Millipede's house/yard

[millipede]

Well things are going pretty good. We love it here. I can't help but just walk around almost every day just checking things out. I've seen deer and a few turkeys, rabbits, lots of birds, and vultures... And a skunk
But I have tons of stuff to do that I really don't have enough money to do all of. Because of how much needs to be done with the ground and the fact that it's almost all rock it's just toooooo difficult to do it all by hand but I can't afford to get a dozer in here. It's just all hill and there are too many places that are just exposed ground with nothing growing. There are a few nice sections where I managed to get some bird seed growing real well but it's going to rain all weekend and I'm a little worried that half my yard is going to wash down the driveway taking the driveway with it. Between today and Sunday we could get from two to four inches of rain. What I've been thinking about for quite some time is installing gutters that lead to a big tank to store the water in. I could use that water to hydrate the yard during dry times. I'm thinking that 2-4 inches of rain just pouring off the roof onto bare soil/clay/rock will just make any erosion a lot worse. Gutters are easy enough to find at any home depot or lowes stores around here and are cheap enough, but I'm not sure where to look for a decent tank to hold water and how much it will cost. If I can find something around here that I can afford Iwill probably want to install it all tomorrow even if it's raining on me while I'm doing it. So that's sort of been moved to the top of my to do list which is just to big... I can't wait til there is only a few projects left... projects are fun but not when they are HUGE, there are a million, and you don't have enough money to do most of them. I'm sure I'll get it all figured out sooner or later but of course sooner is always good... If anyone has any thoughts about this or any other problems I might have with this yard feel free to mention it... It is soooo nice out here that it is worth any hassle so far. I've got tons of beautiful trees out here... sycamore, black walnut, black cherry, hickory, sassafrass, red cedar, a few silver maples, black locust, and tons more...
Like I mentioned before, anyone want to come collect rocks from my yard, feel free... You can find tiny crystals and fossils in almost every rock in the yard and you can't move an inch without seeing another rock...

[fishfreek]

Look at your local feed/farm supply store for a storage tank.

[Melody]

my friend had this set up in [acronym:bf81d82650="Calcium"]CA[/acronym:bf81d82650]. He had a "earth friendly" home. No Electric. All solar and wind powered. He had a large plastic barrel that the gutter drained into, and at the bottom he installed a faucet that when turned on, the sheer weight of the water pushed it thru the hose, even uphill, although then it was rather slow. It was completly sealed to avoid evap. the gutter ran into a plastic [acronym:bf81d82650="Plastic pipe"]PVC[/acronym:bf81d82650] pipe, that had a screen run across it to catch debris. the [acronym:bf81d82650="Plastic pipe"]pvc[/acronym:bf81d82650] ran into the barrel and it had a small hole cut in the side to avoid over flow. He would occasionaly clean out the screen to make sure there was good water flow. The barrel was recycled from a juice company. Its the size of an oil drum, just plastic. He had very little trouble with bugs or dirt getting in it. It was pretty impressive. Well his whole house was pretty impressive. The entire thing was made of recycled products.

[TankGirl]

Used to be people had cisterns that did this same thing. I think it is a wonderful way to conserve water (you could even use clean rainwater for your water changes!)

Google "rocky soil plants" and I'll bet there are hardy ground covers that you can plant in between the rocks that will spread and make a very nice yard, maintenance free, and prevent erosion. You can probably figure out a way to work with the rocky soil, rather than fighting it. Drive around your area and see what other people have done with their rocky, steep slopes and get some ideas.

Good luck! I am landscaping my front yard now and have serious drainage issues, in that everything I plant has to tolerate very damp soil, but I'm using the internet to help me a lot, and it's been kindof fun-

[oscarbreeder]

I dont mean to hijack your post mill but.....
Do yall really think rian water would be o.[acronym:0cc18d0f19="Kelvin or Potassium, depending on context"]k[/acronym:0cc18d0f19]. for water changes?
That would save on the water bill here with 6 tanks to do and 1 of them being my 180.

[fishfreek]

I wouldnt do it. There is so much polution in the air and it all falls out of the air in the form of water. Since the rain dropletts form in the clouds I would suspect other polution thats up there would be included as well.

[oscarbreeder]

Thanks FF.
Thats kinda what I was thinking but man would that save on the water bill.

[TankGirl]

There are lots of breeders who do this regularly. They keep those blue plastic 50+ gallon barrels connected to their downspouts. Run the water through a regular under-sink water filter and you are good to go.

[millipede]

I don't know if the term has been used before, but I've been "thread-jacked"... While I do believe there is pollution in the atmoshpere, the stuff i tap water can't be much better. There are more things in tap water than chlorine/chloramine or whatever. Still a filter isn't a bad idea. I have well water here and it's real good well water. I haven't had it tested for anything much yet but they had to test it for four things before we could close. Lead:0 [acronym:7cb73c847d="Parts per Million"]ppm[/acronym:7cb73c847d], Chloroform? 0 [acronym:7cb73c847d="Parts per Million"]ppm[/acronym:7cb73c847d], Nitrates 0.07 [acronym:7cb73c847d="Parts per Million"]ppm[/acronym:7cb73c847d], Nitrites 0.000something insignifigent... I still want to test it for whatever else I can test it for, but this one guy I know said if I don't get headaches or diareah then it's good water... it tastes good anyway... Well I'm taking my thread back... I don't mind someone asking somewhat different questions in one of my threads, as long as it doesn't completely change gears while I'm still waiting for answers or something... Anyway... It's been a long weekend... feels like it should still be friday. I went to a farm supply store called Atwoods and there was only a few young girls there that really couldn't help me out any... so I went to the local hardware store where I knew there was at least one guy that I could bounce ideas off of. He suggested just a 50 [acronym:7cb73c847d="Gallon"]gal[/acronym:7cb73c847d] rain barrell but I wanted something larger than that. I didn't want something that would overflow after a few rains... So I was looking at the storage tanks they had at Atwoods. Seems they are usually used for chemicals or some farm related something or other. Since they're new and I'm only watering the yard in the dry season I figure it wont hurt anything... well I bought a 275 gallon storage tank for $129. Not too bad... then later on I went to Lowes to get gutters... After the gutters, drip edge, downspouts, outlets, and all the other little parts... Three hundred something bucks at Lowes... ouch. I was thinking my woes were over... Anyone ever try putting gutters on by theirself with nothing but a 7ft step ladder? On top of that the roof is in no ways straight at any given point. The middle is higher than either side which makes things a little trickier. I sent my wife to Walmart to get a laser level to put a line down it so I could mark where to put the clip things to hold the gutter in place... well not only is the roof not straight horizontally, but its messed up no matter which way you look at it.. So later on I went to Walmart, again, and got a chalk line... It's been quite and interesting project and it's far from over. It's been raining off and on all weekend to make it all even harder. I'm still waiting for a vent for the roof that was never on the house. It's a good thing I decided to get on the roof to install the drip edge because the plastic covering the vent hole was hanging off and if I didn't notice it rain would be pouring into the attic right now. As far as the shingles go I don't think there's a single straight line up there and there are pieces of staple sticking out and a few tears here and there... I think some high school kids could have put the house together better... Anyway, the tank is at the back on the side of the house and the gutters, well they will have to angle away from the house towards the tank... I think I have everything figured out, it's just going to be slow work and the weekend is over so my wife goes back to work tomorrow... I will only be able to get a few hours in each morning... Oh, and the phone line still isn't burried... not sure if I brought that up before... We got the phone turned on the 1st of Sept... they left the line unburried because they contract out that work. They say it could take a while... no big deal... later on still nothing so I call. They come out the next day, say they need to put another post thing on the other side of the road because they can't cross the road with my line... who knows... so it's back to the drawing board for them. Then someone runs over the line and cuts it. I check it out and they spliced the wires back together for me. I call the phone co. and they put in another work ticket... Still nothing but I couldn't log on Allllll day today. I pick up the phone and it's a mess.. there's definitely water in the line... I call the phone co. and someone was actually there and answered after one ring. I explain all of the above and he says someone will be out tomorrow.
well, I'm soooooooooo tired right now I can barely remember what I just wrote so I sure am not going to think about anything else... I just have to try and do one thing at a time I guess....

[millipede]

Well the phone company came out around 4PM monday night. I explained all of the above to the repair guy because I know they never explain anything just tell the repair people to come check it out. I explain the line was cut and poorly repaired by the person who ran over it but was working til it rained... he understood and said he'd check it out and get things working for me... a few hours later I still heard static and had a hard time connecting to the net still... so seeing how my wife was a work I picked up my 1 yr old and my 3 yr old and walked down the road. The line was still a mess like it was and you could see the corrosion on the wires... I was so mad... that repair guy did absolutely nothing... so I walk all the way back and it's starting to get dark but I want to use my phone so I setup the stroller and put the girls in, walk back down and fix them myself. I just recut them and put them back together can covered up with duct tape... not the best solution but it works better now than it did before. Then I had to walk back... Anyone who doesn't think that sounds like much of a chore look at the pictures of my yard in my gallery. My hill, I mean driveway is about 250 all uphill and it was rock and mud and I was pushing a double stroller... Well, it was worth it because the phone works better... The joys of home ownership...
Fortunately we did not get as much rain this weekend as they said we would... But I did manage to finish one side of the house yesterday before my wife went to work. Because it wasn't really doing more than sprinkling out I poured a gallon of water on one end to see how the gutters would work... They worked real well and the water poured all the way down to the storage tank. The other side will be a little trickier but some aspects will be easier now that I have a better understanding of what I'm doing.
I'll have to look into plants another time... I ordered several catalogs from seed companies and such but I don't know how long I'll have to wait for them. I think it will be a while. For now I'll stick to the bird seed along with the other weeds that are doing well on their own. I have what some people call "lambs ear" all over the place. Some of it is HUGE. I know most people, mostly inside city limits, like havig a nice lawn and are obsessed at ridding the world of weeds... but I like weeds. The animals love them and some are quite edible. Anyway, work on the yard will be slow but that's quite ok with me... I'd be outside playing, I mean working, right now but it's cold and wet and I really couldn't do much while watching my daughters...