This Land is Oily's Land

[spooky girlfriend]

Oily slick reports that he bought a few trees in Tennessee recently and
expects this to be his winter view off the back deck of his regular
vacation destination in the near future.

Mood and ElVez, I'd watch out if I were you. Looks like you're getting a city boy coming your way!

[mood swung]

does he know the difference b/t a yankee and a damn yankee?

(OS--you shouldn't let Spooks post this! Remember the board gossip!!)

[oily slick]

15 views and only one reply. thud. man, i wasn't supposed to have my own thread. i've never started a thread. i'm immoitalized.

[A rope leash]

We need to cut some of those trees so we can see the goddamn mountain.

[so lacklustre]

Go fell it on the mountain.

[El Vez]

On the Cold Mountain, no less. Up by Cross Creek!

[sulkygirl]

Looks like pretty country, OS...

Enjoy!!

[oily slick]

thank you sulky. Arl, we've only owned it a couple of weeks, but i'm sharpening the chain saw. it is quite smaller than it might appear here, running about 200 feet downhill. but after clearing for a little cabin and the peepee lines to snake southward, it should still have a pretty decent view. and there will still be a thousand trees left. we've been interested in finding a little spot for 10 years, so it feels dandy. and el vez and moody w/i 20 miles! well el vez is for now; he has lived in 3 spots and a couple of continents since i've cyberknown him. what a fun bunch! a yankee ain't from st louis ms, we're vanilla and from the 70's.

[laughingcrow]

Bought some trees....? So, you're gonna build a big treehouse in Tennessee and take your holidays there? or have I got the wrong end of the proverbial stick again?

[mood swung]

El Vez on one end of the proverbial spectrum and me on the other...you can be the teeter on which we totter!

[Poppet]

yet more reasons to make that trek to visit the relatives in TN again.

i won't have to crash w/ them! i can crash w/ y'all instead!

congrats oily slick. nice to own a bit of land in the mountains. very nice.

[A rope leash]

The first thing you have to do is drill a well. Good luck.

[oily slick]

thank you poppet, you'll be welcome any time. as are, shoot, 3/4ths of the folks around here. the land comes with the trees laughing crow. and moody, i kind of think of you as the yang.

now, ropey, you're treatin' me like a dummy. i already have an estimate from the only well driller anyone trusts around those parts. visited the site and drew a spot on a map. doesn't include the pump parts cause that depends on how deep the well ends up. and of course he noted you can't be certain about when you'll hit water. come to think of it, he wrote at the bottom "this estimate don't really mean nothin'". and i paid a county staffer 50 bucks to come out and inspect the property to be confident a septic system could go in. he put his hands on his hips and then gave me a piece of paper that says "yeah, it'll probably work". i know what i'm doin'.

[A rope leash]

No NO no yer not a dummy.

My well was estimated at about $1500, but by the time it was drilled (to 310ft), the cost was $5000. The well digger kept threatening to stop drilling, and did so on one occaison, until I brought him a cash payment. Still, although the water is clear and cold, we've been informed by the Health Department that it is not safe to drink.

Just a happy story I thought you'd like to hear. The septic system came in at about $3500. Make sure they lay the trays level...

[oily slick]

my estimate is $7300 + pump cause i'm up in the sky i guess. water anticipated between 580 and 980 feet, best guess being 730. look out!

tell the health dept to go to hell. my grandparents lived in the same house in the sticks for 60-some years. i know where the well and the drain field were and you don't want to think about it. cut their lives short i imagine--he made it to 90, but she only 87!

[A rope leash]

A well of that depth would have been a nightmare in my case. I wasn't at home for much of the time my well was being dug, so it could be 10ft deep for all I know.

Anyways, Grandma's well is only about a hundred feet deep, and it was dug back in the 50s. We always drank it, and some still do, but we were a little surprised when we opened up an old water heater, and found that it was half full of mineral deposits.

Water analysis and filtration is a difficult business to sort out. The Health Deptarment says it has microbes, but we bathe and brush our teeth in it, and make coffee with it, because that's hot enough to kill bacterium. It's so clear and cold, (most of the time), that it's very tempting to drink. Nobody wants to be the first to make it a practice.

Filtration systems vary amid a range of ideas and processes. Most only take out minerals, others kill microbes. So, I'm thinking about an ionic system for the microbes, and a tap filter for the minerals. A distillling system would do both jobs, but you lose that clear-cold-fresh aspect.

The whole episode regarding my well has been a cruel, sensitive, raw, festering pain in the ass, but a well sure is a great thing to have. Good luck with yours, Oil...

[mood swung]

we used to have only well water, and it was absolutely awful--so much lime in it our jeans would stand up by themselves after washing. we put a system in to soften it and chlorinate it, but I was soooooo happy when the city ran the water lines out our way. our well water in G'burg was wonderful. there's some kind of old saying about cedar trees and poor water. and we are surrounded by cedars now. and they are starting to threaten me....

[Poppet]

you tell those cedar trees to back off and play nice!

cedar is nice, but cedar mulch makes me gag. stinky!

i work in east cambridge MA. water here is LOUSY. when i lived here, we used to regularly get letters that said ' the water has exceeded the alloted level of ?tri-hallo-methanes? again.' every three months. and it tastes icky.

[oily slick]

i'm starting to feel faint...

[mood swung]

just breathe. it's going to be fine. water trucks deliver everywhere.

[spooky girlfriend]

Take a deep breath of that good country air, oily!

[bambooneedle]

Water analysis and filtration is a difficult business to sort out. The Health Deptarment says it has microbes, but we bathe and brush our teeth in it, and make coffee with it, because that's hot enough to kill bacterium. It's so clear and cold, (most of the time), that it's very tempting to drink. Nobody wants to be the first to make it a practice.

Filtration systems vary amid a range of ideas and processes. Most only take out minerals, others kill microbes. So, I'm thinking about an ionic system for the microbes, and a tap filter for the minerals. A distillling system would do both jobs, but you lose that clear-cold-fresh aspect.

How about purifying your water by boiling it with a solar reflector dish (if you can get the water)? You can have 32 suns... 64? Be careful not start a fire out there though Oily...

http://users.adelphia.net/~4jacksons/solar.htm

Or you might want to get a quick suntan, like these people: http://www.cockeyed.com/incredible/para ... abola.html

That site has lots of good links, like this one: http://www.cc.jyu.fi/~hvirtane/chin2.html




PS: Mood, that was very funny.

[A rope leash]

You won't just get a sun tan, you'll get HBO, too!

[bambooneedle]

...if you don't burn the receiver!

Plans for how to design and build one: http://www.cc.jyu.fi/~hvirtane/cooker/

[mood swung]

I have a dream. A dream of freedom. a dream of freedom from utility companies...

really, truly, seriously, one day I'm going to have windmills all over my little acre. and I'll get the well hooked up again. and I'll steal my satellite signal somehow...ye-as. the future looks good.