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Post by CountryGuy on Mar 11, 2022 22:08:44 GMT -6
Thanks for the update. I would have buried the phone and electric myself, and added some solar for backup. OpSec You're looking at a late 70's time frame.That's a point you make on this being in the mid 70's. I was wondering, since I was newly minted in '73, was in-floor hydronic heating a thing or even available? I thought this was a newer thing, like since the early 90's with the advent of better plastic roll pipe and then specifically PEX in the 2000's since the polymer tubes would resist the corrosiveness of the concrete. I mean I can see it physically being done but wasn't sure if brass, galvanized or black iron would hold up in a floor for heating for more than a couple years.
Loving the story line so far equally as much as Saving Grace. Thanks for the great works you put out.
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Post by ncsfsgm on Mar 11, 2022 22:49:23 GMT -6
You're looking at a late 70's time frame. That's a point you make on this being in the mid 70's. I was wondering, since I was newly minted in '73, was in-floor hydronic heating a thing or even available? I thought this was a newer thing, like since the early 90's with the advent of better plastic roll pipe and then specifically PEX in the 2000's since the polymer tubes would resist the corrosiveness of the concrete. I mean I can see it physically being done but wasn't sure if brass, galvanized or black iron would hold up in a floor for heating for more than a couple years.
Loving the story line so far equally as much as Saving Grace. Thanks for the great works you put out.
In 1968 I was working one summer for a builder on a house in rural North Carolina. The things that intrigued me about the house was the bomb shelter in the basement and the copper pipe they laid in the floor for heating. the boiler was not only fired with fuel oil but also had a wood stove with coils made of some kind of metal that the glycol treated water flowed through and heated the floors. I don't know how long it lasted before any leaks sprung but I'm pretty sure this was before PEX tubing was invented. The guy who was building the house was a retired Air Force Colonel.
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Post by cavsgt on Mar 11, 2022 23:15:05 GMT -6
We had a neighbor who sold in floor heating in the 70's. It was a very good system but we had already put up ceilings in the basement.
As always THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!
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Post by ncsfsgm on Mar 12, 2022 14:33:20 GMT -6
Chapter 11 -A Dog Named Pete
The newness of the house was slowly wearing away and instead of walking around admiring everything, Liam started other projects. The cleaned up the Airstream and winterized it weeks in advanced. They weren't sure what they would do with it. Liam did order a cover they could put over it to keep the weather off it. The landscapers had done a wonderful job on Ginny's garden and the area surrounding the house. There was very little grass, as Liam wanted. Most of the landscaping was with rock gardens and small bushes. Native plants were planted and would be more colorful in the Spring.
Liam wanted a vegetable garden for next year but first he wanted to put in a workshop to work in during inclement weather. He called Dave and had him put something together. Dave was there the next day accessing his wants and needs and they selected a location for it. Dave said he would handle it. The area Liam selected had a thicker soil layer to the earthwork was done by a Bobcat in one day. Soon men were out to set the forms and put the rebar for the floor of the building. Before the first frost the floor was ready to build on. The carpenters had the building dried in within a week and Liam began selecting the saws and other shop equipment he wanted to put in.
Cole became a "gofer" for the carpenters and they joked with him all the time. One asked him where his dog was and Cole told them he didn't have one. The foreman spoke to Liam and asked him if they could give Cole a puppy. Liam and Ginny talked and decided to let him have one. A couple of days later the crew came in and presented Cole with a ten week old puppy. Cole was beyond excited. He picked the puppy up and the oddly colored dog licked him all over his face.
"What kind of dog is it?" Cole asked.
"It's an Aussie. An Australian Shepherd. He can be trained to do most anything." One of the men said.
"Dad! We've got to get him a collar and food and…"
Liam chuckled. "Slow down. We'll go get those things. Let's let the men finish their work."
Cole sat the puppy on the ground and the puppy followed him as they went to the house.
"They are good dogs." Dave said. "They are very loyal and great with kids."
The electricians were doing the final wiring and as they completed an area, the finish carpenters were putting in insulation and wallboard.
"Liam, do you have those bunker plans handy?'
"Yeah, they're in my study."
"I've been thinking. They had this site out here in the country, using commercial electricity. What happens when the rural power goes out?"
Liam's eyes brightened. "They'd switch to generators!"
"That's what I was thinking too. However, I believe they had other generators on site. There's a concrete pad down below that I think held those generators. But if the military is anything, it's redundant. I'll bet you anything they had a way to tie the bunker generators in for use as a last resort."
"Let's go." Liam said.
They went into Liam's study and laid the plans out on the table. Dave thumbed through them until he found the electrical plans. They studied it carefully and Dave pointed to an area that said "Junction" and had a continuation sheet reference number. Dave found the next sheet and basically it was a schematic of the electrical system layout with distances between connections.
"All we have to do is find this box and we can tie the house into the generator circuit."
They found a point of reference and to start from and thirty minutes later found the covered concrete pit for the junction box. Grasses and vines had grown over it and Liam had to get pruning shears and an axe to cut the vegetation away. Once they unbolted the watertight cover there was the junction box, as pristine as the day it was put in.
"Now, this is as far as my expertise goes. Let me get Billy, he's a pretty experienced electrician, over here to take a look at this and get his opinion."
Dave came back with Billy and Billy took a look at the box.
"Billy, this box is on an generator circuit. Is it possible to connect the house to this for power the REMA power goes out?"
"Sure, you just need a transfer switch. When the commercial power goes out you open the house to REMA power switch and close the generator power switch, but they make automatic transfer switches now, but they are expensive as hell."
"Do you think you could wire the house in to this circuit? There would be a good bonus in it for you." Liam said.
"Sure. It'd take a few days to order and get in the switch…..let me see what cable they used."
Billy went back down into the pit and came back out.
"Yeah, I can get the cable and transfer switch and put it in. I need to take a look at your circuit breaker box for the house."
Dave and Liam took him over to the garage where he inspected the box. He'd have to drill a hole in the wall to run wiring but they could easily patch and paint it.
"Yeah, I'll order the automated transfer switch and the cable and put it in for you." Billy said.
"Good. If you need anything let me know." Dave said.
Billy went back over to the shop and Liam and Dave went back to replace the cover on the electrical pit.
"This rubber gasket is torn. This looks like a standard pit cover. I'll find another one or I know a guy who could probably make one." Dave said.
They bolted the cover back on and returned to the shop.
Ginny and Cole returned from town where they purchased the puppy Pete, the essentials; bed, bowls, treats, toys, collar, leash and of course, food. Liam went over and helped carry everything inside. Cole immediately took the bed to his room and placed it on the floor at the foot of his bed, Pete right on his heels.
"Momma, Pete and I are going for a walk. " "Okay, but don't go too far. Pete is still a puppy and he's going to get tired easily."
Cole put on his trekking gear and went into the kitchen and filled his canteen with water.
"Momma, do you have a little bowl I could keep in my pack in case Pete needs a drink?"
Ginny opened one of the lower cabinets and pulled out an empty Pimento cheese container with cover she had saved.
"Why don't you put two or three treats in the bowl and put the top back on in case he needs an energy break, and here's a few MaryJanes for you."
"Thanks Momma!"
Cole put his hat on and the two headed for the woods.
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Post by gipsy on Mar 12, 2022 16:09:59 GMT -6
Thanks for the update
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Post by cavsgt on Mar 12, 2022 16:29:01 GMT -6
Nice Thank You
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Post by CountryGuy on Mar 12, 2022 16:31:44 GMT -6
Very cool. Yeah PEX, short for cross linked Polyethylene was a creation of the late 90's early 2000's. When I got out of the Bee's in 95 I worked for a concrete guy and we did some in-floor systems in some car washes using PE coil pipe. It was a closed loop system that used a ethylene glycol/ water mix and was heated with a small 15gal hot water heater and used a small circulating pump. Once it was running they'd get it to where it'd keep the slab at about 45F which was enough to keep ice melted off in the winter months so he didn't have to worry about it icing up, people falling or the things inside freezing. I could see copper lasting a long while but eventually the lime in the crete would eat holes in it I'm sure. Still very cool to know he was that far ahead. Definitely in-floor is something to do up north. I was in a plant a few years ago that did it in their expansion. They had it set to keep the slab at 65 and from floor to ceiling it was 65. Now they did have some gas force air units if there was a chill but they said they rarely fired. That plant is in Rochester, NY so they know cold. I know if I get the chance to build my dream home one of these years the basement and garage floors will have it and some of the main floors will as well. For those they flood the floor and cover over the tubes with a self leveling grout and them place the floor on top of that. I've seen driveways and parking areas also set up with similar to those car washes to keep snow and ice melted off. Like you say, lots of options to heat those too, everything from electric or gas hot water, wood fired boilers, geothermal systems and even solar hot water systems. Anyway, love that you incorporated that tech and loving this story. Imagine it adds a level of difficulty when writing in the past when you have to ask yourself, did we have that back then at that point. That's a point you make on this being in the mid 70's. I was wondering, since I was newly minted in '73, was in-floor hydronic heating a thing or even available? I thought this was a newer thing, like since the early 90's with the advent of better plastic roll pipe and then specifically PEX in the 2000's since the polymer tubes would resist the corrosiveness of the concrete. I mean I can see it physically being done but wasn't sure if brass, galvanized or black iron would hold up in a floor for heating for more than a couple years.
Loving the story line so far equally as much as Saving Grace. Thanks for the great works you put out.
In 1968 I was working one summer for a builder on a house in rural North Carolina. The things that intrigued me about the house was the bomb shelter in the basement and the copper pipe they laid in the floor for heating. the boiler was not only fired with fuel oil but also had a wood stove with coils made of some kind of metal that the glycol treated water flowed through and heated the floors. I don't know how long it lasted before any leaks sprung but I'm pretty sure this was before PEX tubing was invented. The guy who was building the house was a retired Air Force Colonel.
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ahsga
New Member
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Post by ahsga on Mar 12, 2022 21:15:07 GMT -6
We had a neighbor who sold in floor heating in the 70's. It was a very good system but we had already put up ceilings in the basement. As always THANK YOU!!!!!!!!! They used copper pipe on some hydronic heating back then. It all eventually leaked.
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Post by udwe on Mar 12, 2022 21:55:01 GMT -6
Getting better all the time!
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Post by ncsfsgm on Mar 13, 2022 12:32:26 GMT -6
Chapter 12-One Step At The Time
Having settled in, Ginny wanted to have a small house warming party on Friday night. They invited Ralph and Diane, Dave and his girlfriend Ellen and Henry and his wife. Ginny asked that they bring no presents. Well, that went over like a rubber ladder. Ellen brought a Lemon pound cake, Dave brought Cole a WWII sniper spotter scope in ITS original case for him to look out over the valley with, Diane brought Ginny a hanging Christmas Cactus, Henry's wife Greta, brought a half dozen jars of jams and jellies and Dave handed Liam an empty Piggly Wiggly bag he'd brought the scope in. They had drinks and finger foods to nibble on and soon the conversation got around to what Liam's next project would be.
"I want to put in a raised bed garden. I'd like to have a few tomato plants and maybe some stuff for salads."
"Son," Henry said, "Why waste the time on that little bit? That'll carry you through the summer a little, but what do you do until the next summer? You go to town and buy stuff you should have canned or frozen and put away for the winter until you get your next year's plants are producing. You're out in the country, Going into town is pretty much a waste of time and money to get food. Stock up and have plenty on hand. If the weather is bad or a bridge is washed out, you ain't gonna go hungry."
Liam thought about what Henry said and it made sense. He looked over at Dave who nodded in agreement with Henry.
"Well then, I need to find a garden spot. I want to get it prepped for next spring."
"I can bring you up a load of manure and some rotten hay bales I have." Henry said. "I'd offer to till it up for you but it's too far to drive the tractor over here and I don't have a trailer to haul it."
"Well, the next thing on my list is the right tools then." Liam said. "Where's the closest place I can buy a tractor?"
"Greeneville would be best." Dave said.
"Dave are you free to help me pick out what I need?"
"Sure, anytime."
Then Henry got into a dialog of the care and feeding of the generators. Dave broke in and told Henry about connecting the house to the generator circuit.
"That's a fine idea. Way out here, you're going to lose power three, sometimes more times a year for a few hours. If it's a bad storm it could be days. Fine idea."
The women drew the conversation to canning and what Ginny needed to consider. Ginny said she had never canned before and Greta said she teach her. Then the men stepped outside and Liam asked Cole to start a fire in the firepit. The men watched Cole as he gathered the right size sticks from their kindling box, made s little teepee, and got the fire going, adding progressively larger pieces of wood to the fire.
"That boy's right smart building a fire." Henry observed.
"He's smart in a lot of things." Dave said.
"Henry, you said I needed to stock up." Liam said. "What's the best way of doing that, since I don't have a garden this year?"
"Well, when you go get your groceries, when you buy something you like, buy two or three more, hell buy a whole case if you can afford it. Start yourself a list of what the family eats normally. Buy those things but don't overdo it. You need to eat what you buy and canned goods are good for around to years on the shelf. When you use something, replace it. If it makes it easier, mark the cans with the date you bought it. Oldest dates get eaten first. Understand?"
Liam nodded.
"Also, buy in bulk." Dave said. "There's a Sam's Club just opened up in Kingsport. You buy a membership and most times things are cheaper there. You can buy in large quantities. You can buy big bags of beans and store them in half-gallon jars to keep the bugs out, same for rice."
"I'll have to go up there and check it out." Liam said.
By nine, everyone was reluctant to leave, but it was the polite thing to do. Dave told Liam to give him a call when he was ready to go to Greeneville. Liam asked him if he was free Monday morning at 9:00. Dave said he would come to the house.
After cleaning up Ginny wiped the counter down and turned to Liam. "Farmer Boyle hunh?"
During the 20 mile drive to Greeneville Dave didn't waste is time staring out the window.
"Once you get the equipment, where are you going to keep it? You're going to need to keep it out of the weather. You're going to need a fuel tank also unless you want to be hauling fuel in cans. You still have to pick a garden spot out……"
"Dave…DAVE! Slow down. I know I need a shelter for the equipment. I was going to ask you to get it built AFTER we selected the equipment I buy. I don't want to be like some people and leave their plows and such out in the weather from year to year. I want to take care of it and not have to repair something every year before I use it. So, once I have purchased everything I want, you get to get everything contracted for. Oh, and I also want to find three Honda ATC110 bikes."
"As they walked through the equipment yard the salesman was going through a litany of the merits of each piece of equipment. Liam took his cues from Dave, if he could use it nod, if not shake his head. When they finally were through picking out equipment, the salesman was elated. He was already figuring out his commission and it was going to be HUGE. As they walked into the building to pay the bill Liam looked at Dave.
"What size shed am I going to need?"
"Well, I can tell you right now your 'shed' has gone up to the size of a barn, and then some."
"How long will it take to build?"
"If you stick to a pole barn with a gravel floor…..two weeks."
"Start putting it together. I'll have them deliver the equipment in two weeks."
Dave was true to his word. He had a crew and a small bulldozer in the next afternoon to start leveling the ground and digging holes for the posts. The pole barn was placed just beyond the shop so they were able to run power for lights. They finished the pole barn the day before the equipment was delivered. The first piece of equipment they took off was the tractor with the bucket loader. After attaching the forks to the bucket, they were able to pick up the pieces of equipment and place them where they wanted inside the barn. Dave put the last piece of equipment in place as Liam was tipping the three drivers and sending them on their way.
"Well, next project is to till the garden up and get it ready for Spring." Liam said.
Cole and Pete came out of the woods. "Dad, I think I found a garden space!"'
"Well, take us to it."
Cole turn around and Pete ran ahead as they angled down the slope. They went about a quarter of a mile and came out in an area of about a half-acre. A seep of water came down one side and the field was covered with lush grass.
"Looks good." Dave said. "We need to bore down with the tractor auger to make sure there are no shallow rock shelves. If the soil is decent, I'd get a pond built where that seep is coming down and you can use it to irrigate the garden."
"Is this going to be big enough?" Liam asked.
"Oh yeah, unless you start having triplets." Dave grinned.
"Well, let's get the soil depth checked out. Do you think you could find someone to cut a road down here? We'll have to bring the tractor in tomorrow the long way."
"I'll make some calls as soon as we get back." Dave replied.
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Post by gipsy on Mar 13, 2022 12:48:06 GMT -6
It is coming together. Thanks for the update.
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Post by cgtech on Mar 13, 2022 13:56:25 GMT -6
Thank you!
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Post by udwe on Mar 13, 2022 21:46:53 GMT -6
Thank you!
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Post by ncsfsgm on Mar 14, 2022 8:04:00 GMT -6
Chapter 13-Tending the Fields
The next day a crew came in to clear trees for the road to the garden. Dave and Cole took one of the Hondas and went down the slope and marked the roadway om trees eight feet apart down to the garden area. A crew came behind cutting trees, trimming them and dragging the logs out of the way. The bulldozer came behind them and ripped up stumps and a small excavator tossed the root balls down the slope. A pavement compactor rolled behind the bulldozer compacting the soil as much as it could. The compactor would make a few passes, then back out, to be replaced by a water tanker that sprayed the gravely soil and the moist soil was compacted even more. When the road reached the garden area, dump trucks came in and spread a thin layer of gravel that was packed even more. Finally, they brought in a trencher and cut a shallow trench diagonally across the road for drainage and a 2x5 boards with two 2x4s nailed to it to form a channel to allow the water to drain were laid in the shallow trench and secured with ten inch spikes driven into the earth. This kept water from draining straight down the road and forming washouts. Again the compacter came through and gave the road one more pass. Liam inspected the road and believed it was better than some of the unpaved roads in the area. Liam had been down at the garden area using the moldboard plow to turn the soil over for the garden. Henry was going to bring the manure and the rotten hay the next day and he wanted to get this turned over first. Dave had marked out where he should plow and the area seemed enormous for a family the size of his, but he cut it anyway. Dave told him to go to the farm store and buy some cover crop seed that had been treated with a bacteria in order to fix the nitrogen. Once they had everything disced and harrowed, they'd used the seed drill to plant. In the Spring they would turn the cover crop under and have nitrogen rich soil to plant the garden in. It would give them plenty of time to get the fence in.
"Fence?" What fence?" Liam asked.
Dave chuckled. "Hoss, this garden is far enough away from the house the deer will be in here like a buffalo herd eating everything you have. If you don't fence it, no garden."
Liam Shrugged. He had nothing but time on his hands.
"Any more information you can give me to cause me to spend some more money?"
Dave grinned. "Yeah. That box trailer is not going to cut it for hauling stuff round. You need an open trailer."
Liam grinned and shook his head.
"Well, let's go get the fencing material and haul it home on my new trailer."
Liam woke up the next morning and groaned. His muscles ached from loading the fenceposts and wire yesterday. He got up and took a couple of Ibuprofen, showered and shaved. Ginny was already preparing breakfast.
"You were sleeping so soundly I just let you sleep." Ginny said, kissing him on the cheek.
"Thanks. With the tractor vibrating my guts out and loading the trailer at the farm store, I was pretty worn out."
Liam poured a cup of coffee and had taken his first sip when Cole and Pete came through the door. Cole laid a stack of mail on the counter.
"Cole, did you walk all the way down to the mailbox and back?"
"Yes Sir. It's only a little over a half-mile down and back." Cole said, and he and Pete went upstairs.
"I need to teach him how to ride the Hondas."
"Is it safe?"
"Ginny, nothing is safe these days. I've got to teach him HOW to be safe. As with any vehicle, drive like the devil and you'll go to hell."
Dave arrived at 8:45 and they got their tools together and put them on the trailer. They attached the posthole auger to the tractor and prepared to leave for the garden. Cole and Pete came running out to go with them and Ginny followed them out.
"I looked at his homework and he's good for the day." Ginny said.
Cole and Pete got in the Blazer and Dave drove the tractor in front of them. They set the first corner post and braced it. Then stringing a line, they marked where they wanted a post, Dave started digging the holes. Liam guided him and Cole carried an eight foot post and placed it in the hole behind them. By lunch they had almost half the posts in and went back to level the posts and pack dirt around them, then headed up to have a late lunch.
"We get these posts in today, we can string the wire tomorrow." Dave said, as Pete ran across the field chasing a rabbit.
"Dog gone it! I knew there was something I was forgetting!" Dave said, slapping his cap on his leg.
"What?"
"We need to put a rabbit fence around the bottom of this thing. They'll be as bad as the deer."
"Well, we've got plenty of time until Spring, we can still add .it. Let's go eat lunch."
The first thing the next morning Liam picked up the wire for the rabbit fence and was back before Dave got there. They began stringing the five strands of barbed wire and Cole became skillful in quickly driving the fence staples in. Dave had taken pieces of 2x4 and cut them to the length of the spacing between the wires, drove a nail in the end and bent it over to make a hook. They could quickly stretch the wire, hang the spacer and staple it at the correct distance. By the end of the day the entire garden, plus room for the tractor to make turns, was fenced in. They needed to build a gate and Dave would bring some old swivel wheels off a factory cart the could use to make it easier to swing the gate open.
The next day Cole helped Dave build the gate while Liam disced and harrowed the spacious garden. He returned the harrow to the equipment barn and hooked up the seed drill and filled it with the cover crop mixture, set the depth setting and headed back to the garden. When he got back, Dave was ready to hang the gates so he stopped and helped install them. Once Liam had emptied the drill he walked up to the future pond site and inspected it with Dave.
"I know just the guy to build this. He lines his ponds with clay so water doesn't permeate the walls of the pond. You will probably have a good half to three-quarters of an acre pond here." Dave said. "We can build a RAM pump to irrigate the garden from the pond. If you get it built soon, it will be filled by Spring."
"Well, arrange it. COLE! LETS GO!"
They put the tools and equipment away and Dave left. Liam had Cole come outside and he gave him his first lesson on the three wheeler bike. After going over the main parts and controls Liam got on one bike and Cole the other and they took a slow ride down to the mailbox and back.
"Cole these bikes a very dangerous. If you take your mind off what you are doing they can instantly cause injury or death. They are not a toy but a means of transportation off-road. If you exceed the proper speed for the terrain you are going to get, at a minimum, hurt if not killed. I'm not particularly fond of the three wheel design because if you turn the bars too quickly,, you can easily roll these things over, so no racing through the woods. It's for getting you from point A to point B. Always have a clear head and be aware of your surroundings at all times."
"Yes Sir."
Friday, Dave escorted the man, who was going to dig out the pond and build the dam, to the site. Saturday morning they brought the bulldozer in and another truck carrying overflow pipe that served as an initial diversion pipe. The bulldozer operator began digging out the soil and forming the dam. When he had the dam firmly packed, dump trucks began arriving with clay and began dumping the clay in piles all over. The dozer leveled the piles out and began packing the clay soil into the pond bed and dam. It took him longer to pack the clay bed in than it took to dig the pond out. Liam was amazed at the way they worked. Everything went like clockwork and no wasted motions. When they were through bolting in the last section of the overflow pipe, Liam paid the man and gave him a performance bonus. He walked up on the dam and looked around. Already a small pool of water had formed. They had spread topsoil over the dam face and Liam was half listening to Dave explain what type of grass seed should be planted. Liam was thinking of the next steps he could take to keep his family fed and safe.
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Post by freebirde on Mar 14, 2022 8:51:24 GMT -6
If they are going to have water lilies/lotuses, they need to be on a submerged island with a drop off to deep water or some kind of containment to prevent them spreading and taking over the pond. Put in before the pond fills. If they are going to stock it with smallmouth bass, feeder fish such as perch and minnows need time to be established. Smallmouths will eat small trout, so don't expect a lot of trout in the pond if they stock smallmouths. Decide which fish they want more. Liam needs to make friends with the local TWRA agent and local Extension agent. Climate there is a little too cool for largemouth bass and some panfish.
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ydderf2
Member
"I'm from the government and here to help" hahahaha
Posts: 321
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Post by ydderf2 on Mar 14, 2022 11:15:48 GMT -6
Thank you
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Post by udwe on Mar 14, 2022 21:17:10 GMT -6
Thank you. Great addition!
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Post by ncsfsgm on Mar 15, 2022 11:56:45 GMT -6
Chapter 14- First Steps In Preparing
It was a ninety mile drive, almost an hour and forty-five minutes to Knoxville, but Liam wanted to check out a bigger book store than what was available in Kingsport or Johnson City. He wanted books on subsistence farming, and books on canning and storing food. They decided to leave early Friday morning, do their search, maybe do a little shopping and be back before dark.
They found a large bookstore in a new mall where Liam found books that he could use and one of the clerks let him look through their catalog for others. He ended up ordering four books and had them mailed to their home address. One book he spotted was about bomb shelters and survival in a nuclear war. He added it to his stack of books. Ginny picked up books on country living, canning, sewing gardening and a couple of southern cook books. Cole had collected quite a stack of books also. He brought Liam to look at a series of books he had found that intrigued Liam. The series if books were about Hog dressing, Log cabin building, mountain crafts and foods, planting by the signs and other things gathered from country people over the years. Liam bought the complete set. By the time they were ready to leave, they had over forty books. The clerk scrambled to find boxes to put them in. They placed the boxes of books on a cart and wheeled them to an outside entrance while Liam retrieved the Blazer. The back end was pretty much full when Liam closed the tailgate.
"Looks like we have some reading to do." Ginny said, grinning.
Liam took his familyt to a Black Angus Steak House that was on the border of the mall parking lot and had lunch. While they were eating, Liam glanced out the window and saw a big building with the name "Sam's Club" on the front. Remembering what Dave had told him about the one opening in Kingsport, He told Ginny what Dave had said and they decided to check it out after lunch. They didn't have much room to buy much but they could see what they had.
After lunch, Liam drove the few hundred yards to Sam's Club and they went in. The went to the desk so see about membership cards. They signed up and paid for the membership and he and Ginny got cards. Cole got a cart so Ginny could put her purse in and she would have filled the cart full if he hadn't kept reminding her of the fact they didn't have much room in the truck. She did pick up a couple of jars if peanut butter, two big cans of coffee, twenty-five pounds of flour, twenty-five pounds if sugar, Washing and dish detergent. After some quick figuring, Liam let her continue. He could pack the floorboards and seat on one half of the back seat, leaving Cole the other half. Finally, he had to stop her. There just wouldn't be any more room. He'd have to remember to bring the enclosed trailer next time. They checked out and Liam got everything loaded. Satisfied, they got on the highway to head back home.
Saturday morning was grocery shopping time. Liam and Ginny had talked about buying extra to stock and Ginny had that in mind. She bought with that in mind but for the non-perishable items she bought a month's worth. In the housewares section she picked up two permanent markers and added them to the cart. She was well on her way to filling up the pantry. Liam was glad they'd built strong shelves in there. They ended up using two grocery carts to get everything. They would be stacking grocery bags on top of each other in the back of the Blazer. When they got home, Liam and Cole hauled all the bags into the kitchen and helped put everything away. Ginny handed Cole one of the markers and asked him to write today's date on the can goods where the date could be read on the front of the can. They had accumulated a couple dozen brown paper bags and Ginny smoothed every one out and stacked them on the top self in the pantry.
"Well, do you think we have enough groceries now?" Liam grinned.
"No, I don't think so." Ginny relied. "I was reading in that book last night about surviving a nuclear war and I was amazed you really could. When I was growing up, we had those 'duck and hide' drills in school but almost everyone was pessimistic about surviving a nuclear attack. We're out in a rural area where there's nothing that important enough to be dropping bombs and missiles on. We would probably get fallout but that's mostly a matter of waiting it out until it's safe to go out. We have a well-built bomb shelter and should survive a long time underground, if we equip it right."
"So, that's what you want to do?"
"Yes, there is a lot we need to be knowledgeable on, but we can afford it."
All right. What do you want to do next?" Liam asked.
"We put those store rooms in the bunker into use. We're going to need a lot of shelves. I think we should have at least a year's supply of food stored and clothes and things that will keep us from going nuts being sheltered that long. Cole should have some input too."
"Sounds good to me. We need to all sit down together and make some plans on what we'd need to do to survive without supplies from outside sources."
They had their meeting that evening at the kitchen table. Each person had a legal pad and a pencil to write down notes on things they might need. Ginny later compiled the notes and started a master list of things to buy on their shopping trips. Ginny inventoried the pantry and they began a running inventory of everything they had. A three ring binder was kept in the study with the inventory. A legal pad and pencil was kept on a kitchen counter if anyone thought of something else, they would write it down and they would discuss it at their Friday night family meeting. Liam used the plans from a Do It Yourself home project book and using the measurements of the storage rooms in the bunker, made a materials list. He and Cole went to a building supply store and bought 4x4s, 2x4s, sheets of ¾ inch plywood, screws, lag bolts, another drill, a bench saw, fold-up sawhorses and a shop vacuum. They only had enough room on the trailer to bring 1/3 of the wood they needed, but they had enough to start with. They had to carry the plywood down sheet by sheet. They tried to use the escape hatch to lower the lumber down through but it was more trouble than it was worth, and ended up hand carrying everything down They stacked everything in the corridor and began measuring and cutting the pieces to put the shelves together. Liam and Cole worked every day on the shelving, stopping for lunch and quitting before dinner. They stopped early enough to vacuum up the sawdust and pick up the scrap wood.
Friday night after dinner they held their family meeting to talk about what they had accomplished.
"Well, we've finished the shelves in the first storeroom. How much food are we going to need?" Liam asked.
"I got this pamphlet from a lady in town who is a Mormon." Ginny said. "It recommends the quantity of food recommend for each member of the family for a year. Of course they are just the staples. It would be a pretty bland diet if we ate just this. If we add those things we like to eat and get more spices, we would eat well for a year. I did the calculations and this is what we need for each person."
Liam looked over the sheets and nodded. "A lot of the this we can get at that Sam's Club. I don't know how we're going to store almost 500 pounds of flour without weevils getting in it."
"Well, we have enough for a month right now in the pantry." Ginny said. "I'm going to expand the list for comfort things that we can store too. Of course, we'll need to rotate everything to keep from having outdated food. That is going to start driving my menus. Also, I'd like to start using the refrigerator and freezer units down in the bunker."
"That's going to mean running the generator most of the time, but okay," Liam said, "unless I can find a way to power them with commercial power."
Ginny handed Liam another sheet of paper. "This is an inventory form for the pantry. The first column is the number of each item needed for one month. When something is used, the number of items used in written in the second column. Every two weeks we can reload the pantry from the store room."
"Well, I guess we need to start filling it up. When do you want to go to Kingsport?"
"Let's go Wednesday." Ginny said. "That gives us time to inventory everything and get it put away before the weekend."
"Sounds good."
Wednesday morning found them at Sam's at opening time. Liam took a flat cart out of the corral with Ginny and Cole each taking a grocery cart. They started on the first aisle and slowly worked their way through. They weren't half way through when their carts were brimming. They made their way through and checked out. Carefully loading the trailer, they got everything packed in and Ginny looked at Liam.
"We still have room."
Liam estimated they could get almost as much again so they went back in. Ginny had Liam get two of the big ice chests they had on display and they began filling their grocery carts with frozen foods and put meat on top of that. Liam got cases of canned fruits and two large packs each of paper towels and three of toilet paper. Ginny looked in wonder at Liam. He shrugged.
"The work isn't over until the paperwork is done."
Ginny shook her head, laughed and grabbed a large pack of sanitary napkins. When they had finished filling their carts again they went through checkout. As the checker priced each item Liam and Cole stacked the goods in new carts. When they got to the frozen foods and meats, they placed those in the ice chests to keep them cold. When they packed the goods away in the trailer, a little of the overflow went into the back of the Blazer. Getting home, the real work began….getting everything put away. Ginny was like a traffic cop, directing where everything had to go. They didn't yet place anything on the shelves in the storeroom, it had to be inventoried. She had a notepad and kept a count of what and how much went into the freezer. They were rapidly filling the chest freezer in the basement so Liam needed to find a way to power the walk-in freezer in the bunker off commercial power. Late that day they tiredly gathered the empty boxes and took them up to the basement. Liam looked at all the trash they were accumulating a lot of trash. He needed to find a way to get rid of it without making the sixteen mile round trip to the county landfill. He'd work on that tomorrow.
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Post by freebirde on Mar 15, 2022 15:56:42 GMT -6
Did Cole get some of the "Foxfire" books? The first one was published in '72. The Extension office has a lot of booklets on growing and preserving food.
The cardboard and paper can be rolled up into logs to be burned. Small ones as fire starters and larger ones to burn with wood. Tie them with cotton twine. Cardboard can also be used as mulch in the garden or to smother weeds in the yard.
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Post by gipsy on Mar 15, 2022 18:23:06 GMT -6
The collecting starts. Thanks for the update
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Post by kaijafon on Mar 15, 2022 18:24:11 GMT -6
never really able to feel warm with that radiant heat. :/
thanks for the story!
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Post by ncsfsgm on Mar 15, 2022 19:59:41 GMT -6
Chapter 15 - One Step At A Time
Ginny was loading the washer when she heard a soft "thump" of the sheets and towels she had asked Cole to change, land in the laundry cart. The loved the laundry chute and dumbwaiter Liam had built when the house was constructed. No more walking upstairs with clean laundry and no struggling with baskets of dirty laundry. They just opened the door to the laundry chute and tossed their dirty clothes and linens and they fell into the large cart in the basement. Clean clothes and linens were stacked and hung in the dumbwaiter and you pressed a button and up it went. Press button #1, the dumbwaiter stopped on the first floor. Press button #2 and it stopped on the second floor. Press the "Return" button and the dumbwaiter returned to the basement. Oh! How did she ever live before?"
Liam was in the study trying to remember the layout of the incinerator they burned classified documents in when he was in the Air Force. Being at that one remote site in Wyoming, they didn't need a big one, like they had back at Cheyenne. One of the machinists had made it out of an old water tank. He finally drew his design out and set it aside. Dave was coming out to help him cut up some of the logs left over from the road clearing and stack it to dry for next year's firewood.
An hour later, Dave arrived towing an odd looking contraption behind his old Willys.
"Morning Liam. Ready to get started?"
"Yeah, I need to put the equipment in the trailer."
Liam walked down to the equipment and put his axe, chainsaw, fuel can, oil and gloves in the trailer that was hooked behind the tractor. He pulled out of the barn and down the road to the garden, stopping at the first group of logs they had pulled together.
"Let's just cut the hardwood first. We'll save the pine to cut up smaller and use for kindling. You don't want to burn too much of that."
Dave set the wood splitter up and explained it to Liam.
"I had a guy make this for me. I saw one up at the Sears in Kingsport and it cost a bit. This guy built it for me for less than the price Sears charged, and out of spare parts."
"I need to get an incinerator built to burn my combustible trash. You think he could build one for me?"
"I'm sure he could. Just tell him what you want."
"I drew it out on paper."
"Even better. I'm sure he can fix you up."
They cut up and split firewood until lunch, stacking it between trees for now. After lunch they continued until 4:00 and quit. They had only done about a third so Dave tied a tarp over the splitter and left it there. They'd continue on with the wood harvesting tomorrow.
Liam went down to the pond after dinner and as soon as he turned off the Honda he could hear the water falling through the overflow pipe. Walking out onto the dam, he saw two ducks in the water at the far end of the pond. Liam walked back to the Honda and rode back to the house. He looked at the shop and wondered if they could build an overhang roof on the side of it to keep the Hondas out of the weather. Another project for another day.
After completing the firewood cutting and stacking, Dave took Liam to Oaky Jerome's kingdom of junk. Oaky had about ten acres out in the country filled with old cars, farm equipment and a mish-mash of everything under the sun. When Liam show him the drawing of what he wanted, Oaky told him to give it two days and he'd have it ready.
Sure enough, Liam went back two days later and the incinerator was ready, and exactly as Liam wanted it. There were two doors. One for loading trash and the other for ash cleanout. There was a grate to allow the ashes to fall down to the ash pit and a stove pipe flange had been welded to the top of the tank and two four foot lengths of stove pipe were attached. Two sliding draft vents were placed, one on each side, in the ash pit area.
"How much do I owe you?" Liam asked.
"Fifty dollars."
Liam handed him three twenties and told him to keep the change.
Oaky helped him load it in the trailer and Liam headed home. Liam backed the trailer to the far side of the shop and worked the incinerator out until he could tilt it up on its legs. He'd get some flat rock and set under the legs when he had Cole to help him. Cole and Pete had gone on one of their afternoon treks. He soon heard them coming back on one of the Hondas and laughed when they came into view. Cole had wrapped two burlap bags around the handle bars on the trike and Pete was using them for footrests and sitting between Cole's legs on the fuel tank as happy as could be.
"Pete gets tired running by the trike so I fixed it so he could ride with me."
"Good thinking. Have you checked the mail? I'm expecting those books in."
"Come on Pete! Let's go check the mail!"
Liam watched as the two went down the hill. Each of the trikes had a ball hitch on the back, along with a cargo rack . He was wondering if he could find a small trailer, like for a garden tractor, that could be pulled. He would look around.
Cole came back with two books and a bunch of junk mail in the box he had attached to the cargo rack. They took the mail inside and Liam sorted through the advertisements and set them aside. Prime prospects for his first test of the incinerator.
Looking through his DIY Big Book of Projects Liam found the plans for a lean-to shed roof. By the length of the workshop, he made a list of materials he would need. This looked like an easy project he and Cole could do.
The next morning, while Cole was doing his school work, Liam went into town and got the materials for the lean-to roof. With Cole's help, they got the hanger attached and Liam marked the rafter angles and Cole cut them. They had everything cut and began digging the post holes and getting them set in place. By the end of the day they had everything up but the roof. Liam was going to use galvanized roofing and would pick it and the nails up in the morning.
They placed the instruments carefully in predesignated locations. Current geological evidence suggested that during a future eruption, Cumbre Vieja Volcano on the Island of La Palma may experience a catastrophic failure of its west flank, dropping 150 to 500 km3 of rock into the sea. Using a geologically reasonable estimate of landslide motion, they had modeled tsunami waves produced by such a collapse. Waves generated by the run-out of a 17,657,333,360,500 cubic foot slide block at 1,640.4166 f/s could transit the entire Atlantic Basin and arrive on the coasts of the Americas with 33-164 feet height. Many of the scientist felt it was only a matter of time before a volcanic eruption or some outside force would trigger a landslide.
When the roof was on, there was enough space for two trikes abreast and one in front and the garden trailer Liam had found at the John Deere equipment dealer in Johnson City. Of course, Cole's trike was always in front since he used his more often. If the weather was decent, they were now taking Sunday afternoon Cole-guided tours of interesting places he had found. They would usually take a picnic lunch and find a place to stop. Lately, their conversations were about how to fix up the bunker for living spaces.
One night a thought crossed Liam's mind that had him searching in the Yellow Pages for fuel distributors in the area. If something happened and they couldn't get into town or the Trailblazer Market, they were stuck with whatever fuel they had in their tanks in the vehicles and the few fuel cans they had around. Gil got the address of a fuel distributor in Johnson City and made plans to go in to see them the next day. Ginny decided to use the trip to visit a fabric shop since he was going in. She also looked in the Yellow Pages, but to find the listings of auction houses and auctioneers. Liam talked to the distributor and ordered two five hundred gallon fuel tanks to be installed and fuel pumps. Afterwards, They went to the fabric shop and Ginny looked over all the cloth and notions they had and made notes. Without buying anything, they left and went home.
"I think the next storeroom should be for apparel." Ginny said on the ride home.
"What do you mean?" Liam asked.
"Well, we'll need some way to cloth ourselves. Cole is going to start growing like a weed. You and I, not so much, but we need a way to make or repair clothes or we'll have to go scavenge it. I know how to sew, I can make most anything we need, but I'll need the materials to do it. And, just in case, I need a treadle sewing machine. I can stock up on the bolts of cloth and thread, needles and what not. We'll also need shoes. They wear out and of course Cole's feet are still growing."
"Okay. You've made your point. We'll start getting the next storeroom ready." Liam said.
Ginny had picked up the local paper and had called around looking for estate sales. Most of them were on Saturdays so they arranged to be able to go to them plus pick up the few perishable groceries they needed. Liam went in and bought the materials for the shelving in the next storeroom and because of the size of the order, it was delivered for free. It worked out well because the day after they got everything down in the bunker, they had a week's worth of a steady, slow rain and it turned much cooler.
When they finished building the shelves, Ginny began first with the fabrics. She went to Kingston and Johnsonville and Greeneville and purchased bolts of 100% cotton, cotton/polyester blends, and cotton/polyester/rayon blends, denim, muslin, wool, flannel, fleece and duck fabrics. She never bought much at one time and always in different towns. The sewing notions she picked up a few in each place whenever she saw them. They were becoming, without realizing it, what some people would deplorably call "Survivalists." All the Boyle family wanted to do was prepare for hard times.
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Post by udwe on Mar 15, 2022 20:21:36 GMT -6
I really hope you're not finished. You've left us on a cliff!
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Post by freebirde on Mar 15, 2022 20:57:32 GMT -6
I really hope you're not finished. You've left us on a cliff! Don't worry, we got a 3 KM rock waiting to set off La Palma, among other things, and cause the Diluvium (Flood). Then the aftermath. As long as ncsfsgm takes cate of himself, I don't foresee this story ending soon.
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Post by gipsy on Mar 16, 2022 6:16:32 GMT -6
Thanks for the update
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