I guess I could work backwards from today... sure I'll forget tons.
I installed new front struts on the new red Del Sol. Boy that made a really big difference for the ride. Then I wrapped up working on the doors on the open kitchen counter cabinet. They fit so tight that I don't think an ant could get through. Smoke plexiglass. Still need some magnetic catches and handles.
I bought a "new" 1995 Honda Del Sol, red, 170k miles on it. It's the gas saving model of course like my white one. So, now I have twinkie cars. It is in great shape, but needs a few things. I've bought and installed new car radios in both Del Sol's, the white car's stereo quit getting AM/FM reception, and the front input jack was only working for the right speaker. The red car had the original Honda cassette radio, and was missing the antenna. The new car stereos have a USB jack in the front, and I can load up a thumb drive with music and plug it in. How cool is that? Other things I need to do are tint the windows, struts, grease the door catch mechanisms from inside the doors... I charged the A/C which is working fine now.
Clay has been around some running the wood chipper. We have been making some great progress on clearing. It's been pretty dry this past week or so, and I was able to relocate some dirt around, filling in some low spots, giving the creek a more direct path. It's really weird remembering trudging thru the brush, sinking in a mud pit, etc., and now that same area is totally clear and almost ready for grass to grow (minor hand grading to fill in the bobcat tracks). It's really odd being able to see so much of my land now, and now my neighbor Tom's roof. The modifications I made to the chipper are phenomenal. It no longer gets plugged up, and is able to take in bigger trees even faster. Schweet! Tomorrow Clay is back again, and that is probably what we will be doing.
Clay did score a really great 2001 Dodge Caravan for $800, plus about another $300-$400 in parts, and he now has a really nice reliable vehicle. We even charged up the A/C system, and he's chillin. Lots of little things add up to someone else dumping it, and for someone handy, a great cheap ride.
The hydroponics system is doing great. I continued to have problems with the digital timer resetting, so I bought a mechanical one with the little clips on it. So, now, it should do even better when it continually cycles 15 minutes on, 45 off vs. daily a 5-6 hours of no-pumping. I'll have to post some pics. The Spinach, Lettuce, Celery, Arugula are all doing great and healthy, and I've even been getting a strawberry a day from the transplant. I should plant more of those. Small but very flavorful berries.I also have some tomato plant starts coming up, and I planted a Muscelix Mix. Still more space not yet planted in the shelves. When I need to add water to the system, I'll scoop it out of the fish tank. Maybe I can siphon off the goop on the bottom of the fish tank, that would be even better.
I have taken down the green house, listed it on Craigs List, and now have only one above ground garden bed, with carrots, onions, and garlic going. Bugs don't seem to bother those, and they seem to do pretty well. I'll have to be sure to water them when we don't get our nightly showers.
Lucy and Gray are doing fine. Cute as ever. Lucy lets Gray have his popcorn, but then she knows she gets more than Gray always. Gray is getting pretty big. He's been staying out in the bush all day, almost like he's deciding he is an outdoor kitty. Not that living indoors at my house is so very different really then being outdoors.
Well, there has been more stuff going on, but this is enough.
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Monday, January 16, 2012
Local Fisherman's video
The commentary on this video is just too funny.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25RZ1WDKpz8&list=UUmZTqZMN62ftmsJAoqA_tmA&index=2&feature=plpp_video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25RZ1WDKpz8&list=UUmZTqZMN62ftmsJAoqA_tmA&index=2&feature=plpp_video
Monday, January 9, 2012
Rain is over for the moment?
The weather this past week is much more "normal" with some rainfall, but not all day or really heavy rains for extended times. It's almost been dry these past 4 days.
Gray kitten has been great fun, and he's managed to fit right in with Me and Lucy. He's super cute and very laid back. He sleeps on my bed and with Lucy, apparently taking turns. I have to say that perhaps one of the best things that humans ever did for humans is to domesticate cats and dogs.
Not much progress has been made toward the home construction project due to the rain, and after a few recent days clearing trees, I'm now thinking that I might should wait to start the house construction until the tress and land are cleared of the invasive trees. My view of Mauna Kea mountain continues to improve, however to get any better now would require removing the trees between the hut and container house. So, maybe those tress can remain until I'm ready to relocate the hut. I should have a building permit in around 4 weeks, and so maybe I'll not really get started just yet. Also gives me more time to save up money so that I can delay getting the construction loan, and it can be for less.
I had a close call on Saturday with one of the dead Albezia trees while I was clearing some plants. I always figured if I was under the tree when a branch fell off that I might should just stay still, odds are that I would try to run, and right into where it was falling. Hummm... Lucky break #1 only having one ear plug in, #2 Clay had turned off the chipper. So, lucky break # 3 is that I actually heard it (see # 1& #2). Lucky break #4 is that I looked up, and saw that it was branches right over me. Lucky break #5 is that I was quick (incentive). Made it out of the way, and when I looked back, they had fallen exactly where I was working. At bare minimum, it would have been a hospital trip for sure. 10" & 12" diameter branches fell probably 80'. Yikes. So, new rule for my land, no working of any kind under the 2 Albezia trees. I can run the bobcat under and do things that way, but not much else. Walking from point A to B is probably OK, but should be avoided if possible. I would like to cut down the one tree (30" trunk diameter), the culprit in this case, but If I do it will for-sure take out my avocado tree, and most likely 2 really nice Ohia trees. And I'll have to move the outhouse as it would likely be crushed. The outhouse is safe distance from naturally falling limbs, but not from felling the whole tree. The container house is just far enough away to be unscathed. So, with all that, you can see that I don't want to cut it down, but then again... The other much larger Albezia tree (8' diameter trunk) is not really located where it matters or needs to be avoided. But same rules do of course apply there.
Nothing new or exciting with work. I'm hoping for some new interested clients in the new year. Mom had a few great ideas on some social media marketing efforts. I did add a horse rescue/farm as a new volunteer scheduling client, and they will be using lots of the features, so that is great.
My 4x4 vehicle is still broken. I did buy and install a $80 gasket set, and yet, still having problems with water getting into the oil somehow. Just has to be where this gasket set is installed, but then you would think that the gasket sets would not be so crappy that they really did not work like this. It's very frustrating.
I've completed the 2nd hydroponics shelf setup, and expanded the compost tea to a commercial 30 gallon trash can. I've not planted it yet, but the water is circulating. My original shelf set is doing well still with great looking plants. Once the plants get a bit bigger, I'll update with some pics. So now it's been 4 weeks since I planted the chinese celery (small celery) as the test which are going like gang-busters. About 2 weeks on the rest of the seeds which all look appropriate for that amount of time.
I've made some new lights for inside and outside the container house. I bought a bunch of 1/2 price LED xmas lights, 100 per strand, and then doubled them up, folded the string in 1/2 to be 8', then pulled them into a 8' clear flourescent light bulb protector tube (like they use in gyms). So, basically making a 8' light bulb that uses 14 watts. They make some great light, much better than the light rope I had in the ceiling. In the kitchen I had 2 strands of lame xmas lights on the cables (mostly ambiance), and now I've hung 2 of these light bars which are much more bright (these are in addition to under shelf flourescents I use when cooking which make lots of light). So, more light around the house now. I plan on making some reflectors and mount the light bars under those to reflect more of the light down vs. the current 360 degrees of light currently. At some point they will show up in a picture.
I've designed the new container house deck railings, and I'll probably be welding those together fairly soon. They will be partially made from the recycled metal from the parts I've cut out for the sliding glass doors, and with stainless steel cables in the top 3/4 of them. I'll need these on the container some day officially in order to pass county code standards anyway, which I always figured I'd have to do.
While making a mess with the bobcat bulldozing down some trees, I managed to again break off a valve stem on one of the wheels. Man it's a pain to fix that. Gotta drive it back over to the house, remove the steel over-the-tires tracks, remove the wheel (like 100lbs), then take it into town. Barely fits in the honda. Last time I needed a innertube, they charged me, no screwed me, to the tune of $78 for the tube, and $20 to install. This time I found a different place that charged only $24 for the tube and $10 install. I'm always happy to pay a fair price, it just sucks when you know that you are being taken advantage of. Glad I found the new place. I also welded a "U" shaped metal guard around the valve stems on both wheels on that side of the machine so that this won't happen again, at least on that side.
Mom and Whitney are coming for a visit the last few weeks in February, so that will be fun. My place has changed lots since either of them was here last.
Anyway, that's enough stuff for this update.
Gray kitten has been great fun, and he's managed to fit right in with Me and Lucy. He's super cute and very laid back. He sleeps on my bed and with Lucy, apparently taking turns. I have to say that perhaps one of the best things that humans ever did for humans is to domesticate cats and dogs.
Not much progress has been made toward the home construction project due to the rain, and after a few recent days clearing trees, I'm now thinking that I might should wait to start the house construction until the tress and land are cleared of the invasive trees. My view of Mauna Kea mountain continues to improve, however to get any better now would require removing the trees between the hut and container house. So, maybe those tress can remain until I'm ready to relocate the hut. I should have a building permit in around 4 weeks, and so maybe I'll not really get started just yet. Also gives me more time to save up money so that I can delay getting the construction loan, and it can be for less.
I had a close call on Saturday with one of the dead Albezia trees while I was clearing some plants. I always figured if I was under the tree when a branch fell off that I might should just stay still, odds are that I would try to run, and right into where it was falling. Hummm... Lucky break #1 only having one ear plug in, #2 Clay had turned off the chipper. So, lucky break # 3 is that I actually heard it (see # 1& #2). Lucky break #4 is that I looked up, and saw that it was branches right over me. Lucky break #5 is that I was quick (incentive). Made it out of the way, and when I looked back, they had fallen exactly where I was working. At bare minimum, it would have been a hospital trip for sure. 10" & 12" diameter branches fell probably 80'. Yikes. So, new rule for my land, no working of any kind under the 2 Albezia trees. I can run the bobcat under and do things that way, but not much else. Walking from point A to B is probably OK, but should be avoided if possible. I would like to cut down the one tree (30" trunk diameter), the culprit in this case, but If I do it will for-sure take out my avocado tree, and most likely 2 really nice Ohia trees. And I'll have to move the outhouse as it would likely be crushed. The outhouse is safe distance from naturally falling limbs, but not from felling the whole tree. The container house is just far enough away to be unscathed. So, with all that, you can see that I don't want to cut it down, but then again... The other much larger Albezia tree (8' diameter trunk) is not really located where it matters or needs to be avoided. But same rules do of course apply there.
Nothing new or exciting with work. I'm hoping for some new interested clients in the new year. Mom had a few great ideas on some social media marketing efforts. I did add a horse rescue/farm as a new volunteer scheduling client, and they will be using lots of the features, so that is great.
My 4x4 vehicle is still broken. I did buy and install a $80 gasket set, and yet, still having problems with water getting into the oil somehow. Just has to be where this gasket set is installed, but then you would think that the gasket sets would not be so crappy that they really did not work like this. It's very frustrating.
I've completed the 2nd hydroponics shelf setup, and expanded the compost tea to a commercial 30 gallon trash can. I've not planted it yet, but the water is circulating. My original shelf set is doing well still with great looking plants. Once the plants get a bit bigger, I'll update with some pics. So now it's been 4 weeks since I planted the chinese celery (small celery) as the test which are going like gang-busters. About 2 weeks on the rest of the seeds which all look appropriate for that amount of time.
I've made some new lights for inside and outside the container house. I bought a bunch of 1/2 price LED xmas lights, 100 per strand, and then doubled them up, folded the string in 1/2 to be 8', then pulled them into a 8' clear flourescent light bulb protector tube (like they use in gyms). So, basically making a 8' light bulb that uses 14 watts. They make some great light, much better than the light rope I had in the ceiling. In the kitchen I had 2 strands of lame xmas lights on the cables (mostly ambiance), and now I've hung 2 of these light bars which are much more bright (these are in addition to under shelf flourescents I use when cooking which make lots of light). So, more light around the house now. I plan on making some reflectors and mount the light bars under those to reflect more of the light down vs. the current 360 degrees of light currently. At some point they will show up in a picture.
I've designed the new container house deck railings, and I'll probably be welding those together fairly soon. They will be partially made from the recycled metal from the parts I've cut out for the sliding glass doors, and with stainless steel cables in the top 3/4 of them. I'll need these on the container some day officially in order to pass county code standards anyway, which I always figured I'd have to do.
While making a mess with the bobcat bulldozing down some trees, I managed to again break off a valve stem on one of the wheels. Man it's a pain to fix that. Gotta drive it back over to the house, remove the steel over-the-tires tracks, remove the wheel (like 100lbs), then take it into town. Barely fits in the honda. Last time I needed a innertube, they charged me, no screwed me, to the tune of $78 for the tube, and $20 to install. This time I found a different place that charged only $24 for the tube and $10 install. I'm always happy to pay a fair price, it just sucks when you know that you are being taken advantage of. Glad I found the new place. I also welded a "U" shaped metal guard around the valve stems on both wheels on that side of the machine so that this won't happen again, at least on that side.
Mom and Whitney are coming for a visit the last few weeks in February, so that will be fun. My place has changed lots since either of them was here last.
Anyway, that's enough stuff for this update.
Monday, December 12, 2011
10" of rain in 48 hrs and counting
Santa Fe gets 14" of rain in the typical year. We just had more than 10" of rain in 2 days. Yikes that's some rain. The tarp roof over the bobcat got blown off, but then it had some really old lame bungies holding it on. Replaced those today. The river was running, and the lakes full. I couldn't leave if I wanted to. Some of the wind gusts were pretty impressive. The deck roof does some nice flexing when that happens, which is OK since that it how it was designed.
The hydroponics using the Black Soldier Fly maggot compost is working great. (basically compost tea vs. the previous aquaponics) The vege sprouts are looking great and healthy. Looks so far like a real winner. They never looked healthy when it was aquaponics.
Some kitty pics
Just been doing lots of programming with all this rain. Watching some BBC TV shows online.
I scored an awesome 1960's "Atlas" sewing machine at the dump last week. Just needed a new drive belt. The guys at the sewing machine repair place seemed to think of the machine as a real score. It's much nicer and better than the new piece of crap singer I bought here a few years ago. I'll be putting that one on Craig's List. Cannot believe it was just tossed out. I can no longer buy the hiking type nylon pants that I had been getting online for cheap, so I'm going to give a try to make them myself. These are the pants that you see a REI and other places for like $50-$100 per pair. They are great here in the warm damp environment. I hardly ever wear jeans any more (pre-Hawaii I lived in jeans), mostly only now when welding and the like. And there is no way I'm paying $50 for nylon pants made in China.
The hydroponics using the Black Soldier Fly maggot compost is working great. (basically compost tea vs. the previous aquaponics) The vege sprouts are looking great and healthy. Looks so far like a real winner. They never looked healthy when it was aquaponics.
Some kitty pics
Just been doing lots of programming with all this rain. Watching some BBC TV shows online.
I scored an awesome 1960's "Atlas" sewing machine at the dump last week. Just needed a new drive belt. The guys at the sewing machine repair place seemed to think of the machine as a real score. It's much nicer and better than the new piece of crap singer I bought here a few years ago. I'll be putting that one on Craig's List. Cannot believe it was just tossed out. I can no longer buy the hiking type nylon pants that I had been getting online for cheap, so I'm going to give a try to make them myself. These are the pants that you see a REI and other places for like $50-$100 per pair. They are great here in the warm damp environment. I hardly ever wear jeans any more (pre-Hawaii I lived in jeans), mostly only now when welding and the like. And there is no way I'm paying $50 for nylon pants made in China.
Monday, December 5, 2011
Kitties and Fish
Decided to keep one of the kittens, the last one in the photos from the last blog entry. His name is "Grey". Not very creative, but it's not like he cares. Quite the character.
I've decided that Aquaponics is a waste of time. Partially as the mainly nitrates that the fish provide are not good enough to grow food that actually has any real dietary value (grown on nitrates only). So, you CAN grow plants, but not "quality" plants. Sure glad I started with a mini-system first to get my feet wet in that type of system. So, now I have placed the 8 Tilapia in the 100 gallon tank that I was using to grow the duckweed to feed them, and I'll be getting some larger pond plants from Don today for food/cover for them. So, I still want to grow the fish for me to eat, so I'll still at some point make the 4'x4'x4' concrete fish tank(s).
Since I have the Aquaponics system already setup and going, I've decided to try using the Black Soldier Fly maggot dirt to make it a Hydroponics system instead. So, same sorta of deal, just rather than fish in water, it's the BSF compost/waste in the water with a bubbler (bacteria need oxygen too), and recirculate that uky water for the plants. I'll update how this goes later. Maybe it will work great, maybe not. I know when I pour the BSF liquid only on plants, they sure like it and have a visible growth spurt.
Still been raining like crazy. A few sorta dry days mixed in there, but overall, still lots of rain and puddles/mud.
I'm taking down my green house. For several reasons. One, the Ohia trees are too close, and the beds are rife with tree roots taking over. Two, for home permitting/finaling, there can be no non-permitted structures on the property that are 6' or taller. So, when the house is done in 12-18 months, it would need to be taken down anyway. The hut I'll pick up with the bobcat are relocate off the property for the week of the final inspection, then put it back afterwards. Third, veges are really cheap at the local markets, so it's hard to justify the time/energy unless I was just bored anyway. It's good to have done it, and know that I can do it later. I do expect to have a green house again in the future.
I've decided that Aquaponics is a waste of time. Partially as the mainly nitrates that the fish provide are not good enough to grow food that actually has any real dietary value (grown on nitrates only). So, you CAN grow plants, but not "quality" plants. Sure glad I started with a mini-system first to get my feet wet in that type of system. So, now I have placed the 8 Tilapia in the 100 gallon tank that I was using to grow the duckweed to feed them, and I'll be getting some larger pond plants from Don today for food/cover for them. So, I still want to grow the fish for me to eat, so I'll still at some point make the 4'x4'x4' concrete fish tank(s).
Since I have the Aquaponics system already setup and going, I've decided to try using the Black Soldier Fly maggot dirt to make it a Hydroponics system instead. So, same sorta of deal, just rather than fish in water, it's the BSF compost/waste in the water with a bubbler (bacteria need oxygen too), and recirculate that uky water for the plants. I'll update how this goes later. Maybe it will work great, maybe not. I know when I pour the BSF liquid only on plants, they sure like it and have a visible growth spurt.
Still been raining like crazy. A few sorta dry days mixed in there, but overall, still lots of rain and puddles/mud.
I'm taking down my green house. For several reasons. One, the Ohia trees are too close, and the beds are rife with tree roots taking over. Two, for home permitting/finaling, there can be no non-permitted structures on the property that are 6' or taller. So, when the house is done in 12-18 months, it would need to be taken down anyway. The hut I'll pick up with the bobcat are relocate off the property for the week of the final inspection, then put it back afterwards. Third, veges are really cheap at the local markets, so it's hard to justify the time/energy unless I was just bored anyway. It's good to have done it, and know that I can do it later. I do expect to have a green house again in the future.
Thursday, November 24, 2011
Slow progress
I took the architect stamped and signed plans to PWC, Building, Engineering, then Public Health yesterday. PH should call me Friday/Monday to pick them up, then drop them back off at PWC where they will issue a building permit in hopefully less than 8 weeks. In the interim, I can get back to work on the foundation and concrete forms. Maybe go ahead with getting the electrical pole setup, and poles going back to the house run.
It's still been generally very rainy, with significant rains every day. The morning here looks promising of a dry day today.
I've made lots of great progress on the scheduling software tweaks. I think it's a much improved system now. And I'm on a roll, so not going to let nice weather slow me down. More to do on that.
The 4 new kittens are as always, pretty darn cute.
All from the same momma kitty, but all very different looking kitties. They are also trying to play with Lucy, and Lucy gets her toys, and tries to give them to the kittens. Here kitten, throw this ball which is half your size.
It's still been generally very rainy, with significant rains every day. The morning here looks promising of a dry day today.
I've made lots of great progress on the scheduling software tweaks. I think it's a much improved system now. And I'm on a roll, so not going to let nice weather slow me down. More to do on that.
The 4 new kittens are as always, pretty darn cute.
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Finally some SUN!
It's been raining for like 2 weeks straight until yesterday morning (Monday). Monday and today mostly sunny. The ground is super saturated. I've not had my worker Freddy here this whole time. Just too much rain. I did have some couch surfers here for 5 days. Two girls from the N.E. mainland, they have been house sitting locally, and the owner rented out their house for 5 days, so they needed a place. They made a few dinners and were pretty low key. Unlike most couch surfers, they didn't need to discuss Hawaii ad nauseam.
I've been doing lots of programming during the down time. Adding new features to the scheduling system. Working on some "social media" type features and options. It's pretty cool. I think I'll have it done in the next few days. I've also gotten re-ignited on programming to host the local Freecycle group. We have been using a Yahoo Group, then we tried to move over to a website the Nat'l organization developed, but it's severely lacking, and very little progress will be made on improvements (or so it sounds). I've long thought that I'd create a convergence of eBay, Craig's List and Freecycle, and now I'm going to get after it. I can bypass the programming that Freecycle has done in less than a week. Ideally I'll use it for our group, then open it up to Hawaii, then we'll see where it goes from that. I think there is a possibility it could replace CL.
I've picked up 4 new kittens to foster today. About 8 weeks old and 1lb each. They will be here for 4-8 weeks, at least till they are 2lbs. Back to scooping kitty litter/poop 2x per day. My least favorite thing to do in life.
Dave and Margie picked up some stuff for me at Costco on their run on Sunday over to Kona. Then last night we had dinner, and Dave showed off a new military surplus auction acquisition... they (12) are water heaters that run on gasoline. It's like a really big doughnut (16" around), with 2, 3" pipes going down into it next to each other. You submerse the doughnut and about 18" of the pipes. One is a smokestack/exhaust pipe, and one is the air inlet pipe. There is a gas can where you let gasoline drip down the air inlet pipe, where it hits a grid and atomizes, then it's flaming, and the draft of the heat going out the exhaust pipe draws air in the inlet, keeping air coming into the system. It's sort of simple, and works really well. I guess they have been using these since Vietnam time, maybe before. Anyway, when Dave saw them online, he immediately though of a hot tub heater, and he's right on the mark. It's prefect. We heated up a big metal trash can of water in about 20 minutes. We are guessing that you could heat up from ambient temp a hot tub of water with 1 gallon ($4) of gas. If done with electricity, we are pretty sure you'd have to pay 2x that (on this island, electricity is the most expensive in the entire USA). So, now I'm wanting to continue my ferrocement fish tank project, and use the first one for a hot tub. No jets, just hot water. The form is mostly together already for the tank... maybe I'll get to that very soon. In between other projects I suppose?
I've dropped off my house plans at the architect's office, and will pick them up with his changes on Thurs. I also will have the first set of container house plans to show him as well. It's exciting to have the plans almost ready to go to get permitted. Then officially I can get started on the house. The plan is to build a massive 40'x100' tent frame that can be raised up as the project progresses. When my contractor neighbor Michael heard about that, he decided it would be a real help to him on his clients new home build project he is about to start. So, if I can get it all ready now, then he will rent it until I need it. So, like maybe that would cover 1/2 the cost of the setup? We will see. Michael has a few of the corner pieces that I could use, but I don't want there to be any question about ownership of this setup. When I'm ready for it, I need it back, period. There are allot of corners and peaks and connectors to fabricate/weld up, and I don't want to have to fabricate it again later if he is not "done" yet. I don't want to leave him in a lurch, but I'm not about to put myself in one instead.
Still have not repaired my 4x4. So dreading those 2 long days under the hood. Again, 4th time. Ug. I need to use the 4x4 and trailer though, so I better get over it and get it done.
The 8 small Tilapia are sill alive and well, eating their duckweed. Lucy is doing well. She needs a bath, if it's sunny again tomorrow, I'm on that.
I've been doing lots of programming during the down time. Adding new features to the scheduling system. Working on some "social media" type features and options. It's pretty cool. I think I'll have it done in the next few days. I've also gotten re-ignited on programming to host the local Freecycle group. We have been using a Yahoo Group, then we tried to move over to a website the Nat'l organization developed, but it's severely lacking, and very little progress will be made on improvements (or so it sounds). I've long thought that I'd create a convergence of eBay, Craig's List and Freecycle, and now I'm going to get after it. I can bypass the programming that Freecycle has done in less than a week. Ideally I'll use it for our group, then open it up to Hawaii, then we'll see where it goes from that. I think there is a possibility it could replace CL.
I've picked up 4 new kittens to foster today. About 8 weeks old and 1lb each. They will be here for 4-8 weeks, at least till they are 2lbs. Back to scooping kitty litter/poop 2x per day. My least favorite thing to do in life.
Dave and Margie picked up some stuff for me at Costco on their run on Sunday over to Kona. Then last night we had dinner, and Dave showed off a new military surplus auction acquisition... they (12) are water heaters that run on gasoline. It's like a really big doughnut (16" around), with 2, 3" pipes going down into it next to each other. You submerse the doughnut and about 18" of the pipes. One is a smokestack/exhaust pipe, and one is the air inlet pipe. There is a gas can where you let gasoline drip down the air inlet pipe, where it hits a grid and atomizes, then it's flaming, and the draft of the heat going out the exhaust pipe draws air in the inlet, keeping air coming into the system. It's sort of simple, and works really well. I guess they have been using these since Vietnam time, maybe before. Anyway, when Dave saw them online, he immediately though of a hot tub heater, and he's right on the mark. It's prefect. We heated up a big metal trash can of water in about 20 minutes. We are guessing that you could heat up from ambient temp a hot tub of water with 1 gallon ($4) of gas. If done with electricity, we are pretty sure you'd have to pay 2x that (on this island, electricity is the most expensive in the entire USA). So, now I'm wanting to continue my ferrocement fish tank project, and use the first one for a hot tub. No jets, just hot water. The form is mostly together already for the tank... maybe I'll get to that very soon. In between other projects I suppose?
I've dropped off my house plans at the architect's office, and will pick them up with his changes on Thurs. I also will have the first set of container house plans to show him as well. It's exciting to have the plans almost ready to go to get permitted. Then officially I can get started on the house. The plan is to build a massive 40'x100' tent frame that can be raised up as the project progresses. When my contractor neighbor Michael heard about that, he decided it would be a real help to him on his clients new home build project he is about to start. So, if I can get it all ready now, then he will rent it until I need it. So, like maybe that would cover 1/2 the cost of the setup? We will see. Michael has a few of the corner pieces that I could use, but I don't want there to be any question about ownership of this setup. When I'm ready for it, I need it back, period. There are allot of corners and peaks and connectors to fabricate/weld up, and I don't want to have to fabricate it again later if he is not "done" yet. I don't want to leave him in a lurch, but I'm not about to put myself in one instead.
Still have not repaired my 4x4. So dreading those 2 long days under the hood. Again, 4th time. Ug. I need to use the 4x4 and trailer though, so I better get over it and get it done.
The 8 small Tilapia are sill alive and well, eating their duckweed. Lucy is doing well. She needs a bath, if it's sunny again tomorrow, I'm on that.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
