Texas Heat!

[pacerron]

Dennis, we'ver got one of those water meters where they don't have to open the box to read it; i.e., it transmits the reading. At least the bill that came yesterday was considerably cheaper than the last two.

And our electric bill was a lot cheaper, too, but the electric meter is still read by a young man walking the neighborhood reading meters. The last time I checked, this neighborhood is scheduled to get those new "smart meters" in June of next year.

Up here we read our own meter and send it in with the bill from the last time.
Saves a lot of money for our co-op and replacing with electronics would be a big wasted expense that would trickle down to us.
Our old rotary meter has worked fine for 20 years and most of them last much longer than that.
By reading the meter ourselves it is easy to know how much the next bill will be as well as if a heat pump or well is having a problem.
Helps keep the U.S. Post office alive too.

 

[Bird]

Up here we read our own meter and send it in with the bill from the last time.
Saves a lot of money for our co-op and replacing with electronics would be a big wasted expense that would trickle down to us.
Our old rotary meter has worked fine for 20 years and most of them last much longer than that.
By reading the meter ourselves it is easy to know how much the next bill will be as well as if a heat pump or well is having a problem.
Helps keep the U.S. Post office alive too.

Things are a little different down in the country. When we bought the placein Navarro County, the electiric wiring and breakers were unbelievable. Anyway, when I got ready to replace the pole the meter was on and put a new 200 amp master breaker panel, I was going to move everything from the old rotten pole to the new pole on a Saturday, so I called the electric co-op to tell them I was going to break the seal and pull the meter and the lady said to just go ahead; no problem. I don't think they ever bothered to come check it later.

 

[ustmd]

The Co-Op converted to the smart meters about 4 or 5 years ago.

They are great. No issues with the dogs chasing the meter reader :laughing:. Supposedly they are cheaper for the Co-Op as well.

The best part is the meters automatically report any power outages. To give you an example, two summers ago, my phone rings in the middle of the night (still about 90 degrees outside) and it was the CO-Op letting me know they were dispatching a repair team because my power was out (snake on the poll shorted the fuse). Since the house hadn't gotten hot YET, I didn;t even know my power was out.

 

[Western]

Wish mine reported it's own power loss.

Jim, I ask the Wise C co-op electrician how the signal gets to them, he said it is transmitted through the main electric line. Don't know how they do that, but it seams to work.

 

[LarryD]

Wish mine reported it's own power loss.

Jim, I ask the Wise C co-op electrician how the signal gets to them, he said it is transmitted through the main electric line. Don't know how they do that, but it seams to work.

This is a link to Broadband-Over-Power. I don't know if this is how your Co-Op is doing it because there is still a lot of controversy, but data over power lines has been technolocically possible for a few years now.

 

[pacerron]

Wise Electric Coop has had the electronic meters for some time (several years). I've never had any problems with my electric bill. This past summer with the AC going and me pumping mega-gallons of water, my bill was quite reasonable. I have no idea how the meter works because it looks just like a normal meter, but no meter reader ever comes to read it.

Jim,
A little off subject, but it is in the 30's up here at night now.
I was wondering if this is what you 13 button pants guys mean by mothballing the ship?
Another real question for you and anyone else. I notice a crack has developed
on my New Holland 4020 plastic. Is there a special cement for this or does everybody just use duct tape?
Ron

 

[Western]

mothballing the ship?
Another real question for you and anyone else. I notice a crack has developed
on my New Holland 4020 plastic. Is there a special cement for this or does everybody just use duct tape?
Ron

I was looking at your Mothball photo and couldn't help but wonder what you plan on doing when they hatch:laughing: Sorry, long day.

Ron I know they make adhesives for that kind of "stuff", but I bet it will depend on what type of plastic it is, you may have to talk to your dealer until a body repair TBN member responds.

 

[pacerron]

I was looking at your Mothball photo and couldn't help but wonder what you plan on doing when they hatch:laughing: Sorry, long day..

Dennis,
I hope any mice that decide to nest in there and eat the wiring, will eat them instead if they have lost their sense of smell so the smell doesn't drive them away first.
We tried mothballs in the fruit trees a couple years to keep the deer away
but they got used to the smell. They even got used to Lifebuoy soap which is hard to find anymore.
Ron

 

[RobertN]

Funny, they even get used to 44mag and 30-06!

A couple years ago, a buddy and I went to the local shooting range. Guess there was 10 of us or so, shooting rifle from 22lr thru larger caliber stuff.

It is a club range, with cease fire, target check ect every 15 minutes or so. We had already had a few firing sessions, when 5 or 6 deer just start to wander across the rifle range.

They were so used to hearing the sound of rifle, pistol, and shotgun fire, that they were not afraid of it at all. Had to call a cease fire(sounded great to shoot, but they were out of season, and mostly doe...). till the mosey'd off. One guy put a round from a large rifle just behind them thinking it would scare them. Didn't faze them at all!

We tried mothballs in the fruit trees a couple years to keep the deer awaybut they got used to the smell. They even got used to Lifebuoy soap which is hard to find anymore.
Ron

 

[Western]

Robert, yeah deer are an amazing animal, maybe they saw how most the guys where shooting and weren't to concerned:laughing:

Ron, I think the moth balls will work better in that enclosed space, should probably keep the "smell" for a longer period. Believe it or not, in 91, we had a Hundyi (spell check) that was totaled because of mice, but then again, those cars weren't worth much to start with.

 

[Bird]

Dennis,
I hope any mice that decide to nest in there and eat the wiring, will eat them instead if they have lost their sense of smell so the smell doesn't drive them away first.
We tried mothballs in the fruit trees a couple years to keep the deer away
but they got used to the smell. They even got used to Lifebuoy soap which is hard to find anymore.
Ron

After squirrels chewed up some wiring in one of my brother's motorhome, he put mothballs in there. The squirrels carried all the mothballs out and dropped them on the ground under the motorhome.:laughing:

 

[pacerron]

Robert, yeah deer are an amazing animal, maybe they saw how most the guys where shooting and weren't to concerned:laughing:

Ron, I think the moth balls will work better in that enclosed space, should probably keep the "smell" for a longer period. Believe it or not, in 91, we had a Hundyi (spell check) that was totaled because of mice, but then again, those cars weren't worth much to start with.

Dennis,
I hope so. They sure smell strong now as I was driving the tractor back to the barn. I do use the tractors all winter long but not as much as in the spring thru fall. We have a barn cat that likes to show us his kill often but the barn is big and has a lot of junk where mice can get and he can't.
Ron

 

[bindian]

Jim,
A little off subject, but it is in the 30's up here at night now.
I was wondering if this is what you 13 button pants guys mean by mothballing the ship?
Another real question for you and anyone else. I notice a crack has developed
on my New Holland 4020 plastic. Is there a special cement for this or does everybody just use duct tape?
Ron

Ron,
I have heard Mahindra cement and/or Mahindra tape works great on this problem.:laughing::laughing::laughing:
hugs, Brandi

 

[Kyle_in_Tex]

Don,
I'm on the edge of my seat waiting for more pond clean out pics....:drool:

 

[jinman]

I was wondering if this is what you 13 button pants guys mean by mothballing the ship?

Not exactly, but that might keep the bilge rats away.:laughing: Actually, mice hate cayenne pepper powder, but so does your eyes/nose if you disturb it and stir some up. You can shake some into an old sock and drop it in there, but be very careful removing it and giving yourself a good dusting.

Another real question for you and anyone else. I notice a crack has developed
on my New Holland 4020 plastic. Is there a special cement for this or does everybody just use duct tape?
Ron

Most plastics can be fixed with epoxy, but you might check with your NH dealer's service manager to see what they suggest.

 

[txdon]

Don,
I'm on the edge of my seat waiting for more pond clean out pics....:drool:

It's too dark in the hole, little bit to go, first thing in the morning if I don't get rained out...

 

[pacerron]

Not exactly, but that might keep the bilge rats away.:laughing: Actually, mice hate cayenne pepper powder, but so does your eyes/nose if you disturb it and stir some up. You can shake some into an old sock and drop it in there, but be very careful removing it and giving yourself a good dusting.



Most plastics can be fixed with epoxy, but you might check with your NH dealer's service manager to see what they suggest.

I have read elsewhere on TBN that clothes dryer static reduction sheets work well to keep the mice out too.
I kind of like the smell of them myself!
Ron

 

[Western]

Started the day out at 52* and it has fallen all day, rainy and cooool out. News said 2 1/2 inches of snow in Amarillo!!

 

[Bird]

Started the day out at 52* and it has fallen all day, rainy and cooool out. News said 5+ inches of snow in Amarillo!!

57 in Denton this morning before 6 a.m. and 49 now. I just checked on my patio and I reckon 49 is about right here, too. It's been cool, breezy, and damp out all day, but my rain gauge still doesn't have more than a drop or two in it. But it does still appear that we might get more rain later. At least I hope so.

 

[txdon]

That last corner was a burger to get out. I tried get from above but I needed a bigger BH.