Glenn's Underground Cabin Update

glenn kangiser · July 02, 2013, 01:49:26 AM

I have a stack of vegetables a foot deep on the counter... feeding some of them to the chickens... [ouch]

Thought I may as well make me a big bunch of tomato soup before they go bad.... Fresh tomatos, onion, basil from the garden, then added dried garlic slices, dried onion, tarragon, butter and salt... yum... sorry I didn't watch camera orientation...

glenn kangiser · July 04, 2013, 02:48:12 PM

The garden is putting out so much now I am having trouble giving it away. Kept what I wanted out of the last one and gave the rest away.

Here is the current stack...

I took 3 squash out of it to make another Zucchini Mock Apple Crisp as Sassy and I are going to an International Life Cultural Night in Sacramento tomorrow night with our International Student friends.

We are supposed to wear our native culture clothing... I didn't have coveralls and a straw hat so we are going to go and represent Burma with the native clothes from there. I got enough of them for us both on my trip there and I am an honorary Burmese. We should be cute....

July 04, 2013, 04:08:12 PM

Nice brown eggs. How do you plant your chickens? Head or feet first?

glenn kangiser · July 08, 2013, 12:43:32 PM

I just plant them feet first on the floor of the chicken pen .... If I let them out they disappear about 1 every few nights.....

They are my composters and extra vegetable eaters. They love the Zucchini seeds and tomatoes... just about anything else I think too....

rick91351 · July 08, 2013, 01:08:02 PM

Quote from: Redoverfarm on July 04, 2013, 04:08:12 PM
Nice brown eggs. How do you plant your chickens? Head or feet first?

Gee and I though they came from Egg Plants......

July 09, 2013, 11:47:52 AM

Ummm....Rick... I have a dozen egg plants. Would you like me to run out and check under them?

Pulled the carriage from the sawmill yesterday. It is breaking the blades too fast. The drive wheels on the mill are 14" diameter though the manufacturer of the blades does not recommend anything under 16" dia. Also the whole saw is offset about 6 inches to the right. This gives major problems with large logs. I am going to modify it so I can improve all of that and still use the same size blades.

rick91351 · July 09, 2013, 01:36:16 PM

Quote from: glenn kangiser on July 09, 2013, 11:47:52 AM
Ummm....Rick... I have a dozen egg plants. Would you like me to run out and check under them?

That is sort of up to you.......

But after they have laid out there in the hot sun for several - several days. Don't want to step on one. WOW!!! Do those rotten eggs ever stink!!!

Why the off set? Some are off set to allow you to get to the engine and to give you a better place shove the carriage. Can you find any 16" drive wheels or convert it over to 16" wheels? But then your blades would be of no use. It uses a lube system does it not? Is it working as advertised? Are the idlers lined up right and square? Just a few ideas from the saw mill over across the Prairie.

ben2go · July 09, 2013, 02:04:38 PM

Will you do a write up on the mods to the saw mill.I find this interesting.I almost bought a wood mizer.

glenn kangiser · July 10, 2013, 06:23:33 PM

As you can see from the picture above the bandsaw is offset to the right of the center of the opening. The idler is constantly hitting the side of big logs - too much wasted space on the left. The right side of the saw cannot even cut as it is not over the log.

I can move the right pulley to the left enough to accommodate using larger wheels and some extra to get the left wheel farther left to get it and the idler away from the logs. I think there is enough wasted space on the right to improve both of these situations.

There is little reason for the offset in my opinion. I have looked it over and am pretty sure the whole thing can be improved upon. I would say a preliminary design was made but never improved upon as it was sent to the field.

I do want to try to use the same size blades so I can use old ones and keep the same size in the future.

I ordered the 16" pulleys from the internet. Note that these ranged from $38.50 each to $150 or so each. Internet shopping pays off.

I will drop the centers 1 inch to make the top of the band ride in the same location. The bottom guides will have to be modified to drop 2 inches as well as moving the motor to the left as I move the pulley to the left.

July 11, 2013, 12:40:08 AM

I see and agree about the offset. I agree it makes no good sense what so ever.

glenn kangiser · July 11, 2013, 09:22:32 AM

It has bothered me for years to have the ability there but not able to use it Rick. I talked to the manufacturer .... the second owner about it, but he was not real concerned about it.

He has since stopped making them but likely that was not the reason. Marketing in a world where there are many similar things does not allow a lot of profit.

I have always been on the watch for ways to improve other peoples things to make them work better for me. Thomas Edison did similar I once read. Not always inventions of his own but improved versions of other peoples inventions and his marketing prowess.... He wanted to use DC Electricity. Tesla was the inventor of AC which we use today as the most efficient means of transporting electricity cross country.

glenn kangiser · July 13, 2013, 09:28:02 AM

In Oregon today for a school reunion. .. the whole school and all who went there. 3 classes in each room. My dad..grandpa. .grandma. .uncles. .all went to the same school. ..

No wonder. ..eh?

rick91351 · July 17, 2013, 01:10:16 AM

Glenn here is another demo of how well soil with a lot of limbs, bark and 'stuff' holds moisture.

We were loading the big excavator the other day at a old log deck or landing. Where he was pulling up the soil to burm up a loading ramp. The solid on top turned to instant dust but just a few inched it was nice and moist. That is the dark soil. As you can see the top is turned to instant dust...... Remember we are in a very freaky dry drought season very little snow or rain for two years. Yet it is still holding the moisture that well.

The photo does not do it real justice! But I was thinking of ya'!

glenn kangiser · July 17, 2013, 12:05:48 PM

Nice pix, Rick and so many beautiful toys. Yes... organics on the top really do make a difference in moisture retention. I have noticed it a lot on my hugelkultur beds. Still the unrelenting sun and super hot days are taking a toll on my garden. The part doing the best is the one with part shade from a tall tree... the last bed I put in. What plants need 14 hours of sun anyway..... ?

4 hour class reunion at Rose Lodge school... so short you say..... we don't want to stay together until a fight gets started....

Soooo we had time to eat several times at Kelly's Cafe and meet my daughters wonderful boss and friend, Fei Jiang. Here is a pix of Sassy, Fei and Granddaughter Jolie at Fei's restaurant. Wonderful food there in downtown Stayton, Oregon.

The front flower garden is doing well with the drip irrigation and compost I put in there.

Maybe time to get onto those saw repairs now. [ouch]

July 19, 2013, 09:56:16 AM

Last night we had friends from China come to visit after returning from visiting Yosemite.

This is the family of Priscilla who visited Mariposa with her sister 2 years ago. I am very happy she kept my contact information so we could have a return extended family visit.

We talked over the principles behind hugelkultur and today we will be looking around the complex a bit...who knows what else... shhhh ....still sleeping.

Antonio Carlos Machado · July 23, 2013, 03:21:37 PM

Hello Glenn, all right out there?
Very cold here, I live in a tropical country but sometimes someone forgets the fridge open! hahahaha
The one month I started three small beds hugelkultur two with ornamental and 1 with spices, I'll see how it behaves and then send you some pictures.
Greetings to you Glenn and Family.

glenn kangiser · July 24, 2013, 11:44:39 PM

Wow, that's great Tony and looking forward to pictures. I guess about the time I went exploring and fishing last Sunday through last night, my drip irrigation quit. Timer went out. I got back and the plants were pretty well wilted on the lower bed... also,, some stupid ground squirrel keeps biting holes in my drip line. Changed one last week and it had 2 big holes in it today. Stuffed sticks in them so here's hoping.

Caught a couple browns and a brook trout...

Water was running pretty high.... so not a lot of holes to fish in...

Before fishing though I went exploring a couple old mines around the Mono Lake area...

The view was good from the middle of this conveyor cover culvert... 9500 feet elevation so covered to allow work in the winter....

Very cool headworks...

I think a cyanide vat....

I spotted another smaller mine way down the mountainside so had to hike down to it in the morning... none of the locals I talked to even knew it was there... good find

Nice old Climax Engine running a compressor....

The compressor... forgotten many years ago...

...and the Continental engine and mine hoist...

Then the long hike back up the mountain through the beautiful wild flowers...

After the hiking, a dip in the hot spring was in order too... ahhhhh feels good on those aching muscles....

rick91351 · July 25, 2013, 12:53:42 AM

That mine with the tall headworks I notice some orange plastic drift fence. Are they dismantling or doing some looks see there?

WOW there is a lot of classic iron laying around there. To bad the mining museum can not get that for display minus maybe the vat.

I can not believe that the water is run high. Here creeks and springs are drying up. A couple people have had to re-drill wells. We are sort of standing here with our fingers crossed and hoping and praying it does not turn black before the fall rains start. Boise airport two days ago 2 or 3 % humidity and it was a whopping 5% here. There is hardly any hay and the pasture is shot already. Not good, not good.....

glenn kangiser · July 25, 2013, 02:35:45 AM

Yeah, Rick.. It is just fast as the last of the high mountain snow melts... Yosemite Falls is about dry already I think. Wells drying up here too.

The mine is now property of the US government, with assistance of the Mining Museum. Their (forestry) normal thing to do with historic sites is to destroy them... They burned down a lot of old buildings around here.

I got an interesting story from the old fella down in the Museum.. said his dad worked at the Log Cabin Mine. This building was put up around 1980 when they were going to rework the tailings from the old days. It was up for about 1 day and a big wind storm came and blew it right to the ground.

The orange safety netting is around this hole... the forestry foamed it in, and everything... foam... concrete... whatever is down that hole... never heard my rock hit bottom that I threw in there ... several seconds to the last plink but from there who knows?

Here is a shot from the top of the conveyor....

and a kind of cool pix looking out the top window...

rick91351 · July 25, 2013, 08:10:46 AM

I am surprised MSHA (Mining Safety and Heath Administration) or some other drone agency does not get more on to the need to dismantle and wipe clean any and all historical mining and mill sights. As pushy as all things government seem to have become. Move along there is nothing to see here. Nothing has ever happened here it is all legend....

My grandfather's house ended up on Forest Service property. This was do to a USFS Property trade, he had the right to live there until his death. One week after his death the folks received notice. It was one of those heart felt form letters - Move the house off USFS property or remove contents - thirty days. No we feel your pain of the loss of your loved one however we have the government's business to do.

That was back in the 60's now in 2013 and the we got your number thing and everything else. (Hi to all you trolls out there by the way!) The notice most likely would be served at the time of death via text message....

Read the other day China might not have all the rare earth minerals seemingly locked up. Seems there is a mother lode so to speak in some of those old mine tailings here in the good old USA. Now how can we give them away to China or ______?

July 26, 2013, 01:03:04 AM

Most of our minerals here are given to the Canadians... many Canadian companies mining here and one new one testing in our area. I just went there to check on a job tonight. Talked to a geologist and he said not a lot going on for a bit but rumors in town are that they will be the areas biggest employer... I trust the geologist more than our town rumors.

If someone farts on one end of this town, someone on the other end smells it...... though by the time it gets to the other end it could smell like roses.....

glenn kangiser · July 27, 2013, 09:43:56 PM

Day before yesterday I mentioned to my friend I didn't have much work, and he said he needed a few things done. We went up and checked his windmill out that provides water to his cows... no water output....

I called Whitlock for help on pulling it down and pump out...

Started at 5 pm last night and had it out by 1:30am this morning... just the short 1 1/2 hour drive home after that and I was in bed by 4 am.

We passed the historic Fremont Spring on the way over there... summer home for Jesse Benton Fremont for 2 summers I think I was told and read about ... top of Mt Bullion.

rick91351 · July 27, 2013, 11:16:07 PM

I see it is pretty much tinder dry there as it is here.

Just a spark and that is all it will take.

glenn kangiser · July 28, 2013, 01:09:21 AM

My thoughts exactly Rick. We brought a weedeater and shovel but did not get out anything that would make a spark. Working in the evening was a bit cooler than the day ... maybe a lot cooler.

I was still nervous though.

rick91351 · July 28, 2013, 01:45:33 AM

Quote from: glenn kangiser on July 28, 2013, 01:09:21 AM
My thoughts exactly Rick. We brought a weedeater and shovel but did not get out anything that would make a spark. Working in the evening was a bit cooler than the day ... maybe a lot cooler.

I was still nervous though.

We have logged on a few days like that and skidding with crawlers. I sure like rubber tired skidders better on those days. I get so nervous, I ride the four wheeler over about dark and check for smoke and some times again about midnight......... I guess you just have to be there to understand what it is really like. And you can not be to careful.

I do know I am getting way too tired of the heat and dry conditions.