3R Home and Barn Project

[studor]

I was looking for something that will hold on the bark too, so it looks like it will serve both purposes, right?

Rob -- the West System stuff can be mixed thick or thin with various additives they make -- the thin stuff can be painted on and will glue the bark in place which is why I was suggesting using it as a finish. You can add a dulling compound if you do not like the high gloss finish (which I do not) or lightly sand the finish or steel wool it to take away the "shiny". The one thing that would worry me is if the table is completely coated in finish, will changes in temperature cause the moisture inside to crack any finish and the table? -- I do not know the answer but it would be a good question to ask the manufacturer.
Because it is epoxy it is very strong and can be used as just glue for a number of things -- it will reinforce the joint of the two sides for example
regards

[3RRL]

OK then, I'll search for a source and order some.
Thanks for the compliments and valuable information guys ... have a safe 4th too. I'll post some photos in a couple weeks after I make more progress.

It's been pretty hot up here, getting in the 100'sF.
Lucky for me the insulated barn is a little cooler where I do my work. In front of the barn is Loretta's garden and where the tractors are parked. Here are some photos of the barn and the solar arrays behind it. I did a lot of clean up around the solar area removing a bunch of trees there.

[3RRL]

My 13 year old Wes is spending part of his Summer vacation with us.
He likes playing with the chickens and also helps Loretta in her garden.



Here are a couple more pictures of her garden area and the orchard.
One of them shows the water controls for the both orchard and rows. It sure makes it a lot easier to water now.
Rob-

[MtnViewRanch]

Rob, place is looking great as always, you have been very busy. You have me scared though, I don't see the grader blade, you haven't cut it up for the steel have you? Did you ever use it again after the first time, or was once enough for you? Sorry to hear about the high temps, had hoped that you were going to get a milder summer like some of the people up north. We have only started to get the hot days down here.

Keep up the good work. but you need to keep in touch here, we start to get worried about you guys.

[3RRL]

Thanks Brian,
I apologize for not being as active as I was.
My connection up here is so crummy that it's frustrating at times. I just don't have all day to wait for threads and photos to load up. I sure wish I could get a faster connection.
Oh, don't worry about your grader blade ... it's fine.
I used it one more time after the road firmed up a bit more. It does a good job and is a fine road implement. But as I said before, I get very similar results with my trusty box blade. Plus, my boxblade is a lot handier for other chores around the place, so I leave it on almost all the time. You should see the road I cut into the side hill on the South side of the home. It leads down to the meadow connecting the trail on the North now. I'll try to get some photos later.
Rob-

[MtnViewRanch]

No problem Rob, all of us have just gotten use to you being on TBN a lot more than you have been lately. We start to worry when we have not heard from you for awhile. But all of us need to realize that you have moved and some of the conveniences that we get use to are not available at more remote locations.

Good luck with all of your projects, looks like you have one or two more than usual.

[3RRL]

Here is the story on building that service road down to the meadow behind the home.
We needed a way to get our tools down there so we could install the irrigation on that hillside. It is a very steep slope indeed. I started cutting in the road from the South side of the home where the slope was more gentle.
Rob-

[3RRL]

My plan was to allow an entrance onto the steep hillside and also continue the road down the hill to the end of the meadow. There, it connects to a road I cut in last year on the North side near the small ravine. Even on the more gentle slope I had to cut quite a bit of dirt and decomposed gravel away to cut the slope out of the hillside.
The farther down I got, the steeper the hill got.



I used my trusty box blade bulldozing in reverse to cut the slope out of the hillside.
I used the "scalloping technique" like a bulldozer uses to cut roads into hillsides, except I was doing it in reverse going backwards. I was able to tilt the boxblade and cut off the high side so my tires would end up on more level, less sloped earth. Not only that, but the area I cut was now clean and fresh (more solid) than the spooky hillside slope. It took many passes to cut like that but it was a safe way to keep my tractor off a steep side slope and not tip over. I pushed dirt from the high side down to the low side and compacted as I drove over the loose dirt.

[3RRL]

I had to use the rippers many times to loosen the hard decomposed granite and pull out rocks.
Once a part of the road was level enough, I turned around and used the FEL to loosen the higher banks I needed to cut away. I would dump buckets on the low side. I could do this because my tires were on the level part of the road now. Then to continue further down, I would turn around and bulldoze with the boxblade again. It was tilted pretty good on the first cuts and I would get it closer to level as the road got closer to level. The last photos are of the road dissapearing into the meadow below.

[PAGUY]

Rob - you sure do a lot of hard work around there but I hope you're having fun at the same time. The place is getting better looking all the time. Like what you did around the solar panels. I thought the trees would hinder their performance. The new road building is cool. Access to all parts of your property is important especially in case of an emergency.

Now I feel better. Got my fill of Rob's and Loretta's life at the ranch.

Keep up the god work.