Rick and Ellen's Shop at the Ranch

[rick91351]

We broke ground today on the shop!



My logger / contractor buddy up there - Pat Landers and his helper worked at that while I fell some trees.

Tig was the supervisor in charge over it.



Then about the time they were ready to do the fine grading the heavens open up with lighting and then it rained - no make the poured.  They shut down and took off.  They had to go to four wheel drive to get out.  I went to the fifth wheel and repaired the shower and then the sun came out and I finished bucking up the logs so Pat can skid them to take to his mill.  Ellen and I finished up the day piling limbs to burn after the first snow.  If we get enough rain in like Oct or Nov I might set them on fire then but I really like to do that when there is like six inches of snow is on the ground.  I know we are not going to have any surprises then.

[MushCreek]

That's some serious ground-breaking equipment! I like the supervisor, too. I'm looking forward to watching your progress.

[glenn kangiser]

Sassy mentioned that I should point you to an alternative for the limbs rather than burning.  Bury them and use them to hold water for a garden.

A link to where I got started posting on Paul Wheaton's forum.

http://www.permies.com/bb/index.php?topic=17.msg40357#msg40357

[rick91351]

Glenn tell Sassy thank but there is a method to our madness.  We have an out break of Western Pine Beetles.  Two years ago a forester told us if we pile our boughs and tops it will attract the adults pine beetles and they will lays their eggs there rather than the live trees.  Then in the fall / winter set them afire.  It seems to have worked as we have not seen as many this year.  We of course cut all that is stove and fireplace size up for that.  The logs go to a saw mill for our own use and so about the only thing we have left is the boughs and small tops.  I am really taking a lot better look at some management practices.  Our grand kids may well see a good improvement over the neighboring forests if it stays in the family for another couple generations. 

MushCreek that old Komatsu crawler has more hours than Glenn and I put together.  But it has had a lot of maintenance.  The owner bought it new and it has not been babied at all.  It still logs and builds road today as hard as when it was new.  But it never misses a service and the owner operator really believes in preventive maintenance.       

This is couple photos of it logging on our place last year.  We only took out beetle killed timber and that was one very large load.  I never got a picture of it loaded.

   

[glenn kangiser]

That's good information too, Rick.  Thanks for pointing out the reason.

Those old Komatsu's were real powerhouses.  I used to install ROPS on them for Saf-T-Cab....of course I had to play with them a little.

[MountainDon]

Re the pine bark beetles. Freshly cut timber can be covered with clear 6 mil plastic. Make the piles small enough to be able to drop the plastic down all sides of the pile and bury the edges with dirt. Leave sit for a summer. The heat will kill off the beetles and any larvae. But you need to bury the edges, simply weighting them down will not work. Trust me on that; the pile we did with timbers holding down the edges showed traces of beetle activity while the one that had dirt buried edges (as per the local forester) had no traces (beetle dust).

All it takes is one season. Old wood does not attract the beetles.


I don't know if burying the slash completely with covered with dirt would also eliminate the beetle breeding problem, but suspect it might if totally dirt covered. The beetles want to lay their eggs in the fresh soft layer right under the bark where the larvae can hatch and feed. Fresh cut ends make for easy entrance points.

[rick91351]

This morning I attended a meeting with a building inspector and the carpenter I hired to do my shop.  I am way way to busy with work to attempt this and get it dried in before winter.

Building inspector did not want to give me agricultural status on my shop feeling it was not going to be used for such.  We did convince him that indeed 640 acres could use or need a shop.  And he did accept our plans as drawn.  Pay the man $250.  Next thing planing and zoning says is we have to get Southern District Health to 'sign off on it'.  This is strange because it will have no plumbing.  So I drive over there.  They hand me a form I fill it out and they want $130 so the inspector can drive up and see that the building sight is no where near the septic tank or drain field.  Even though I had to sign a document stating that I could not build or drive over such when final was done.  GRRR pay the man $130.  Next planing and zoning wants the country highway district to sign off on it.  They agreed to sign off but they pointed out to me this was a total waste of time for them and me.  They pointed that my property does not enter their road rather enters a shared private road and would have no effect to traffic nor could they require me to have a engineered entry nor borrow-pit drainage because it was all private ground.  They signed off and required no money but offered to take some if we want to pay them.

So we have $2000+ in a survey we really did not need but required.  $250 in a building permit that a couple years ago was $50.  Plus will have to pay the inspector a minimum for three trips up there for inspections.  $130 for a health inspector to drive to the ranch and agree we are on the other side of the creek from the septic and well over 300 feet from the tank and drain field.  Ahh!!! the taste of bureaucracy in action.  Love it....  The country is out of work except for ......    

   

[glenn kangiser]

Parasites, Rick.... Parasites.....

They take your money and pretend to work and pretend to justify the theft and extortion.... pretending to be important to rip off the public and seeing that their cronies get a piece of your butt too.... such is the system...

[bayview]

Remember:

   . . . said the focus was safety, not filling town coffers with permit money . . .

  Sorry . . .   My new catch phrase.

/.

[rick91351]

GOOD NEWS!!!! Believe it or not the health inspector called today and and told us that inspection was not needed.  They were refunding our money and he was signing off in the project.  He was sort of confused himself why they wanted the inspection when the site plan we submitted shows where the septic and drain field is located and where the shop will be located and they are not even close to each other. 

[MountainDon]

Good to hear that sanity can sometimes prevail and that somebody knows how to read and relate to a plat/map.

All is not necessarily lost; it just seems that way

[glenn kangiser]

Good deal.

[rick91351]

I hauled up three rolls of concrete mesh, 70 number 6 rebar, j bolts, rebar seats, electrical conduit to be poured in the footing and walls....All this means is we were awarded our building permit and it was agricultural exempt!!!!!  I did find a concrete finisher who was willing to come to the sticks and pour.  Actually he owns or leases a place up there.  So next week we should have a footing or footer poured and maybe walls to show you!  So far for the last couple years everything have been done has been buried.  It will be nice to see something sticking up in the air.

Is there a difference between a footer and a footing?  When I worked concrete like 35+ years ago it was all footings.  Now I see the term footer...      

[glenn kangiser]

I'm not smart enough to know the answer to that, Rick.  I call them footings.  Glad to see things going your way.

[Don_P]

One's redneck and the other is crimson knaped 

[rick91351]

We got the footings formed.  The rebar was not required because we are not in a seismic zone.  But I did use it anyway.  It sits on plastic chairs.



My electrician friend had me add the ground wire.


I also grounded it to the frost-free as well.


We got the footing poured and next day the walls formed.

I did not get a picture of the electrical conduit coming up under the footing. (By itself) - I did inside the wall form.  Nor did I get a picture of the the vertical rebars which were wired to the horizontal rebars so they never touch the earth.  This prevents the rebar acting as a conduit for moisture and rust. 

Picture of conduit, ground wire and vertical rebar with horizontal rebar in the wall .   



We left the one end open so we could fill.



The guy I had hired split a piece of plastic pipe and wired it around the frost free in the footing I thought that was a very good idea and am passing that along. 



When we got enough materials inside and leveled off and the backhoe out.  We put the tamper in and shoveled off the ramp.  (Well what Pat the backhoe operator could not get.)  His skill with his equipment just amazes me so much.  It was close to dark thirty and I still had a long drive home all most two hours so we just left the end open as the cement for the walls was not to be there until 11:00 the following day.       

[glenn kangiser]

Looks good, Rick.  Good use of Rapiform clips on top and under the form boards.  They make it easy.

[rick91351]

Walls are poured, string lined - straightened and J bolts are in.  Tis a good feeling - 







Base is watered down and compacted and tamper is out.  The backhoe operator had one two inch high spot in the middle that might have been four foot long by three feet.  We had to work that down.  Not bad for having to wrestle the back hoe around in side the forms.  Around the edges were just a little low where the doors are going to be.  This being a shop building we left them a little low to add a little more strength there.

Concrete wire is down.  I think I would go with the flat panels if we pour another one of these.  I had forgotten how much I disliked rolled concrete wire.  The finisher hates it more than I do.  I did receive a well deserved 'cussin' for buying it.  He will hook and pull it up when he pours it rather than trying to put it up on chairs.  Being rolled wire that is what makes the base wavy.  I was around concrete for several years in my twenties before I went railroading.  Still do some but not that much.  I did hire this done but have put in my share of time on it as well.           



My finisher said he wants to pour the floor Tuesday if at all possible.  Me I don't think I will be there for the flat work.  I will set forms and pour footings and walls anytime but I hate flat work.     

[glenn kangiser]

Are you using exterior sliders or inside mounted roll up doors, Rick?

If using the inside mounted rollups I like to slope starting about 2 inches inside the place where the door seal hits and slope it down about 1 to 1 1/2 inches toward the outside  - otherwise rain hits the door and runs inside the building.  Maybe not a problem but thought I would mention it.

I like to slope the walk door areas a little or seal down a threshold - usually just a slope though.

[rick91351]

Glenn thanks for pointing that out.  I am really thinking sliders because of the amount of snow we get up there.  When we back filled next to the footing we tapered it off a couple inches to 14 foot and compacted it.  The water runs away and then toward the creek.  I would like to pour a longer and deeper apron but with ready mix at $175 a yard up there it really bites into the budget.

[glenn kangiser]

I thought our $125 or so was bad.  [ouch]

[rick91351]

I thought our $125 or so was bad.  [ouch]

I am sort of in a quandary about ready mix. The biggest part of the quotient is how long a truck is held away from the batch plant.  No matter if there is a load available or not.  Time away from the plant equals money that is simple.  The roads up to the location where the ranch is at is very good now compared 'the old days'.  They can get in and out very well now, but it is still forty miles.  Twenty five or thirty on dirt mountain roads yet very wide and very well maintained.  So I guess it is a fair but a high price for sure. 

[MountainDon]

Coming along nice. Also nice to see the surrounding countryside in some of the photos.

[rick91351]

Floor is now poured.  They also poured a couple slabs on the out side today



Today had to stop and admire this big guy or gal!  Really don't know how to tell the difference.   Do know that I don't want to get a hold of one to find out.



Seasons are changing here.  It is getting colder.   Coming out from the ranch this evening I stopped and watched a group of 10 or 12 young bucks all forked horns or spikes just hanging together.  I would bet the larger bucks are started to chase them off.  Was up there till after dark last night and had to come out.  We saw a lot of does and fawns in the road, one beef calf, and a owl.  The owl just stood there in the middle of the road.  I locked them up and he disappeared from sight in my wife's Charger.  I backed up and we both just laughed.  It still just set there then begrudgingly flew to the side.  It had to be inches from BOOOM!

       

 

[rick91351]

Believe it or not the finisher I hired brought up concrete blankets!  We spread them out this evening.  Second week of September and concrete blankets!   He said as expensive as this stuff has become up there, he was not going to take a chance.  I really feel he has done us a 110% good job.  Top that off it is predicted a good storm up there tonight.  When we left we had it all covered. 



The building package came as well today.  My buddy taking the wraps off the truck here owns Kuna Lumber - we meet the first time up hunting in 1963 or 1964.  Old friends... the best kind...

I would like to cut down that old snag quaking aspen in the back ground and several others like it that are scattered around the place .  But my word in the spring time they are a buzz with wrens and other small song birds.  I will put up with eyesores like that as long as they keep returning!  We are on what is called the Blue Bird Trail up there.  There are hundreds of blue birds that visit that local area in the summer.  There is an old man that tracts them every year.  He bands them and measures the females because he can capture them in the nest box.  Counts the eggs and and does a census on all the nest boxes.       



This is a road we put in going up to the orchard we are in the process of developing.  Not real large about an acre and should be large enough to hold one hundred trees.  (Mostly apples)  We are about there...That will give us plenty to barter with the neighbors and sell to hunters.  It is completely organic up there so far!