The Boat Show in Corpus Christi

Hi again,
Today I went to the boat show in Corpus Christi Texas. It was disappointing to me as it turned out to be a fishing boat show. All power boats and fishing equipment for the high dollar fisherman. I went with a friend (William) from work. We decided to go to the marina to find out when the next sail boat show will be. We found out that the next boat show will be at the City Marina in April so will probably be gone by then. Who knows.
While at the marina we found the replica of the ship NINA of Christopher Columbus tied up to the wharf. I took some pictures. The ship is in really bad shape like no one has been taking care of the ship at all. Sealer all pealing off and dry rot eating up the wood bad. Will try to add pictures later.
We found the aircraft carrier Lexington was there, and is a museum now. We went on the ship and had a good look around. Saw a lot but missed the engine room tho. Had an enjoyable day.
Don

I saw a garden like this one in the Virgin Islands. I wanted to build one like it. I did not have any space to build on for a long time. I now live in a place where the ground is really bad for a garden. I wanted to have some good vegetables to eat, so I decided now is the time to build the garden. I decided to do a test garden first to make sure I could grow stuff before I really do a permanent one.

This setup is built with 7 pieces of 4" 10 foot PVC drain flashing pipes. I also used two 90's, 1 tee, and three caps. I bought a small water pump from Ace Hardware to pump the water. I also bought a plastic 55 gallon barrel for my nutrient tank. I used 14 building blocks standing on end to raise the pipes off the ground. I don't want to lean over to work on it. It is going to be easier to weed the garden with a weed eater.

I decided where to setup the garden. I needed a level or close to level place in full sun close to the water supply. The first image shows the layout of the garden.

I laid out the pipes so that there are three lines of pipe 20 feet long. On one end I cut the last pipe in half to get two five foot pieces. Cut the bell end off this one. All of these pipes are belled on one end so they slip together. I glued two pieces together for each run. I put the ends without the bells on toward the back. The elbows were glued on. The middle run gets the tee. Put the short pieces between the elbows and the tee. when these lines are glued together be sure they are straight and level so water will run through easily. This makes a fork like layout.

I laid the pipes out where I wanted the garden. I put the blocks along the side so I could level the blocks. I used a long level to set all the blocks to the same height. Then I put the pipes on top of the blocks. I cut the bells off the open end. I put the caps on the pipes without glue so I could clean it out or look in. I put them on with duct tape. I put a fitting in one cap to accept the garden hose in from the pump. That is where I took this photo.

I put some fittings together to make an automatic siphon to drain the garden back to the tank.


You can make layout a different if your space is not the same. You can use 7 or 8 pipes and use a 55 gallon barrel for your tank. The pump I bought was the 1/6 horsepower pump. It is a submersible pump with a garden hose fitting on top. I bought a Walmart timer to turn the pump on and off

New Job in Victoria Texas

Well here it is January 23 of 2009. I still cant believe how far into the future we have come. I have started a new job in Victoria Texas. This is a place that has bought a gas turbine from the now defunct Enron company and moved it here to make electricity. The job I was on in Hobbs New Mexico had turbines number 2 and 3 from the same place. It turns out that this one is number 1 in that mess. I just found out that some of the others were purchased and left on the spot and are being set up to go where they are. This plant was a design of Edison and Tesla. They tell stories of the two being here for the start up in the 20,s. There is a picture of Edison on the wall in the main foyer.

Happy New Year

January 2 already. My how time flies. I first started this blog when I returned from my trip with Larry on the KatieLee. I got sidetracked and did not keep it up. I think I will try to do something with it now. I am interested in Hydroponics. I have some pics of the hydroponic garden I constructed to do some testing to see if I could do it my self. Here is how it looks.

Ahh that worked. I can put up some more pics that show how it was built another day.