The good news is that I found all the animals alive this morning and hungry so I think no permanent damage was done to anyone. Also no pipes froze but I am still allowing water to drip.
I see were a couple of regular readers mention I have had trouble with the water lines out here for a while and they are correct it is a constant problem that I fix and sometimes it stays fixed but then yet another storm comes along even worse than the last one that overwhelms my new solution. Between last Winter and this one before this storm I haven't had the temps in the basement fall below 38 degrees in about 2 years. Until this morning. The real issue is I just need to build a new house but that brings with it a couple of problems mainly I am not the only one who gets to make decisions along that line and the arguing is a real pain. Then when an agreement was reached we couldn't so much as hire even a construction worker for less than 90K a day around here and now that opportunity is lost. Most of em simply said they would call us back and ya know how that ends. Maybe now that this housing boom is ending I can move forward but as of now everyone dealing with that industry around here seems to think it is going to continue.
So the truth is in the house department I am stuck right now. The wife is mad she isn't getting her McMansion and as uncertain as times are right now she isn't going to agree to anything so if it gets done it's gonna be all on me I think at least until the old house becomes completely uninhabitable. I have fixed the drainage issues the county left us with, re-wired everything etc but there is nothing I can do about the foundation problem and that is where the water/basement issues spring from.
Plus the county septic laws which I won't even get into here.
Any rate I am stuck and waiting for an opportunity that allows me to move again to open up. Not sure what direction it is going to take right now but as I said there is more than one opinion on the direction that matters and we are at an impasse and it is rather frustrating but until it works itself out I just have to adapt to current conditions. One reason I am thinking of buying a trencher this Spring.
As far as today goes it hasn't warmed up much. I been burning wood like crazy and I am barely holding my own against these high winds. I have already burned through about half the reserves I sat aside for this storm and we are not quite halfway done yet but if we can make it till Christmas day I got plenty more wood I can get to once it warms up a bit. One thing this storm has proven to me is I am NEVER getting rid of my wood furnace no matter how well the smaller stove works 99% of the time.
When/If this damned wind dies down a bit I should be in a good spot to start getting it a bit warmer around here.
Keep Prepping Everyone!!!
read that another storm is forming
ReplyDeleteif the bottom falls out of everything you could move into one of the abandoned new houses cheap?
deb - I can just turn the water line off into the house but unfortunately the county water does not shut off completely so when I shut it off it still allows leakage into the house so I have to shut off my side but that then lets the water freeze at the foundation which means more work for me. I always have water issues but most of it is due to the way the handle water around here and now I have to deal with it. I could also just move into my garden cabin :)
DeleteDo you have any south facing hillside? Have you given thought to a Sepp Holzer (Permies.com) style earth sheltered "animal shelter/tractor shelter"? You already know about French drains and such so your aware of controlling surface water so your shelter would be nice and dry.
ReplyDeleteUnder the rule here in NH no concrete, no grid power means "temp building" no pulling permits. Adding a Crimean oven style heating system (no Tech website), you would have an inexpensive earth sheltered emergency shelter that requires little firewood. Other references include Mike Ohler's 50.00 and up underground home and his earth sheltered greenhouse.
It's part of my plan B need a better SHTF home for me and my critter. Logs (or better), Blue board insulation, HD sheet plastic required.
Michael - My property is really nothing more than a long Northward facing slope that has approx. a 15 or so foot drop in about 40 acres of length. basically it might as well all be flat except it does have a pretty good bowl shape to it too which would have a killer natural lake if I wanted to put a lake in.
DeleteWhere my real issues comes in is the county cut into the hil on my north border to make a road and that is where the water line comes in from now that my wells have all gone dry. The county water main will not shut off entirely so if I shut the water off in the house it still gathers around my foundation on their line and freezes. So does me no good. I need to hire a back hoe and redo the county line coming in with a shut off that works because the county doesn't care.
If it is going to be fixed it has to be me who fixes it it seems.
We are starting to warm up here in Alberta, PP. Hopefully you will too in a couple days. In your boots…I’d jump right back on the log splitting. More is almost certainly on the way…
ReplyDeleteFilthie - It warmed up some here but the wind speeds have not really dropped too far yet so it is still friggin too cold. I will begin splitting again as soon as I can. Seems about all I am really doing this Winter since I was kinda under the impression we were not going to push wood use as much this year. Now I know the circumstances won't take me long to get caught up were I want to be.
DeleteThanks for the explanation PP. Pretty much what I had figured. Hopefully you can find a more permanent - and affordable - solution.
ReplyDeleteMy 🦆s water was frozen into a solid block of ice. Not a great time to own livestock. I can't imagine what large farms do in this weather. God bless you all
ReplyDelete