Friday, July 30, 2010

Clearing between the shop and the chicken coop

We decided the best path for the water line was from the well house to the chicken coop then up to the garden. So another clearing day with a bobcat was in order. This exposed the temporary Shower and out-house. So guess what the next projects were to be?


Monday, July 26, 2010

The water pump dies....

When the water stopped flowing while watering the garden, I turned it off for a few hours thinking that it just got over heated . But it did not start pumping water, I knew it was beyond my knowledge.
We called the well guys and they came out the next day. As they pulled the pump out it almost got stuck about 100 feet down (our well is about 150 ft deep and the pump sits about 120 feet down) They said the pipe must have shifted at that depth. They tried to replace the pump with the same size (4"diameter) and it would not go below this shift in the pipe, so they installed a 3" diameter pump.
The one thing we have realized in creating our homestead, is some tasks are best left to the experts that do the same thing day in and day out. They have the special tools and knowledge to do the job quickly and right. So the well is one place we have chosen to hire experience. It cost us $150.00 (the pump was under warranty) to get back on track with getting running water quickly. And we had it back in 48 hrs!
















Having them come out and pull the pump let us see how much room they need to maneuver to keep the cost down for us. They need the roof to be removable, a road in front of the well to get to the pump and 30 feet behind the well to set the pipe on the ground as they pull it. They told us if these suggestions are not done , then the time and cost go up fast!

Sunday, July 18, 2010

Refinishing the picnic table

Before we moved onto the land Richard built this wonderful picnic table & chairs out of a few old discarded ones. Over the years the mildew grew so bad that it was a health hazard. So I took on the project of removing all the paint. It was a massive undertaking of using stripper (I tried all kinds and I believe the gel was the easiest to work with) I used the stripper instead of sanding it down because the sanding belts get full of paint gunk so fast it would have been very expensive.