Pictures of the day

[Cedarcreek]

Since my pocket camera is in for repairs I took the bigger one with me today when I was checking water.

Pretty good heifer calf

Cows enjoying a cool morning after some rain last night.

No wind today

Thank God for Honda engines. When the wind doesn't blow enough I have to use the engine and pump jack. Since this well doesn't put out very much water I'll have to run the engine24/7 until I get the storage tank full again. On this well it uses about 2 1/2 gallons of gas a day.

Windmill with the 10,000 gallon storage tank buried just to the right of the mill and the stock tank just low enough to gravity fill.

Cow with a nice steer calf

I think this tank has a small leak.

Rancher delight: Full water tanks

Solar well

Just almost missed a nasty hail storm, hit a couple of sections on the edge of the place. This is hail washed up in the road ditch.

Close up of the hail about 12 hrs after the storm. It got to be golf ball size about 6 miles east of here.

 

[leanin' H]

I gotta visit some of that country someday. Sure looks like a "cowy" spot on the planet! Hope the hail didnt raise hell. But if your like us ya never cuss the moisture. Thanks!

 

[badroute]

The hail just missed my place but two miles to the east is sure got hit. Some of the boys closer to Lindsay reported baseball size hail, if they weren't done combining then they sure as heck are now. I'll take my inch of rain over that any day.

 

[Anonymous]

Cows/country look good....Most all the storm went east of us..Got a 1/10th of an inch up north- 10 drops down here on the river-- but lots of lightning and thunder...
I had heard just east of us had got quite a bit of rain- and that white stuff..

 

[Triangle Bar]

There are some large hail stones in that mix of ice, ouch. Just when you think the severe weather is behind you see that. There was a Tornado just south of my place on Saturday, didn't do any damage but that is real rare for this elevation and location in Colorado.

Great photos, looks like your on top of your water sources. I suppose solar, wind, & gas all have their pro's & con's but which do you find most reliable?

 

[Cedarcreek]

Great photos, looks like your on top of your water sources. I suppose solar, wind, & gas all have their pro's & con's but which do you find most reliable?

I think the windmill and the solar are about equal as far as reliability goes. The solar is susceptible to lightning damage. I lost a pump and a pump control on the well in the picture because it wasn't grounded good enough and it took a direct hit. Since then I've grounded it better and added a lightning arrester to the pump wiring so I don't lose anymore $2000 pumps.

When I have to run the engines I try to check them everyday. I have let them run 4 days at a time without checking and just change oil and go for 4 more. Belts fail and I don't trust the engines that much when they get a lot of hours on them. They will usually last about 10,000 hours and then get replaced.

They are all like any other mechanical system they can break down.