Monthly Archives: May 2012
But there’s always Plenty of Hot Water . . .
The guy who decided to make large water tanks black has never been in south Texas in the summertime, and tried to take a cool shower.
It’s just all hot, all the time.
I now see why some gate guards have a tarp tented over their tanks. Right now the water in the shower is warm, but comfortable. But as the days get hotter I may have to look into the tarp thing too. We’ll see.
Here’s a series of photos I took over a couple of days as they built our rig.
The thing goes together like a giant Erector Set. But I guess that dates me.
Maybe I should say Legos instead.
I went back by Tita’s Taco Stand the other day for some more of their great tacos. Their green sauce is some of the best I’ve ever eaten. Good food and nice people.
I just wished they served their breakfast tacos all day long, instead of stopping at 11am.
Heck, I wish McDonald’s sold Egg McMuffins all day long too.
Under the heading, “They Grow Them Big Here in Texas” I took this shot of a large green grasshopper who has taken up residence under our canopy.
It’s hard to tell from the photo but his body alone is about 4 inches long. So far, he’s ignoring us and we’re ignoring him.
Let’s hope we keep it that way.
That’s about it for today. Wednesday afternoon we’ll head to Houston for a couple of days for our granddaughter Piper’s graduation, and should be back early Friday evening. Gate Guard Services is sending someone over to work our gate while we’re gone.
I will try to post a blog from Houston, but don’t know if I will have time.
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Thought for the Day:
“If you kill enough of them, they stop fighting.” — Curtis LeMay
dfadf
Mister Cool . . .
First off, more congrats are in order to our granddaughter Piper. She just received her C. N. A. (Certified Nursing Assistant) certification, specializing, I believe, in Phlebotomy.
In other words, she really likes to stick it to people.
She’ll be starting on a four year scholarship at the University of Houston – Downtown in the Fall, working toward her degree as a Nurse Practitioner.
All this and she hasn’t even graduated from high school yet.
Next Thursday, tho.
Well, my cooling mister experiment turned out to be real success, but not quite like I intended. The kit I bought at Tractor Supply came with 50 feet of line and 10 misters, as well as the necessary connectors.
I had planned to run the hose around the bottom edge of our canopy like they show on the box. But things were pretty busy on the gate, and while I was thinking about how I wanted to hang the hose, I decided to just hook up one mister on the end of the hose (so I could cut it off with no problems if I didn’t like where it was).
After noticing how fine the mist coming from the nozzle was, I stuck it behind our fan and twist-tied it in place.
Turning the fan on and placing it about 5 feet away, the difference was almost instantaneous. I could feel the moisture hitting my face, but I wasn’t getting wet. And it was suddenly much, much cooler where I was sitting.
After enjoying the cool breeze for a few minutes, I hung my thermometer in front of the fan to see what it would register. The thermometer said 100 degrees (it had been kind of in the sun. I think it was about 95 degrees) and I wanted to see exactly how much difference it made.
Within about 30 seconds the display started falling. 99, 98, 97 . . . And in about 5 minutes it was down to 80 degrees, which explains why it felt so comfortable now. And the 20 degree drop is just what the box said it would give.
After thinking things over, I decided this solution was perfect for what we needed. Most of the time there’s just one of us out here, so why cool the whole area. And it’s certainly a lot simpler. The fan motor is completely sealed so a little moisture is not going to hurt it. And this will save on water usage too. Since ours has to be trucked in, that was a concern.
We’ll see how it works tomorrow for the whole day. It’s not supposed to be quite as hot as today, only about 91, but it will still be a good test.
More later.
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Last night while working the gate about 10pm, Jan saw a large black snake slithering across the road about 25 feet away. It had come from behind our rig and was heading for the woods across the road.
The wind was very strong, and Jan said the snake was being blown sideways as it moved so it had to keep adjusting its course, kind of like a sailboat tacking into the wind.
A few minutes later a truck was leaving the site and Jan had to walk over to that side of the road to check him out. She had her flashlight out and was frantically searching the roadside for snake signs as the truck came to a stop behind her.
What she didn’t realize was that the guy had gotten out of his truck to see what she was looking at. When his hand touched her shoulder, she let out a loud scream.
And then he let out a loud scream.
By that time I think if the snake was still anywhere near by, he was headed for the deep woods.
On another critter note, I took this picture of a two inch long brown scorpion, right before he unfortunately passed away. Services to be announced at a later date.
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Thought for the Day:
Don’t wish doom on your enemies … plan it.
adsf
