Yep, that's him.
retired, living self sufficently in Alabama
hehee i poured more cement yesterday on the end closest to the cabin now all i like is the far end of the dam an spillway and ill be ready to install my little waterwheel an get my generator hooked up for some test runs, hahaa my luck will be no rain an no overflow an ill have to wait for winter rains to set in. but .. good things come to thoes who wait. or so im told .. hahahaa
PICS !!! (needed)
Dyson,
pic's soon to come, myabe monday, comin a flood now, good test of my spillway hight an all .
Congrats to you freedom_sailor for being so independent and a belated happy b-day!......... I have really enjoyed reading this thread and I hope to live off grid someday...As for now i am raising my 15 year old son by myself, my wife of 23 years walked off and left us about 3 years ago..its tough sometimes..and to add to the whole deal, i can relate to y'all that can't do it like you used to...I drove an 18 wheeler for 16 years, had a accident and I tell ya....after 3 back surgeries it is a new adventure everyday for sure!! I sure do thank God for ingenuity (sp?) and "want to"..LOL..
Great thread and keep those pics coming freedom_sailor!!
ok now maybe for some pic's
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ok, still alot of work to be done, on the far side i still have to finish the spillway, an level it all up some more but that is the base of the dam so far, stacked sand bags. lots of rebar, angle iron 4 old car bumpers ( when they were actualy made from steal) hahaa chicken wire, and standard reinforcement wire. at this point it is 3 ft. tall, but its built upon a natural rock dam. about 4 inches higher will give me the hight i need. also on the spill way side (far side) there'll be a gate to open or shut when needed incase i need to drop the water level to do waterwheel or generator maint. and of course my nifty waterwheel mount so i can raise or lower the wheel during flood conditions. ill be able to carry it from an overshot to an undershot wheel to take advantage of flooding an keep my wheel at a safe level above an out of all the force of the water. also i have to finish the back side of the dam, hahaa havent even started on it yet, nor the raceway to carry the water from the overflow to the wheel. so there'll be lots more work an pictures to come as its "slowly" compleated.
This message was edited Jun 28, 2010 7:43 AM
I sure don't know what I am looking at in these pictures. Only thing I recognized was a foot.
Is there also a natural drop behind the dam? So it's 3' high on this side and higher (lower) behind?
3 feet natural drop on the back side into a solid rock pool. an the dam is three feet above that on the upper side. i think i have a pic somewhere of the natural dam. ill have to check and see before i started working on it. oh ok here's one pic of the waterfalls from the back side before i started work on the dam.
this pic shows a little bit of the pool. its solid rock worn out by water flow for no telling how long, bowl shaped and about 6 ft. deep. an belive me it is COLD hahaa i still toss a mesh bag of drinks or what ever in it with a rope attatched to keep em cold in the summertime. the water in front of the falls in that pic was around 6 inches deep. kinda muddy so you cant really tell by looking at the pic.
This message was edited Jun 28, 2010 1:23 PM
That should give you some pretty good waterpower!
yes im hope'n it will, but of course a dry summer it will go almost dry but there's always water in that pool below the dam.
This message was edited Jun 28, 2010 8:39 PM
That's very interesting stuff.
just shows you what you can do if you use all the available resources at hand. i think yawl gonna enjoy my windmill project also .. i love building from scratch. just what ever i can find to do my projects with.
well rained yesterday off n on all day. looks to be about the same today, but i did get to pour some cement, removed the forms this morning and all looks good, now to work on the spillway, it will be what guages the water level above the dam with a gate in it,if im expecting dry conditions for a while ill close the gate an "store" up more water. then to build the raceway for the waterwheel .. lil closer everyday.
Well in case i dont make it in tomorrow HAPPY 4th of JULY to Everyone, have a safe one and dont eat too much. hehee
Happy 4th right back at you. Have a good day and don't eat too much possum. And - - - -Happy 4th to all my fellow gardeners.
Fireworks last evening, picnic this afternoon, all is well in Rocky Mount, Virginia.
Best too all, and too all a best 4th.
Happy 4th on the 3rd. LOL We will be having our church service at the big picnic shelter at a local park. Then we will have a cookout and play games all day. Looking forward to it. Tonight we are going to a pig roast and horse show. Great weekend ahead.
Well i hope everyone had a safe an happy 4th, now im ready to get back to work on projects pending.
LOL everyone must be on vacation now, shhhhhhhhhhhh we's hunting wabbits, be berry berry quiet.. hehee
Is it wabbit season there?
It is so hot and dry here. We are having to haul water to the horses at the barn across the mountain because the creek has all but dried up. Garden are lookin bad.
i know the feeling Cajun, my creek is more like a big mudhole now, expecting rain this weekend tho an chance of thunder showers, so im hope'n we get some water back into the ground off it, my dam is all finished except some minor details, so im ready for it.
Dyson, hahaa nope its not wabbit season here .. YET unless i catch em in my gardens .. then i just try to scare em off, dont like killing something i wont eat, an summer time wabbits n squrriels are 2 of em.
callin for rain today, so maybe we'll get lucky here, gardens sure need it
We got a good, slow rain yesterday for most of the day and it was cool. That should really help the gardens and the berries.
Lots of rain here in the last couple of days. Great. I am attaching a pix of my tomatoes. That large one is a Sweet 100 and I believe it is at least 8 feet tall and has about 500 tomatoes on it. I have never seen such a big plant. I selected it because I didn't think it would go much higher than the bottom of the window. Wrong.
Wow, nice mater plants ernbran,
someones gonna do a lot of can'n fore long. hahaa an mater sammiches dang. fine eating an i do have to admit, thats the biggest dang mater plant ive ever seen.
Nice maters!
freedom--what staples do you keep on hand? salt, flour, sugar etc.
kinda a tuff question, but all the basics here, flour, cornmeal, salt, taters, onions, peanut butter (by the gallons) hehee as well as bakin soda an bakin powder, an as much tobacco as i can grow an store. bleach is important here also other than the creek my water sourse is rain water. i treat the tank regulary with bleach. im sure i can and will add somemore to theis post.
Thanks
ok if this works again a few more pic's of the dam progress. this is the pool behind the dam.
