Summer Fun

        Some people visit the pool when the temperatures start rising...not me.  I started painting things around the farm. 

 

       First on the list was these diesel fuel barrels my sister-in-law painted years ago. Too bad the cow was badly rusting, he was kind of cute.  On a positive note, the shade tree would provide some protection from the heat. 

       

        Every evening while I was painting these, an elderly neighbor stopped by on his daily drive to town for dinner. During our chats he said he was sad to hear I wouldn't be painting the cow back. 

        As you can see, though, my painting skills are very limited.  They look pretty good with a fresh coat of paint.  Just don't look too close.  

        Next up was the fence behind the fuel barrels.  Last year my husband rebuilt the fence using treated lumber.  They say you are supposed to let it weather for a year before you paint it which meant it was time to paint them.

       Now that I'm done with that we can put cows in the front pasture to eat down all the tall grass. 

       



         

 

 



Gift of Finest Wheat

        Today we harvested the last wheat field for 2013.  This 26 acre field was our only wheat field, but my husband has been harvesting for the neighbors this past week.  Theirs brought anywhere from 45 to 70 bushels per acre.  We will have to wait until Monday when the elevator opens to see how ours did.  Now hopefully we can enjoy the rest of the day and do something nice for our anniversary.

       "You satisfy the hungry heart with gift of finest wheat, come give to us o saving Lord, the bread of life to eat."

         "As when the shepherd calls his sheep, they know and heed his voice; so when You call your family Lord, we follow and rejoice."

        "With joyful lips we sing to You, our praise and gratitude, that You should count us worthy Lord, to share this heavenly food."

         "The mystery of your presence Lord, no mortal tongue can tell; whom all the world cannot contain comes in our hearts to dwell."

         "You give yourself to us o Lord, then selfless let us be, to serve each other in Your name in truth and charity."

       As we celebrate our first anniversary today, may we always remember God's blessings in our lives and thank him for the wonderful gifts he has given us.

100th Anniversary

        Back in 1913 the Keokuk Dam and Power Plant was complete.  It was the first of its kind to span the Mississippi River.  If you follow the dam, power plant, and lock system, it spans 2 1/2 miles.  The first part of our tour was riding a trolley across the dam. The dam complete with 119 spillways is to the right of the power plant. 

          They borrowed two trolley's from Western Illinois Threshers to give visitors a ride.  The last time anyone had this opportunity was back in 1993 when the flood prevented people from driving across the Keokuk-Hamilton bridge.  They brought in a trolley then to give workers a safe way to get to work for over three weeks. 

        My nephew had the best time looking at all the water.

        The cranes, which are hard to see in the photo, have gathered to catch all the fish that make it threw the dam.  We were able to see one catch a fish.  All the other birds gathered around to steal his catch.  It took him awhile to swallow the fish whole, but he was able to keep it to himself.  

         Now you can see the water spilling out of the dam spillway.  The upper river elevation is maintained at a constant elevation while the lower river level varies with water flow. The average difference is 35 feet. Each spillway can pass 30,000 gallons of water per second.

        The Mississippi River is above flood levels for the third time this summer, but the only time all the dam spillways were open was back in the flood of 1993.  Can you imagine how much water was flowing then. 

        Here you can see the other trolley going across the dam.  It is going under the mounted system they use to lower and raise the spillway gates. 

       They brought one of the gates inside the power plant for us to see the size of them.  It's 32 feet long and 11 feet high and weighs 14 tons.

 

               Next on our tour was a walking tour of the plant. First, we walked past the old lock system, which was only able to hold one barge at a time. The dry lock is where they could put barges to work on them.  They would float them in and then drain all the water out.  

         Now you can see the workers house between the lock and dry lock. 

         The lock had two gates.  One on the upper side and one on the lower side.  When a barge came from the upper Mississippi, they would open the upper gate, allow the barge in, close it, let the water out, and open the lower gate to let the barge out.  

 Water first comes into the plant on the left side.  

       Water enters under the outside skimmer wall through arches in the foundation. This design blocks floating debris from entering the Turbine Intake Area.  Once inside water passes through trash screens, which keeps logs from reaching turbines.

Water enters a concrete passageway, goes through the turbines, and out the east wall.

        This gate is lifted allowing the water to flow in.   There are four gates for each turbine. Each gate is 40 feet tall and weighs 5 tons. 

       This is one of the old transformer located in the plant.  Generated power is increased from 13,800 volts to 69,000 volts by these transformers for transmission to substations in Illinois and Iowa.

        Here is a newer transformer.  Wow, those are huge!  The plant had two old transformers and three or four newer transformers. 

Here is a look at the east side of the plant. 

        There are fifteen generators.  Water spins each turbine at 62.1 RPM. Each 10,000 horsepower turbine is connected with a generator like this one to produce 10,000kW of electricity. 

     What a great way to spend a cool Sunday afternoon!