Heat Waves
Sorry for the late OT post. Been really busy preparing for the coming heat wave hitting the PNW. I'm sure many of you are suffering your own temperature extremes and I wish you cool relief.
I'm not one to waste water as I was raised in Southern California and was educated early that if not for the various aqueducts and regional major rivers we have piped in, SoCal would return to desert.
John Wesley Powell (March 24, 1834 - Sept. 23, 1902) surveyed the Southwestern U.S. and reported to Congress that because of an extreme lack of water it was only suitable for limited grazing and unprofitable for any other endeavor. Nobody there listened. And then gold and silver was discovered, the rest is history. But now, the gold and silver is gone and there still is not enough water.
It seems to be returning to that desert reality.
Fortunately, we have adequate rainfall and storage capacity here on the west side of the Cascades in both Washington and Oregon and we are not suffering drought conditions. The eastside is not so blessed.
But there is no reason the take this for granted. I still practice water conservation at all levels including capturing the cold water in my kitchen sink hot water faucet ( about a gallon ), the farthest spicket from my water heater, rather than running it down the drain waiting for hot water. That water is used for houseplants and the garden or refilling plastic drinking bottles.
I don't wash my vehicles very often, but when I do it's always on the lawn with a nozzle controlled hose.
Half my roofdrains empty onto a graded cistern that circles the garden, putting the water back into the ground.
The other half empty onto a flat front lawn that soaks mostly into the ground.
The farm is now being watered with soaker hoses buried under a Ruth Stout pile of hay and leaf cover.
So anybody else have any good ideas on saving water?
I'm all ears.
Comments
Banksters
We were warned about usuary
over 2000 years ago by a very smart man.
In fact, it goes back even further to a thing called debt jubilee, something we are not to speak of.
Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.
You are using very smart techniques to make your water
go further. I have nothing to add. Except to say the aquifers are shrinking at an alarming rate.
Actually collapsing the ground overhead (under our feet). But the golf courses suck-up such an enormous amount of water, just to keep their greens and fairways green. Wasteful priorities.
If nut farmers out west can drain the rivers for their crops, and Nestles can drain springs for no
cost, and frackers can pump tons of liquid poison into the ground, why should one wonder that
there is no longer water available fit for drinking?
thanks for posting
Good evening earthling. We too capture that
"warm up water" and use it for hand watering. We're mostly on drip plas hand watering but you have somewhat the equivalent. I can't really think of anything else except 2 maybe type ideas. We sporadically deep water specific plants by slow drip in one sot from 5 gallon buckets to reduce the frequency for regular watering. We also have homebrew ollas that slowly seep water down into the root zone, again reducing the need for regular watering.
be well and have a good one
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
I think I may have gotten
the idea of Ollas from you a couple of years ago.
I have two of them that water my cherry tree saplings and I fertilize through them too.
Great idea, thanks for that.
Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.
I remember when I was about 4, water where we lived was
scarce. I remember my Dad, Army vet, took his "bath" standing in front of a sink full of water. The rest of us, 2 kids and Mom, ran a couple of inches of water in the tub, bathed, then the next person added an in or so and bathed, etc...
To this day, I run very little water in the tub. Also, if I shower, I can do it very quickly. The water we had was reserved for our minimal use, the rest for the livestock. Most all cold water running while waiting for the heat, will be used to water a plant.
No water, no life.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
We learned
to do navy showers traveling in the motor home in the backcountry.
Got it down to a gallon and a half each, including hair.
Our little Toyota mini carried just 20 gallons of fresh water.
You are right.
Water is life.
Thanks for stopping by.
Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.
You mean,
Army baths, as my Dad and uncles, all WWII vets, were so fond of saying.
I am not sure I could get hair washed and rinsed, and essential body parts cleaned in 1 1/2 gallons. But, if I HAD to, by damned, I would. And, it may come to that.
We are not in a drought officially, but unofficial real life says if we don't get rain soon, East Texas Piney Woods will become just East Texas.
Take good care,pal, never worry about late posting. Worry about taking good care of you and yours, ok?
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981