I Love Big Rains and Big Winds

It's really that simple. I feel soothed by a big storm, the bigger the more soothing. It might be in my DNA since I grew up in New Orleans... on the hurricane coast. This spring is coming early, maybe cause the ground hog said so, maybe cause we collectively begged for it with all our might, or maybe for the real reason... chance & luck & natures choice.
Either way, i enjoy the fog after the pour and the way the creeks rise with power and deafening noise.
I think one reason nature is never boring is because you can never ever see every bit of it, and it keeps changing with the weather, the temperature, the seasons, the sun, the clouds... it's like a painting that will never be complete. Or much like the library... you know you will never read all the books there are, you'd have to live many lifetimes to see it all.... even if you settled to only read all the good books.
The creek can be a trickle, it can be frozen into a so many shapes, spikes, bubbles, and then with a rain it can become a waterfall so powerful it would knock you out. I really like them all.


xoxoxox

Testing For Hydro Electric Power Possibilities

Remember how last week I was curious about how I could get off grid power without cutting down my trees? Well, here goes my first attempt to find a way to get sustainable power, in the semi dark! Hydro-power! One of my readers here at The Oko Box pointed out that I have many water sources on my property and there may be a possiblity of harnessing the energy from that...so I was really excited when Mr. Tebbe contacted me from the Sundance Power Systems company in Weaverville,NC to discuss possible hydro power options.
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The first step I had to do was to test how many seconds it would take my creek to fill up a bucket. I searched along the creek for a spot to shove a bucket under, but then remembered the creek is already piped into my pond on a decline...
I kept dropping the bucket when it would start to fill, so Bort handed me his Nalgene bottle which has little measuring dealies along the side (32 ounces). It took 2 seconds to fill & overflow a 32 ounce space.
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WATER RATE: 8 seconds to fill 1 Gallon of water
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I also measured the height of the full water drop at that spot, which is approx 3.5 to 4 feet high.
I started some Hydro Electric research as suggested by Mr. Tebbe... and found that this kind of project hits right at the heart of every learning disability I was ever diagnosed with! ha ha.
...
First I found a "simple formula" for figuring out if you can house a lil' hydro power :
"A simple formula for approximating electric power production at a hydroelectric plant is: P = ρhrgk, where
P is Power in watts,
ρ is the density of water (~1000 kg/m3),
h is height in meters,
r is flow rate in cubic meters per second,
g is acceleration due to gravity of 9.8 m/s2,
k is a coefficient of efficiency ranging from 0 to 1. Efficiency is often higher (that is, closer to 1) with larger and more modern turbines. "
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The only result/solution for the Luck Cabin's Hydro-ness I mathmatically came up with after examining that formula was this:
LESLIE x ABOVECRAZYTALK = WTF
...
This is engineer stuff. (Is reader Lou Cheese out there? I bet you make something of this jibber jabber!!)
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What I wanna know is hydro-electric a possibility for the Luck Cabin (where i use about 30-40$ of electric a month/ or approx. 250KWH per month)
...how much power could my lil' pipe of creek water produce?
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Xoxoxox

Hunting For My Mailbox

Don't look at the undies handing on the clothes line, look at that jumbo mailbox!!! I had no idea where the heck to put my mailbox, but where it's sitting on the porch isn't the right place - ya know how rural mail works, the mailboxes gather in a cluster somewhere, like a family. So i started walking down the road in search for the mailbox family i hoped to eventually find...

There are creeks that run across my driveway, not under it, but like right on top the road. Gives me fond flashbacks to the flash floods in the roads of New Orleans ... these creeks ain't got nothing on a crescent city flood - except that they are clean and way prettier!
I walked and walked downhill ---- for so long that the sounds of rushing water in the creeks was making me thirsty and I could feel the muscles in my legs straining from sitting around too much all winter. It's like a never ending forest...
with BIG creeks, big amounts of water creating loud sounds as it hits more rocks below...
AND lots of BIG rocks....
and some crazily BIG McMansion Log homes.....
And FINALLY the family of big jumbo mailboxes I had envisioned!!! YAY! Now I can plant my flag, and truly settle into my new home. USPS here I come... ;)
XoXOxoxo

Hello Hot Springs (my trip there...)

I made it, I'm alive!

I am living in the wild remote rural middle of nowhere... (just like before in Big Sandy Mush) but now in a tiny area called Luck (ya know right below Trust) in Hot Springs North Carolina.

The trip was made partly by car (thanks Bort for driving me, and Thanks Gretta for the car to use!)... and I made some good miles by electric bike too. We took the parts in the car VERY slow, 20 MPH or under and when we got to the top of Doggit Mountain, I decided to ride my bike down a few miles, so I wouldn't have to feel car sick anymore. It was SO exciting.Doggit Mountain is basically a steep climb, and steep drop with nothing but switch back roads to wind around, trees, rocks, and what looks like hardly any people living around there. The air immediately got colder, and fresher, in a way I am not sure I have ever breathed before. It made me feel happy. :)
But I was tired from packing all my things and loading boxes to be moved, I kinda felt like I wanted to poke my own eyes out, or fall asleep. So I thought about my Mimi, who just passed away - I thought about how she would have cheered me on, how she was with me in spirit and would always be my angelic cheerleader in my heart... just as i was missing her and wishing she was there a hawk flew down below the tree line to my left side and flew about 20 feet above my head for the next half mile. That gave me a new surge of energy.

I saw some really beautiful things along the way, to many to begin to tell- but here are a few...
There was BUNCHES of old houses and old barns, and falling down structures- each one with history, thumb prints, foot prints, and stories in the decay.
It took about 2 1/2 hours to go 22.4 miles total (cause we were going soooo slow), but we finally made it to the area called Trust. Totally deserving of a thumbs up.
Trust is about 2 miles from my house - and there is actually a Trust STORE! I ran in there to use the bathroom and saw a mish mash of crazy mountain stuff - carved bears, hunting vests, T-shirt with a deer painted on the front, and even a camo lounge chair, snacks, drinks, and cigs. I want to go sit on their porch and people watch.
Soon after there was the turn to my personal paradise. All I could think and say outloud was "oh my gawd, oh my gawd, oh my gawd" because everything was so amazing, beautiful, hardcore wilderness, tiers of waterfalls, sliding smooth giant rocks, creeks rushing along the road - pure air, the sounds of water, big houses with their own tennis court and putting green, and then we finally pulled up to my new tiny home.

The frogs & my friend Noelle were waiting there to greet me. Yay baby! I did it!
Xoxoxoxoo

Swelling Creek

Being that I grew up in New Orleans, a place surrounded by water, regularly flooded by water, below sea level, and a culture that dares to throw a party when watery hurricanes threaten from the sky... I have developed a secret love for the power of water when it begins to overflow. Some people get a thrill from sky diving or a roller coaster - I get a similar adrenline rush of happy contenment to see a flood swelling up. The power of nature is something I can depend on, understand, and sometimes even relate to. Even when it crosses the fine line between beautiful over to destructive.
The massive rains we had the last few days filled the streams, creeks and rivers to the very edge... staying in the beauty zone and not so much the re-creator - I had to take my bike out yesterday morning and see what my favorite creek down the road had turned into.
I parked my bike next to the bridge, immediately realizing where I usually play under there and collect rocks was now totally underwater. I had to carefully climb some slimy wet boulders to get to the soggy mud and squish my way upward into the woods, towards what was once a noticeable waterfall.
The water was so high in the creek and rushing down so hard the sound was deafening! I wished so much I had a video camera to share the sound with ya'll... the intensity and power was such that the once waterfall was eclipsed by it's own water volume and could hardly be seen. (Check out this link to see what the Willow Creek Rd waterfall looked like in April!)
I crouched down in the trees for a while and watched - but more so listened. I was by myself and thought it was a good time to stay quiet, sort of a nod to mother nature for being so cool.
Eventually I felt tired and was ready to go back... hiking back through the slippery leaves, steep hill, crawling under pines tree branches and squishing through the muck, and back over the slippery boulder to the bridge.
I pulled by bike back up to the road and took off.
XoXo