More Snow Pics
My poor laundry.
Rolf making his rounds and checking everything out while Louie looks on from the porch. This photo was taken in November before Louie died at the end of December. Rolf has always been a conscientious worker dog, helping feed the chickens and rabbits and generally getting underfoot no matter what you're doing and no matter what the weather. Louie was more of a supervisor during snowy weather. The ice and snow caked up in the long fur between his foot pads pretty quickly. He liked the snow, but only for quick runs and romps.Labels: country living, nature, pets
posted by Leslie @ 6:47 PM
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Leslie,
We are pretty well decided on moving to Roane Co. within the next year or two. A friend has given us two acres in a very remote section. We are in the process of purchasing the only appliance that we will be using, the refrigirator, and have some questions for you, if you have the time.
First, we are trying to determine what the most reliable fuel in the area is, (one that is locally produced and always available). I thought it would be natural gas but our friend says that there isn't any piped to the area, and that it is unreliable. We are trying to buy the fridge soon and are wondering if propane, or kerosene is more available to cool it. Our friend is calling his friend that lives nearby, ( a guy named Beattle Bailey..no kidding!) and get some advice from him, but we thought that you might have some idea of what folks there use. We will have no electricity to our property and the spring is only a very small, seasonal one so we can't build a spring-house off it. Any help would be appreciated. We are planning our lighting system also and the choice of fuel will determine that as well.
Next, is the water issue. I understand that there is only a very short season of rain, so catchment isn't possible. Oddly enough, there is some type of public water at the property and I would only have to plumb it about a 1/2 mile back to our 'spot', ( I am a plumber so we can do this), but we really want a water well. Our friend says that this isn't really possible there. When I search for well-drilling in the area, I only get gas drilling info. We are kinda up a mountain area so it would be a deep well. Do people there have water wells? What did the old-timers do?
We are going up the first of April for our first look and can't wait! Hope all is well with you and yours.
Thanks, Bob
Hi Bob,
I'll answer your questions to the best of my ability.
First, we are trying to determine what the most reliable fuel in the area is, (one that is locally produced and always available). I thought it would be natural gas but our friend says that there isn't any piped to the area, and that it is unreliable.
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I find that surprising. There are oil wells all over WV and one of the by-products is natural gas. But maybe there is no natural gas piped to your particular piece of property. That might be what he means.
We are trying to buy the fridge soon and are wondering if propane, or kerosene is more available to cool it.
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I don't have any personal experience with either. I know that kerosene is available from "gas pumps" at the gas stations and I've seen large propane tanks sitting behind houses. So both are available but I don't know about cost or shortages of either one.
Next, is the water issue. I understand that there is only a very short season of rain, so catchment isn't possible. Oddly enough, there is some type of public water at the property and I would only have to plumb it about a 1/2 mile back to our 'spot', ( I am a plumber so we can do this), but we really want a water well. Our friend says that this isn't really possible there. When I search for well-drilling in the area, I only get gas drilling info. We are kinda up a mountain area so it would be a deep well. Do people there have water wells?
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Regarding rainfall. We've been here three years. One of those years was wet, wet, wet (our first year here). I had things drown in the garden even though I was using raised beds. We planted fruit trees and over half of them drowned. It was WET. The last two years have had a very wet spring followed by drought in late summer/fall. VERY dry.
Our place was originally built in the 1880s and our water supply is a 25' deep hand dug well lined with rock. It has not gone dry on us but it does get funky smelling during the dry season and we are VERY stingy with our water use. We are fortunate to have a pond and we water the garden with pond water.
There are plenty of deep water wells around here. We are considering putting one in up the hill from the house, having the pump powered by solar panels, and using it to fill a large capacity underground cistern. The water supply to the house would be from the cistern. That way we'd have water even when the power goes out and the pump isn't working. We'd also have some reserve during the dry season.
Where I live, city or county water isn't even an option. We're all on wells. This link might help you some: http://www.manta.com/mb_44_E030D_49/water_well_drilling/west_virginia
When your friend says a well isn't possible 'there' perhaps he means just that bit of property. I'd get clarification on that.
We first stayed at our property in the month of April, too. We brought sleeping bags and camped out (in the house, fortunately). It snowed the first night we were here and was lovely and warm for the remainder of the week. I hope you enjoy your visit this April. I know you're excited :)
Leslie
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