Here are some more shots of some of my building.
Friday, August 08, 2008
Going Straight
I hardly believe it has been over a month since I have posted.
What a glorious summer it has been so far! Very, very, busy working on the building I started on my flat farm over 3 years ago. The original intent for the building was for storage. Tractors and fresh lumber downstairs, hay upstairs. When I first started it went great guns for most of the first summer, but life can sure be distracting. When designed I planned on siding it with hemlock board and bats.
Met this guy who needed stumps ground around his home. He is a fellow barterer and had several piles of steel siding that he brought home. His plan was to build a shed with it, wife nixed it. So we made the deal. His stumps are gone, yard graded, grass replanted, his wife happy as a clam. I loaded and took over to the flat farm over 20,000 square feet of 39 inch steel sheeting in lengths of 24, 16, 12, and 10 feet. I also got several hundreds of trim pieces, drip cap, J channel, F channel, corner bead, building corners, etc.......oh and about 50 pounds of self drilling , self sealing, screws!
After summer number 1 I had the poles in the ground, all the pearling on, the red metal roof with 8 translucent light panels installed. It looked like a 39 foot tall picnic shelter. I had a great reason for building this thing 39 feet tall, that was the tallest measurement I could get from the massive telephone poles I used to frame with.
The poles are buried over 6 feet and sit in pockets dug into the slate bedrock. Makes for a stable build. The dasher boards are done in 2x10 larch lumber, all full length cut from trees I paid to bring home! In fact every board on this monster is from trees I was paid to bring home! The pearling is full length black pine or mast pine all nailed with ringed barn spikes.
My children are musical! WTF does that have to do with anything? They took over my building and it became an open air jam shack. By summer #2 I had three sides sided and it started to look like a very tall silver barn with a red roof. Under the eaves I left a 2 foot opening where I planned on putting more light panels. It stayed like that for quite some time.
As luck would have it that plan changed too. Mark called. He says, " You got any use for thermo paned, argon gas filled windows, that are photo gray on the inside, and silver reflective on the outside?" I says, "Hell yes!" Mother have I got windows, 4 different sizes, the largest 5x5 feet, and the ones closet to my 2 foot opening 26"x59." Somewhere around 200 total windows and I have already used 25 or so. After ripping my opening another couple of inches I framed the opening in continuous glass, over 25 feet! It looks sharp as hell and now the building looks like a studio instead of a barn. Also I hung the fourth side.
Did I mention it is raining? That in why I am not up on my scaffold doing the trim on my overhangs that I did on the break yesterday. The soffets, facia, and gable overhang metal and no more wood showing. I am getting close.
Doors, I have four. Drive through north to south or east to west. North and south openings are 13 feet tall, east and west are 10 feet. Many years ago I picked up some massive wrought iron hinges, 6 pairs of them. To get them out of the way I used the block and tackle to lift them up into my workshop loft here at the homestead, they have been there ever since. Not anymore they are going to swing stylized wooden doors on the east and west side. The tall doors on the north and south are going to slide on antique hardware I got from a tear down, again quite some years ago. Those will match the barn and each end will have a man door built in.
Saturday, July 05, 2008
Old Dog, New trick
Peal a banana from the bottom and you do not get the stringy things on it. I did not know that. Strange how easily I am amused anymore.
How do they know?
Lately it seems like hundreds of folks are sending me information on how to enlarge my penis.
Sometimes they guess wrong!
Along with a bigger dick I can also get out of debt a hundred different ways. Guess what I am not in debt.
Cheap gas, better mileage!!!
If only it was true. But it must be they send me enough info on it.
Gift Cards!
I can go shopping at any number of big box stores with the thousands of dollars in free gift cards I get .
Do I look like I need a date?
I did not know there were so many women and some men just waiting for me to call!
Real Estate cheap!
I can buy homes for under $1,000 and resell them for fuck I don't know millions I guess.
Mud built up in my intestines.
Sounds bad but now I can clean it out and be 20 pounds lighter.
Fungus.
I can now get rid of it. Did not know I had it but for fucks sakes I can cure it now.
A freaking fortune to be made.
If I chose not to get rich with cheap property I can elect several other ways of doing without leaving home I might add.
Unwanted hair, want hair
This can go either way, I can point you in the right direction.
Better memory
I don't recall right now if I am forgetting shit or not.
Run it
solar, water, french fry grease, wind, animal ass gas, you name it, Oil Smoil, who needs it!
Let's recap:
I can now zip up my pants over my HUGE penis, hop in my French fry smelling car, getting great mileage, pick up my date, take them to my new house, after we shop at ,Lowes, Home Depot, Kohls,, J.C. Penneys, or somewhere else even if I overspend the gift cards not to worry . I just use my get out of debt free card.
You better believe I am hot too, new hair on my head, hair gone from my back, toenails look so fucking good I am wearing sandals, my abs are ripped, I am making money hand over fist. When the date is over I remember your name, where we went, and what we did.
The best part my banana has no strings attached!!
How do they know?
Lately it seems like hundreds of folks are sending me information on how to enlarge my penis.
Sometimes they guess wrong!
Along with a bigger dick I can also get out of debt a hundred different ways. Guess what I am not in debt.
Cheap gas, better mileage!!!
If only it was true. But it must be they send me enough info on it.
Gift Cards!
I can go shopping at any number of big box stores with the thousands of dollars in free gift cards I get .
Do I look like I need a date?
I did not know there were so many women and some men just waiting for me to call!
Real Estate cheap!
I can buy homes for under $1,000 and resell them for fuck I don't know millions I guess.
Mud built up in my intestines.
Sounds bad but now I can clean it out and be 20 pounds lighter.
Fungus.
I can now get rid of it. Did not know I had it but for fucks sakes I can cure it now.
A freaking fortune to be made.
If I chose not to get rich with cheap property I can elect several other ways of doing without leaving home I might add.
Unwanted hair, want hair
This can go either way, I can point you in the right direction.
Better memory
I don't recall right now if I am forgetting shit or not.
Run it
solar, water, french fry grease, wind, animal ass gas, you name it, Oil Smoil, who needs it!
Let's recap:
I can now zip up my pants over my HUGE penis, hop in my French fry smelling car, getting great mileage, pick up my date, take them to my new house, after we shop at ,Lowes, Home Depot, Kohls,, J.C. Penneys, or somewhere else even if I overspend the gift cards not to worry . I just use my get out of debt free card.
You better believe I am hot too, new hair on my head, hair gone from my back, toenails look so fucking good I am wearing sandals, my abs are ripped, I am making money hand over fist. When the date is over I remember your name, where we went, and what we did.
The best part my banana has no strings attached!!
I Came, I Saw, I Sawed Some More
It must be the saw dust they smell. The past ten days have been spent running my saw mill, and I will run it about ten more to get caught up. This is an all out attack on the piles of logs that I have at the flat farm. I want to move the saw to the hill farm.
It all started when a friend referred someone to me that needed a 32 foot long 8x8 beam. After talking to the guy about what he needed I ended up consulting on his renovation project and cut him four large beams for his project and delivered same to the work site. So I ended up making some cash, he got what he needed for a good price, and we both made a contact that will serve us well. There are several mill operators around my "Hill Farm," but none can cut a 35 footer so I corner the market.
My log piles are quite a mixed bag, hard wood, pine, long and short logs, some big fat mojos, and some not so fat but of veneer quality. I cut the beams from white ash and it takes one hell of a tree to get an 8x8 that is 32 feet long, and I needed four beams the shortest 19 feet. This process produced approximately 1500 board feet of very, very, nice one inch thick white ash boards besides the four beams!
Sawing is not the most work when you run a mill. Sticker stacking the raw lumber to dry is! I set the saw up, make a pass with the blade, remove the outside pieces to get one squared up side, turn the log 90 degrees, reclamp it to the table and square the second side to the first. After that it gets easier because the log when turned now lands on a flat side for the last two sides. I use a tractor with forks to load, turn, and position the logs on the saw. After the log is squared up I start to get flat boards that need resawed to get straight edges so those go off to the side to be put back on the table after the log come off. There is a saw made for this purpose but I don't own one, YET!
As the passes are made through the log it gets shaped into a rectangle and boards that do not need resawed get pulled off for stacking. To stack them you need to make stickers to place between the boards so the air can flow. Placing the stickers even is the most important step to get straight boards, they should all line up. So let me do some math here. If you want to stack 20 boards 20 feet long you need to place the stickers every two feet so you need 200 stickers! I get stickers when I put the boards with the rounded edges back on the table. I cut mine two inches longer then the width of the boards I am stacking.
That is a bit about what it takes to get lumber from trees! How I get trees to become logs to saw into boards is another story. Everything I have been cutting the last ten days were less then free. Less then free? How can that be? Two ways, number one I get paid to remove trees, stumps, and do lot preps, I bring them home. Number two, we have several out of town tree services that are doing FEMA work around here after one horrific storm here in October 2006. I take the logs, chips, and chunks, and charge them by the size of the load. So like I said, "Less Then Free!"
Back to the boarding story: So after the boards come off the saw all squared up they have to be stacked. By this time they have been man handles twice already, by me if I am working alone. The bitches are heavy as they have not dried yet. I will sticker the shorter boards (14 feet or less) right on the forks as they come off the saw, as these fit my doorway into my drying barn. The longer ones Have to be handled again, stickered where I am stacking them. By fall if the hot weather holds most of the ash lumber will be ready for the planer.
Today I start sawing a stack of large black pine logs. Most of this will be cut into 2 inch material for framing lumber. This can be used right away and left to dry in whatever you build with it. If it is to stand around it needs to be stickered. I can leave them outside the rain won't hurt them and I will band them up to make them easier to load on the truck and take to the hill farm.
The ash boards are going to be pegged plank flooring and some will become the beaded ceiling over the loft at the "Hill Farm!" The planks will get sized, planed, and run through the shaper to add a bevel to the edges and a half lap. Then they get step drilled. I fasten them with screws and cover the screws with a dowel that gets sanded after installation. Beautiful light colored, very durable hardwood floors are the result. Once it is in you forget the hard work it took to get there!
Have I told you about the spalted maple counter tops I have in mind for the kitchen? I think they will be a hit with hickory cupboards. This home building from the trees down is the bomb!
It all started when a friend referred someone to me that needed a 32 foot long 8x8 beam. After talking to the guy about what he needed I ended up consulting on his renovation project and cut him four large beams for his project and delivered same to the work site. So I ended up making some cash, he got what he needed for a good price, and we both made a contact that will serve us well. There are several mill operators around my "Hill Farm," but none can cut a 35 footer so I corner the market.
My log piles are quite a mixed bag, hard wood, pine, long and short logs, some big fat mojos, and some not so fat but of veneer quality. I cut the beams from white ash and it takes one hell of a tree to get an 8x8 that is 32 feet long, and I needed four beams the shortest 19 feet. This process produced approximately 1500 board feet of very, very, nice one inch thick white ash boards besides the four beams!
Sawing is not the most work when you run a mill. Sticker stacking the raw lumber to dry is! I set the saw up, make a pass with the blade, remove the outside pieces to get one squared up side, turn the log 90 degrees, reclamp it to the table and square the second side to the first. After that it gets easier because the log when turned now lands on a flat side for the last two sides. I use a tractor with forks to load, turn, and position the logs on the saw. After the log is squared up I start to get flat boards that need resawed to get straight edges so those go off to the side to be put back on the table after the log come off. There is a saw made for this purpose but I don't own one, YET!
As the passes are made through the log it gets shaped into a rectangle and boards that do not need resawed get pulled off for stacking. To stack them you need to make stickers to place between the boards so the air can flow. Placing the stickers even is the most important step to get straight boards, they should all line up. So let me do some math here. If you want to stack 20 boards 20 feet long you need to place the stickers every two feet so you need 200 stickers! I get stickers when I put the boards with the rounded edges back on the table. I cut mine two inches longer then the width of the boards I am stacking.
That is a bit about what it takes to get lumber from trees! How I get trees to become logs to saw into boards is another story. Everything I have been cutting the last ten days were less then free. Less then free? How can that be? Two ways, number one I get paid to remove trees, stumps, and do lot preps, I bring them home. Number two, we have several out of town tree services that are doing FEMA work around here after one horrific storm here in October 2006. I take the logs, chips, and chunks, and charge them by the size of the load. So like I said, "Less Then Free!"
Back to the boarding story: So after the boards come off the saw all squared up they have to be stacked. By this time they have been man handles twice already, by me if I am working alone. The bitches are heavy as they have not dried yet. I will sticker the shorter boards (14 feet or less) right on the forks as they come off the saw, as these fit my doorway into my drying barn. The longer ones Have to be handled again, stickered where I am stacking them. By fall if the hot weather holds most of the ash lumber will be ready for the planer.
Today I start sawing a stack of large black pine logs. Most of this will be cut into 2 inch material for framing lumber. This can be used right away and left to dry in whatever you build with it. If it is to stand around it needs to be stickered. I can leave them outside the rain won't hurt them and I will band them up to make them easier to load on the truck and take to the hill farm.
The ash boards are going to be pegged plank flooring and some will become the beaded ceiling over the loft at the "Hill Farm!" The planks will get sized, planed, and run through the shaper to add a bevel to the edges and a half lap. Then they get step drilled. I fasten them with screws and cover the screws with a dowel that gets sanded after installation. Beautiful light colored, very durable hardwood floors are the result. Once it is in you forget the hard work it took to get there!
Have I told you about the spalted maple counter tops I have in mind for the kitchen? I think they will be a hit with hickory cupboards. This home building from the trees down is the bomb!
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Let me Explain.
I hit a wrong button and blogger posted my last entry. Short and to the point.
This year is going to be the first in a long time that I get to do my vegetable gardens the way I want to. The way I farm planting is the most labor intensive part of the whole operation.
Tomatoes:
I try to get the tallest most overgrown starts I can. For each plant a dig a hole 12x16x10 inches deep. All the soil goes into my wheelbarrow and gets mixed with a third again of well rotted manure, one half cup of Lang-Gro organic 10-10-10, one quarter cup of horticultural grade lime,and one quarter cup of Epsom salt.
This all goes back into the hole creating a mound. I pinch off all but the upper leaves and lay the plant sideways in my soil,exposing only the leaves I left. I plant in double rows with a large row of composted organics in between and a fence at least six feet tall to tie to. In the compost I bury a drip water hose.
When the plants take off and they sure will I train them to the fence and do a lot of early trimming to create more of a vine then a bush. They get loosely tied with baler twine and as they grow I mulch with more manure as early weed control is key to any great garden.
In the past doing them this way I have had vines over 12 feet tall, but now I allow the vines to droop over the top of the fence. The fence has to be stout because you get tomatoes in massive amounts and it all gets heavy.
I have 240 tomatoes of several heirloom types planted and they already have their feet in the ground and are starting to take off! The hard work is done and the rest is fun!
Potatoes:
I grow Yukon Golds and Red ones, I forgot the fancy name for them. We grow so many that I can not use cages like I would like to, instead I do rows. The trick is keep mounding them as they grow. The mounding material should stay loose and be very organic o get nice big tatars!
Hot Peppers:
This is my favorite thing to grow. I am always looking for different ones to try and I seed save when I find one I really like. The biggest trick to hot peppers is that they love warm soil. In the north east if the soil is not 60 degrees or higher wait to plant. The plants will stunt if you don't.
Bell Peppers:
Only one trick I use here. In the bottom of the planting hole I place a book of matches with the cover tore off for each plant. It gives me meatier peppers, must be the sulfur.
Cabbage crops:
I grow early, savoy, and late for saurkraut. Also grow broccholi, cauliflower, and collards, all part of the family. Never plant them in the same place twice in a row.
Beans:
Lots and lots of beans. All kinds, we freeze can, dry and eat them fresh. I plant more every two weeks until well after the 4th of July.
Salad fixings:
I also plant them every two weeks for enjoyment all summer long. I plant iceberg even if no one at our house eats much of it, because it does so well here and it sells.
Squash and pumpkins:
I bury tires flush filled with soil. makes for easier weed control. Then I cover the ground where the vines will travel with my empty feed bags. No Weeds! Acorn, butter nut, hubbard, summer, zukes, pie pumpkins, and a few Atlantic Giants for fun!
Cukes: We do pickles and cukes all from mounds. Mulch with paper bags before the vines travel.
Also:
Egg plant, mustard greens, strawberries, blue berries, red and black raspberries, goose berries, fruit trees. There is more but I am old I forget!
Being retired is going to allow me to micro manage this year like never before. I am trying to out do my 2005 offering, that was my best ever!
This year is going to be the first in a long time that I get to do my vegetable gardens the way I want to. The way I farm planting is the most labor intensive part of the whole operation.
Tomatoes:
I try to get the tallest most overgrown starts I can. For each plant a dig a hole 12x16x10 inches deep. All the soil goes into my wheelbarrow and gets mixed with a third again of well rotted manure, one half cup of Lang-Gro organic 10-10-10, one quarter cup of horticultural grade lime,and one quarter cup of Epsom salt.
This all goes back into the hole creating a mound. I pinch off all but the upper leaves and lay the plant sideways in my soil,exposing only the leaves I left. I plant in double rows with a large row of composted organics in between and a fence at least six feet tall to tie to. In the compost I bury a drip water hose.
When the plants take off and they sure will I train them to the fence and do a lot of early trimming to create more of a vine then a bush. They get loosely tied with baler twine and as they grow I mulch with more manure as early weed control is key to any great garden.
In the past doing them this way I have had vines over 12 feet tall, but now I allow the vines to droop over the top of the fence. The fence has to be stout because you get tomatoes in massive amounts and it all gets heavy.
I have 240 tomatoes of several heirloom types planted and they already have their feet in the ground and are starting to take off! The hard work is done and the rest is fun!
Potatoes:
I grow Yukon Golds and Red ones, I forgot the fancy name for them. We grow so many that I can not use cages like I would like to, instead I do rows. The trick is keep mounding them as they grow. The mounding material should stay loose and be very organic o get nice big tatars!
Hot Peppers:
This is my favorite thing to grow. I am always looking for different ones to try and I seed save when I find one I really like. The biggest trick to hot peppers is that they love warm soil. In the north east if the soil is not 60 degrees or higher wait to plant. The plants will stunt if you don't.
Bell Peppers:
Only one trick I use here. In the bottom of the planting hole I place a book of matches with the cover tore off for each plant. It gives me meatier peppers, must be the sulfur.
Cabbage crops:
I grow early, savoy, and late for saurkraut. Also grow broccholi, cauliflower, and collards, all part of the family. Never plant them in the same place twice in a row.
Beans:
Lots and lots of beans. All kinds, we freeze can, dry and eat them fresh. I plant more every two weeks until well after the 4th of July.
Salad fixings:
I also plant them every two weeks for enjoyment all summer long. I plant iceberg even if no one at our house eats much of it, because it does so well here and it sells.
Squash and pumpkins:
I bury tires flush filled with soil. makes for easier weed control. Then I cover the ground where the vines will travel with my empty feed bags. No Weeds! Acorn, butter nut, hubbard, summer, zukes, pie pumpkins, and a few Atlantic Giants for fun!
Cukes: We do pickles and cukes all from mounds. Mulch with paper bags before the vines travel.
Also:
Egg plant, mustard greens, strawberries, blue berries, red and black raspberries, goose berries, fruit trees. There is more but I am old I forget!
Being retired is going to allow me to micro manage this year like never before. I am trying to out do my 2005 offering, that was my best ever!
Monday, June 02, 2008
From "Rocks & Squeaks to Greasers& Hippies"
Being born in 1950 I got to experience a lot of living history. Most anyone alive and of the age of remembering can tell you where they were when they got the news that President Kennedy was killed in Dallas. I was in Mr. Hewett's science class and we all got sent home from school early. We all sat in front of the TV and watched the events unfolded. The surrealistic as Jack Rubie came out of the crowd and shot Lee Harvey Oswald. The almost instant reenactments of Oswald's position in the Texas Book Depository and the magic bullet theory. The true horror as we watched Jackie holding her mortally wounded husband in the back of the open car as it raced to the hospital. The strong impact that the funeral train and the casket being pulled by white horses to JFK's final resting place, and Jack the riderless horse with the boots mounted backwards in the stirrups! Will we ever know what really happened that day in Dallas?
This was the start of change in America. It occurred at the back end of the WWII baby boom. It stole our a piece of our soul, jaded a lot of people, and destroyed my faith at the age of 13, and I was not alone.
In my school prior to this event we had Rocks, guys with a duck's ass hairdo, white tee shirt with a pack Luckies rolled up in the sleeve, and the girls that idolized these James Dean wanna bes. Then there were the squeaks, Madras plaid shirts, the start of the long hair thing, they loved the "Beatles." Also through it all we had Jocks, and squares. Me I rode the wave and could mix depending on what girl I was chasing at the time.
The change from all that seemed to happen overnight! The "Rocks became"Greasers" an damn near everyone else became "Hippies!" The youth of the world was on the move, no regard for authority, the music was our guru, and drugs! We all wanted to drive VW's, grow hair past our ass, wear sandals, smoke pot, make love and not war. Summers were spent running naked in the woods or traveling to some Utopia in the next town , next state, or the other coast. North, south, east, or west we were all looking for something. We followed the "Dead", listened to the wisdom of "The Doors", and a thousand other bands! The way we dressed was off the hook!
I get a kick out of my "Dirty Hippie" friends. Instead of looking for an O. Z., they are looking for better returns on their 401K's as we rapidly approach the great big, friggin huge, 60! And I think of the friends that did not get through it all, some died very young. Viet Nam ,overdoses, suicides, accidents, even murders.
1969 became known as the summer of love because we all met at a farm in upstate New York by the hundreds of thousands for three days of peace, love and understanding. It was really the beginning of the end to the great experiment. The war tore holes in the fabric, there are wounds that have never fully healed and may never heal completely. We had Patty Hurst and her army. Charles Manson, Kent State, Black Panthers. We burned our cities, our bras, and our draft cards.
What makes me sad is the fire in the bellies of those that truly believed in protest and also were sure they could make a difference has gone out. Once Again we need some of that blind faith in our abilities to make things better or else they win again!
This was the start of change in America. It occurred at the back end of the WWII baby boom. It stole our a piece of our soul, jaded a lot of people, and destroyed my faith at the age of 13, and I was not alone.
In my school prior to this event we had Rocks, guys with a duck's ass hairdo, white tee shirt with a pack Luckies rolled up in the sleeve, and the girls that idolized these James Dean wanna bes. Then there were the squeaks, Madras plaid shirts, the start of the long hair thing, they loved the "Beatles." Also through it all we had Jocks, and squares. Me I rode the wave and could mix depending on what girl I was chasing at the time.
The change from all that seemed to happen overnight! The "Rocks became"Greasers" an damn near everyone else became "Hippies!" The youth of the world was on the move, no regard for authority, the music was our guru, and drugs! We all wanted to drive VW's, grow hair past our ass, wear sandals, smoke pot, make love and not war. Summers were spent running naked in the woods or traveling to some Utopia in the next town , next state, or the other coast. North, south, east, or west we were all looking for something. We followed the "Dead", listened to the wisdom of "The Doors", and a thousand other bands! The way we dressed was off the hook!
I get a kick out of my "Dirty Hippie" friends. Instead of looking for an O. Z., they are looking for better returns on their 401K's as we rapidly approach the great big, friggin huge, 60! And I think of the friends that did not get through it all, some died very young. Viet Nam ,overdoses, suicides, accidents, even murders.
1969 became known as the summer of love because we all met at a farm in upstate New York by the hundreds of thousands for three days of peace, love and understanding. It was really the beginning of the end to the great experiment. The war tore holes in the fabric, there are wounds that have never fully healed and may never heal completely. We had Patty Hurst and her army. Charles Manson, Kent State, Black Panthers. We burned our cities, our bras, and our draft cards.
What makes me sad is the fire in the bellies of those that truly believed in protest and also were sure they could make a difference has gone out. Once Again we need some of that blind faith in our abilities to make things better or else they win again!
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