3R Home and Barn Project

[rox]

Originally Posted by MtnViewRanch

I should have bought a stack of the solar control valves, I have finally started to plant some trees and it is currently taking about 90 minutes to get them watered, I really need to get the automatic watering in asap. I am going to need them spaced out over a 3/4 mile run of pipe. I simply will not have the time to get everything watered once I get my next little grove planted, and am expecting to plant 15-20 groves.

MtnViewRanch,
You didn't say what kind of trees you are planting and you are planting 15 to 20 groves so I did a search of Topics started by you to look at your project and didn't find one, could i have misssed it? If you have not started a Topic on the overall project I would be very interested to read about it. What type of trees are you planting? I can see you sure moved a heck of a lot of dirt. You obviously have hours and hours into your project. Didn't mean to hijack this thread juut hoping MntView would start a thread.

3RR back to your topic now

[3RRL]

lol ... Hey Rox, you misspelled my initials!!!
Anyway, to continue the story we are now spreading compost over the areas where we will plant grass. It's a perennial rye, and Kentucky bluegrass mixture instead of all Fesque. I wanted to plant Bermuda for hardiness, but it goes dormant in the Winters here. Maybe I'll overseed next Spring?
You can see the some of the rock walls in the following photos and the start of feathering the compost out with the Kama fel bucket. We got 15 yards delivered for a start. That last rock wall is the longest of the three. It's about a hundred feet long. The smoothed area in between that looks like a driveway will also be grass later. It is at the level of the front entrance steps.

[3RRL]

So now Loretta got her landscape rake attached to her Jinma and started to work the compost into the loose topsoil. She did this to both areas ... the RV parking area and also over the septic leach field. Heck, she's got 75 hours on it already! We've decided to wait with the grass in front of the main entrance steps at least until we finish some more work there. We are intending to wrap the deck completely around, connecting the breezeway to the front porch. The deck will wrap around 100%. So there will be some post hole drilling and construction in that area yet.



She spent several hours on her Jinma doing both areas and got it done. We sprinkled on the seeds and some starter fertilizer and soaked the areas with sprinklers. We have been running the sprinklers everyday to keep the area moist since it is still in the high 90's during mid day. Loretta also got a couple of decorating plants inside a planter. When all this takes off, we sill start installing the underground sprinklers. Right now it is a small pain to move those sprinklers around, but it should only be for a short time before we start getting into the rainy season. There are some other things we need to get done before we focus on the sprinkler systems. I remember having to mow my Pop's lawn every weekend with a push hand reel mower and he watered everything by hand! So I know we can grow grass like this for the time being.

[3RRL]

Some of you have been asking about the barn and shop progress.
Well, now that we have a lot of those boxes moved into the home, I could start moving and placing the heavy machinery. The lighting is real good during the day, even with none of the fluorescent lights on. This is only from the sky lights.



I still have to turn the milling machine heads up, level ALL the machines and then tram the heads and tables in. There are also more benches to bring bring up from South Camp yet. Shees, I have 7 of them down there! Plus a couple more at the Rancho house! At least I can get an idea of the shop layout separating it from the tractor maintenance area. I still have to run the 3phase 220v system and also the air system. So there is still a lot to do in here. Speaking of maintenance, there are some fluid and filter changes coming up.
It'll be nice to do all this under cover and on a nice flat concrete floor for a change.

[EddieWalker]

Rob,

It's funny how you've been talking about all your tools and equipment all along, but I never really realized just how much that really is. WOW, you got allot of great stuff!!!!!!!!

Thanks for the update. I'm looking forward to seeing it all up and running.

Eddie

[tommu56]

Rob all your mills look like they drank too much beer!

Kidding aside be careful with the sparks on the plastic over the insulation.
We went to a fire call one night and a guys garage burnt up because he was grinding on his street rod and the sparks had gotten to the plastic.

tom

[firefighter9208]

I've seen where guys take the 26ga. metal siding and place it on the walls inside the shop to protect the plastic insulation. Repels sparks, makes it easier to wash out, and it's easy to clean. You can spray it off with a water hose. Just run it up to about 6'.

Chris

[3RRL]

Thanks for the reminder. My plan was to cover up the entire wall (lower section) in the shop area before making a chip. But first I need to run all the electrical and air lines. I still don't have everything in the new shop yet, so I don't even know if this layout is what I'll end up with. I've got that 4' x 8' layout/breakdown table that I need to centrally locate for easy access when working on the machines. That will take up a lot of space. It has to be located so I can drive the forklift around it ... to get to it for the giant molds I work on.

[RedDirt]

Rob,
Don't know how you feel about getting oil and grease on that virgin concrete floor. I saved our new appliance cardboard boxes, slit them to lay flat and drive over them when I am doing mechanic work. The refrigerator size is great for the tractor. It has saved a lot of oil spots. I'm just running out of the spares now but I'm sure my local appliance store will save me a couple of theirs if I ask.

I throw them away when they get too soiled (cover my trash load trailer when I go to the dump). Stacking a few flat in my plywood bin take hardly any storage space.

[tommu56]

Rob just hang some depends under tractor that way they go with you and dont leak oil on your grass

tommu