Latest Obsession

I've found my latest obsession.....Cordwood construction! I'm going to build one of these at the prop for storing the generator and other stuff. More updates to come.

From 2012-12-17

Moving the Carport

I was finally able to get a Saturday to work at the prop for the first time in a couple months.  As a result, I went overboard and worked myself to a frazzle.

My first project of the day was to prop up the header on the 4-wheeler shed.  It's been hanging ever since we bought the place and I finally got sick of it and decided to fix it.

I was kind of hesitant to put a post in the middle of the entry, but the quads seem to have enough clearance on either side and it'll give me a great spot to latch doors to.

From 2012-12-17

I had an old, treated 4x4 that has been sitting around for about year, so I thought it would be the perfect chance to put it to use.

From 2012-12-17

While I was waiting for the cement to dry, I decided to finally tackle the major project of moving the carport.  When I originally set it up, I'd always considered it to be temporary.  We just had nowhere else to put it and I really needed to somewhere to put the gear, to get it out of the weather.

It wouldn't have been the end of the world to leave it there, but since we decided to leave the camping area where it is for now, it made sense to move the carport to where I'm going to put the pole barn.  Plus, it didn't look real pretty sitting there in the middle of our camping area.

The shot below shows how it looked right after I disassembled it.  Time to load it on the trailer now, ugh, why did I start this project?

From 2012-12-17

I've been working hard for the last year to clear out an area to put  a pole barn and the carport.  Relocating the carport  was phase four in executing the plan, with phase 1 being finding a site, phase 2 - clearing it, and phase 3- laying down some gravel.

The pic below shows the ribs being set up and the base being leveled.

From 2012-12-17

The boys were busy with their airsoft war, so I ended up doing most of it myself.  It turned out to be a lot more work than expected and I was pretty worn out by the end of the day.

From 2012-12-17

It was nice to not be rushed though, and to be able to take my time and do it right.  The first setup was hurried and I ended up making a lot of mistakes.  This time I'll be able to put anchors down and put screws in all the support posts as well as spending a lot more time leveling it.

From 2012-12-17

We were out at the prop during a big rainstorm last week.  It's always interesting to be there in a big storm and I was happy to see my water collection system was working exactly as planned.  I'm sure the goats were happy too, to have fresh rainwater and a nice warm barn to shelter in.

From Drop Box

New Road and Barn Area

I learned something new about road building this weekend.   Never call in for a gravel delivery when your on your way to the site.  Make sure to take a look first.  I found this out the hard way last weekend when I called for some gravel to start building the road at the barn site.  It looked very dry on the drive down, but when I got there, apparently a stray rain storm had soaked the prop, leaving things pretty muddy.

From 2012-10-24

The gravel truck found this out that hard way as he nearly got stuck trying to turn around and left some deep ruts.  It's no small task to pull a loaded gravel truck out of the mud, so I'm very grateful he was able to make it out.

From 2012-10-24

So instead of backing in then pulling forward to dump the gravel, he did a switcheroo and backed up while dumping.  This had the effect of creating a road to drive on as he went.  It's not as good as pulling forward, but it worked good enough.

From 2012-10-24

Luckily I had the bulldozer to smooth out the piles after the dump was done.

From 2012-10-24

Here's the finished result.  I think it turned out pretty good considering.  It almost looks like I know what I'm doing.  Almost.

From 2012-10-24

I found a great deal on hay.  A local grower, A&R Farms, gave me a great price and delivered as well.  They brought their own tractor and put the rolls exactly where I needed them.  What a relief to have my winter hay taken care of.

From 2012-10-24

My first round of grass planting went very well as you can see in the background.  I'm looking forward to the day it needs to be bush hogged.  That will be the sign of an established field.

From 2012-10-24

After all the work was done, I had enough time to get a little bow hunting in.  I didn't see any, but  I heard one behind me.  Prime time is really in the morning, so I guess I'm going to have to get up early if I want to get a deer.

From 2012-10-24

New Goat

When we first got the goats a year ago, my goal was to keep them alive for one year.  I figured if I could do that, then I would have a chance of taking things to the next level.

Well, our break-in period of keeping them alive for a year is over.  It's time to take things to the next level which is to start breeding them.  We took the first steps last week by trading and old fridge for a billy goat.

The difference between the billy and the does is pretty striking.  He's a lot more muscular in the shoulders and has a lot bigger horns.  He seems pretty gentle though.

From 2012-10-16

Were still trying to decide on a name.  So far we're looking at Thomas, Scooter, Tumnus or, if I have my way, Goldie.  

From 2012-10-16

When we first put him in the pen, the two Nubians, which are the same breed, wanted nothing to do with him and basically ignored him.

However, Little Momma (a fainting goat) was very interested and immediately went over and started nuzzling him.  Little Momma knows how to get her man.  .

From 2012-10-16

I was out on the bulldozer doing some trail work last week and every time I drove by I kept getting irritated at how the cedars had taken over this nice little meadow.

There's some real nice grass and moss that's slowly getting choked out by all the cedar.  After about the third pass, I decided to take a right turn and start plowing down the offending trees.  It was pretty satisfying to push them into a big burn pile and free the meadow from these invaders.

From 2012-10-16

However, the field looks like a war zone now.  The nice thing is that once I clean it up a bit, nature will take it's course.  The grass will regrow and low level greenery will bounce back rather quickly.  I'm hoping to do a little more work on it and bulldoze the remaining dead trees and push things back to where the hardwoods start growing.

If all goes as planned, I should have a nice open area to plant grass, which will attract deer and turkey as well as having a meadow that's pleasing to the eye.  It'll be interesting to see the 'after' shot in about a year.

From 2012-10-16

The pond keeps filling up little by little and seems to be holding the water with no major leaks.  November is supposed to be pretty rainy, so it'll be interesting to see if it completely fills and if it does, what happens when it overflows.

I'd also really like to figure out how to get the water to clear up.  I think the problem is that the runoff that fills it mostly comes down a muddy road and other than graveling the road, I'm not sure what else can be done about it.  I keep hoping the mud will settle out, but so far, no luck.

From 2012-10-16

Zipline, Quads, and Ponds

With the bulldozer being broken down, my project timeline has been thrown way off.  It seems like every current "big" project's fate is tied to the fate of the dozer.

Since all my big projects are on hold, I went to the second tier projects, the first of which was to put a new rack on the quad.  The old one just kind of disintegrated.  Each time it would break, I'd take it to the mechanic down the road and have him put a weld on it.  The weld would hold great, but inevitability  I'd end up with another crack right next to the welded part.  Eventually, it broke apart into so many pieces that I just gave up and took it off.

I though't I'd drive the quad around without the rack for a while but apparently quads are designed to have that rack in place.  If it's not, the fenders start catching in the tire and the floppy plastic fenders makes a huge racket when they bounce around.

I tried improvising with baling wire, but it just didn't do the trick.  I broke down and finally bought a new rack.

From 2012-10-05

The quad was much happier now that it's structural integrity was back in place.  Hopefully this rack will hold up better than the original.

From 2012-10-05

We've had big rainstorms on the last three Mondays.  It's been great because the pond just keeps filling and filling.  I'm really happy about how well it's holding water and that the dam is doing holding strong.

The way this depression is shaped, I think it could easily hold a couple more feet of water before being in danger of the sides getting washed out.  I haven't waded out to check, but I think it's probably 4 or more feet deep in the middle.

The picture below shows the water starting to wrap around the left side.  The color isn't muddy so it's kind of hard to see.

From 2012-10-09

Part of the project is to get the grass growing all around the watershed.  I'm hoping this will clean up the water a bit.  The cool, wet weather was perfect and the results are already starting to show.

From 2012-10-09

Another project I've had on my mind is fixing the zip line.  When I originally built it, I'd just bought a pulley from Tractor Supply.  I found out the hard way that won't work.  It did ok for a while, but ended up getting so draggy that you had to pull people to the end.

It's not much fun having a zip line that doesn't go all the way to the end, so I did some research and found that you have to have a special kind of pulley with the right kind of bearings to get decent performance.

From 2012-10-05

Well, Seth volunteered to be the crash test dummy and we found out quickly, as he crashed into the tree at the end, that the new pulley was a lot faster than the old one.  It's such a satisfying feeling to have the right tool for the job!

From 2012-10-09

Sadie was excited to have us walking around the new corral, inspecting the food supply and the pond.  The animals just love to have us visit them and they're always so curious about what we're up to.

From 2012-10-09

Taming the Forest

While I'm waiting for parts to fix the bulldozer I've been catching up on other mini-projects such as finishing the treehouse, planting grass in the cleared areas and surveying the barn site to make sure it's level.

The pic below shows the tools-of-the-trade we hauled down on Saturday to work on the projects.  Grass seed.  Check.  Goat feed.  Check.  Cooler with Diet Coke.  Check.  Lumber. Check. Football.  Check. Transit.  Check, check and check.

From 2012-09-14

I'm a sucker for gadgets so as soon as I heard about a quad mounted harrow, it moved to the top of my "must have" list.

Since a tractor would be overkill at this point (plus I don't have anywhere to park it) I needed something to break up the topsoil in the cleared areas so we could start planting grass.

The harrow worked great at tilling up the top layer.  Well worth the cost and a lot more fun than getting beat up by a rototiller.

From 2012-09-14

One of my goals has been to get grass growing in and around the pond, so the water won't be so muddy from runoff and erosion won't wear down the dam.

From 2012-09-14

It's tough to disc the side walls so I went as high as I could with the quad without tipping over, then covered the rest with straw to help hold the seed in place.

From 2012-09-14

Unfortunately we had a huge rainstorm the day after I put the straw down.  It was great that the pond was filled up (to the the burned stump in the foreground), but bad because there were about 3 strands of straw left when it finished.  I guess we'll just have to try again.

Fall Is On It's Way

The subtle signs of fall are starting to show. The brush and undergrowth are getting a bit thinner, the leaves are getting just a little less green and the days are getting a just a bit shorter.

All this means that it's time to start planting grass and getting food stored away for the animals for winter.  Also, now that I have a full year of caring for the herd under my belt, it's time to start fixing all the mistakes I made in the first year and making big plans for year 2.

One big mistake I made was intentionally putting gaps between the boards on the side of the shed so they'd have airflow. At the time I built it, the temps were roasting hot so all I could think of was how hot it would be and thought airflow would be a good idea.  The picture below shows Sadie enjoying her airflow.

From 2012-09-10

I didn't realize that the heat isn't a problem as long as there are trees for shade. The real problem is cold. They need protection from the winter winds and airflow isn't a good thing.

Luckily for all, I figured this out before winter and put some tarps around the shed to keep the wind out, but it looked ugly and so I took some time last weekend to fix it.

From 2012-01-03

I think it looks a lot better now. It's not as airtight as it was with the tarp, but it should be good enough.

Our big plan for year two is to increase the herd size.  We're planning a play date for the goats with a billy in October in hopes of having some babies in the spring.

This is a big step and so I want to make sure to fix all the little things that I've let slide like the shed and gaps in the fence etc.  With any luck, we'll have a lot bigger herd next March.

From 2012-09-10

Here's a closeup of the boards.  It looks pretty wind proof.  I guess we'll find out this winter.  If not, I still have all the tarps.

From 2012-09-10

I had a few boards left over so I decided to put them on the tree house. The big question is do you level them with the earth or the tree. Hmmm.  In this pic, they are perfectly level according to the level, but they seem a little slanted to the eye.  Just another reason I avoid finish work.

Below the treehouse is our growing pile of hay.  I'm going to have to get a couple big 5x5 bales to add to the collection.  I really need a barn!

From 2012-09-10

Too Hot to Work

It's been so hot and humid the last couple weeks that I've found it hard to do more than putter around or run the bulldozer.  I'm at a crossroads where the projects are getting big enough that I have to really put some thought into how they are going to fit into the big picture.  Some of the things I'm noodling are:

1) Bringing in electricity.  It looks like I'm going to need at least three poles and maybe up to five (or more!). I'd like to trench it but the engineer seemed to think that might not be doable because of all the rock.  I need to meet up with him and see what my options are.  Hopefully that will help me decide where to put the transformer.

2) Planting grazing grass.  I'd like to put in a big field of Orchard grass but I'm afraid it's going to take a lot of soil amendment to get it to grow.  Need to get the soil tested and find out how bad it is.

3) Build a third corral.  I'd really like to get some Alpacas but if I do, I'm going to need electricity and water as well as third area to separate the males and females.  It'd also be necessary so they don't overgraze. Alpacas aren't as tough as goats and so they'd need grass forage as well as the brush.

4) Building a pole barn.  I'd love get the barn built but I have to lock down the electricity question before I build.  Also need to lock down the orientation.

There are also a million other little projects such as maintenance on gates, fences, trails, equipment, etc.  For example, one of my gates started leaning real bad because the original fence builder didn't put support wire on it, so I ended up having to go back and do it after the fact (pic of tools below).  It helped a little, but the post is cracked so it's not a final solution.  I'm wondering if I have any recourse with the builder after several years?

From 2012-08-27

Another ongoing maintenance project is trail repair.  Since we cut almost all the trails out of raw forest, there are still a lot of stumps, rocks, high spots, etc that need to be smoothed over.  One effective method I've found is dragging logs and tree tops down the trails.

They have a lot of weight and do a great job of smashing the high spots and smoothing it.  I just chain them up, hop on the quad and start riding.  Usually I use three treetops or three logs, but on this particular day, I just used what was laying around.

From 2012-08-27

Another continual source of maintenance is the bulldozer.  My latest mystery is how the fuel filter keeps getting plugged with dirt.  It would appear that someone has dumped dirt in my fuel tank, but for the life of me, I can't figure out the motive.  The dozer is usually parked along the trail somewhere and it would take a fair amount of work just to find it.  The picture below is of the second filter I've replaced in a month.  The first looked as bad as this one.

From 2012-08-27

I scraped some of the mud away to show how thick it's packed around the filter.  That's all I need is some vandal creating havoc.  Maybe my next project will be to string up some "Hunger Games" style booby traps for the interlopers.

From 2012-08-27

Getting Ready for the Bow Hunt

It's that time of year again.  Time to get ready for the bow hunt.  This year we've decided to scout out a couple new locations in some nice hardwood stands towards the back of the property.  Here's my friend Dan demonstrating his tree climber on a nice hickory along a heavily used deer trail.

From 2012-08-27

Tree climbers are probably the best kind of stand to use.  They can easily be moved, are more comfortable and are great for adjusting to local conditions.  About the only drawback is climbing one up a tree in the early morning before the sun comes up.

From 2012-08-27

up we go.

From 2012-08-27

getting higher and higher

From 2012-08-27

Viola!  Ready for some deer hunting.

From 2012-08-27

View from my treestand.  notice the feeder on the right, haning from the tree.

From 2012-08-27

Hay for Winter

Now that we know what a winter feeding is like, we've started stocking up on hay.  My friend Steve hooked me up on a good deal for hay, two dollars a bale for a second cutting.  You can't beat that.

Last year, the Midwest drought caused prices to really jump out here.  Suddenly it was affordable to haul hay from Tennessee to Texas, so a lot of guys put their fields under contract to farms in Texas and are selling their whole crop to them.

 That's good for Texas but not so good for us.  Anyway, here we are, stockpiling hay for the winter.

From 2012-08-20

Digging Fence Post Holes

Sammy and I decided our project for Saturday would be digging fence post holes.  We looked so stylish that we wanted to take a shot together, to show off our cool work clothes.

From 2012-07-24

It'd be nice to have a tractor to do this some day, but for now, it's just a breaker bar and a post hole digger.

Our strategy is to walk the fence line and look for weak spots, then put a post there.  It's similar to putting springs on a trampoline.  Just keep going around the circle, filling in the gaps, until it's done.

When a weak spot is found, we try to make sure it's about 10 paces from another post on either side.  Unfortunately, sometimes there's a big rock sitting right where the post needs to go.

In that case, we try to move a couple feet to either side.  In the case of fence post below, it was rock the entire length of the section.

From 2012-07-24

This particular post was tough.  As you can see from the hole, it's rock all the way down.  It's very tiring to dig because you have to keep slamming it over and over with the breaker bar, which weighs about 45-50 pounds.

From 2012-07-24

The upside is that it makes an unmovable post once the cement dries.

From 2012-07-24

The animals love when we come down to work on the fence.  They are so curious and I think they really like the change of pace, having something interesting to watch.

Below, you can see Gracie trying to eat the quad.  I guess it's true that goats will eat anything, or at least try.

From 2012-07-24

Our other project for Saturday was to work on the barn clearing.  Since Sammy couldn't really help at this point, she documented the knocking down of a cedar.

From 2012-07-24

Uprooted and ready to process.

From 2012-07-24