Rain water harvesting

Here's a short video of our rain water harvesting system. It currently holds 220 gallons and is powered by a 12v pump from a bank of marine batteries that are in turn charged from an array of solar panels.

If you have any specific questions I could probably answer them. It really wasn't that difficult to put together and only took one day.

The Results Are In

If you have a few minutes, you can answer some multiple choice questions and then find out what kind of handgun they say that you are. The most interesting outcome from this is that you get to find out about some handgun that you probably never new existed. So now I know about this H&K P7 and I also know that it would cost $1,900 if I could find one. I don't think that I will bother searching for one.

I am a: Heckler and Koch, Model P7 in 9mm

What kind of handgun are YOU?

History

The decision to equip West German police with an advanced 9mm service pistol and replace existing 7.65mm-caliber weapons was prompted after the 1972 Munich Olympics Massacre.^[1] The new firearm was to meet the following requirements: chamber the 9x19mm Parabellum cartridge, weigh no more than 1,000 g (35 oz), the pistol's dimensions would not exceed 180 x 130 x 34 mm, it should have a muzzle energy of no less than 500 J and a service life of at least 10,000 rounds. The pistol was also to be fully ambidextrous, safe to carry with a loaded chamber and able to be quickly drawn and ready to fire instantly.^[1] As a result of a competitive bid the German police forces selected three different pistols into service: the Swiss SIG-Sauer P225 (designated the P6) and two German designs—the P7 (officially designated the PSP) and the Walther P5.
Series production of the P7 started in 1979. Shortly after, the pistol was adopted by the German Federal Police's counter-terrorism unit (GSG 9) and the German Army's special forces formations.^[1] The P7 was produced primarily by H&K but also under license by the Greek defense firm Hellenic Arms Industry^[2] as well as in Mexico by the Departamento de Industria Militar (DIM), as a sidearm for general officers and staff.^[3][4] The pistol was also exported to several countries.

Quick Video

 

Here's a short, panoramic type video. I was standing in the Southeastern end of the property. When construction of the log cabin begins, this is where it will be located.

On Golden Ponds

I found this picture awhile ago and that's when I began thinking about a possibility of having a pond down at Pine Grove. Of course, I also would like to have a tractor like that too!

If it ever does happen, out of the 6 acres I would estimate that 2 acres will be cleared out for the homestead and pond and leave the remaining 4 acres as woods.

I've also been reading up on sustainable firewood harvesting. It is conceivable to harvest one cord of firewood per year/per acre. The winters here in the Midwest are hit/miss and 4 cords per year should suffice just fine. Over the course of a few years, the reserve stack of firewood would remain at about 5 cords which should see us through the worst winter season.

4th of July

Earlier in the week I picked up the deck for the mower from the repair shop and got it reattached and tested. It's in pretty good shape for being 33 years old.

Yesterday, I spent most of the day down at Pine Grove. I widened some of the existing trails, made a few new ones, and trimmed some branches from a few Cedars.

Remember that pool of water in the creek bed that I found? Well, according to the number of fresh deer tracks that I saw, they are also taking advantage of the new trails.

I also hooked up about 5 or 6 dead fall trees and towed them up and out of the woods. I'm going to send a text message to our West neighbor and let him know they are there and he can have them for firewood if he wants them.

Towards the end of the day, the steering on the Bolens Lawn Tractor went bonkers. Upon closer inspection, a weld had broken loose so only the left wheel was operational.

I managed to get it loaded back up on the truck, so this week I can remove the wheel and weld the linkage bar.

On the return drive home, I noticed a lot of people heading down to the Ozarks for the 4th of July weekend.

Have a happy and safe holiday weekend!

Form over Function

Topographical overlay

Here's the topographical layout of Pine Grove. As you can see, just to the East of the middle of the Southern border is the lowest point.

Using this natural shape of the land as a guide, that is why if I were to ever construct a pond on the property, I would have it located here.

I am not sure if I will ever undertake that task, but as I make progress on cleaning up the parcel, I will have this in mind.

For example, when deciding where to clear out the trail which will one day become the driveway, my thinking is that the entrance is at the NW corner. Then the path goes down towards the SE and around what would be the damn side of the pond, loops back up towards the NE corner and that is where the log cabin would be located.

I think that I've always liked this stage of projects. When it's all just a bunch of theories and plans, and anything is possible, nothing is set in stone. It's easy to make changes because one only needs to erase a line and redraw it somewhere else.

Eventually, things will be decided upon and the real building process will begin. From that point on, we can make minor course corrections, but to change the destination becomes increasingly difficult.