Life goes on - Summer 2020

Has anyone heard from Jeff Davis ?

I am worried about him :frowning_face:

13 Likes

Lets try to get in touch…
We can look after each other in these difficult times…
I hope he’s ok…
I hope you all stay safe and ok…

8 Likes

I am too. I hope he is doing okay.

4 Likes

Yesterday I sent Jeff a PM but have had no reply yet . :frowning_face:

6 Likes

He will show up. He can’t do without you guys.

1 Like

Got some time off today. To warm to work on a roof, 35C/95 F. Couldnot leave this and started a little. This has to be finished before I allow myself to start with a gasifier. On the other hand, there are plans to use this heat exchanger with a hookway retort. Got the idea from someone around here. Sold him a few SS 55 gallon drums and now can’t find them anywhere. So used a pipe 450 mm 1,5 foot , 1 meter long. Made something to hold a solar ss flex pipe inside and messed up the weldings. After all it is sunday, better weld another day.




There is 20 m 60 ft of solar flex in the pipe. Hot enters on top, cool gases leave in the bottom with some condensate draining. Got that figured out but not made yet.

3 Likes

I just sent Jeff an email to an address he gave on an old Argos sign-up sheet. Hoping to make contact.

1 Like

I will look for my contact list for him too. I think I have a phone number. Also, I was thinking on this subject. It wouldn’t be a bad idea to collect each other’s contact info. At least anyone who wants to share it. Probably not a good idea to publish here. But I would encourage everyone to personally share info with people you trust so maybe between us all, we can find folks who fall off the grid. I know Chris has some of that info, but he’s probably not legally allowed to share it. SO if you want people to have it, you probably need to give it to them personally. Fact is, if something happened to some of us, no one would know why or what if their families are not involved on the site, etc…so I recommend PM’s or whatever for folks you are willing to share with…

Also, been real busy around here. Economy is booming. Work is piling up. SO I haven’t been on much lately. Jakob keeps up more than me these days. Although, he just got back from spending a couple weeks in Oregon with Dr. Larry who had another stroke recently.

Cooking lots of wood in the trucks these days too. Trying to get the gasified power generator going for electricity.

And Oregoncarl, I haven’t forgotten that I owe you an answer to some questions, just been too busy, and Since my opinions don’t usually decide the fate of the free world, I figured you’d give me a grace period. LOL

9 Likes

I’m still kicking but this heat is killing me. Day after day, week after week, high temps and high humidity. Rare to get a cloudy day. Thank God for fans.

Little turn for the worse. That put me back on chemo for about three month now and counting. That also destroys about every other week. Hard to get much done. I just keep pecking away at the back log.

This COVID stuff also sucks up some of my time. Not to mention that I am one of the people it is looking for.

On the positive side. I’ve moved into the tiny work shop and love it. When I was building it, I thought it was too small, even for me. Now I wish I never built any large buildings to work in. Oh well, live and learn. No grid electric so I have a solar setup. I was foolish not to have some solar, before. I love it. My motto; solar electric and solar gas is the way. I also have a generator and will be working on a solar gas generator.

Working on a larger version of the log hauler and a new gasifier that has a bit of the Koen flavor. Need to take some pictures.

Put one of the gasifiers , that was on one of the Wheel horses, on the the Cub Lo-Boy. A bit too small for it but it does run. Never saw an engine start so easy on solar gas. It does lack in the power department. It has the four cylinder C60 in it. Haven’t decided if I will repower it.

Well, now I forgot what else I was going to write about. That’s one of my side effects. I’m not planning on catching up on all the new posts. Just too many of them. I’ll return with some photos.

Cheers,

P.S. I hope all is well with everybody ! ! ! and keep the shinny side up ! ! !
And many thanks for asking about me ! ! !

20 Likes

Jeff, Glad to hear from you. Hang in there.

6 Likes

Thanks.

20 Likes

So great to hear from you, Jeff!!! Thanks for the update and picture.

I just finished the first three chapters of Matt Ridley’s How Innovation Works, 2020 Harper Collins. He uses great stories to defends his thesis that innovation happens in a free environment through bottom-up collaboration. Chapter 1 is Energy, chapter 2 is Public health and chapter 3 is Transport. “Pause in awe at what innovation does. For the entire history of humanity before the 1820s, nobody had travelled faster than a galloping horse, certainly not with a heavy cargo; yet in the 1820s suddenly, without an animal in sight, just a pile of minerals, a fire and a little water, hundreds of people and tons of stuff are flying along at breakneck speed.” (pg.111) I told my wife, "The Drive on Wood guys are going to love this book!’

7 Likes

It is nice to see you around! sorry it went worse, but treatment might help a bit!

I am glad you got your shop built!! It is always nice to have a nice clean brand new work area. :stuck_out_tongue:

How much solar did you put in?

1 Like



Ok can anyone tell me what I did wrong?
I figured since the pasquali is running I would clean out the chicken coop today. Got it all cleaned out let the cement floor dry for a couple of hours where the water bucket makes it wet also by the chicken door as the middle is the only flat floor. Then I put down nice fresh hay for bedding same as I used when they first went out there.
Well come time to put the chickens to bed for the night they refused to go inside. They would go up the ramp stick their head in the door then turn and fly away. Even flying into the 2 sticks I use to herd them.
I have never had trouble getting them through the door before. It took a full 1.5 hours to get the 12 Guinea fowl and 18 New Hampshire chickens in. The chickens where by far the worse.
The only thing I can think of is the new smell freaked them out? Not sure if I should let them out tomorrow or leave them in the barn for a day or two to get it imprinted on they little brains that it is home again.

5 Likes

I would guess it’s something about the smell. Did you use any kind of disinfectant in there?

If you haven’t been paying attention you need to. The food supply for the coming year is weak because very little could be harvested out of the spring crop due to the lock downs and now the storm that just swept across the country has beat the crap out of the corn crop. What corn is available will get put into ethanol before it gets put into food. If you don’t have emergency supplies you better get some and if you live within an undetermined radius of big urban areas you should be aware that food in the cities will be the first to run out and hungry people will be heading for the burbs.

You need to remove your ad blocker to see this link.

https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/homeless/from-peanut-butter-to-applesauce-washington-state-stockpiles-tons-of-food-for-the-need-ahead/

2 Likes

I suspect you are correct about the smell being the issue. All I did was remove the dirty bedding and let it air dry then put down fresh cut hay for new bedding. I also used second cut hay for the nesting box I wanted the softer hay there but it does have a very sweet smell as well. I don’t know if I should let then out this morning or give them more time to adjust.

2 Likes

Since you did not use a smelly disinfectant then just give it more time.
Birds are very sensitive to change.
Change represents danger.
OUTSIDE danger will have them going back in as long as you do not let them settle in to a chosen new safe place.
Like my front porch!
S.U.

4 Likes

Thanks I had better luck getting them in the second night so I think you are correct they just didn’t like change. I will try to keep the area by the door just cement to make it easier for them in the future. I think keeping the bedding away from the door will help

3 Likes

I always “Dry” cleaned my small chicken coup, and replaced with fresh (bagged from TSC) pine shavings for bedding. Maybe not the best plan, but the chickens liked it. Sometimes the chickens would rather roost on my deck railing near the house. I would have to carry them one by one back to the coop at sundown, and pop them back in. They would have been sitting ducks for predators. Bird brain comes to mind. :laughing:

4 Likes

Well for all who are interested the chickens went in good tonight so it only took a few days for then to get settled down again with a clean home.
The Guinea layed the first couple of eggs in the coop the other day which was nice there wasn’t any today but hopefully before long they will lay regularly. I really can’t tell which of the 11 I have now are male and which are female. Yes I lost one yesterday for those keeping track playing in traffic proved hazardous to his health.
But all 11 of the Guinea and all 17 of the chickens went in nice and easy tonight.

6 Likes