excellent deal. generac's are great units.

my old jeep was quite noisy in 4wd... i knew those gears were churning up front. My suburban is a bit at well. with my limited knowledge i'd say it's a little binding.

I learned its always important to have matching tires and matching tread depth on a 4wd.

This would be a little along the lines of Medi-share.  Its a Christian based shared account for members who need expensive medical treatment.  Ever heard of it?  Heard about it recently on one of my conservative talk XM radio stations.

Good Idea by the way, count me in.

my wife was a member of one last year. it worked well until it came time to submit receipts. :)

So it was confirm late yesterday that an EF2 touched down just south of where i live. It was one scary early morning yesterday. We got a little roof damage. our neighbors 2 miles to south - much much worse.

we got power back late last night.

please keep the taylor/thrall tx are in prayer.

Just had a thought, the plumbing looks solid which makes me wonder what happens if/when your two inch line is completely full of water heading to your tanks?  Do you have an air vent to let out the increasingly pressurized air or is the tank going to have to burp eventually?  Not sure what the right way to handle it would be, maybe just not tightening down the threaded fittings at the top of each tank would be enough to let the air hiss out as the water fills it up.

Also, for you overflow you could plumb a standard Tee into the section between the two tanks facing up at a small angle, should give enough resistance that the water would still follow gravity into your tanks until they are full and then just over flow from there. It would give you the opportunity to plumb in another pair of tanks there in the future if you wanted also, or just run an over flow line off to another location.

Anyway, just a couple of thoughts from a nonprofessional who thinks he knows things.

thats what i wanted to do. off angle a T joint in between to allow water to escape if needed.
now the pipes arent threaded into the tank openings, the 2" just slides in nice with about 1/16th all around so air can escape.

that was one of my regrets was not "teeing" off the end but using an elbow joint. i should have thought that one out better. i do have the room for 2 more ibc totes for sure and can chain another 2-4 on the side of the house.

good job!

Looks like a great start! Wind will kill seedlings pdq if you're not careful for sure. I have never had good luck starting seedlings indoors and transplanting them....I've had them get spindly or I kill then trying to harden them for transplant.

As a kid we always mulched the garden with hay. We rarely rototilled it and the hay continues to build nutrients for the soil as well as trapping water really well. That being said it does introduce weeds which need picking occasionally.

I want to try wood chips like this guy uses....I think it will do all the things I want out of cover (weed control, moisture retention and nutrient regen) but not introduce more seeds to the mix. Plus I can't help but enjoy his passion for what he's doing. One of the best parts about our garden is giving fresh produce to neighbors who don't have a garden. There is nothing better than produce that was picked minutes before being served on the table imo.

Www.backtoedenfilm.com

I will warn you the video is pretty long but lots of good stuff in this.

so i started watching this movie. it's great and has given me a lot to think about. I took down 8 trees last weekend and instead of burning them, we're going to mulch them (just need a mulcher). i dont want to keep tilling the ground. so our plan for next year is to have the "covering" method in place.

Or you could add a downspout at the other end of the porch and double your collection rate using more 2 inch pipe. Not having a view of the other end of the porch I don't know if that's practical


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

over there is where we have the pig house, stair case, ac unit, etc so not a good spot for water collection.
i do plan to gutter the 2 sections of the roof to the left and right of the deck and pipe that water to a spot on the size of the house in a small wooded area. i could easily quadruple my water stores with that move.

This truly excites me because its an excellent move towards self sufficiency which is one of our stated goals. It's also helping to keep my yard from turning into a swamp.

the last storm to pound texas had me rethink how i am collecting water. i was running a down spout from a 24x12 roof that collected water from the roof above it (~20x24') that was connected to a 3/4th inch garden hose. There was a major bottle neck which caused a lot of water to be lost. I upgraded it all to 2" pvc and built in shut off valves for each tank.

Total cost was about ~$40.

It took roughly 2 hours to do and frankly can't wait for it to be tested in a storm.

right now i am using paracord to hold the piping along the edge of the railing as i wasnt sure how all the parts would come together when @ home depot. I need to mount brackets now.

IN HINDSIGHT.
- i should have added a relieve valve if the tanks were both full. what will happen is either the water will bubble up from the tops of the tanks OR from the intake funnel at the end of the downspout. The funnel is kind of a relief in a way.

- instead of a 90 degree elbow at the end i should have capped the end to allow for easier daisy chaining in the future.

BEFORE







AFTER

Quote from: cruizng on February 16, 2017, 02:00:21 PM

I would love to agree with you ^^^ but I think it actually starts at home.

I think the ignorance to what is going on starts at home with parents who don't ask and are not informed enough to know right from wrong themselves. I challenge our local schools on stuff all the time. I was referring to the actual "teaching" that Islam is a Religion of Peace which happens a lot in the schools. But if parents are lazy there's all sorts of nonsense that can be "taught". 

this is a "christian" college that is pandering to muslims. the religion that want to exterminate Christianity. there is something really backwards about that.

not only is a race actively aiding in its own extinction, but now we got 'Christians' doing it too.

http://www.thecollegefix.com/post/31221/

A Christian university in Texas has created a prayer room for its Muslim students.

The Methodist-affiliated McMurry University dedicated the space in one of the school’s residential dorms for its Muslim students’ daily prayers.

“Being Christians, we should be open to free religion and letting everyone do what they want to do and I think the Muslim prayer room gives them that chance,” student Hector Flores told BigCountry.com.

aside from not being able to comprehend evil, i cannot fathom the sheer stupidity of people.

Quote from: stewie on February 15, 2017, 08:53:25 PM

she keeps on getting re-elected, so that should tell you something.

Maybe we should relax the nuclear test ban treaty in her district

not during the summer, the fallout can move west and effect all of us normal people.

It also helps control fungus since was another reason.

Now you know every I learned about growing the 1 year I did it. Well it did help my welding skills but I never learned spanish,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

welding is something i wanna learn. I married into a puerto rican family... i can understand the language but only care to know the words required to have someone remove themselves swiftly from my presence, the presence of my family or my property.

so its been raining nonstop since 3 am here. I haven't really slept, so ive been checking on the rain collection setup. it's working, BUT i think it's overwhelmed by the water so water is overflowing out of the downspout.

i was going to convert the hose to 3/4" pvc, but i think now i am going to do it 1", possibly 1.25" to avoid losing so much liquid to the ground.

Great looking system there.

I was told watering early is a little better as you get a good soak in and less evaporation.

hmm, i may have to try it. in the 'burbs i did it in the evening. i guess being surrounded by other houses didnt make as much of a difference.

ill watch it tomorrow while i work.

below is my water storage system. it's a work in progress. i plan to replace the garden hose with PVC piping in the next week or so. Right now the water feeds into it via the gutter from my 24' deck. I will however be adding more gutters around the house which means probably 2-3 more totes in the future.

I devised this hose system when we lived in the burbs and wanted to catch rain. i found the "canned" systems to be crappy and actually waste water, so i made up my own which will collect 99%. I say 99%, because 1% overflows out of the funnel cone if the water is rushing hard enough. It's rather simple and only cost about $10 for all the parts. During a single thunderstorm i could collect 50 gallons of water off a 10x16 roof.

Now, i dont expect 550 gallons to last more then a month during the summer, but it's better then running up the water meter! We can always draw from our other 'free' water (our water table is VERY HIGH).

when its all done, i will be building an enclosure around it to keep it safe from the sun, stupid cat and make it a bit more aesthetically pleasing.

Quote from: stewie on February 13, 2017, 09:05:30 AM

im far from that stage of planting. one we get more settled and learn a bit more, i have asked our lease/tenant farmer to teach me a few things. he just rolls up at odd hours of the day with tractors the size of my house. for a city boy, it's quite fascinating, lol.

One of my Uncles in Maine farmed about 500 acres of potatoes (which was a lot up there)...and with 8 kids they always had a big-a** garden. He layer it out so he could run his JD tractor through it to weed. Was always funny to see him come out of the fields of potatoes and take a few runs through the garden. But it kept the weeds down.

ill probably be weeding by hand for a while as i learn more and more. I am an extremely hands on person and often would rather use a shovel and wheelbarrow to get a good workout then some chunk of machinery, but i am aware that the bigger i go, the more of a need machinery will be.

we are also fixing to plant some fruit trees (another subject i dont know much about) opposite the outlet for our tank.

When u start building & planting we will need pics

yup! ill be posting lots of pictures.

im not going to plant everything until they're a few weeks old. to the south we have a nice tree line so that will help with the summer winds. for north/west winds i plan to plant the corn to use as a buffer. i've spent a lot of time studying how the winds blow and effect the property. it's much worse in the fall/winter when the surrounding fields do not have any corn growing on them.

as for the potatoes, we're going to grow them in a separate area in buckets/bins and we decided to go with "salad tables" for the lettuce/spinach. Now, i just need to build all this crap.

Quote from: stewie on February 12, 2017, 03:20:43 PM

Quote from: stlaser on February 12, 2017, 03:09:22 PM

Bigger truck means you need a bigger trailer, 2 axle preferably for hauling future equipment etc.....

I'll be getting a 14 or 16' 2 axle soon.

Suggestion on the trailer: Go up to an 18 footer with six lug wheels (7,000 lb axles??) so you can put on a decent load.

i shall acquire what my budget allows. they sell locally 16' unites with 7000 lb axles. probably looking at like $4k for a decent one.

Taters are easy, in the future a 3pt mounted tiller saves the back & I bought ours used as they don't get much use (just twice a year) then you can downsize walk behind tiller to use just for weeding. We had a pony tiller for this use. Keep rows wide enough to run current roller thru for weeding is my only suggestion other than doing a soil test. This will help you add exactly what the soil needs so you're not wasting time & effort.

i think it'll be easier when i till next year. the ground wasnt broken into in a long time and needed alot of encouragement.
the plan is to do the rows going width-wise to allow better runoff from storms. there is a slight grade on the property so i dont want my rows turning into burns.

weeding will be a chore i know.

as for taters, what do u recommend?

(yesterday) tilled a plot for a garden. maybe 30x20 when all said and done. even with that tiller is was back breaking work and i am a sore puppy today. we added in some compost (alpaca poop) into it and i may also throw in some pig crap too when we turn it again.

This plot is just for the first year - i need to pace myself and not take on more then i can chew. I have some trepidation about gardening because ... i've never really done it larger then a small raised bed planter and never did it from seeds i am sprouting myself. If this pans out like I hope, i will double the size next year.

the plan is for:

lettuce, brocolli, tomatoes, some heirloom corn, spinach, carrots, maybe try potatoes, asparagus (we have this on our land already growing wild believe it or not!) and some others. We found a nice species of heirloom cotton my wife wants to grow for yarn spinning as well.

all seeds are non-gmo heirlooms so i can save them and use again next year.

i am going to put up some ranch fencing around it with a little gate to keep the critters out and i've already installed a nice rain catching system with 2 275 gallon ibc totes about 50 feet from the plot so i hose out there is no issue. more pics down the road as i refine the water system a bit and get the fencing and gate up.

blackland prairie. dirt is BLACK.

That's exactly why I don't wear it to bed. 

i cant hug my wife while wearing UA stuff. She asked why? I say it can catch fire if it comes in contact with something extremely hot.
she rolls her eyes and walks away.

Here's another 2500 for Don!!
http://www.ebay.com/itm/2010-Chevrolet-Suburban-2500-YUKON-XL-4X4-SLT-DURAMAX-DIESEL-CONVERSION-/132084285463?forcerrptr=true&hash=item1ec0d64017:g:5XYAAOSw4DJYk-kf&item=132084285463

thats pretty sexy. I would love to do a diesel conversion down the road.

I wouldn't think so unless the exhaust leak was really large.

my 6.0 idles smooth and quiet with the occasional little 'bump'. i think its just the nature of the engine/exhaust. i will check that bolt head this evening though.

Here's a couple more.


http://atcm.co/S2PVDP/1AC39E3B


http://atcm.co/S2PVDP/1AC9B16B

And if you're not afraid of one with more miles the cost savings of this one would leave lots of room for upgrades.


http://atcm.co/S2PVDP/1A5406A8

Sorry for hijacking your thread stewie. I got a little sidetracked thinking about how much fun it would be watching Flyin6 work one of these over.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

no worries. It would be cool if another member here snagged one like mine.