#stewartcreeksomethings

Danger gazebo project halted

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The platform was all ready and my only goal was to finish the roof over the weekend. We got a ladder tied into the center so that I could manipulate the center ring and bolt the wedges to the ring. It took us over two hours to get the first piece bolted in place. We had to keep jockeying the platform up, forward and back. Nothing seemed to be working so we started to lift the platform even higher, then higher. I had forgotten what it was like to stand on a ladder for hours at a time. You are constantly trying to balance yourself. Well maybe not a normal ladder but one suspended on a shaky platform anchored at the bottom and top so the ladder doesn’t fall off or lean backwards is a little different. On a side note the hydraulics have a very slight leak that is letting the forks drop a couple of inches over 15 minutes. This doesn’t seem like a bunch but when you are trying to line up four 1/4” bolt holes that is a lot of movement. It’s also very hard to move the bucket 1/4”!

So instead of moving the tractor bucket all of the time I started using a three foot span of 2×4 as a lever to move the ring enough to get the holes lined up. Then I started adding shims to hold it into its new spot. This went on for six hours and I only managed to get four panels totally bolted in place and three more up onto the ring. My legs and arms were cramping and the metal pieces were starting to get hot in the sun. It was time to call it a day. We cut four 2×4 and put them under the tractor forks so the platform could not sink overnight.

Today was the day, there are 24 roof wedges and we only had four bolted in and three more up so almost 25%. But we now knew what we were doing and the rest should be easy. Not even. It was discovered that the far end of the ring is sagging a lot. I needed to lift the center ring up another ten inches. I ended up putting ten inches of shimming under the two far sides. Since we had managed to get seven panels up onto the center ring it is incredibly hard to move with all that weight on it. I had Mr Rainman crawl up a ladder on the outside of the gazebo to reach out with a tape measure we need 108” for a roof panel, we were at 94”. I was hollering at him to take it easy crawling up the side of the gazebo as it was causing the entire platform to shimmy and shake in the air. There was no way I was going to be able to shim another foot. Not without causing the platform and all that metal crushing down on me. It was officially not Steve safe. OSHA and I have pretty drastic differences when it comes to safety but I do have some standards. I do own two roof harnesses. But no way am I going to finish this project this way.

I need a crane and a scissor lift to get the roof on safely. Using those two pieces of equipment I think we can get it done in 16 hours. So a two day rental should be enough to get it done. Now I have to find a crane and scissor lift and get them delivered to the farm. We will use the crane to grab the center ring, lift up 10 inches and then tear down the entire platform. Once the platform is torn down we will be able to drive the tractor out of the center of the gazebo and drive in the scissor lift. This will mean the tractor will be trapped in the front yard until we are done. Not really a big deal as the tractor is currently stuck holding up the platform now.

Unfortunately, this is going to add to the total price of the gazebo. But that cannot be helped. Those six weeks doing nothing with a broken foot did not do my fitness level any good. Plus, I am just starting to be able to get back into some hard manual labor without petering out in a couple of hours. I do not want to fall or have something fall on me and take me out for months or a year. I will call a couple of rental agencies on Tuesday.

Stuck. Need more equipment

Winter hay ready

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Yesterday was the start of the Pendleton Roundup. The Gingerman and my wife were in the parade playing with the mounted band. I opted to go out and work on the Abbriata M50 round baler. I still need to get the chain sprockets replaced. I had more parts sent last month so I was going to install them. I could not get this double sprocket assembly off of the drive shaft. I had the gear puller maxed out! I finally took the gear puller off, separated the gears, as I had managed to move them 3/8”. I then pulled off the first gear and it had a key! But the second gear did not have a key, so I was trying to pull the rear gear against the key. It came right off after I removed the key. There is not a written instruction manual.

I went to put the new gear on and it doesn’t fit. I need a 2.5 cm hole in the gear not a 3 cm. Also, after closer inspection all of my large gears should only be 2.5 cm deep not 3 cm. I think they will work but the nut holding them in place used to be flush with the bolt and now it will be 1/2cm out from the end of the bolt. My dad was a machinist and he used to tell me that you only need the nut to go on far enough to be 1/2 the diameter of the bolt and you have gained maximum strength from the nut. That is exactly what I will have if I have to use those. I am calling the parts place tomorrow so we can go through the list again! I am going to send some parts back. As always I hate being a mechanic. I am capable of figuring it out but it’s never easy. Luckily, since all the equipment is made in Italy and no one else knows I am in good company. I have one more tool box coming so that I can create a Metric and nonmetric (US standard) tool box. I am tired of digging around and trying to find the right size and type.

Once the Gingerman showed up with his large tractor he started to stack the bales into the machine shed. While he did that I started to stack the extras on the backside of the machine shop. It took a couple of hours to get the bales loaded up. He was able to get half the bales into the machine shed. I will use from the outside pile first and by January I will be able to use the protected bales from the machine shed.

Gazebo ready for roof

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Well it was time to make some progress on the gazebo. The final step in the assembly process is to get the roof up. Since the crane thing was not an option for me, I needed to use Plan C. I mounted the two ten foot posts on the front of the pallet forks on top of a pallet. I drilled a hole in one and attached a bolt with a hook thinking I could somehow attach it to the fork railing. Instead I ended up running a tie down through the upper slats and cranking it tight. I used a chain around the bottom of the post tied to the fork. I did not want the bottom to give out at all. I then drove over to the Gazebo opening and tried to get the posts through the opening. I could not tilt the platform enough to get the posts inside the Gazebo. So I had to tear down my post setup, toss the posts to the side and drive the tractor into the Gazebo. Once inside I mounted the two posts then proceeded to use the scraps of 2×4 from the house window trim to stabilize the posts and to build a top that is hollow. This is because we will need to put a ladder up through the middle to bolt the center roof pieces in place.

Once I had the platform built I went over to the pile of roof pieces and dug around and tried to figure out how to attach the roof to the outer wall. There is a weird small attachment piece that is bent on three angles. I could not figure out how it went onto the gazebo edge. Gingerman helped me roll the center piece over to the gazebo and then lift it up onto my fancy dancy platform. This would not have been possible to do alone it weighs too much. We took the pickup and trailer over and loaded up the roof pieces. Because I have the tractor with the pallet forks all tied up! I should have moved the roof pieces over with the tractor before building the platform.
I went inside for the day and was talking to Annmarie while she made homemade tomato paste. This is not super easy and not very much is obtained but it tastes great! We were talking and I told her I was unsure how the gazebo roof kept birds out of the tall peaked ridges between each piece. Then it dawned on me, the little weird triangle piece on the roof attachment is the part that goes up into the ridge! Now it will be super easy to get all the roof pieces installed.

Gingerman and I got an impact driver, drill and some large head treated wood anchors. The floor in the barn is coming up in a few places as the old screws have rusted off. It was perfect time to work inside as it rained for a whopping 15 minutes. The rain gauge did not even register the rain. Once we had the floor repaired we set up the sorting chute and unwrapped the old hay so the sheep can tear into it and create bedding. They will spread it out as they tear through it. We will need the chute to tag and band the lambs in a couple of weeks.

Predators 6, Farm 8

Steve Hardin1 Comment

The sheep are still giving birth one at a time on the occasional day. The one a day trickle is very annoying. We are only two weeks into this birthing process. The rams only had eight weeks with the herd so we should only have about 8 weeks left as we should take into account any late births.

Newborn about two hours old

I lost more chickens again to the raccoons. The weird part is they did not kill them at night. They came up the dry creek bottom and killed them in the morning, three chickens gone. Mr Rainman managed to shoot at one as they were running away. They have not returned but since there was no body we don’t get to count them on the predator dispatch count. Otherwise, it would be artificially inflated! The predators are coming in closer to the barn and house. I had two lamb corpses to go up to the boneyard that I had placed over the fence. Mr Rainman went to take them up to the boneyard the next day and the coyotes had come down to the gate and taken them. There were no bodies. We use woven fence to keep the sheep in but it also helps keep the coyotes out. They usually have to dig under the fence to get past it. This is why it is recommended that you run a single strand of barb wire at the ground level on a sheep pasture fence. I don’t do this but it is the recommendation. I usually just fill in the hole but after losing so many sheep last year I put a snare in the crossing now.

Last night when the progeny was returning home after dark she spotted a possum leaving the mother-in-law’s back yard. The Gingerman jumped out and dispatched the possum. I had been noticing a steady decline in eggs recently and figured there was a possum around. They will sneak into the coop during the day and eat the eggs. They rarely kill the chickens but they love the eggs! They are super hard to get rid of because we are gone during the day usually or out and about on the farm.

It is dove season now so we are starting to thin out the doves. There are over a 100 now on the place and they are competing with the quail. We like the quail over all other birds and have worked for the last 20 years to protect and grow them. There are several coveys on the farm but we won’t know how many are on the place until it starts getting cold and they all come down to the houses to winter over. They know where the easy food is located. Hopefully, the population is over a 200. It waxes and wanes pretty significantly. We have had as few as 30 and over 200 over the years. The last few years we have managed to keep over 100 at any time on the place. But this is the most doves we have ever had on the place. Only about 25% of them are the ring neck version. These are invasive and quite a bit larger than the native doves.

We are now seeing bunny rabbits on a regular basis but still only seeing one at a time and only in a couple of places on the farm. They are the dwarf bunnies native to Oregon. I think the owls and hawks love rabbit and they just cannot reproduce fast enough to get ahead of the depredation. They are maintaining a small population.

Cow hay now on the farm

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It never fails, when I need to do anything with the hay it always rains. Labor Day was no different, just as I was finishing up transporting the last load to the farm it started to rain! This is great timing as it is going to sit out for a week until it can be loaded into the machine shed.

I have been trying to get last years big bale discards from a source all summer long. It was going to be discounted and I wanted enough that I was hoping to have it delivered. This did not work out at all. Annmarie has been “reminding” me all summer that the cows need hay for the winter and I am being a cheapskate. There is nothing wrong with being a cheapskate when possible but she was right it was getting late in the season to be buying hay. The real problem with buying hay is I only have a 7500# 16’ bumper pull trailer. So I can only fit four large bales at a time on it which causes problems when you want to pickup 60 bales of hay.

Normally, I purchase all of my hay from Bluview Farms. I always wait until September to purchase it. So I went with this option again as it fits the bill nicely. They are only four miles from where we live so I can take an entire day and just run back and forth with four large bales at a time. Unfortunately, they are selling their farm and moving which is going to cause me issues next year. I really need two semi truck loads delivered. The second problem is that I do not have a tractor large enough to unload the hay and restack it. I am not buying a third tractor to use once a year. The third problem is our old pickup may not be able to haul a large gooseneck trailer if I have to pickup the hay myself.

So that being said Mr Gingerman is coming over today to stack all of the large bales into the machine shed. I think we can get 50 bales, stacked four high in the hay storage area. I can toss a chain around them and pull them down with the little tractor. Once they are down my new Kubota 3301 can lift a bale about 4-6” off the ground and I can drive it anywhere on the property fairly easily. This is much better than pushing it along the ground which is only what the little John Deere 2520 can accomplish. Mind you, I have fed the cows large bales almost exclusively but I keep hoping to make it easier.

What does this mean? I need to find a source of hay that can deliver it by the semi load and unload and stack it into the machine shed or I need to purchase a larger pickup and trailer so that I can haul 10-14 bales at a time. Fortunately, I was able to pickup a F350 Diesel this week for a steal. Again, the Dodge 10 cylinder is a beast but it is starting to show its years and it has 180k miles on it. I just purchased tires for it at the beginning of summer but they are the same size as the new Ford so I will get them swapped out. The Dodge is rough on the exterior and rough on the interior, a true farm vehicle. Once I get the tires swapped I will be offering it up for sale, cheap!

I have the new truck, now I may need a new trailer, gooseneck. I do not want anything fancy. I want it very functional and capable of hauling a lot of weight. I can even rewire the lights and brakes if necessary. So if you know of anything “cheap” let me know I would appreciate it.