is the obvious easy choice, but I want something that will keep working no matter what happens.

Have you looked in to a Ram pump? It could be an option for you to pump out of the creek with no electricity.

 

[Brent S]

Have you looked in to a Ram pump? It could be an option for you to pump out of the creek with no electricity.

I built one a while back. The back creek is wide, about twelve feet across and has plenty of flow. Unfortunately it dosent have near enough drop. Clemson university published a do it yourself guide on how to build the ram pumps. The ram pump uses elevation to get the power to operate. I did the math first for the front creek, and with a five foot drop it should have been enough to work, but was the minimum drop to work. Anyways, I installed it and it worked, but it only pumped the water half way up the hill I needed. Oh well, was a good experiment anyways. I ended up giving it to a friend that has a pond with really good elevation.
For the back creek I'm kind of thinking a paddlewheel powered pump. I've just got to try and work out if I can get enough pressure with a low speed pump to make it up the incline back there.