380 gallons of water remaining in elevated tank. Collection tank empty.
No rain in forecast with a high today of 87 degrees. I'm just about to complete one complete garden bed with the drip irrigation. I'll post a photo of that when it's done. It ain't pretty but it's durable and should hold for years. At worst I could dissemble what has been done and use most of the materials for something else. It is labor intensive and time consuming to set up this system but the time and labor it saves per watering will pay huge dividends over the years. And the total cost to do all 7 raised beds is only about $80.
This morning the voltage on the battery bank showed that it had been discharged about 80%, which is way too much. However when I turned on the generator to charge them up, it took about 20 minutes before the charger registered full and shut everything down. That should have taken 4 hours by the math, which indicates what some folks have been telling me is dead true: voltage is not an accurate measure for battery capacity.
This is going to be the season of the bugs. A wet spring and a warm winter has led to an enormous mosquito population. The dog has fleas and they're driving him crazy. Crazier than normal. I've got to find some sort of remedy for that. I don't like the poisons they use. I wouldn't put them on me so I'm not inclined to put them on the dog. Maybe there's a better way. Or he can just itch. I'd rather itch than drench myself in chemical poisons.
The biggest news of the day so far is that I've switched out the radios in my workshop. I was using a clock radio but it was drawing about 150 watts. I had a bigger radio but the antenna is broken so I kept it stored. I plugged it in and it pulls about 40 watts. Even though it's bigger it doesn't have the lighted clock face so it doesn't draw near the power. And even with the broken antenna I can still pick up my classic rock station out of the Concho valley about 30 miles west. So the old battered blue radio has resumed its place of honor in the workshop.
We're having a great morning here in the desert so far. Wife is in a good mood and the kids have diligently gone about their tasks this morning without being prodded and flogged. I'm hopped up on the sugar and caffeine and have every intention of being productive, unless the skeeters suck me dry. Hope your day is going well too!
3 comments:
The best way to kill fleas is give your dog a bath with Dawn dish detergent. Lather, let sit a few minutes and rinse. It really works. You can use Dawn and water to spray on bugs in the garden and hey die...google on YouTube and watch them expire in 20 seconds! Our dogs were really suffering,too but no more itching after their baths this weekend. My neghbor is a dog breeder/judge/groom and told me this. We lost a Corgi to heartworm preventive medicine so don't like thosse drops either.
Dawn? I've got some of that around.
How long does it last? Is this something I ought to do every week?
We use our dishwater to water the gardens almost daily. It's got some Dawn in it. Initially I was worried about it building up in the soil but since next year we'll be using high degrees of compost then it'll work itself out.
Another suggestion is a good old flea collar, I use the Harts brand it's about $2.50 a collar up here. My JRT is allergic to the topical flea stuff and gets really sick from the heartworm meds, the flea collar works very well.
Post a Comment