Well, it snowed again! So far I have been able to plow through the snowbanks with the car whenever I want to go out but this time I can hardly wade through on my own two feet so I am quite sure I’ll have no success getting the car out of the garage. Oh well, I don’t need to go anywhere anyway, the only thing I really like to do away from home is check the mail and emails, which I don’t need to do as often as I like to do so this snow is going to keep me where I belong. Somehow the thought that I am going to have to shovel a 1/8th mile long trail through the snow to get out is just a little intimidating! The snow blew in here like dunes and earlier when I went out to go to the barn to feed the cows my boots kept getting stuck. I wasn’t stuck, the boots were. I ended up walking to church on Sunday and carried the laptop to Kyle’s place today in a backpack so I could check emails and post this. I really enjoy walking places and I think I’ll be doing a lot more of it regardless of whether the car is snowed in or not.
In anticipation of spring, nice friable soil and growing things I have been working on the hoop house for this year’s use. Instead of driving all the way to Minot to get the supplies I need for it I just ordered them. It looks like I can make a 10’X20’ hoop house for about $80.00 in materials. That’s twice as long as the one I had last year and that one provided more new green things than the family of 8 could consume until the outside things were producing. I hope I can deal with double that amount all by myself this year! Sadly, there is about 4 feet of snow right where I want to put the hoop house so I’ll have to wait a while before I can put it up. Another project that I want to get working on the instant the ice and snow melts is fixing the pump on the well so I have some water here, a single guy like me doesn’t use much water and the cows eat snow so right now I am getting by with about 8 gallons per week. That just won’t do for much longer because I’ll be getting dirty working in the dirt so will need to wash clothes a whole lot more than I do now as well as the cows will want water when the snow melts and I would like a shower now and then. I used to have a shower addiction just like my dad, two a day was not nearly enough. One of the things I determined to do this winter was to break myself of certain habits and wants, the shower addiction being one of them. I think I have accomplished what I set out to do! It’s such a good feeling to actually finish a job I have given myself. Now don’t get the idea that I am now a filthy and smelly old guy, I do wash up when I need to!
As far as I know the well pump just needs a new power source but I could be wrong and it may need new seals or worse, an entire new pump. I am not well informed on the workings of well pumps but I think that I am soon going to be an expert. The pump that is on the well now has a gear box and something else and there is a ½ horse electric motor on top which belt drives the pump. Currently the whole works is on the bottom of a 12 foot brick lined pit under a foot or two of ice. I may try to chip the ice to pieces and carry it out so I can get an early start on fixing the thing. In order to fix it I need to decide what sort of power I want to use to pump the water, I could use electricity like it is set up for now but that would mean I will have to start up the big diesel AC generator every time I want to pump water, which wouldn’t be a bad thing I guess because I could pump a large reservoir full of water and then have enough for a week or two. It looks like I could fix the thing up to take a little engine instead of the electric motor, which would be ok too. The big thing now is building that reservoir to store the water in! I have a few ideas but no form plans yet other than a 300 gallon supply in the attic of the house so I have a gravity source when there is nothing pumping. That won’t give me much pressure though since I will gain just under one PSI. per two feet of elevation. If I put a tank in the barn I could have 15 PSI. on the ground level but that would mean getting a tank up there which would be interesting. There aren’t many things that are more important than a good water source, God and air are the only two things that I can think of right now and we all should have access to those, water is a little more elusive, you have to find a supply, pump it and dispose of it when you are done. I guess I’ll be designing and building a septic system this spring too. I am glad those are easy to build, an afternoon with the backhoe and some work ought to make a good one after I find a tank and some drain field pipe. Then it’s on to rebuilding the house, which will be a very interesting project because I have very few building skills. I guess I’ll be developing them won’t I?
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