The Slow Motion Retirement Plan

[dhagood]

today i had my prospective son-in-law out helping me. he's a hard-working young man and was a great deal of help. we finished the h-brace by the fencing:

and got the gates hung:

things ended up pretty straight, thankfully.

all in all a good day's work.

 

[triangel]

You have an amazing view, is it very windy there being wide open like that?

 

[scaredychicken]

my wife and I just started talking about property again ... in about 5 yrs the youngest of the kids will be on his way to independence. she likes rural (no hwy / road noise, close neighbours at a country mile etc) and that is fine with me. dhagood you have inspired me to start the slow empty-nest / farming / retirement plans. I like the community that we are in, perhaps just moving farther out. there are several other areas that we also like, however I think that being "rooted" in a community works better for us than another relocation.

fence work looks good, the view is spectacular. good progress so far, especially since you are fulfilling your dreams.

 

[dhagood]

@triangel: why yes, the wind has been known to blow in those parts you know, i've lived so long in colorado and montana that seeing people remark on the scenery comes as somewhat of a shock. i don't really think twice about it anymore. if you read much western history, there are lots of references to "wide open spaces" and the like. what i see from our property is the physical embodiment of "wide open spaces", and i'm think i'm going to like it a little more than i already do when i think about that.

@scaredychicken: i had originally figured that watching me stumble around trying to do a reasonable job at building a retirement ranch from bare ground would most be good for a few laughs at my expense. if these posts have helped someone solidify their thinking and starting their own project, so much the better. thanks for that, you made my day.

 

[mojoinco]

Looking good!

One thing I have learned -- you almost can't have a gate opening that is big enough, and all gates need to have a way to hold them open (a T post the gate chain can wrap around works). For single gates this latch works very well: https://s5-us3.ixquick-proxy.com/do...om/catalog/images/Product/medium/08102565.jpg



FYI, Big R (Elizabeth) will match Stockyards pricing on products (if a name brand it has to match; go to Stockyards and get a catalog to leave in your 'struction' vehicle): All Your Ranch Supply Needs! Stockyards Ranch Supply! - Fence Posts & Wire

Many of the major fence brands have helpful fence building pages (looking at them keeps you from watching all those Miami Vice reruns that weren't that good the first time). I'm still learning how to do it right -- the latest is using the ratchet tensioners on the H posts and realizing (after the fact) that I had torqued the posts out of line when I was done. We are slowly changing over to high tension wire (when we run out of twisted pair). Less posts, so less time (not much difference in materials cost -- supposedly more durable).

I found a fun idea on the 'instructables' page that I am using for a 'portable' drill: take an old battery powered drill (preferably 12v), make an adapter cord for a trailer hitch connector (use the 12v hot pin and ground) or use the cigarette lighter outlet. You need a battery housing and wire the cable to the battery leads. I had an old Porter-Cable that has worked great for this. I use it for the gate post hinge bolts & for drilling cross tie pin holes (~3/8" rods -- they work great, fairly cheap).

Fence Resources

A method one of the fence companies had for running your brace wire is to put a large staple horizontally to hold the wire from creeping up (you leave the brace pin sticking out just a bit on the high end), then drop a staple through it so that when you run the wire over it, it allows the wire to slid as you tension it. Seems to help a bit (versus the wire digging into the wood and being more difficult to work the slack out of it). By the way, the ratchet tensioners above don't need to be crimped, their are other web pages that show a looped (almost fishing line-hook knot) works.

A couple of links (I decided I should doa 'refresher' myself):
How to Build the Fence End Brace - Step 4
Constructing High-tensile Wire Fences - Home - Virginia Cooperative Extension

These were a waste of money (they were quick to use though):
Parts & Products

 

[Scooter78]

I just have to say that instructables web site is great for ideas on how to do stuff. I look at it almost as much as I do this site. I just recently down loaded the app to my phone, it handy to have when you need an idea in the field and don't have your main computer. Sorry for the distraction now back to our regularly scheduled thread.

 

[MacLawn]

Dh, here's how it looks from my dining window. See all the green? The woods are interesting, full of all kinds of crits:

 

[Finnster]

@triangel: why yes, the wind has been known to blow in those parts you know, i've lived so long in colorado and montana that seeing people remark on the scenery comes as somewhat of a shock. i don't really think twice about it anymore. if you read much western history, there are lots of references to "wide open spaces" and the like. what i see from our property is the physical embodiment of "wide open spaces", and i'm think i'm going to like it a little more than i already do when i think about that.

@scaredychicken: i had originally figured that watching me stumble around trying to do a reasonable job at building a retirement ranch from bare ground would most be good for a few laughs at my expense. if these posts have helped someone solidify their thinking and starting their own project, so much the better. thanks for that, you made my day.

I was born and raised not that far north of there, and still have lots of family in Denver, Aurora, Centennial, Bennett and Strasburg.

I had the opposite experience moving to the NE. Its was so green and the trees were so tall it was shocking. OTOH I had claustrophobia a bit for a while as you are always penned in by trees. My first real job was only 3 miles from the WTC in NYC, but you wouldn't know it standing as the trees hid everything.

Near my parents house I was able to see Pikes Peak 60 miles to the south, and all the way along the front range and could make out Ft Collins some 60 miles to the north. I know all the towns by just looking at the mountains they are in front of. I still can't figure out which was is north around here as there are no mountains to look at


How did you make out from the Black Forest fire? Must have been pretty smoky around there..


That's the dangerous part about Colorado. The pine trees are pretty, but its their nature to burn.

 

[dhagood]

our property is roughly 40 miles northeast of the black forest. it wasn't smoky out there that i could see.

my sister and brother-in-law got run out of their house in black forest the first day. while the fire got within a couple of hundred feet of their house from the south and the west, they didn't get so much as a scorched pine needle. last year, my parents were forced out of their house because of the colorado springs fire, but again suffered no damage. we've been lucky, so far.

 

[dhagood]

my brother in law and nephew came out last weekend to help, bringing his john deere 2520.

and thus we finally have the requisite tractor content. :thumbsup: i was really impressed with how the little john deere handled everything. it was able to break up the hardened clay pretty easily via a boxblade, and then use the bucket to scoop up the topsoil and organic material. i had thought i would need more horsepower but now i'm not so sure.

we didn't get everything done on the gate, but we got pretty close.

and we're finally open for business.

now if i can just get a dump truck from the quarry before the 4th of july holiday kicks in...