Storms in Texas> checking in.

Just saw this. Stay safe @HK_User and ohana.

 

You and your ohana stay safe too, @ditch witch.

 

Stay safe, @vonslob. Tgat goes for all of you monkeys and your families.

 

Another round of storms on the way and we put down 42 sacks of Sakrete yesterday to repair the one dam.

 

ditch witch how'd you do in the AM Storms today?

 

Here are the pictures from yesterday's work on one of the dams. I reached out to the community of Veterans and Civilians around me and this is what happened .

Great work Guys and a good meal at the end.

Glad to see the dam higher and now dryer on the back side. Now the water flows at the spill way and not over the Dam.

I like to have lost Bear's Machete, the lead man liked it, said it was one of the best he ever used.

 

I've never done a damn that way. I assume the sakrete eventually gets wet and sets? I have had bags get wet and set in the garage or a shed before...damned shame and otherwise waste of sakrete...

 

You can guarantee it sets quickly, by poking a few holes, Dunk them, then set them.

 

The dam had slumped due to the drought.
Water was going over the top of the damn and starting to cut into the dam's center. Sacks were set directly into the water running over the top of the dam. All bags were fully wet within in a few hours.

Why would you call it a waste of Sakcrete?

 

No. My bad. I meant it was a waste of sakrete when they got damp and set up in the bag in my garage. Wasted in my garage as they were oddly shaped and I didn't have anything to use them for at that point.

What you guys did for the dam is pretty cool.

 

Thanks https://www.survivalmonkey.com/members/darklight.6977/, we had a pretty difficult job to do, a job that had to be mostly muscle power, working in a very slippery location of water, clay and caliche (clay base). Fact is one man took a tumble into the lake with a sack, due to the the wet bags and the fence close to the edge and brush.

We had to move the bags in stages, First at an off load site that took the tractor's power to get the flat bed trailer close to the trail head. Then to a 4 wheel drive RTV Kubota up and down rocky hill sides and across a small stream. We spent the day before just clearing underbrush, still on our last trip we punctured a tire on a small stump or maybe a rock. Thanks to the product SLIME we were able to complete our trip in and back out.

Each trip in was limited to 1/4 ton of product and at 7 trips we were skating on some pretty slippery grounds on our final trip out.

Later, after repairing another dam, we will remove the paper bags and plaster the water side/near side with Portland cement and sand, but from my experience the leak is already 90% reduced. The far side of the bag repair will be back filled with cliche and rock and then a fence to keep the cattle from walking on the dam.

Yes this is a task that I was really concerned about and a job that you just can't ignore. Living rural is a lot more involved than city life but the pleasure of seeing water conserved is undeniably a high point in this project.

Many thanks to my old friends and new friends who I meet on this project.

 

Flooded, ankle deep water in our entire back yard. We're clay and caliche up here so drainage is never fast. But all in all not bad, most of the bad hail missed us and the high winds went around. My garden is very happy at the moment. One rabbit went swimming and the chickens have gross muddy feet but otherwise all good. I need to get the power line on the aquapoincs better protected though, tripped the breaker a couple of times.

I saw a lot of sackcrete retaining walls like your dam down along the river when we used to go toobing in New Braunfels. It's a brilliant idea.

 

Just a few more pictures of the repair and our Trail.

The water had cut a good chunk out of the center of the dam. Flow is stopped now.


More back fill to do but looks good, just some minor seepage.


Trail down a rocky slope.


Muddy Trail up and out of the Valley.

 

@HK_User awesome job... and terrific friends and new friends... (glad your machete came in handy)...
Will the bags hold together even with the paper between them? or is it weight thing as they pretty much mold to the contour of things?
Great post and glad you got this done... and made some new friends in the process....

Have a great weekend....

Take Care and God Bless,

Bear

 

The bags will slowly waste away and the two or more cement lumps harden and will bond. the added plaster will set them as a unit.

If I was using more than a stack of 4 I would have to double stack and interlace them and then drive rebar into the sacks.

 

No bad news from us. Last night we were only a few minutes from going to a secure inside room due to an approaching Tornado. The Satellite TV held even with the torrential rains. So we could watch the storm and the Hail/Tornado storms and did not enter our storm shelter.

I was out checking on neighbors this AM, feed some neighbor's chickens, checked a house for damage (Neighbor was out of town and called to see if they still had a home, they did.)



Rain maxed out our lakes and all is holding.

Take Care.

 

we haven't been hit with rain storms as badly as HK_user..but,it seems like we lose power every other storm..power was out 20 1/2 hours last time..now we have another rain storm moving in.and im pretty much expecting another outage.in which can be a good thing.on account i learn from them,when it comes to my power outage haves and dont haves..only if i had a back-up genrater for the fridge n freezer.then id have a lot less concern..

 

In the mean time, freeze water bottles NOW while you have power, to be placed in the fridge to keep it cool while you wait for power to be restored.
Yes, you need some form of backup power to protect your frozen/cold food, and to protect yourself from too much heat or cold.

 

i already been there,n done that..with bottles that peanuts,peanut butter jars and others..plus i have some blue ice,that im using as well..matter of fact..i have enough where i froze some.then stuck them into the fridge.then put the rest into the freezer.now i simply switch them out when the ones in the fridge thaws enough to refreeze..freezer also has a ice maker.in which i make sure it stays very full...