Water Catchment Part 2

I started work on my deck water catchment system back in May but was unable to complete it due to not having enough people around to hoist the tin roofing sheets up. Marie and Sonny came to the rescue over the weekend and we were finally able to complete the project. I've been wanting to do something like this for several years for various reasons. There are four major benefits to this system.

1 - Create a dry space for sitting and watching thunder storms
2 - Prevent erosion of the soil in front of the deck, a high traffic area for Woody
3 - Catch rain water for garden irrigation
4 - Re-catch water when irrigating plants growing on top of the deck

So we mounted tin roofing panels on the underside of the deck to bracing that was screwed up there. The bracing was arranged in such a way as to prevent the panels from sagging and provide a good slope for water runoff. I made a half box out of treated wood to hold the flimsy metal gutter. PVC pipe carries the water from the gutter to the barrel. Plastic pieces including the barrel were painted with spray paint specifically made for plastic.

I was very pleased with how it all turned out and very thankful to have the help of Marie and Sonny. This brings our total rain water storage to 110 gallons.

Canning Tomatoes

One thing I was looking forward to was getting Marie to show me how to can tomatoes. I've seen her can all sorts of stuff over the years but until now I've just not had an interest in it. I'm already preparing to have a big garden (by suburban standards) next year and I expect to preserve as much of what I grow as I can for the winter.
We picked up some big ol' pretty tomatoes at the farmer's market on the way back into town after the hiking trip. Between those and the few I had on hand from my own plants, we were able to make three jars.
The process was relatively easy and quite fun although I struggled at times to quantify some of Mom's steps. For example there is not set amount of time that they need to cook. You keep them boiling until you achieve a particular smell and consistency.
All three jars "popped" within 30 minutes indicating they sealed properly. Mom was raised on a farm that was pretty much sustainable. They grew all of their food and sold tobacco and cotton to cover their other needs. She has a wealth of knowledge about this stuff. If I could learn 10% of what she knows I'd been content.

Summer Hike With The Family

Marie and Sonny came for a visit last week and I finally got a chance to take them to the wilderness. We drove over to the Nantahala National Forest and hiked the Joyce Kilmer National Recreation Trail. This two mile figure eight loop traverses a virgin forest with absolutely giant trees. Sadly many of them were dead or dieing and the canopy had opened up significantly since the last time I was there six or seven years ago.
The Rhododendron were blooming around Little Santeela Creek! Patterson and I have been trying to time trips right for years to catch them and have never been successful. We were beginning to wonder if the predominate type (Catawba?) in this area did bloom.
Marie and Sonny seemed to really enjoy the place. It was a cloudy day so the heat wasn't bad and it didn't rain so it was perfect for hiking. We took it slow and stopped often to check everything out, to Woody's dismay.Some of these trees are over 400 years old. It's a neat feeling to witness trees that were around around when the Native American's lived in the area.
We really liked this inspiring shot of Dad! Taking the skyway back, we found a new little deli/general store on the river as you come into Tellico Plains. I had the best southwestern panini I've ever had in my life. It's a great place to grab a sandwich on your way in or out of the wilderness.

Pickled Peppers

I successfully canned my first jar of jalapenos! Marie and Sonny are coming to visit soon and I hope to learn the art of canning tomatoes. This is the summer of experimentation with this stuff. Next year I hope to ramp up production in a big garden. I'd like to grow and preserve most of the vegetables we eat through the winter; tomatoes, green peppers, hot peppers, onions, cucumbers and a few other staples.

Myrtle Beach

Our beach vacation turned out to be fantastic! After a day of driving through some very intense thunderstorms to get there, the rain stopped the next morning and the weather was gorgeous the rest of the time we were there. Activities consisted of laying around in the sand, body boarding, and eating. Bertha kicked up some nice waves for us! We had such a great time I think we'll be heading back to this area next year. I'd like to spend a day at the state park and maybe rent a scooter!

Here's me enjoying the famous Crabby Mike's buffet and Patterson on the way out. You know, pancake houses are a dime a dozen around Myrtle Beach but those places have some really tasty and cheap food. I don't think the Pan American Omelet and Pancake house has changed a single thing since 1975. Love that place.

Bertha don't you come around here anymore

Listening to the Grateful Dead song Bertha, I think it could very well be about a hurricane. We are heading to Myrtle Beach next Thusday and sadly Bertha might be knocking on the door shortly afterwards. Here is the projected path as of today. Grrrrrrrrrr.....

"I had to move, really had to move,
That's why if you please, I am on my bendin' knees,
Bertha don't you come around here anymore."

UPDATE: Ok, everything's gonna be alright now, everything's gonna be alright.

Woody Wilson: Vol Fan Extraordinaire

Yarrrrrrd Work

The improvements to the back yard are slowing continuing. Here is another before and after set of pics of the high traffic area near the water barrel. I think I'm going to use this type of rock to make another walkway through the large bed on the left. We'll be taking on that project next month.

Before

After

R.E.M. Live

I'm sure everyone has an equivalent, but for me R.E.M. is one band whose songs have a most vivid time and date stamp in my head. Each song takes me back to either the time I first heard it or when something notable was going on while it was playing. The band always puts on an amazing live show too. We had the privilege of seeing them in Atlanta Saturday and it was an absolute blast. We got a nice mixture of old material mixed with numbers from the new album which are some of the best they've released since the beginning of the decade I'd say. Here is a better review of the show than I can write followed by the set list. What a great time.

1. These Days
2. Living Well Is the Best Revenge
3. So Fast, So Numb
4. What's the Frequency, Kenneth?
5. Time After Time
6. Driver 8
7. Man-Sized Wreath
8. Walk Unafraid
9. Hollow Man
10. Ignoreland
11. Houston
12. Electrolite
13. (Don’t Go Back To) Rockville
14. Auctioneer
15. Harborcoat
16. The One I Love
17. I've Been High
18. Let Me In
19. Bad Day
20. Horse To Water
21. Orange Crush
22. I'm Gonna DJ

23. Supernatural Superserious
24. Losing My Religion
25. Pretty Persuasion
26. Nightswimming
27. Fall On Me (w/ Johnny Marr)
28. Man On The Moon (w/ Johnny Marr)

The District

So last week I took a work trip to D.C. to man our exhibit at the 2nd annual Bioenergy Awareness Day. It was a great opportunity to hear about what other universities are doing on the renewable energy front. Turns out we’ve got a pretty progressive program here in Tennessee! The undersecretary of Agriculture specifically mentioned the research that we’re doing in his comments.

me at the booth

While there, I had a chance to visit the mall and famed reflecting pool. It was so interesting to see these bits of our history. We saw the Washington and Lincoln monuments and memorials for World War II, Vietnam and Korean wars. Vietnam especially was moving, as the sheer amount of names that are engraved on that wall is almost overwhelming. And the new WWII memorial made me so proud of my grandfather, who fought in that war. I’m very grateful for all the sacrifices that honorable men and women have made for our country.

Washington Monument & reflecting pool

Lincoln Monument

Korean War memorial

Also, I got a peek at the FDR monument as well, which was especially amazing. I would have loved having him for a president. His memorial consisted of 3 different sections, one representing each of his terms in office. Below are pictures of quotes he made while in office. Yep, FDR and I see eye to eye on pretty much everything. It’s amazing how even though so much time has passed, so many of these quotes still apply to important issues today.

The one on war is kind of cut off, but I still wanted to include it. It says,
“I HAVE SEEN WAR
I have seen war on land and sea. I have seen blood running from the wounded… I have seen the dead in the mud. I have seen cities destroyed… I have seen children starving. I have seen the agony of mothers and wives.
I HATE WAR”

Fore!

Hey folks! Brad’s having so much fun with the blog that I decided to give it a try, and what better subject for my first post than yours truly!

I’m famous, all because the local community newspaper included a recap of the recent UT Golf Classic in their summer sports coverage. This is an annual scramble that the Forestry, Wildlife and Fisheries department puts on each year to raise funds for the student scholarship fund. My team tied for second to last with a 6 under par round of 65, heh. I obviously need to visit the driving range a few times before I hit the links again. Still, I did well in the putting contest. Just look at that fierce concentration!

Water Catchment

We were having some problems with a gutter downspout that was causing water to pour off the house and erode soil. Apparently there was a clog in a buried pipe and rather than dig it up and try to fix it, we rigged up a way to divert the water into a barrel. It's turned out to be a useful system that allows us to keep our plants watered with free rain water. It doesn't take much of a down pour to fill up the 55 gallon barrel and it covers our watering needs for about week with no rain.

I built a trap with 4 inch pipe to catch debris (clean out cap at the bottom). Water overflows into sections of 2 inch PVC that lead to the barrel, filtered with a screen at the end. A spigot was screwed and epoxied to the bottom. I still need to add an overflow pipe to the side but this is working great for now.


We are also in the process of installing panels under our deck that will divert water into another barrel there. Look for pictures of that soon. Heck, we might as well add another one on the front of the house hidden behind the big evergreen shrub. I mean, hey man, free water! Barrels are cheap too. Credit goes to my buddy Chad for the idea; he's been doing this for years.

The Radar is a Lie

Honest question: when has the Doppler shown yellow or red on your neighborhood and ZERO rain fell? Seriously, this has happened the past two evenings and we've not seen a single drop. This particular storm (in the picture) was moving northwest and somehow we missed ALL the moisture. My tomato plants would like to have a word with you Mr. Weather Man.

Northern Water Snakes

Check out this beautiful Northern Water Snake we saw sunning on a rock at Wildcat Falls. This guy was found literally about 12 feet from where we took video of a larger one 6 years ago that you can watch below. I'm both fascinated and extremely cautious of the buggers because I don't want to step on one causing harm to it or me. We found a second smaller one at night not far from our campfire which was a first for us. Until then I'd not seen one that wasn't sunning on a rock. Apparently they emit a musky scent that can attract butterflies as seen in our footage with a Zappa soundtrack.

While we're on the subject of snakes, here is more footage from 2002 taken at the French Broad River near Asheville, NC. Here we have two male Black Rat Snakes tied up into a knot apparently dueling. At least that is what a wildlife professor at UT said. We thought it was a male and female getting it on. Yeah it's pretty amateurish and shaky but you get the idea.

Slickrock Creek Backpacking

Just got back from a nice two night backpacking trip down to Slickrock Creek with Carlo and Tammy. This was long overdue and we had an absolute blast. We took Windy Gap Trail from Big Fat Gap to check out the wild flowers on the way down to Wildcat Falls. It was hot and humid but probaby 15 to 20 degrees cooler than Knoxville and amazingly enough we didn't get rained on which is rare for this area it seems. It was great showing the area to new people. Carlo and Tammy seemed to really enjoy it, so much so that they are planning to come back in the fall to do a highlands trip up to the Bob Stratton Bald and the Hangover. We're going to try to plan that one around a full moon in October.

Sadly Woody wasn't able to go on this trip due to getting a bum paw two days before we left. So he camped at Catatoga Kennels for the weekend. In the top picture you can barely see the Hangover ridge in the background from Windy Gap. The bottom picture was taken at the first set of falls (about 15 feet from a snake that I'll post a picture of later). This has to be one of my favorite places in the whole world. The swimming hole felt incredibly invigorating in the June heat. Too bad we couldn't have spent an entire week down there. You can read about this area here and here.

Jalapeno on a Stick

In addition to the four tomato plants, we're trying our luck at two varieties of hot pepper; jalapeño and Tabasco. The former is growing great while the latter has yet to bloom.


Of course, I can't help but be reminded of this guy:

Salmonella Free Tomatoes

"Homegrown tomatoes homegrown tomatoes

What'd life be without homegrown tomatoes
Only two things that money can't buy
That's true love & homegrown tomatoes"

"If I's to change this life I lead
I'd be Johnny Tomato Seed
`Cause I know what this country needs
Homegrown tomatoes in every yard you see
When I die don't bury me
In a box in a cemetery
Out in the garden would be much better
I could be pushin' up homegrown tomatoes"

-Guy Clark