Southeastern Preppers Network
State and Regional Boards => Georgia Regional Forums => Georgia => Region 2 => Topic started by: RWS on March 01, 2021, 05:46:30 AM
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Hello Region 2
We just purchased property in region 2. Since it is part farm land and part mountain with no house, It will be a while before there are any facilities there. Instead of buying Gold or silver, I bought land. At least I got all my money out of the bank.
What is the hardest location to get to in Region 2??? That is where I have bought land. If we are up there camping this Summer and there is a meet up, maybe I will show up.
We now reside in Region 8.
We are not planning to move completely to Region 2 but build an off grid cabin with spring fed water. We are at 3000ft in elevation on the flat farm land and 3800 in the rear with a plateau overlooking the valley.
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How's the drive? Can your RV make it ok?
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How's the drive? Can your RV make it ok?
The road is narrow but it is County maintained right up to where I want to put in a driveway. I did see a tree limb that has to come down. Mostly pasture on each side.
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Stopped by the new BOL on the way home from NC. The wife & I walked all over the 17 acres and decided on a location for the cabin and where the driveway will be located. Now I can finish the basement drawing to locate the door that will allow me to park a 4 wheeler inside.
Did a good look over of the springs and two ponds. There has been quite a bit of work done in the past routing water thru pipes to dry up the flatter land near the road and make it farmable. There is much work to be done on the ponds as they have been terribly neglected for the last few years. I hope to restore them back into nice fish ponds. There was quite a bit of water flowing which I don't think is normal. A big rain had just passed thru the night before I was there.
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I have established contact with a builder that wants to meet, walk over the property and discuss what I am looking for. Any way it is a start. We plan to meet in about three weeks or so. I will schedule a camping trip and set up a meeting. They have other services available. Here is a cut/paste from their web page.
Your satisfaction is our goal!
Here are additional service we offer:
Poured wall foundations
Land clearing and grading
Home improvements (kitchen, baths, extensions, garages)
We specialize in Handi-capped additions
Small Commercial (up to 25,000 sq. ft.)
Custom Plans Designed In House
The other services in red are also what I need to have done. Maybe it will work out.
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I need several of those things in the coming months!
Let me know what you think and if he services my area. Although you're in R2, we're quite aways away from each other.
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Just got home from a trip to my Region 2 BOL. I met a contractor and we walked over the property. Look see what I found. Pic 1 Rhubarb! There is more rhubarb pie in my future... I asked him about ramps and he said there were some in the area. He had had some a few weeks ago.
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When I bought my new BOL property, it was advertised as having 2 spring fed ponds. I found a third.
While I was up there I met two more of my neighbors. The closest one to me is a homesteader. They have chickens and a goat. We had the camper parked along side the road so the lady asked me where we were going to put the camper? I said we weren't that we planned to build a cabin. She seemed overjoyed to have neighbors soon. It won't be too soon as you will see in the pictures of the three ponds. Two of them need a lot of work to get back in any shape at all.
PIC 1 Largest pond
PIC 2 Middle sized pond
PIC 3 Small pond I just found. Maybe it is just because there is a good flow of water this time of year, we'll see.
The weed floating in the ponds has red roots hanging down in the water. My oldest boy has some kayaks so I need to twist his arm and have him go up there and clean a pond one weekend. Wish me good luck with that!
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I have been keeping an eye on solar electric supplies. I have noticed that that available inverter models are shrinking. I use the XW6848 but it has been out of stock for a couple of months. I got nervous and ordered a PRO6848 which is the same inverter with the added communications board, ect to make it internet compatible. I am not interested in putting data on the internet, so that part will probably go unused. At least it is on the way. It has been sitting on the loading dock a couple of days. It will be interesting to see how long it takes to get here. I will store it until I am ready to use it. I think it is getting challenging to put together a solar system now as most electronic parts come from China.
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The truck lines called today to schedule the inverter delivery. I told the lady that I had just tracked it this morning and it was in Missisippi and that I was not expecting it until Monday. She said it was actually going to be here Monday but they would not deliver until Tuesday. I think it has to do with a holiday someone just made up?? Anyway I will have a spare inverter in case there is an EMP attack at least I can get some of my system back running. My spare charge controller is in NC so I can count that out. Just gathering parts for my off grid cabin in region 2.
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My wife found a recipe for BlueBarb jelly. We will have blueberries in our region 8 home location at the same time we will have rhubarb at our region 2 BOL so next year she said she would make BlueBarb jelly.
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We met with our builder the other day and I pointed out the location I wanted to use for a barn. There is a hill that faces East, so I plan to dig back into the hill and pour a concrete floor and 3 concrete walls. The front will be www.everlogs.com 10" barnwood. The floor will be insulated from Earth and PEX tubing installed to be able to add a little heat to the concrete. That should keep the water lines from freezing during the Winter. We took elevation readings from a Garmin and the Barn will be at 2996ft. elevation. Our spring is at 3050ft and will gravity down to the cistern at 3023. I will pipe a 2" discharge out the side of the cistern near the bottom down to the barn and up thru the floor where the water pump will be. That will give the pump a flooded suction. The cistern is planned to be 2000 gal which will take one day to fill. The cistern will continually fill from the top side and overflow from the opposite side to keep a continual flow thru the cistern. Plans are good, it is just making it happen is usually the problem.
We decided the property was a farm as opposed to a residential site.
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Self Sufficient Me ! Since I am new to region 2, I will have to learn how to garden for the climate. It will be much different at 3000 ft elevation than it is in South Georgia at 365 ft. I found a video that I will use to guide may way. What do you think about the video??
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b3waibCUoKo
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Good reminders on nutritional value of different veggies. I forget about onions, just like mushrooms in respect to the forgotten value.
I wonder where he got that huge planter. Would it cost a fortune to plant in those those metal livestock waterers? Always wondered if they would heat up too much in summer. They would be great early spring and late fall, into winter. I noticed his were white. Are they painted or purchased?
Gardening in the mountains is a real challenge. We tried it up in Ellijay, on a high property, and were not very successful. Our pots on the sunny deck, did great. What are your thoughts on this method, R.W.S. and others?
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Good reminders on nutritional value of different veggies. I forget about onions, just like mushrooms in respect to the forgotten value.
I wonder where he got that huge planter. Would it cost a fortune to plant in those those metal livestock waterers? Always wondered if they would heat up too much in summer. They would be great early spring and late fall, into winter. I noticed his were white. Are they painted or purchased?
Gardening in the mountains is a real challenge. We tried it up in Ellijay, on a high property, and were not very successful. Our pots on the sunny deck, did great. What are your thoughts on this method, R.W.S. and others?
I noticed a homeowner down on the hi-way had 2ea 4x8 boxed in beds. He had a lot of stuff crammed in there and put up hog panels around each bed to keep the deer browsing to a minimum. Now the hog panels are removed and he has a couple heads of cabbage left. I will probably start off that way.
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I have another neighbor selling. A 3 bed, 3 bath, View, 11 acres mostly pasture & barn. 30ft of their back property line is common with my property. PM for info
3000ft elevation.
Edit 10-18 This property went under contract within 10 days.
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You know, You just can't hide anymore. We went up to our Region 2 property and camped out for a few days. We had a meeting scheduled for Saturday with out Builder. On Friday the people that live next door (weekend occasionally) showed up. This is the first time I have seen anyone in the house next door. Well, they were out walking their two huge dogs that evening, so I hollered across the field and waved for them to come over to our camp site. They are from Atlanta (no surprise) and the grandson of the original property owners. Well Saturday mid-morning they went down the road walking their dogs again and talked to the people that just moved in down on the hi-way. Well the guy (down on the hi-way) loads up his family in his 4 door pickup and comes visiting. I told them we were out of South Georgia. Where in South Ga.? It seems they are (were) my neighbors just 3 miles down the road. I drive by their house every time I go to town. Small World. You just can't hide...
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I have been ordering solar electric supplies over the last two months. You know supplies are tight, but it seems everything goes on back order. I ordered a new solar panel made in Germany. I figured it would be on the water but the salesman said it was in the country but that they would not receive it for a couple more weeks. In a couple of weeks they will be all sold and waiting on more. Out of 4 items I ordered today, 3 are on back order. I hope to have all of my solar supplies in hand before the roof is even on. If that even happens.....
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I am supposed to get a building permit this week?? So my builder says. I got excited and built up a control panel yesterday that will control the two water pumps I will use to heat the concrete floor. The floor will have 2 loops of 1/2" PEX spaced 24 " apart and overlapped to result is a tube every 12 ". The panel has a timer and will turn on the power to the pumps in the morning and off in the afternoon leaving an hour or so to acquire hot water for a shower in the evening. After the timer is a repeat cycle timer with programmable on and off time. Then there is an alternator relay that will alternate pumps every time the repeat cycle timer turns on. This is how I will control the heat of the concrete. This will be my freeze protection for the building and hopefully knock off a little of the chill.
I got an email this morning from my solar supplier. The solar panels I ordered a while back have arrived and are now ready to ship to me. Shipping costs have doubled since I ordered solar panels last. The wife is just a fussing at me for ordering all of this stuff when we don't even have a building yet. I told her that if we wanted it we better get it on the way NOW!
I tried to get some regular 20A convenience outlets at Homeless Depot yesterday. They had NONE!!
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R.W.. It is good to get it now, just ask our dog. We drove all over yesterday to collect what dogwood we could get, that agrees with him. We ended up with one un-tried bag, but can now get him through the winter.
We still have not received any information on the missing solar panel pieces. We may end up building a whole new frame. Sometimes it's the little things like knobs and tighteners, things you don't usually worry about. I know you can not keep everything on hand. Survivor 1 had a good idea also, regarding the plumbing parts.
I checked on non-hybrid seeds this week and was told that they don't just automatically put out germination tested seed at beginning of each new year. It is an on-going thing, so as you watch for seed that you need, you may want to grab it at the time. This information came from Johnny's. I will confirm with Southern Exposure.
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I just got in from a couple days in Region2. My builder called and wanted me to come up for a consultation. They broke ground Tuesday and will finish up Monday. He said that he should be ready to pour concrete in two to three weeks.
Met another neighbor and we have agreed to each plant a vegetable garden. That family has not planted a garden in many years. Now I just have to get our spots limed and tilled.
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The poured concrete walls and insulated concrete floor is supposed to be poured soon (weather dependent) on my new barn. My oldest son said in order to make the barn a year round camp site that it needed a wood stove. He has no faith in my heated concrete floor. I heard this wood stove was going to be no longer available in 2022 so I did what all good preppers do, I acquired one. A US1269E. I plan to have it installed on the ground floor, back wall near the building mid point. That should take off any chill left, especially on those long 4 day cloudy spells. They don't call that place "The Valley above the clouds" for nothing! I am expecting long, cold & cloudy winter weather up there.
Anyway it looks like we will have a Region2 campsite this Summer.
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My BOL is not even built yet. It seems my builder is waiting on the weather so he can pour concrete. I on the other hand am not waiting on the weather. I have started to put together some food items to stock up the BOL with. I have half gallon mason jars, diced chicken freeze dried along with broccoli, carrots and English peas. Then there are bullion packs plus I am planning on putting some seasonings in the jars in small zip lock bags. Things like salt, pepper, garlic and some corn starch so I can have a little body to the soup.
Starting pictures below.
I think I bought too many noodles. Nah, never too many!! Get more jars.......
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This morning we washed up the jars and dried them in the oven to get all of the moisture out, flats also. Then we made up the 6 half gallon jars of soup mix. We had a problem. There is more mix still in the cans so we washed up 4 wide mouth quart jars and filled them up also. Still have some mix left over. Looks like it will be a dutch oven full of soup Saturday. Saturday morning the temp is supposed to be 22F with a 17 mph of wind. Good day for soup. That should finish up the soup fixings...
So now we have our first food stores for our Region 2 campsite (BOL)
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Well, we have concrete. 2-14-22
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Well it is getting that time of year when we plant something to eat. I ordered 2ea "Bob Gordon" elderberry. I also ordered 2ea "Taylor" raspberry plants. Between my two ponds there is an area that looks just right for both of these plants. If I get them started this year, they will spread. Else I will help them spread when they go dormant next Winter.
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The concrete floor is poured. In the attached picture (before the pour) you can see several pipes coming up thru the floor. The pipe on the right is a 2" sch40 that goes under the slab and comes up where the cistern in to be set. That will provide gravity feed to a pump that will pump up a standard pressure tank. That will provide water to the bathroom and solar water heater. The solar water heater is grossly oversized so it has a chance to heat the insulated concrete floor. That should keep everything warm enough to prevent frozen and broken pipes.
The second picture shows water and electricity stubbed out for campsites each side of the barn. Only one side shown.
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R.W.S. As usual, you have thought things out, congrats! We almost bought a survival property, before the last one, where they used this system. The had a lot of solar. He felt that his one mistake was letting them pour too much concrete over the radiant heat pipes (if that is what they are called). This was about twenty five minutes from North Augusta. The heating in the floor was limited, so they relied a lot on a huge wood burning fireplace, for really cold times. Their heating bills were very low and it did do some good. I bet you have this measured out already for max heat advantage.
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The concrete thickness has to do with how fast you can heat it up and how fast it will naturally cool. (Thermal Mass) At this location there can be as much as 5 cloudy days in a row. The place is called the valley above the clouds. So increased thermal mass is indicated and increased battery bank size will be needed.
The second floor of the barn is 18ft by 40 ft with an 8 ft ceiling. The room will be built out as an efficiency apartment. Single bed room, kitchenette and bathroom. A wood stove will be downstairs. Upstairs will have a mini split AC unit for heat and cooling, but sized mostly for dehumidifying. Humidity is a real problem in the area. At 3000ft altitude, air conditioning load will be minimal. I think it will make a great Summer camp out site.
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Maybe the panels were for vertical gardening. I have two coming tomorrow from Northern Tool. They have two levels. I will use them for herbs on the bottoms and egg plants on top. The only downside on these in this area is the fact that the soil toward the sides will get warmer. Good in spring, not so good in summer. You may be fine up in the mountains.
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A little late to the party ...
Congratulations, RWS, on y'all's BOL!
I have followed Self-Sufficient Me for a couple of years and he orders his raised bed containers. He has a link to them in earlier channels (maybe even on his Instagram). He does a form of hugelculture (sp) in the bottom of the beds, then fills with soil on top of the branches, and then mulch. From then on it's all about constantly adding in compost and organic matter. I've learned a lot from him over the years. And since he's in Australia, I have time to take notes to implement the following season!
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We just got home from region 2. We took the truck and carried a load of scaffold and garden plants. A few tomatoes in 5 gal buckets, some blooming and 1 with two green tomatoes. Then there was a flat of tomato plants, flat of broccoli and some cabbage along with some Egyptian walking onions. That was all the room we had for this trip. After taking care of business with the builder we went around the neighborhood visiting and twisting arms to take the plants. I was surprised that we actually did not have to twist arms. One of my new neighbors had a large new garden tilled recently. (They never have gardened before) I am trying to set up a community gardening and swapping program to get the community ready for the future crop shortages.
The concrete floor has been poured about 5 days ago so it is time to start framing. As you all know the weather has not been cooperative.
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This is a great idea R.W.S.! I hope they protect them for the next few days! We just shared some of our extra pepper, zucchini, eggplant and cucumbers with a neighbor across the road. This is the woman that has brought us eggs from her Buff Orphington's. You have "planted the idea in my head about getting things going. I am not ready to be "outed" but do have one like minded neighbor (to some extent, anyway... I will keep an eye open for this opportunity to present itself.
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We made the trip up to Region 2 this week and camped out. Just got home tired. Our location is a valley above the clouds or in the clouds as you can see from the picture. The most expensive part of an off grid building is the battery bank. When you have weather like this makes it even a bigger challenge.
Along the road at our property it looks like day lilies. I took a couple of pictures. It will be interesting to see them bloom. The trillium is in bloom and it is ramp picking season.
Yes, That is actually flat ground in the first picture (well almost flat), so I will have to amend it heavily this Summer and get it ready to plant next year. They are just now starting to plant up there.
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I have been out in my shop cleaning up an old medicine cabinet I intend to use in the downstairs bathroom of my new barn. I bought a can of white spray paint and the cabinet is starting to look good. I was telling a friend of mine at breakfast last Saturday morning about dragging the medicine cabinet out of the attic. It has glass shelves and they were wrapped up in old news paper. I looked at the date on the newspaper March 15, 1985. He asked me if the cabinet had a slot in the back to drop your used blades into. I looked and YES it does have that slot. It must be an antique.
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We had those in our house, when I was growing up. I even used them with the old razors, where you twist the handle and carefully lift the blade out. I wonder how many blades are in that wall.
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I got notice this morning from Carolina Water that I was to receive a UPS package Wednesday. That would be my Spring capping kit.
https://www.carolinawatertank.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=WCS
Edit: Spring capping kit is here.
Water pressure tank is here and I pick up the cistern tank tomorrow. I will try to take a picture.
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Well, I finally got my cistern tank. Not without difficulty though. I had to make two trips. The first trip the radiator in my truck blew up. Yes, just like a small pressure vessel blowing up. By the time I got a new radiator installed, the pickup place was closed for the day. Anyway I got it home. I am installing the nozzles and the manway extensions now. Then I will finish loading the truck for a trip to region 2.
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We left at 4 AM yesterday morning with a truck and trailer load. Destination Region2 BOL. We arrived about 11AM and the tool rental delivered a track hoe at noon. The 1750 gal tank (cistern) was burried and piped up by 3 PM. We arrived back home at 9 PM, a long day.
The 2" tank discharge line comes up thru the floor of the barn. There I attached a trash filter ahead of the pump. I know, you are not supposed to restrict the pump suction. I used a 2" filter hoping I could get away with a trash filter ahead of the pump. The 120 Gal pressure tank goes between the pipe and the back wall.
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R.W.S. you are really making progress! Looking good!
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I found a local LandScaper. He went by my place this week and cleaned out the effluent pipes and some weeds from the ponds. My effluent pipe on the larger pond had stopped up and water was exiting via the overflow pipe. That's bad because not only did water go out but also some fish. Well the fishing in the neighborhood creek should be good for a week or two anyway. We will meet in the next couple of weeks and discuss other work that needs done on my next trip up. Top of the list is bush hogging. There is a lot of work in keeping a place up!
I am lucky in that the fish in the larger pond appear to be self repopulating. No need to restock. The smaller pond needs stocking though.
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I guess the next step is to put up some solar panels, mount an inverter on the wall and start hooking up wires. What is holding me up on the inverter is there is no door. Still waiting on door delivery. I did take a picture of the wall where I will mount an inverter. The problem with the wall is the builder has not yet installed the 3/4" plywood back panel that it mounts on. Then I have to paint it and let it dry a day or 2. The builder is supposed to have the plywood up this week.
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I have been working at my Region 2 BOL all week. I now have a back panel on which I will mount all of the electrical gear. Inverter, charge controllers, Rapid shut down control, lighting panel and miscellaneous other. Pic 1 back panel.
The contractor was on site all week and installed hand rails on the deck and back porch & stairs. Pic 2.
You will also notice in the pictures that the soffit is being covered in anodized aluminum covering the facial board. I had to hurry and ruff in a back porch light fixture so the contractor could cover the ceiling.
The third picture shows the Rhhn25 tower that we installed this week. The top will be for the Starlink antenna. The soffit metal had to be in place first. I plan to go up another 18ft so I will have to take up a gin pole and rope for that install. The wife griped about the tower being right in front of the window. I told her that that is where it has to be to get the house bracket to work, I said " Just think of it as a fire escape!".
Only allowed 4 pics, so continued below.
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The contractor installed my solar panels this week. I had all of the material on hand and laid out when he arrived on site. I walked him thru it step by step as he wanted to learn how to do it. First he put up the rails. Pic 1 The only part i had missing was a ground clamp to ground the rails. Pic 2 the contractor is tying up the PV cables so they can not be seen hanging down. Each panel has a remote shut down switch mounted on the under side that the wife & I mounted the evening before. The wires come off the roof thru a 3/4 in conduit with a weatherhead on top. The board mounted on the wall (Between the window and door) is where the fuse and disconnect switch will be mounted. If you look close you can just see the solar panels at the roof line.
Under the deck near the front of the barn in a rebar sticking up. The contractor told me that was the ground for the rebar in the concrete. NEC allows you to use that to ground your electrical system. I will use it but augment it with a ground rod for each of two solar panel arrays and the tower ground, all made common.
Oh, I almost forgot. I roughed in all of the wiring for the down stairs bathroom. Ready for the plumber to do his thing. I did not want to tackle that.
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Made another trip to region 2. I am learning the way pretty good. We took up a truck load of stuff. I say we cause the wife won't let me get off alone any more. Says I am too old! I took up a gin pole this trip so I can put up the rest of the tower. She says she is too old to be my ground crew and pull the sections up for me. Maybe I can use this too old to go by myself and coax her to the Fall Campout! HI Next week we mount the inverter on the wall and start wiring. Then I can pull wire to the camper outlet. One of my neighbors said I could back into his yard and refil my water tank when needed and the sewer hook up is in place. I may be able to leave the camper on site and drive the truck back and forth. The problem with that comes in October for the campout.
Oh, I now have the barn door installed. It's an insulated garage door.
Edit: My oldest son is coming up from Ellenwood to camp out this weekend. He said he will help me put the rest of the tower up.
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That empty back panel shown in a prior post now has an inverter, power distribution center, 2ea charge controllers, Rapid shut down control and a lighting panel. Took a couple days for me to get this far. Maybe next trip I can power it up. It rained for three days and we had mud every where.
Picture two. My son came up from Atlanta on Monday and we caught a break in the rain long enough to put up the rest of the radio tower.
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My trip to Region 2 was good with 5 days of sunshine. My camper house battery actually charges better from the solar panel than the on board trickle charger. This last trip up I got the radio tower grounded with a 5/8" copper clad ground rod, cad welded to a #6 bare solid copper wire. The wire was ran up the tower and grounded to the tower with 2ea 1" pipe ground clamps, top and bottom. The wire entered the building thru a pipe installed under the eve for antenna wires to pass thru. I carried the wire all the way to the electrical system and made it common with the other 2 grounds. Then I ran the Starlink wire up the tower in prep for a Starlink install.
I got the inverter up and running. This is the first time using the Schneider Rapid shut down control. When I finished wiring it up and turned it on I got a red light. (System Shutdown) I had not yet wired up the switch by the door, so I twisted the bare ends of the wire together and the red light went out. I was then able to restart the inverter. So,,, The system works like advertised. With system shutdown I was getting 5.9VDC from the solar panels. With the system running I got 395VDC. So now I have 3000Watts of solar panels operational.
In the picture you can see where the PV wire comes down beside the rapid shut down box you can see where I went to flex conduit. There is a big ugly loop. I left the wire long with the loop so when I bring in the second array I can install a Tee fitting so both can go thru the Rapid shut down box. It will handle 2 strings.
Batteries are shot. They were pull outs that I told a customer he needed new batteries. I was right. Those batteries were not worth the effort of lugging them up North. At lest I was able to get the system up and running but need new batteries.
Pic 2 there is 30 Watts of LED lighting showing on the display.
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Hey RWS is this close to you?
https://www.theblaze.com/news/missing-georgia-moms-body-found-after-messaging-daughter-they-wont-let-me-go
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No. // A little success last evening and this morning. Last evening I did a factory erase and set up the Starlink for my Region 2 location, gave it a new name and password. Then this morning I parked the antenna and went up the tower. I did not know how to get the antenna off the four legged base so I could bring it down in two pieces. I loaded tools in the tower bag and went up this morning. I had to use an old safety belt that I have not used in years as the one I like is up in Region 2. First I had to WD40 the moving parts to get them to move again. Once on top I fiddled with the antenna until my hand accidentally pushed a button on the antenna base and the antenna released. I put the antenna in the tool bag and put the bag on my back like a day pack and came down. No problem with my legs getting tired, but my arms are wore out for the day. I will go up tomorrow and retrieve the base and water proof/sun proof the antenna wire end. Just getting ready for my next trip to Region 2. Then it will be time to come home and get ready for campout.
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Surveyor, They showed an Athens Sheriff car at the scene.
Now, I am not Nancy Grace, but something is rotten in Denmark. Is your last call in life to transfer money to your daughter, in a very strange amount...at that and tell her the key is under the flower pot? Why wasn't an adult daughter allowed to have a key in the first place? Where does the step-father fit in here? I am thinking my last text would be to 911, or to give someone my location or a description of my abductors....anything but this... Oh, and daughter was searching for her mother at a make-up store....reaally???? Any bets that she made a purchase with her new windfall? Yes, she seems really upset, but it could just be remorse or fear of discovery.
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I now have Starlink running at my BOL. I forgot to put in my camera this trip so I can't take a picture of the antenna but it is on top of the new tower. I might not have grid power and there is no telephone service but I have internet.
I have been wiring. I now have electricity upstairs and downstairs. Getting ready for the plummer to show up and do his thing. I want no part of that.
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Starlink put me off until Fall next year. :'(
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Starlink put me off until Fall next year.
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Starlink has an RV add on. For $35 per month you can move your Starlink around. I did the one time move which was supposed to put me in the back of the Que. I did the move several days ago and powered it up here today. I was surprised to find it turned on. I was expecting a month or so in the Que. I told them I was off grid with no cell service. Maybe that helped...
I am operating from the camper parked in front of the barn with a good Wifi signal. I have new neighbors and they drove in a couple hours ago. I now see their Wifi and printer. That is why I put a password on mine.
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I bought this land as farm land but there is only about 5 acres flat enough to farm. That is enough for a small community farm. The size is not a problem. The problem is it is so far out in the sticks that there is an animal problem. What the deer don't eat, the bear do! The wife was talking to the neighbor lady the other day. The lady woke up early in the morning with eyes staring in the window. The window was up about 6". She turned on the porch light and there was a big bear on her porch looking in the window. We were talking gardening, what she planted this year and what she planned to plant next year. She said she has not planted corn for the last several years. That a bear came and sat down in her last corn field and devoured it. Obviously she does not shoot. I told her that she had to run them off with buck shot peppering their back side on the way out. By the way, that must have been what bumped up against my camper and rocked it that morning. I don't think I want to sleep in a tent either.... this time of the year.
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R.W.S. When we first moved back to the states, we bought a cabin up in Cherry Log, Close to Ellijay. I went on a hunt to every hardware store, etc. etc. looking for a "bear proof" garbage can. I wish I had taken video films of the sales people rolling in the isles in laughter. Well I got the best two they had, and we kept it on a small deck on the second story, with no stairs leading up to it. We double bagged and tied. We sprayed the cans. Within days, we were awakened by our garbage cans being banged all over the deck. The noise was accompanied by lots of grunting and snorting. Our 95 lb Doberman, Sheba (may she rest in peace), almost went through the window after it. The bear carried both cans off into the woods, which were almost straight downhill. The next day, Sheba led us to the remaining mess. Cleanup took hours. Trash cans were moved into a downstairs closet. By the way, when the conservation dept picks up bear around Atlanta, who have been living on dog and cat food, guess there they release them? They head north and drop them off. That is why they are so thick up there. We moved to Ellijay and still say them about once a week. Sheba kept them out of the yard; she was extremely brave, when her people were outside. Our neighbor hung a bird feeder with sunflower seed in the middle of their beautiful vegetable garden. The bear tore down a bear gate and deer fence to get the seed. You might try a solar electric fence around your garden. The deer went under one of our broken fish line that we missed and ate apple tree branches and grape vines recently. They were just really getting well established. One step forward, two steps back.
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Starlink put me off until Fall next year. :'(
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You need to get the clock started. I waited a year to get mine!!
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Starlink put me off until Fall next year. :'(
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You need to get the clock started. I waited a year to get mine!!
Tell them that you are Ukrainian and you’ll have by the end of the week plus a billion dollars in military hardware😳😳😳…
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Tell them that you are Ukrainian and you’ll have by the end of the week plus a billion dollars in military hardware😳😳😳…
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But you can keep only half a billion. The rest must be sent back as fake purchases from politicians family businesses.
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Bingo!🤦♂️🤦♂️🤦♂️
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Well I am home in Region 8 for the Winter. This gives me time to cruise the internet and wish a lot. One thing I found for the BOL is a wood fired cook stove with a 2 burner LP cook surface attached to the right side. I also found an electric range only 24inches wide 4 burners & oven. With the wood burner I will also be able to get some kitchen heat while cooking. I plan to put the wood stove on the West wall and move the frig to the North wall. If I get a tall skinny frig, it should fit OK.
https://www.lehmans.com/product/elmira-fireview-wood-cookstove/
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Summit-Appliance-24-in-2-9-cu-ft-Electric-Range-in-White-RE2411W/308495872?
https://www.lehmans.com/product/elmira-antique-style-refrigerator/ But not in Red, click the white box.
PS: I like the bun warmer on top also as I like to warm up the plates in the Winter so the food doesn't get cold too quickly.
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Beautiful wood stove, but I couldn’t help but notice there was no price. Kinda scary
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Yeah. I just sent them an email for more info. They say they have an info packet. And a price estimate and could they deliver by April 2023 currently out of stock as the manufacturer is moving the factory to a new location. The fun begins. I will see what I get back.
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Somehow I missed this thread. Welcome to North Carolina! Your BOL looks awesome! Sounds like you are farther west than I am.
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Well checking further on the Elmira stove. The two propane burners are only available on the 48" model. Also on the 48" model they can take out the fire brick on the right side wall and install a tubing coil to heat water. At my home in region 8 I heated water in a SST tank mounted to the inside wall of my wood stove. When you do this you must have a load as the water gets so hot that it pops the P&T valve on you water heater. I put pex tubing under the floor and held it up against the floor with aluminum plates screwed to the under floor layment. If you ran the wood stove all night, in the morning you could walk on the kitchen floor in your bare feet and feel the warmth. That was in addition to the fact that the central heat would not cycle on all night long. So you can see why I really wanted this stove. The first problem is cost. $8000+ with 50% down non-refundable. The expected delivery is over 1 year. Then I could not figure how I was going to get it upstairs and thru a 36" doorway. So I will just have to look for another solution. A cheaper one I hope.
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I am still trying to decide what to put in the kitchen. The Elmira stove is out. Since this is a BOL I am trying to decide what would be best, propane or electric. If I had a lot of room I would put is one of each. I found a propane stove 30" with an electric over. That is a possibility. I also have found a 20" electric range and a 20" propane range. All kinds of possibilities. Then this popped up in the news:
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/01/feds-consider-ban-gas-powered-stoves-address-pollution-problem/
That's all we need!!
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If it were me, I would get the gas and hook it to the propane. If I had room in my kitchen, I would put in a wood stove with a water reservoir. People used to keep the whole family clean, while warming that water and adding it to a tub next to the stove. Younger kids would get the water first, since they were not as dirty as the teens, from farm work.
If Biden lives long enough to pass that bill, our gas/propane stoves will be grandfathered in. I have a six burner. Also had a six burner propane in the last house. We are still breathing. Yesterday, my stove was on for three hours, almost straight through with canning. No one is taking my stove! Not a fan of electric. Pulling out a stove to hook it to solar would be a trick and energy that would be needed for other things. A stove would suck down your batteries quickly. These are opinionated expressions of an old woman, who has cooked since she had her own kitchen at age 21. It's good you are thinking things through, since everything, no matter what size, is getting so costly. Mistakes are expensive and that money could be better used.
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Geez Abigayle when you talk about being old I get a vision of your wearing fur, simmering wooly mammoth in a caldron over an open fire!😳😳😳. I’m guessing you are not that old, right??? 🤔🤦♂️😎…. Btw - I really enjoy reading Thor’s hieroglyphics that he painted and carved into the wall! 😜😂
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Surveyor 1...If I have asked you once, I have asked you a thousand times, to stop peeking in my windows! Keep it up and I will cut you off from my secret brew recipes:).
Those on here that know me, can tell you....I am old.
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Surveyor 1...If I have asked you once, I have asked you a thousand times, to stop peeking in my windows! Keep it up and I will cut you off from my secret brew recipes:).
Those on here that know me, can tell you....I am old.
😂😂😂 - btw the voodoo mix worked pretty good, thanks!
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Abigayle, If I have to go to wood cooking I will just use the rocket stove I have. On a sunny day I will have enough solar to run an electric stove. The problem is the location has 5 cloudy days in a row very regularly. The cloudy conditions has resulted in my increasing the number of solar panels and up sizing the battery bank. I will need to charge an electric vehicle on sunny days as cloudy days will be doubtful.
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I have a large rocket stove, which would hold a stock pot. I bought one that was meant to use with it, so the fit is good. Nice thing about the woodcock stove in the house is that it serves many purposes. You can bake, keep warm, and cook more than one thing at a time. It would take the same amount of wood, to heat the water right along with it. I miss my wood cookstove, can you tell?
Everyone's lifestyle is different. I try to look at the situation, like I will be without electric for a year. My mind will not allow me to wrap my thought process around a longer time period.
Region 2 does have fewer sunny days. It also allows you to capture more rain water, if you need it. Weather patterns are changing, as evidence will prove in my frozen greenhouse. We pays our money and we take our chances. I wonder what our feelings will be looking back one day. Maybe I will wish we had traveled more....
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I am still trying to decide what to put in the kitchen. The Elmira stove is out. Since this is a BOL I am trying to decide what would be best, propane or electric. If I had a lot of room I would put is one of each. I found a propane stove 30" with an electric over. That is a possibility. I also have found a 20" electric range and a 20" propane range. All kinds of possibilities. Then this popped up in the news:
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/01/feds-consider-ban-gas-powered-stoves-address-pollution-problem/
That's all we need!!
Now we find out the World Economic Forum is behind the push to get rid of gas stoves. I guess if Europe does not have the gas to run a stove then the rest of the world should ban them.
The abrupt push by Democrats led by the Biden Regime to ban gas stoves has enraged and confused Americans across the country. The good news is we may have found the primary culprit behind the push and it’s connected to the World Economic Forum.
RedState.com, which first broke this story, points out prominent Democrats and liberals never demonstrated an iota of concern over gas stoves before. Not even noted low-IQ Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), who made an utter fool of herself by claiming a study shows gas stoves are dangerous to brain health.
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A.O.C. didn't even know what a garage disposal was when she accidentally turned one on in her new kitchen. Put her in a bag with pothole Pete, shake them up and drop them down a sewer.....Green new deal at it's finest.
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Well I have the kitchen designed. I have decided on the GE gas stove convertible to propane (since I have a 1000gal propane tank). The wife wanted a self cleaning oven and it even comes with "Air Fry". I like the big griddle in the middle. I think it would work for a plate warmer so during cold weather my food would stay warmer longer. 5 burners should work for canning.
https://www.homedepot.com/p/GE-30-in-5-0-cu-ft-Gas-Range-with-Self-Cleaning-Convection-Oven-and-Air-Fry-in-Stainless-Steel-JGB735SPSS/314138082
I plan to knock out a wall and expand the kitchen to hold the refrigerator and bottom kitchen cabinets with all drawers. No top cabinets over head but a shelf 18 to 20 " above the counter top. On the back wall will be 5 ea 120V outlets for microwave, air fryer, bread machine, coffee pot and toaster.
Well I am going to go and dream a little more.
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Went to the Dalton Hamfest last Saturday. Went up Friday and stopped by the BOL to drop off 26 blueberry bushes. We got them planted then went around driving stakes in the ground where we plan to plant fruit & Nut trees. I wrote the name of each type tree on the stake. When we got home I got online and ordered 2ea almond trees, 2 hazel nut trees, 2ea pecan trees, 2ea pear trees and 2ea apple trees to be shipped this Spring. I am having them shipped to the guy that will plant them for me as he lives right down the road. It is hard to have stuff shipped there because of the narrow single track road in and me not being there full time along with not having cell phone service.
I carried up a couple of salads in a tote sack and gave them to the neighbors. Each sack (grow bag) was a legacy tomato plant in the middle with a ring of lettuce plants around it then a second ring around the outer perimeter of "Candy" onions.
I found a pineapple pear tree that I was looking for and ordered it also. That means I will have 3 pear trees. That will be enough for the whole neighborhood to can for a years supply. Maybe next year we can work on peaches, plums and grape vines.
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Made another trip to region 2. They have recently had a BIG rain. My big pond overflowed and washed the road out. The County came in and installed a larger discharge pipe. The rain had wiped all the old tracks away so all that was left were new. There were lots of deer tracks and dog tracks.
We planted a pineapple pear tree while there. We currently can pineapple pears every year from a tree down the road. The lady that owns the tree is 92 and living in an assisted facility. We probably won't have access to this tree for much longer. It is a really good large pear. So with the three Pear trees, two Pecan trees, one hickory nut tree, two Apple trees and two Peach trees, we are done planting fruit trees for this Spring season. I have 15 Goji berry bushes to go up there later this year. They will look good lined up down beside the driveway. I have been looking for some 10 ft fence posts so I can fence in a garden spot. I found some in Tifton at MSI. If I can get the garden spot built this year then I can plant next Spring except I have Raspberries and Elderberry on order for delivery soon. (April)
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Starlink put me off until Fall next year. :'(
Looks like it will be a little longer. SpaceX's last launch blew up after liftoff.
"SpaceX launched the largest and most powerful rocket in history Thursday morning from southern Texas.
The sight of this majestic object flying in the sky was truly an awe-inspiring experience to witness.
The rocket, however exploded a few moments later. As Fox News reported, SpaceX live stream hosts described this as a “rapid unscheduled disassembly.”
I guess my star link bill is going to go up again!
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/04/watch-spacex-successfully-launches-largest-rocket-in-history-before-it-explodes-in-mid-air-elon-musk-responds/
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My propane supplier put 124.6 gal of LP in my tank. They charged me 2.129 per gal. I thought that was a descent price compared to what it was last Fall. They are installing lines to my generator, gas stove and on demand water heater. They said the tank needed weight in it to keep it from floating out of the ground. I think they also need to be able to purge the air out of the new lines.
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RWX,
I'nm in our area and use Folger Gas, Looks like you got a better price than I did last month.
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Yes, I checked with others this morning and it is a good price. They installed a 1000 gal underground tank and are now installing the pipes to the appliance locations. When done I am sure they will want to fill up the tank. At that price I am inclined to say OK.
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Yes, I checked with others this morning and it is a good price. They installed a 1000 gal underground tank and are now installing the pipes to the appliance locations. When done I am sure they will want to fill up the tank. At that price I am inclined to say OK.
Can’t they just fill it up now at the good price?
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Yes, I checked with others this morning and it is a good price. They installed a 1000 gal underground tank and are now installing the pipes to the appliance locations. When done I am sure they will want to fill up the tank. At that price I am inclined to say OK.
Can’t they just fill it up now at the good price?
I hope so. I will be checking on that this week. Can't do anything on the weekend.
Edit 6-15 Yep. Got another 761.5 Gal. The tank is full.
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Good deal, that should last quite awhile, especially in “conservation mode”!
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Just checked prices here and they said $2.50 so it sounds like you got a great price!!!
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Boxing in the spring is next. Did not know where i was going to get help until an old friend texted me requesting to hunt my property this year. I said yes. Then he asked what I needed help with. My BOL makes a perfect winter hunting camp as it has spring fed water, solar electricity and a wood stove. Being dug back into a foothill it stays relatively warm inside when closed up. Before winter I hope to have a full bathroom and warm water shower. I need to get all the help I need out of him! When I had teen age boys he let us tag along on hunting/camping out above Desota Falls. One trip he was by himself and returning to camp when he noticed motion in his camp site. Looking thru his rifle scope he saw a bear. It was an old bear as it had grey whiskers. When he got closer and took another look he realized it wasn't an old bear that it was his hot chocolate mix. His wife is the one that asked me last year did I have a years worth of food put up. I told her then that I intended to grow mine. I think they have become preppers after reading 1 second after.
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Now, your friend has to read Camping 101, where it explains about hanging your food in a tree, not putting it in your tent. You get two choices, food in tent, good photo shoot and get to use the tent for the very last time. Second choice, use a tree, and find peace.
The bear hunters up in Wisconsin, get free frosting from the bakeries and put it in a big pit. Not very sportsman like, but you can only get a permit like every seven years now. The bear population gets too thick and hungry, if they don't even up the odds, I guess.
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Now, your friend has to read Camping 101, where it explains about hanging your food in a tree, not putting it in your tent. You get two choices, food in tent, good photo shoot and get to use the tent for the very last time. Second choice, use a tree, and find peace.
The bear hunters up in Wisconsin, get free frosting from the bakeries and put it in a big pit. Not very sportsman like, but you can only get a permit like every seven years now. The bear population gets too thick and hungry, if they don't even up the odds, I guess.
He knows about hanging food. We hiked 400 miles of the AT together. I guess he was just lazy.
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It has started
Well we had our first RAIDER visit this past week. A young man on a jacked up and extended spacing between tires 4 wheeler came up the road. He drove up the driveway to my neighbors house. I just figured he was a friend visiting. After a little while he came back down the driveway and came up to mine. He looked up my driveway, saw me watching and went on to the other neighbors house. That neighbor and his car were behind the house and not visible from the road. He drove down the driveway to the house. The 4 wheeler ATV was loud and the neighbor heard him. When he went around to the side of the house to greet his guest, the boy took off. A little while later another neighbor came by and said this boy was out scouting and by that time I had already figured it out. He had already stolen a TV from the neighbors barn and that is what he was doing crossing my land was re-visiting the old barn in back to see if there was anything else to take. Of course the sheriff was called (and never came).
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Easy assumption, he is from the area, unless he has a pickup with a ramp parked down the road. If he lives nearby, other neighbors know who he is. Young kid? daddy is either the same type, or he will have a come to Jesus meeting with the kid, if you all show up at his door. If the latter is true, he should not be able to show up with a TV. The four wheeler must be accommodating any "treasures he comes up with. At least you have a way for the three of you to watch each others backs. I would have exchanged phone numbers or walkie talkies with those of value.
Our area has been lucky, but it's coming...oh ya....it's a comin'....
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Salamanders I piped on my spring yesterday and left the water running down the pipe all night. This morning I went up to the spring box to turn the water off. I opened it up and saw gold fish swimming around in my spring box. I got one in my hand and got a better look and it was a (baby?) salamander. I let the water out of the spring box and there were at least 10 salamanders in there. I will get the tea strainer out of the camper and get them all out. I guess they would be fish bait. They had to have come out of the spring. I wonder what else I am to discover!
Anyway, I am going to cut the box out of the lines and turn it over to clean it good then install unions in the pipes. Looks like a regular PM.
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R.W.S. They eat snails (slugs) small rodents....The balance of nature. If you were starting an aquatic project, with small fish, they would be of concern if allowed to venture in that water.
When I was young, my Romanian grandfather and I found one near the well. After I was allowed to hold it, he told me to let it go, that they were good. Grandpa understood the ground and worked it all his life. So, in respect to the great knowledge of my grandfather, who had no formal education, I would let them go....But that's just me. They can clear out a new litter of mice in no time. Mrs. R.W.S. might start naming them....
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I cut the lines to the tank and turned it over to get them all out. Then I installed unions to make it easier to clean the spring box. I just had a contractor over to look at digging several ditches across the driveway. He told me to take the intake pipe out and put a screen wire over it to keep the salamanders out. I can do that because I already have a union there.
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Starlink put me off until Fall next year. :'(
Looks like it will be a little longer. SpaceX's last launch blew up after liftoff.
"SpaceX launched the largest and most powerful rocket in history Thursday morning from southern Texas.
RWS, After dealing with Windstream's crappy internet for years we went to the T-mobile store yesterday. T-Mobile's website says they don't offer internet in this area but the local store gave us a router to try for 2 weeks for $35 which we are now playing with.
We've been trying it around the house getting speeds from 4 mps to 60 mps depending on which window we place it at.
$50 a month and much faster than Windstream.
just my 2 cents.
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There is no cell service here from any vendor. My internet is starlink. Much faster than my home DSL.
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I've tried to sign up for starlink but not available at this time. It's expensive too.
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RW.S. You might want to look into purchasing the router. We rent ours from Verizon, only because we are expecting a new and better service through here in the fall.
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The neighbor lady came over last evening and told us to carry a big stick when we go out walking. We had been for a walk. She said a big cat got all the chickens at a place just over a small ridge from here. She said it is most likely a mountain lion. After lunch today I noticed movement in the field near the camper. At first I thought it was 2 young turkeys but the color was more brown than black. I think they were pheasants. Anyway as they walked thru they were picking seeds off the grasses at about knee height. This is a wild and wooley place.
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I got an excellent water report from UGA. Soft Water ! Can you believe it ? In the mountains.......
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x IT Works !
My phone rang and my wife answered it. It was a neighbor from my region 2 BOL. There were two cars at my BOL and did we know about it ? The wife said yes it was our son and a friend of his and they were spending the weekend. Most likely they would hike out to the AT and overnight there, BUT thanks for calling. IT works .......
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I was just up here a couple of weeks ago and the effluent pipes on my ponds were half stopped up with sticks and dead weeds. Today the small pond is running over with the effluent pipe under water, no where to be seen. The large pond and the effluent pipe was in the same shape, underwater. The large overflow pipe was half stopped up which I cleaned out. What could cause this?? One critter I know of........ I have a large beaver in my ponds. The neighbor confirmed this when she said her dogs have been chasing it. I asked her if she knew of anyone that had a gun and could come over and shoot the beaver. She did... If I had a gun I could do it myself. I do have traps back in region 8 but that would catch her dog also. Always something.