Texas Heat!

[jinman]

It doesn't look like the PR-5 is available at Lowes any more. Not available at rainbow.com either so it may be an old model. Plenty of them available over internet stores though.
Ron

I bought 4 at my local store earlier this season. If you have a Lowes nearby, check their Rainbird display and you might be pleasantly surprised. I like the PR-5 because it comes with 5 separate removable nozzles to customize it to your application. Most of mine have the largest size. I bought a gage for my spigots that shows usage. By timing all my spigots with sprinklers for one hour, I came up with 6,300 gallons each time I water. Since I water every other day, that means I'm using 94,500 gallons of water a month just for the grass. My garden, flower beds, and house usage are added to that, so I'm sure that during this drought I am using over 100k gallons per month. I'm just holding my breath for the electric bill to arrive.:confused2:

 

[pacerron]

Jim,
I will check. That's a great price for anything these days. Does the base you mention have a horizontal input for the hose and a vertical riser for the sprinkler head to screw into? I have an old impulse sprinkler that had a foot long stake on the bottom to stick in the ground. Problem with that was when the dirt gets wet in the garden around it the impulses end up laying the unit over somewhat sideways.
The stake broke off years ago so rather than toss the sprinkler I wire tied
what was left of the stake to the top of a 4' metal stake. That is actually an improvement since it not only holds the sprinkler in position, it raises the head
above most plants, except corn, so the water is over them rather than blasting on them.
I was snooping at the online well records of Wise Co. Lots of sand and colored shale layers below you guys. You should be in section 19-34-6 but most of the records in that section were in the 1980's-90's. Didn't see yours.
Like up here, some of the drillers were good about filling in the data and others did a 1/2 a job. Water is such an important aspect of property value that the records should be complete, but like most gov records, they aren't.
Ron

 

[jinman]

Jim,
I will check. That's a great price for anything these days. Does the base you mention have a horizontal input for the hose and a vertical riser for the sprinkler head to screw into?

I hate the stakes. I also hate having to admit I made a mistake, but the bases are almost $10 each. I thought I ordered 6 for $40, but on checking, I only ordered 4. Here is a link to the Amazon page. The only problem with these is they need an additional thin washer. They don't get tight enough on the hose end with the supplied washer and leak a bit. A thin hose washer or o-ring takes care of the problem.

 

[pacerron]

Jim,
Thanks for the clarification on the sprinklers.
You may be WOWED by your electric bill but it shouldn't be a surprise.
I imagine you read your own meter, but even if you don't you know what the reading was and on what day last time and what your rate is per kwh.
Easy to figure the bill coming from that, in advance. I submit you can't blame it all on the water pump though as your A/C probably worked extra hard too this season.
If you know how many HP your pump is or how many watts it is rated at you could approximate the part of the bill from the pump. It will be approximate do to the number of starts and starting current but might be fun as an operating cost to get your "FREE" water, as folks say.
Ron

 

[Western]

I will have to try that, my favorite is the Dutch Chocolate. Some times you can get some purdy good sales on BB too.

However, in 1977 we had a neighbor buy a new house 2 doors from us and he installed a sprinkler system himself. It didn't last long because he ran PVC only 2 or 3 inches deep and made no provision for draining it. So that winter, I think the PVC shattered thoughout the system.

Bird, I think the depth would be almost common sense? I will put mine in, I will need 4 or less zones depending on the type of sprinkler heads I go with. When I lived in Colorado for a short, the previous home owner installed a manifold type system that each zone was controlled by a manual valve, the rest of the system was 1" pvc pipe with standard pop-up heads, worked good,but you might as well just used a hose since you had to go out and turn each one on/off anyway. The guy was smart in the fact that he added a drain on the lowest part of the manifold though. I had to start watching the weather there around Oct. to keep an eye on the freezing.

 

[Western]

Bird, Jim, Looks like you guy's may be getting some light showers!! I hope they make it this far South, what a nice surprise if youe one of the lucky ones.

I was at lake Bridgeport yesterday, My thermometer read 107.4 and it was hot felt every bit of it with light winds.

 

[Bird]

Dennis, I don't think I'd mind going out to turn the water on and off, if I didn't have to drag hoses and sprnklers around. The NWS forecast calls for a 10% chance of showers today, but I haven't seen any yet. In fact, I'm watering the yard again today.

 

[jinman]

Dennis, as I was driving through Gainesville this morning, it started a light shower and continued into Oklahoma where some areas probably got 1/4" or more. Long before Ardmore, the rain quit. As we started our tour through the Arbuckle Wilderness park, it was cloudy and 87 degrees. The animals were out and coming to visit any car on the drivethru to beg for food. It took about 2 hours to complete our drivethru and the animals were starting to head into the shade or go swimming in the big pond.

Bird, we stopped at the fried pie place and bought a half-dozen pies. We ate three right then and saved three for later. VERY GOOD! A bit on the expensive side, but for a 1-time purchase, they are a taste treat. My apricot pie was hot and yummy.:licking:

Yesterday afternoon in north Fort Worth, my car showed 109 degrees. At home, my thermometer showed 106 around 6:00 PM. My garden (with the exception of the peppers) is starting to just give up. The plants cannot take up water fast enough in this heat and overwatering causes its own problems. It looks like the heat has beat me this year.

 

[tungularafishcamp]

Jinman, I am thinking about building a underground green house with one southfacing wall/roof on a hillside to attempt some small fruit trees. Could you folks do the same in reverse, ie put it on a steep northfacing hill to limit the heat/light. Just a thought
Rick

 

[Bird]

Yep, Jim, those fried pies are sure not cheap. My favorite is peach and Margaret's favorite is cherry, but apricot would be right up there as among the best. Have you ever tried the fried pie cafe in Gainesville (across the street from the southwest corner of the courthouse)? They're good, and certainly not cheap either but I like the Arbuckle Mountain fried pies a little better.

Glad you at least got to see some rain. The 10% chance in our forecast hasn't arrived yet, and I don't expect it to. At least the 103 degree forecast has been lowered to 99, and it's 98 now.

 

[Uncle Doug]

Life in Texas - gotta love it.

---------------------------------------------------------

Dear Diary,

I just moved to Texas! Really heating up. Got to 100 today. Not
a problem. Live in an air-conditioned home, drive an air-conditioned car.
What a pleasure to see the sun every day like this. I'm turning into a sun
worshipper.

June 30th:
Had the backyard landscaped with western plants today. Lots of cactus and
rocks. What a breeze to maintain. No more mowing the lawn for me. Another
scorcher today, but I love it here.

July 10th:
The temperature hasn't been below 100 all week. How do people get used to
this kind of heat? At least, it's kind of windy though. But getting used to
the heat is taking longer than I expected.

July 15th:
Fell asleep by the community pool. Got 3rd degree burns over 60% of my
body. Missed 3 days of work. What a dumb thing to do. I learned my lesson
though. Got to respect the ol' sun in a climate like this.

July 20th:
I missed Lomita (my cat) sneaking into the car when I left this morning. By
the time I got to the hot car at noon, Lomita had died and swollen up to
the size of a shopping bag, then popped like a water balloon. The car now
smells like Kibbles and S*its. I learned my lesson though. No more pets in
this heat. Good ol' Mr. Sun strikes again.

July 25th:
The wind sucks. It feels like a giant freaking blow dryer!! And it's hot as
h**l. The home air-conditioner is on the fritz and the AC repairman charged
$200 just to drive by and tell me he needed to order parts.

July 30th:
Been sleeping outside on the patio for 3 nights now, $225,000 house and I
can't even go inside. Lomita is the lucky one. Why did I ever come here?

Aug. 4th:
Its 115 degrees. Finally got the air-conditioner fixed today. It cost $500
and gets the temperature down to 85. I hate this stupid state.

Aug. 8th:
If another wise a** cracks, 'Hot enough for you today?' I'm going to
strangle him. D*** heat. By the time I get to work, the radiator is boiling
over, my clothes are soaking wet, and I smell like baked cat!!

Aug. 9th:
Tried to run some errands after work. Wore shorts, and when I sat on the
seats in the car, I thought my a** was on fire. My skin melted to the seat.
I lost 2 layers of flesh and all the hair on the back of my legs and
a** . . . Now my car smells like burnt hair, fried a**, and baked cat.

Aug 10th:
The weather report might as well be a d*** recording. Hot and sunny. Hot
and sunny. Hot and sunny. It's been too hot to do s*** for 2 d*** months and
the weatherman says it might really warm up next week. Doesn't it ever rain
in this d*** state? Water rationing will be next, so my $1700 worth of
cactus will just dry up and blow over. Even the cactus can't live in this
d*** heat.

Aug. 14th:
Welcome to H*LL! Temperature got to 115 today. Cactus' are dead. Forgot to
crack the window and blew the d*** windshield out of the car. The installer
came to fix it and guess what he asked me??? "Hot enough for you today?"
My sister had to spend $1,500 to bail me out of jail. Freaking Texas. What
kind of a sick demented idiot would want to live here?? Will write later to
let you know how the trial goes!

 

[Western]

:laughing::laughing::laughing:

Doug that was freak'n hilarious!!! I guarantee you you could have said that in a bar full of us Texans and everyone would have nodded their head and just said "got that right" or "know what ya mean"

 

[txdon]

We did a little 6 mile hike on the lighthouse trail in Palo Dura Canyon two weeks ago. The temp was 110. I knew it was getting bad when the water I was I was carrying tasted like very hot tap water and my ears under my hat were burning.

It has now gone up to 120 and is getting deadly.

A German exchange student died on that same trail yesterday.

German woman, found dead in Texas canyon | KETK

 

[tcreeley]

Love the journal!

 

[Bird]

Don, I was doing a little gas leakage survey in Amarillo in 1994 and our daughter and grandson came up to visit and we went to the 6:30 p.m. BBQ dinner and 8:30 p.m. "Texas" show at the Palo Duro Canyon on July 1, 1994. I don't know what the temperature was, but it was hot. We did finish eating just before a dust storm started, then we went and sat in the car awhile, then back to the amphitheater and a thunderstorm hit and we got soaked getting back to the car for a few minutes, then it quit and we went to the play. They gave us paper towels to dry our chairs. It wasn't a bad BBQ but certainly nothing special, however it was a very good play. I assume they still do that?

After I posted this, I looked up their website, so I assume you and Karen went to see the play? Hard to believe it was 17 years ago when we went. Three adult and one child ticket cost me $35 back then. Prices have gone up a bit since that time.:laughing:

 

[txdon]

Bird, we did see the (outdoors) play "Texas" in the canyon. With the special effects on the canyon walls it was quite a show. They used water and lights instead of fireworks at the end because of the burn ban. The temperature after the show at 11:00 PM was 95 degrees, no one seemed to mind, everyone knows it's just Texas in July.

A word of caution: On the lighthouse trail you need 1 gallon of water per person and cell phones do not pick up a signal.

You would never guess what I found at the light house rock formation in the canyon.

A wedding photo shoot.

 

[pacerron]

Just wanted to mention I picked up the tractor seat covers Jim suggested this morning. It was a snug fit on my 18" high seat back particularly since there is a spring box that controls the seat bounce behind the seat back.
I used it about 3 hours today and even though my derriere was not completely sweat free it was a 90% improvement over sitting on vinyl.

I got this Nelson impulse sprinkler and zinc weighted base made for W-mart
for $7. We'll give it a performance test soon since things are drying up again.
Summer is marching ahead too fast. The Locust trees are getting brown and the fall grasses are appearing in the pastures.

Jim.
Have you ever tried shading your tomato plants with some bird tree netting
or other thin fabric to keep them from becoming burned? The fruit ripens at night so shade will not slow that down.
Ron

 

[Bird]

Yep, Don, that play has been quite a show for many years. One reason we went to see it was because my mother had told us how much she enjoyed it a few years earlier.

But I don't have to worry about that lighthouse trail. I hate to get out in this heat long enough to mow the yard (which I need to do this afternoon), much less go for a walk like that trail.

 

[dave1949]

................ My garden (with the exception of the peppers) is starting to just give up. The plants cannot take up water fast enough in this heat and overwatering causes its own problems. It looks like the heat has beat me this year.

There are shade fabrics, sold in rolls, used to cover hoop houses and grow tunnels for helping to grow cool weather crops in the heat of summer. I don't know how well they would work, but it might help in your situation.
Shade Material, Shade Cloth, Protect Plants from Heat, Protect Plants from the Elements, Prevent Sun Scorch, Shade Systems, Backyard Shade House, Commercial Shade House, Clearspan Screen House, Reflective Shading, Plant Shade, Garden Shade - Growers
Dave.

 

[Western]

We did a little 6 mile hike on the lighthouse trail in Palo Dura Canyon two weeks ago. The temp was 110. I knew it was getting bad when the water I was I was carrying tasted like very hot tap water and my ears under my hat were burning.

It has now gone up to 120 and is getting deadly.

A German exchange student died on that same trail yesterday.

German woman, found dead in Texas canyon | KETK

My wife and I have been wanting to go to Palo Dura for some time now. Myself mostly because of the history with Comanches in the canyon. I hadn't heard of a "show" there, that is a bonus. Is the lighthouse trail one of many, or is it "the trail"?

Any other suggestions for there would be great, I know the park has 3 rock cabins that looked interesting on the net. I also want to visit the Southwest Museum in armadillo, but we wont go this time of year, will be either Spring or Fall.