16x24 used gambrel barn in Texas

[muldoon]

texasgun, cheating or not, I am glad to have that wellhouse done. 

I spent some time up there this past weekend, nail gun broke and I ended up with hammer and finish nails.  Very therapeutic ... 

This is the wall behind the tv, been a cable mess too long. 


The view behind the tv as you walk in. 


Here is the north wall, got to finally hang the breaux bridge crawfish festival picture up. 






According to my plan, this corner will one day be a bathroom. 

[muldoon]

I was looking at the hpinson thread and saw his new firepit.  It reminded me that I never posted pictures of our firepit.

It is roughly a 4 foot of 44" diameter 3/8" thick drillpipe, scavenged from a "government job" at one of the big oil services company guys I am friends with.  It's super heavy that's for sure. 





Since I am adding some picture updates, here are a few more.

The compost bin, with chickenwire lining and locking hinged top lid.


Jobsite supervisor, checking the progress, making sure she doesn't miss anything.  Really she was my wifes dog, but that little thing has really grown on me. 




Since Glen's thread has cows, I didn't want to feel left out.




And how about a few just because pictures....

[Sassy]

cute daughter!  It's always good to see pictures    Are those your cows or your neighbors?  How's the barn coming along? 

[muldoon]

Sassy, sorry I never noticed your post.  I wasn't ignoring you. 

The barn is coming along but I am having a tough time getting up there often enough to get any momentum going. 

The cows belong to the lady who owns the pasture behind me.  We have been under a pretty serious drought, first two years ago and now again this year.  What little rain we have generates into grass, which cows certainly need plenty of.  We have a working agreement between us for grazing. 

I have not made a work trip in several months, but I made one this weekend and went up Saturday morning.  Looks like the pictures from April show the first half of the north wall finished, it is now completed.





Speaking of the drought, one of the things I have been concerned with is quite a few trees are dying.  It seems to be spreading, and now I am concerned it might be pests or disease instead of just heat scorching and lack of water.  They seem to be dying in clumps, where one tree or 5 trees in a general area are all dead or dying.  It is affected all types, oaks, cedars, even a pine or two.  It is not affecting the mesquite.  It's certainly not all the trees, but enough for me to notice them, and especially notice how many very large branches are falling down around the place.  Some of the higher sections up in the front are getting unsafe to walk because of the huge branches and such that look they can just fall over with a touch of wind. 


Here are some pictures, any thoughts? 

[Texas Tornado]

check for borers...
may have to peel the bark on a few dead ones to find the pin size holes...
Lost my big hackberry shade tree last year from them....

[HoustonDave]

Probably a combination. In times of drought the trees become more susceptible to pests like borers. So while it's not directly the drought that kills the trees, indirectly it is. Getting water to the trees will help. Not sure there is an effective pest treatment.

We've lost a couple dozen pines to borers in our neighborhood during the last drought.

[Sassy]

We've also lost a few fruit trees & this year looks like there might be a borer in the grafted pluot part of my 4 way plum tree...  someone said that the grafted on parts aren't as hardy.  

Glenn read that you can paint the trunk with something to help prevent the borers from getting into the tree...  

Thankfully we got a lot of rain this past fall, winter & spring - way more than usual & it even rained about an inch in July...  but otherwise, our gardens & trees have to be irrigated.  The oak trees seem to be pretty hardy although we have had some die over the years.

[muldoon]

No signs of any bugs or borers or pests of any kind under the bark.  In fact, I noticed this weekend there was no real sign of bugs at all except a few grasshoppers and scorpions.  The scorpions are getting thick tho lately.  My last two trips I have seen no flies or bees which is unusual.  I cannot believe how dry everything is.  Looks like everything is just succumbing to drought.  I know the cedars take quite a bit of water and perhaps my only hope of saving the oaks will be to think the cedars.  My soil has always been sandy, but with the cows most of the trails now look like tossed beach sand powder.  We need rain bad. 

I got the 220 AC and heater installed this weekend in a thru-wall fashion.  105 in the day, heat index 110+.  It actually seemed to do ok all things considered.  18,000 BTU air and 10,200 BTU heating.  I'll get to try out the heater aspect of it in deer season. 

[Texas Tornado]

May want to cut out all the cedar trees, they not only soak up the water but will kill nearby trees...They are the invasive species...

[phalynx]

Muldoon, it is just dry.  We are losing trees daily.  Look at the tops of the trees.  If they lose the leaves up top, they'll be dead in a couple of months. 

[muldoon]

Look at the tops of the trees.  If they lose the leaves up top, they'll be dead in a couple of months. 

truer words were never spoken. 

I started watching over the past six months and every single tree that exhibited this has either died or is in the process of dying.  I still have plenty of trees, but the pattern is not comforting.  I have had to chainsaw 4 trees close to the cabin because they went the wrong way.  .. and the kicker is, we have been getting rain for the past 6-8 weeks.  It just doesn't even matter once the damage is done, it's done. 

It's a tough year for cattle folks down here. 
hell, it's been a tough year for everybody. 

[muldoon]

water filter installed.