Solar Powered Water Pump

While I was done on the farm in Ms., I took some video of Phil's solar powered water pump. I am posting it here so we can remember how it was done. Just in case we need on in the event of power loss, or something. Anyway, it was just cool to see.

LINKSYS SETUP

Because there seems to be no good complete step by step guide to setup a Linksys router on Comcast, I am posting this:

To setup a WRT 54 G v.5 on Comcast do the following”


Prepare ROUTER-

Perform a 30-30-30 reset by holding the little reset button in on the back of the ROUTER next to WAN port for 30 seconds, then continuiously hold it down unplug power cord, hold for another 30 seconds, then while you continue to hold the reset switch in , plug ROUTER back in powering the unit up. The 30-30-30 reset is done while CONTIUALLY holding the reset button in for 1.5 minutes ie, -30-30-30

This will set IP address for your ROUTER to 192.168.1.1

It will also blank the user and set the password to “ admin ”

Like this:

USER: _______________________

PASSWORD:_____admin_______

Now for your COMCAST MODEM

Plug your computer directly in to the Comcast modem.

Power up your MODEM

Open a command prompt. By going to START- RUN and type CMD

A little black screen should then pop up.

Type “ IPCONFIG /RELEASE “

Then type “ IPCONFIG /RENEW “

Wait about 1 minute

The computer should then be connected to the internet.

If not power off and on the modem and repeat Ipconfig commands.

If you do not connect check to see if the switch on the front of the modem is not in the off position. Whne it connects you should have2 lights on all the time, and 2 that flash on and off very quickly.

Now at this point:

Make sure your LINKSYS ROUTER is unplugged before this next step.

Unplug CAT 5 cable from PC that is going to the COMCAST MODEM and plug it in to the WAN, very important.. WAN port of the ROUTER. This is the port all to it self.

Plug another CAT 5 in to any of the OTHER ports on the LINKSYS ROUTER that are NOT WAN Ports1-2-3 or 4
Now power on the LINKSYS ROUTER by plugging the power cord in.

Open a web browser Internet Explorer or Firefox, or what ever you prefer, and type 192.168.1.1 . This is the IP address for your router.

Now you should be looking at your routers Interface page.

Click on the “SETUP” tab.

The setup for this page looks like this:

It should look like this:

AUTOMATIC CONFIGURATRION—DHCP

MTU; AUTO

NOW Set --- Local IP Address to 192.168.1.2 (assuming that address is not currently being used)

Subnet mask: 255.255.255.0 (should be set)

DHCP server: ENABLED (should be set)



This should be all ready set, except IP address, which you may, or may not need to change.



Now for the most important part.



Click on the “MAC Address Clone” tab.

Select ENABLE

Click “ CLONE PC”S MAC”

This in effect put your PC’S MAC in to the router.

IF YOU HAVE YOUR MODEM PLUGGED IN TO THE WAN PORT!!

Otherwise, it wont work because the Comcast modem sees all the MACS connected to the LAN ports. MASK does not work connected to LANS.

SAVE



Now click on the “Advanced Routing” tab.

Make sure “Gateway” is selected by Operating mode. (not “Router”)

SAVE

Now click on the “STATUS” tab.

You should see something like this:


67.175.145.87

Subnet Mask:

255.255.252.0

Default Gateway:

67.175.144.1


DNS 1:

75.75.75.75

DNS 2:

75.75.76.76



If it does not show some numbers then at the bottom of the page:

Click DHCP RELEASE

THE DHCP RENEW

You should now be able to surf the net on your WIFI if you desire. Or you could stay wired if you like.

Happy surfing!

Siniging a nice song

There was a party tonight in Bloomington a for a newly married couple.
 The kids from Bloomfield performed a little song for everyone for entertainment.
I am posting it here for your enjoyment and to preserve the memories..

Catch up

Ya I know, it's been a long time since my last post. And thought there is some news to share, I am really tired. The boys and I cleaned up in the yard today. We used a free lawn tractor we got off of craigslist. It's a 42" rider Bolens with a 17 hp Briggs that started right up. All I did was charge ethe battery, and it has held a charge for over 2 weeks. Best bang for my buck so far. We tied that to a red lawn cart that was give to me when my brither moved from the country to town. I had to swap some tires because the ones that were on it were  dry rotted. I need to pick up a set from Lowes or some such place.
The weather has been really nice as of late. It's good camping weather. And in a few more weeks we are all going out to Oregon and do some camping, if we don't get rained out. We want to try salmon fishing too while we are out there. We are going to visit Dean and Brooke and Eli. We will probably watch football, drink beer, fish, drink beer, BBQ, drink beer, and.... buy beer. Ok, so we won't drink THAT much, but we will have a few. I am also scheduled to give  a talk while I am out there. It will be the first one I've given in a LONG time. I only have 2 outlines, but I suppose that is enough.
 One of my new kid goats died last week. It was the whether goat, not the buckling. If I had to lose one, that would have been my choice. At least I can make more goats that way. I am hoping in a few months to breed the doe again and have a new set on the ground around March or April. This time I will either have another milk goat, or one to butcher. I am sticking to my motto, "If I can't eat it, I don't need it!" Sounds good, but Nyle is not so sold on that idea, but he is not totally against either.
 We went before the county board today to try and get our taxes lowered on the property. I think we wasted our time, but I guess you have to try. Folks in our neighbourhood with twice the  sq ft house, AND swimming pools, are paying half what we are. But the board seem to think they must have some exemptions that we are not entitled to. Hmmm. Oh well, that's the way it goes and there it went.
 Any way, I wanted to blog something hoping to get back in the swing of things again.
Oh one more thing. I am using Ubunto again. This distro is pretty good. I can do most anything I want, and it is very intuitive. Not so much of running a terminal window any more where you have to type commands like the old DOS system back in the days.
 Unbunto 11.04 is pretty good, though it uses Icons to navigate, and I am not familiar with all the shortcuts yet. But I like it enough to stick it out for a while to see if I can get the hang of it. I know it was a lot easier to network to my printer with it , than it was using XP. Ya I know, crazy huh? But I found it way easier to get that done. The WIFI auto-connect is a little trick though. I am still trying to figure out where all my Apps are. I am running my XP machine out in the shop via logmein.com from this linux laptop. The shop pc is connected to my ham radio. I run Ham Radio Deluxe on it. I also use Skype in conjunction with it to pipe the audio to and from the rig to this laptop. I can PSK31, or use the mic to SSB via this system. All and all, a pretty slick way to go. I really like the mobility of running the shop PC with this laptop. I can ham anywhere I have a wifi connection this way. Next thing Iwould like to do is run the shop pc without using logmein. I think it would be a bit faster, though this aint bad the way it works.
Well going to say 73 for tonight. Adios

Miss ya pop

The Day of Ben Franklin

This was another beautiful day here. The sky was sunny and blue, while the breeze was consoling to an outside worker. I was  with the  children most all of this day. We had small adventures with the animals here on our small farm. We pride ourselves in believing it is a safe haven and a learning experience for all. Recently we made cheese from the milk we have been gathering from our very own goat. All of these things are also new to me. The children and I are learning numerous lessons as we "farm". Not the least important is how to restrain a goat so that she is not able to kick the milking pail over. It took me the better part of two weeks to figure that out, and I am still making improvements to the method of restraint. Of course, you can not milk a wary goat of hardly a single drop of milk without a stanchion. Though it may look like something from the dungeons of a medieval castle built in the 1300's circa, I can assure you it has its place on the modern age milking scene.  It is designed so that you place a small bit of grain in a pan to where as the goat will stick her head between two boards. One of the board hinges so that it my swivel. Both have a small notch sawn in to them so that her neck will fit but she is unable to pull her head out between them once locked in to place. For a while the goat is happy to be in the head lock position. But before too long she eats up all the grain and becomes bored of my squeezing on her teats to procure the milk I am keeping her for. It is at this time I have to have her foot tied to the floor, else wise she would kick the milking pan over as she attempts to kick my hand off of her teat. This wrestling match has become quite violent. She is a goat with spunk, and so am I. Two nights ago she three times turned the stanchion over, with her still on it. I three times picked her and the stanchion up. I eventually got a little over a quart of milk from her, and a deep scratch on my right hand. It was a bit comical, though not at the time. I since have added a 1x4 board to the front legs of the stanchion. like this. ___L____J__ The board is nailed from the left leg to the right leg at ground level, it extends out beyond the legs. The effect is I have a much wider base on the stanchion, and she can no longer sway it so much that it will turn over on her, on me. Now for the last few days the milking has gone pretty much without incident. I've also learned how to grab her leg up high and squeeze her leg tendon. If done correctly she can not move her leg and kick. This is a good thing to know because untying a  goats foot can actually take more athleticism than tying it up. You need speed, accuracy, and practice to tie it down. You need all of that and some luck to untie it without getting kicked, unless you know the hold on the leg tendon. Another lesson learned is that you don't want to rush the goat to get on the stanchion. It has become apparent to me that it is wise to take a little time and let her prepare for the venture. If you don't she might repay you by peeing or pooping on you while you are trying to milk her. Although she has never done that to me while on the stanchion, there was a time I was trying to get her out of some brush she was entangled in. She repaid me by filling my right shoe with goat urine as I tried to push her from behind up a hill and out of the brush. Perhaps I pushed on a kidney or the bladder. We had words over that. In short I told her she was a baaaaaaad girl for doing that. She without remorse ate her weeds and looked at me as if to say, "what?" Fortunately they were creek wading shoes and were none the worse for the wear after a little cleaning.
 There are other lessons learned by the observance of animals. Often similarities can be struck between animal behavior and human. One day as my goat was getting on the stanchion I though about how stupid she was to stick her head in the gate for the food in the bucket. For in just a few seconds I was going to make it impossible for her to leave until I was through with milking her. I knew after only a minute or two she would no longer wish to be in the position she just put herself in. In effect, she sold herself for "a bit of the red".  She is not hungry in the starvation since of the meaning, but she likes the grain treat that's in the pan. And so she sticks her neck out, and then I have her. How much different is it for those who slave at the factory so that they can have the 50 inch plasma, the new shinny automobile, and the two car garage that is so full of junk you can't even get one car in? Are we no smarter than goats?
 You may notice that this post is written differently than my other posts. This is because I have been listening to an MP3 of Benjamin Franklin's autobiography. He had a distinguished way or writing that I enjoy listening to. He was an interesting person. He spoke more than just a few languages, French being one of them. He was an author and a scholar. After listening to his book and his prose I feel we might have lost the ability to express ourselves in a dignified manner over the last century. Perhaps from this vulgarity and the profaning of language, with the induction of slang words and expressions, we have allowed our very nature to become vulgar and profane. If one tends to speak on a higher level than the street expressions that are so prevalent in today's society, one naturally begins to think on a higher plane of all things. If you doubt it then you should try it and see for yourself. You might be surprised at how your thinking of unsaid words will follow what your mouth enunciates, or your pen dictates.
 At this time I must conclude this entry. It is late, and I need to retire for the evening. I hope you have enjoyed it. Please let me know if you enjoyed how this entry was written, or not.  It is more challenging to write in such a manner as this, but I find it more fulfilling than my other way of writing. So what do you think?
Goodnight.

Cheesy does it

Today I made goat cheese with some home grown herbs mixed in for flavor. It was delightfully good, of course. It took about 3 quarts of milk to make 9oz of cheese. It is easy to make. -
Heat milk to 180 deg.
Turn off burner and add 1/4 cup of lemon juice.
Stir slightly for good mix.
Strain mixture through several layers of cheese cloth laid in a colander.
After strained tie four corners of cheese cloth around a bib wooded spoon and hang for 1.5 hours.
After hang drying put cheese in a bowl and mix in herbs.
A clove of garlic, 1/2 teaspoon of fresh rosemary,1/2 t of chives.
2 pinches of course salt.
Mix it well.
Serve on toasted bread slices.
YUMMY!
Other farm news;
The baby goats are eating sweet feed now very well. They were born the last of April, so they are about 2 months old now, or 12 weeks. Which ever you prefer to call it. I have them just about weened, although they still love to nurse moma goat if I let them.
My kids-
Nyle is growing up so fast. He has a couple of "new" bikes. One is a bit too big,one is way too small now, and the last one we just got for him FREE off of Craigslist is just right. It is a black Mongoose. A pretty nice bike. And he can expertly ride it.
Owen is such an adventurer. He goes all over the farm. He loves to "help out" when ever he gets a chance. He is a bear when it comes to eating the berries growing around here. Like a lil' bear cub foraging for any berry he can find.
Well that's all for now.