Texas Heat!

[Bird]

Yep, that's incredible pressure. You could almost pressure wash from a hose end nozzle. I'm wondering how far Bird is from the nearest water tower?

Yep, I gave my pressure washer to a son-in-law since I have no use for it. And if it weren't for the trees across the street, I'd probably be able to see the water tower less than a mile from us, and at a higher elevation, of course.

 

[Bird]

How hot is it? Well, my brother tells me around Waco the birds are having to use potholders to pull the worms out of the ground.

 

[Western]

How hot is it? Well, my brother tells me around Waco the birds are having to use potholders to pull the worms out of the ground.

:laughing::laughing::thumbsup: Bird, you been on a roll..

Sad thing is, I could almost picture that in my head!

 

[LarryD]

And if it weren't for the trees across the street, I'd probably be able to see the water tower less than a mile from us, and at a higher elevation, of course.

Bird, I was in Dallas in May (Mom's 80th ) and while we were going from McKinney to Dallas, I remarked at how many water towers you could see from the highway. Sure is flat around there.

 

[Bird]

Bird, I was in Dallas in May (Mom's 80th ) and while we were going from McKinney to Dallas, I remarked at how many water towers you could see from the highway. Sure is flat around there.

Yep, Larry, it's pretty flat country; generally from 450' to 550' elevation although the southwest corner of Dallas gets pretty hilly with something like 300+' to 600'. And even a lot of native Texans don't know that Texas has mountains taller than anything east of the Mississippi River. Elevation in the Guadalupe Mountains in far west Texas is about 8,742'. But that's a long ways from here.

 

[300UGUY]

I was in Arizona years ago, it was 105 when I got off the plane. I was really shocked at how hot it was. But my aunt kept telling me "it's a dry heat". Dry like a freakin oven!!! If 100+ isn't ****, I don't know what is.

 

[300UGUY]

I was in Arizona years ago, it was 105 when I got off the plane. I was really shocked at how hot it was. But my aunt kept telling me "it's a dry heat". Dry like a freakin oven!!! If 100+ isn't ****, I don't know what is.

This software is pretty neat!! I used a 4 letter word, and it automatically replaced the letters with little stars. Very cool.

 

[Bird]

I was in Arizona years ago, it was 105 when I got off the plane. I was really shocked at how hot it was. But my aunt kept telling me "it's a dry heat". Dry like a freakin oven!!! If 100+ isn't ****, I don't know what is.

Of course I grew up in the days before air-conditioning became common in homes. In fact, I never lived or slept in an air-conditioned home until I bought a little house trailer when I was 19 and worked nights and had to sleep in the daytime so I bought a window unit Fedders air-conditioner.

However, from the time I was 10 or 12 years old, we had an evaporative cooler (frequently called a swamp cooler in those days) in a living room window. Of course it was only used during the day and turned off at night. Those things are still available in stores, but I've almost never seen one used in a home in this part of the country since the 1970s. However, when we spent January, 1989, in Tucson and February, 1989, in Phoenix, we saw lots of them and the odd thing to me was so many homes that had both evaporative coolers and central air or window unit air-conditioners in the same house, since the first adds humidity and the other reduces humidity.

 

[jinman]

Dennis, I was through the thriving metropolis of Springtown today on my way to Weatherford. My wife and I took a trip down to buy some peaches. They are not as big as last year and not nearly as plentiful, but quite sweet and juicy. We bought a half-bushel for $35 and will probably buy another half-bushel from someone locally in Bowie who sells peaches from East Texas. The one's from E. TX are slightly bigger and the same going price for a half-bushel. Last year we were lucky to find very ripe peaches for next to nothing ($2 or $3 per basket), but this year they don't exist. There's something really cool about eating frozen peaches on New Year's Day as we did this year. I don't know if these will last that long.:licking:

 

[pacerron]

Now your bringing back old memories. After spending many hot sweaty months in Texas completing both basic and OTS back in 1966 we were assigned to McClellan AFB in Sacremento. No base housing for new officers in those days. We bought a house trailer and put it at New Castle, CA, one of the best climates I ever lived in around the world. We had a Swamp cooler
in the roof of the hallway and due to the low humidity it did a great job of cooling and adding moisture to the air. Great adventures when not on duty in the mountains around Lake Tahoe.

 

[Bird]

Good luck on your plumbing at 100 psi. When the toilet float valve stop blows you will have a real mess. Most county governments limit 80 psi as tops in their residential building code. Other factors you might not have considered are shown here... Water Pressure Relief Valves | Pressure Regulator | Plumber | San Antonio

Those of us on wells usually adjust our tank pressure switch up to 50 or so shut off with a start pump around 30 psi. It would be nice to have a constant 50 psi but I don't miss the chlorination of city water one bit.
Ron

I don't know about the accuracy of the gauges, but when I said we had 100 psi, that's what the city water department employee's gauge showed at the outside faucet on the front of the house when they were here. But that's been quite awhile ago. So this thread made me curious and I bought an Orbit Model 91130 gauge this morning at Home Depot. And today, it showed 88 psi at the faucet on the back side of the house and only 82 psi at the front. So maybe I don't have quite as much pressure as I thought, but I've got plenty.:laughing:

 

[pacerron]

80 psi sounds good Bird. it will vary from time to time based on other consumption from the water tower/towers. Another figure that can vary widely is the amount of chlorine at various locations in the system. I'm sure you have incoming water shutoff valves under each toilet which will help if you are home when something breaks or sticks in the tanks. I like the plastic valves with the float around the tower much better than the old brass with ball floats but we recently had one of the plastic towers break off at the base after 5 years of service. Luckily my wife heard the water running right away and we didn't have a mess. We live in the country so we keep spares of things like that. Saves a lot of gas being prepared.
Ron

 

[pacerron]

Bird,
While we are talking about water, what is your opinion on the natural gas fracking ruining the underground water supplies? I have read horrible stories about explosions, 70 % loss of property value, etc. Same in PA.
Ron

 

[foreman Etexas]

Bird,
While we are talking about water, what is your opinion on the natural gas fracking ruining the underground water supplies? I have read horrible stories about explosions, 70 % loss of property value, etc. Same in PA.
Ron

It has ruined very few(and they make it right),things happen but 99% of the time its not going to happen,if this was a big issue it would already be addressed. We have people that use are well on location for there house. If we was to mess up a well,you would have ozarka and a new well,til this day we have only one place,even with new well drilled,we still deliever water to every week(for the past 20yrs).The loss of property value is payed to owner by gas company,there are many people thankful for us then there are the cple your never gonna make happy.Bottum dollar,you think gas price are bad,what if they stopped drilling

 

[Western]

Jim, I have bought Peaches in Dublin several times when we lived outside of Hico. They were pretty darn good too.

Funny you mention "frozen peaches" too! My mother and I where talking about that 2 weeks ago! When I was a kid, every year my mother ,aunt's and grandmother would cut and peel probably 3-400#'s of peaches, they would add little sugar to about a third, that where then frozen for summer deserts. The rest where canned .

Good frozen peaches are a hard thing to beat. A tad pinch of Cinnamon can really "kick" them off too. Wow the memories.

Bird, When we lived in Colorado from about 1998-2001, we used the swamp coolers, they where more common there since the climate was so nice. Finding an AC unit was much tougher , but was also heavily used. Especially in the "mega" homes. Seemed like the small homes all had one on the roof or placed at a window.

 

[Bird]

80 psi sounds good Bird. it will vary from time to time based on other consumption from the water tower/towers. Another figure that can vary widely is the amount of chlorine at various locations in the system. I'm sure you have incoming water shutoff valves under each toilet which will help if you are home when something breaks or sticks in the tanks. I like the plastic valves with the float around the tower much better than the old brass with ball floats but we recently had one of the plastic towers break off at the base after 5 years of service. Luckily my wife heard the water running right away and we didn't have a mess. We live in the country so we keep spares of things like that. Saves a lot of gas being prepared.
Ron

Ron, we do have shutoff valves behind each toilet, under each lavatory, above the water heater, behind the washing machine, and under the kitchen sink. The places we do not have shutoff valves, so we could only turn off the water at the meter are the shower in one bath, tub/shower in the other bath, and the two outdoor hydrants or faucets that come out through the exterior bricks. And yes, both toilets have the plastic valves with the float around the tower. We've been here a bit over five and a half years and I've only had to replace the flapper in one toilet.

 

[Bird]

Bird,
While we are talking about water, what is your opinion on the natural gas fracking ruining the underground water supplies? I have read horrible stories about explosions, 70 % loss of property value, etc. Same in PA.
Ron

Ron, I really have no personal knowledge or expertise at all in that matter. There have been some horror stories in the news from people in this area, and of course the drilling companies deny causing any problems. As for property values, would you buy a home near one of the wells?

 

[pacerron]

Bird,
I wouldn't buy a home near a well or a windmill farm. I like to hear the birds sing in the daytime and the coyote howl at night. My nearest neighbor is a mile + away, but that could change I suppose.

 

[LarryD]

104 degrees at the house today, add a 30+ mph wind and it is warm. I think this is like 21 days of above average temps, BUT hey, we have a cold front coming next Wednesday. Supposed to get down to 97!!! YEAH:thumbsup:

Well, we are having just the opposite problem in these parts, only been over 70º here a couple of days.
So my wife posted this to her Face Book page:

INSTALLING SUMMER.....
███████████████░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ 44% DONE.
Installation failed. 404 error: Season not found.
The season you are looking for might have been
removed, had its name changed, or is temporarily unavailable.
Please try again...

 

[jinman]

Good frozen peaches are a hard thing to beat. A tad pinch of Cinnamon can really "kick" them off too. Wow the memories.

I always use Splenda as sweetener and sprinkle powdered cinnamon on my bowl of peaches. We like the really ripe peaches for freezing, but when you thaw them, you need to eat them quickly because they will get dark in a hurry. We just use small freezer bags that hold only a couple of bowls full.

BTW: I counted 65 peaches in the half-bushel I bought. All of them were really nice and I didn't see a bruised one in the whole bunch.