gazebo

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.

Gazebo posts almost in

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When they asked me at the lumber store if I wanted grade #1 or #2 6×6” posts I opted for grade #2 as they were going to be outside and I was being cheap. After having spent almost an hour per post sanding to get the knots flattened out and the paint off of the board I should have gone with grade #1! I managed to get four of the six posts installed today. They are anchored at the bottom in the Simpson steel ties buried in concrete. We have about 250# of concrete in each of the six holes. Between the concrete and the weight of the grain bin panels I don’t expect the gazebo to leave the ground. Once we get the gazebo together we will toss six inch plus rocks all around the base of the gravel pad to hold the pad in place. This will add to the stability of the entire structure. For that to happen I need Little Dumper (one ton dump bed pickup) functional. It has been at the brake shop for two weeks and they have not contacted me yet. I will need to call them next week. When I dropped it off I asked them to not take as long as it did to fix the tires. I was assured it would not take that long.

The grain bin panels are also attached to the wooden posts by 4” structural screw in anchors. Each panel is held with 8 anchors. This will keep the post and metal sides from shifting.

I spent about an hour trying to figure out how to lift one of the panels with the tractor. I cut a couple of pieces of chain then looked at all my different connectors. I found one that I could put through a hole on the panel. I slid the two forks on the tractor together and then wrapped a chain around them with the lifting part of the chain between both forks. I took four vise grips and clamped them on either side of the chain to keep it from sliding. This will let me angle the forks and get another three feet of lift I am thinking. It will just take some manipulation of the forks to get it in the correct spot so one person can bolt it in place. That is the theory at least, a real world test will be necessary to see if that is correct.

Annmarie went out to work the bees today and they are no more. She was right a few weeks ago when she thought the queen had died. It took the drones a while to catch on to reality. The surprising thing is we saw honey bees flying around so there must be a wild hive somewhere else on the property, we are just not sure where. The honeybees have been drinking the milk my mother-in-law is leaving out for her kittens. We can officially now say that they are not our bees! We were able to salvage some of the comb. I will be melting down the last of our wax and pelletizing it so we can have wax if we need it for anything.

The alpaca are really getting used to coming in the front yard. Snoop, our oldest black alpaca, always goes off by himself. Every single one of the other alpaca is on the right side of the walkway and he is the only one on the left side. They are finally starting to make an enough of a dent in the green material that you can see the difference.

We are getting a contractor out next weekend to see about installing solar panels on the barn roof for our house. We are tired of the power going out all of the time.

There were no new lambs today.

Gazebo is Going to Happen

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Mr Rainman came out two days this week and filled the six holes with concrete and a steel 6×6 post anchor. We spent a couple of hours on Friday getting the next three panels up on the gazebo. Annmarie and I have had ten plus discussions on how the gazebo should be assembled. Every time I think I have the design down I am learning that that is incorrect. We “discussed” it again yesterday and I have seen the vision. So this weekend I will be working on getting the posts installed so that the next row can be installed. I am sure I understand now, I will let you know in a couple of weeks. I need to swing by the scrap metal yard next week to have them keep an eye out for a new roof cap. I am missing the vent cap for the gazebo.

We were supposed to work on the gazebo all morning but I needed to empty out part of the old lamb shed so that panels could be installed so the mommas/babies had a place to get out of the weather/sun. We had to move a bunch of round and square bales out of the way first. The square bales kept trying to fall apart. Once we had the area cleaned out we installed some temporary horse panels. I was able to get one of the old wooden jugs cleaned out and ready in case we need it. There is a metal gate in front of the entrance because I had hit the overhead rail with the tractor roll bar a couple of years ago denting it so that the gate could not be closed. In a moment of brilliance I thought we could just get the gate working in a fifteen minutes. Two hours later we had managed to take down the entire rail system and door in pieces. It did not want to come down easily. Once we had it down it amounts to a lot more work to get it back up and operational. The header board needs replaced outside, and a second board installed inside so that real bolts can be used instead of large wood lag bolts. I need to buy two different sizes of bolts as they used two different hole sized holders. Plus, I need new rollers, these are so shot that they are bouncing around the inside of each wheel and can move around an inch. Which is why it’s so hard to shut the door. This is going to have to be a later project.

We have been watching “Baa Baa” the ewe we took back as her family is moving away. We left her collar on so she is easy to spot in the herd. She is still overweight but is looking better after a few months grazing on sparse feed and running all over the farm. She is still very friendly.

We have had four ewes give birth, two sets of twins and two singles. We had to bummer off one of the white twins two nights ago. It refused to get up and was limp. We brought it inside, warmed it up and fed it and then gave it to Tisha to raise. If it’s going to make it she is the reason. Unfortunately, when we went out to bring the sheep in last night and look for babies that same mother was standing by the spring hollering. The other baby had jumped into the water and got stuck in the mud and drowned. We are not going to ding her for this loss. We have closed off this alleyway so the sheep cannot get to this area. The main barn lot has 2-3” gravel in the base of the ditch so that it can be driven through. This makes the water only about 1-2” deep and the lambs are safe. Those other twins have been over there more than ten days without any complications. Lambs always find a way to die. I have some leftover large gravel and will be hardening the edge of the water line with it. The lambs won’t go out into the deep water. Every year something comes up. The ditch is lined with concrete blocks behind the barn so there is no mud to contend with for the lambs. The mud build up comes and goes in certain areas and not always the same areas of the ditch.

Lambing Summer 2024 begins

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It has begun the first ewe has had her babies, a set of twins.
This happened four days ago and we have had to go down to the school house every night and push the sheep back up to the barn lot. We need to make sure that no new babies get left down in the lower fields at night. They will be coyote food if they don’t come in. We have isolated the twins and their momma in the back barn lot. She has to be fed every day and the horse has to be fed every day now. This is probably a good thing for the horse as she is not at the old hay pile we just dug out of the barn doing an all you can eat buffet. We had to buy a new water trough for the corral. The horse cannot reach down into the spring directly behind the barn, it’s too steep. The old trough was torn up and leaking. So now we have to water the horse every other day also.

We only kept the rams in with the ewes for two months to limit our lambing length but these twins are pretty small, we think she may have been a couple of weeks early. The bull needs to go in with the momma cows also. That will be this weeks project, to get our other female and one steer in with the bull and the heifers.

Mr Rainman worked on the gazebo pad this last week. Gravel, water and compactor is starting to make a really nice pad. He thinks two more passes and he should have it all leveled out. Then we can put up the lower ring of the grain bin. Once that is in place we will measure and mark out all the spots to drill holes for the concrete pillar footings. I ordered the 6”x6”x10’ posts and concrete anchors on Friday. They will be here this week. Once we have the spots marked we are going to use the tractor to drill the holes. I have enough Sackcrete left over from the back bridge footings to pour these footings. The plan is to get the building up and a roof on it before winter. I still need to get the part that goes over the middle of the roof. They did not sell me that part. I may have to wing it while I look for a replacement.

I spent most of the day trying to get the front porch lights installed. I thought it was going to be easy. Nope, I am really unsure why I thought that but I sure did. First, the fancy siding piece was not lined up with the electrical box. Plus the box makes the hole very deep and there needs to be some kind of extender. I went to town twice in an effort to find the correct parts and screws. After five hours on two lousy lights I got them installed. I still managed to break a glass pane. I hid it. The only real problem when I flipped on the power was I had a 50/50 chance of wiring the one light correctly. I did not do it right so now the light is on 100% of the time. I will need to get some wind shock resistant light bulbs and to tear apart the one lamp and wire it to the other black wire.

I did manage to get all of the 1/4 round needed to finish off the porch and the pressure treated boards needed to redo the trumpet vine trellis. The hope is we can get the porch and trellis completed this week and the holes dug and concrete poured for the gazebo.

Sidelined the hard way

Steve Hardin1 Comment

Fridays the puppy and I hang out, do some housework and then eventually go out and do some other things. The siding is still being installed so the puppy cannot be running around the yard with the overhead lift being used. So we worked on installing two more eye hooks on the green bean bin so we can tie up the bean pole evenly and keep the wind from bending it under the weight of the bean vines. We also had to go out and drill about 25 holes in the asparagus/strawberry bin. It was holding water again. The drain hole at the bottom is working but its slow and it cannot keep up. I have holes at all levels now so it should drain out just fine now.

The correct siding came on Thursday, the wrong kind had been delivered, so on Friday the base row needed to be set. It takes this special metal hanger that is installed first then the siding sits on it. The worker was having quite the time finding a way to run a level around the base as in some corners there was a 2” difference over 10’! He spent a lot of time getting it set in the correct spot. The first piece of horizontal siding went up on Friday. I was able to leave the puppy in the yard so I could go work on the sickle bar mower. It looks like they just need to get the horizontal siding on and then caulked and they will be done with the siding job.

There is a piece at the outer edge that pushes the outside edge back into the middle. It got bent so I wanted to take it off, beat on it with a hammer and decide if it needed anything else. I was working on it with the sickle bar in the upright position and it was slow going. I opted to lower the sickle bar to make it easier to work on. I undid the bar holding it upright then just dropped the bar. There is this chain mechanism that usually catches it. Upon later reflection that chain only engages when the three point hitch is elevated which it was not. I dropped that bar directly on top of my right foot. To say that I may have said a few choice words after a solid howl is an understatement. As soon as I could catch my breath I went on a verbal rampage against the sickle bar. It took about 15 minutes before I could move or feel my toes. Once I could move my toes I was pretty sure I had broken my foot, the pain and swelling were getting localized.

I had called Annmarie, she was still at work, to come get me. I considered driving but it was my right foot and I could not walk. My car is a standard and I was certain I could not drive with my right foot. I made such a raucous that the siding guy hollered out and asked if I needed any help. I yelled back that I had just broken my foot but was fine. He went back to siding. I ended up in the ER, I broke a metatarsal in my right foot. I am on crutches, wearing a boot and am 100% non-weight bearing for the next eight weeks! This totally sucks! Luckily, Mr Rainman is chugging away at the hay. He has another 300 bales done and two more fields cut. There is hope that he can be done with haying by the end of the week. Once the haying is done then the gazebo is the next project. I have a new throttle cable coming for the compactor and once that is installed we can prep the pad for the gazebo.

This is really going to slow down my summer. The hardest part of the whole thing is just sitting around. I hate it already and its only been two days!