An Old Goat Ranch in Texas

[SirReal63]

Agreed, we would love to bury our future electrical lines but it is cost prohibitive here. It seems grid tied electricity itself may be cost prohibitive.

 

[8N Ren]

Agreed, we would love to bury our future electrical lines but it is cost prohibitive here. It seems grid tied electricity itself may be cost prohibitive.

That's really too bad, when we got ours put in it was actually recommended to trench it, they said it was going to be around 6 weeks faster than if they put poles in. Another plus is I don't have to worry about a tree falling on the line, I'm sure they charge a hefty price for that.

All we had to do was clear the path in the bush, they did the rest.

 

[breadtrk]

They passed an ordinance in Davidson county and Williamson county that all utilities HAVE to be underground. The utilities absorb the costs but in the long run they save.

 

[MossflowerWoods]

Bump...

How's this project going? Hope all is well with Terry & crew...

David

 

[terry.dinerman]

Gentle Readers-

Please excuse the hiatus, Friends.... I have been continuing the work on the project but a close friend of mine, currently discharging his legal obligations to Society as an unwilling guest of the Federal Gummint has been a daily beneficiary of my keyboard time.

Surprisingly enough, if you are a Good Boy, the Federal Boys Club has internet access... tightly monitored of course, but with the way things are these days with the NSA, CIA, FBI, Google, Yahoo, your local High School Principle and everybody else listening in on everything you say or write, what real privacy does anyone have?

The big news on that front is, Bubba says that compared to a few hundred days of combat and several years digging up unexploded ordinance for a living, prison ain't all that bad... In fact, you can drop the soap with no problem if you just don't pick it up...

In between notes to my Bro, I have been more than occupied at work with trying to prepare for the day Ebola comes to visit Equatorial Guinea... A day does not go by when I am not on-line doing one training module or another, sitting thru another conference or filling out endless reports on our preparations.

This is nothing new for me... working in the rougher parts of the world all these years means I have dealt with an assortment of lethal diseases... don't let this latest hoopla make you forget that old friends are still out there: anthrax, bubonic plague, pneumonic plague, Hanta Virus, Marbourg Fever, Lassa Fever, Dengue Fever, Dengue Hemorrhagic Fever, Malaria, the various Flu's, typhus, typhoid, diphtheria, measles, mumps, rubella, pertussis, polio, meningitis, West Nile Virus, SARS, MERS, MERS CoV...

...ultimately plain old diarrhea, pneumonia, food shortages, civil war and slavery are out there killing far more people every day than all the Ebola victims since Ebola was "discovered"....

All that has really changed over the years is the names of the current culprit.... so to paraphrase the famous British slogan:

Keep Calm and Wash Your Hands.
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Summer Time

It's been a glorious summer up at The Ranch... since May, a lot more progress has been made.... I suppose I can begin the list where I left off, with the septic system.

Once the backfill over the tanks and field lines subsided with the help from some rare summer rain, I got out a new toy of mine and got to work landscaping the torn-up yard.

Since The Little Green Giant is not equipped with external hydraulics, and I am loath to spend the money to get a "Power Beyond" kit installed, I have been using a length of heavy chain as the top link of my box blade to provide some "float".... it works to a degree, but is useless when I need to use the rippers or "smear" the ground to fill ruts... This makes my heavy weight box blade a bit of a pain-in-the-*** requiring changing back and forth from flexible to rigid toplinks...

After a bit of net-searching for a discounted Power Beyond kit, I decided to take a chance on one of those "Hydraulink" gizmos... Not meaning to sound like a sales-pitch for these folks, but that toplink widget transformed my boxblade from pain-in-the-*** into a precision earth contouring tool.... what a pleasure to use!

Anyway, subsequent rains now drain off into my catch pond or onto the leach field instead of pooling at the back or sides of the house, and the dirt / caliche driveway is smoother than it has ever been...

This is a Good Tool.

The leach field is now surrounded by railroad ties to keep traffic off, and it's got pampas grass planted all around the perimeter... the plan is to leave the field undisturbed, and covered in native grass / wildflowers... maybe put a beehive or two out there, but otherwise leave it alone... not exactly a nature preserve, but I want to max out the efficiency of the sewage treatment system... the grasses will pull an enormous amount of water out of the leach system...

To jump start the growing things, I ran another leg of the drip irrigation out there, and the grasses are very appreciative of the water, you can watch them plump up each morning when the watering starts and sag progressively as the heat of the day wears on much like their gardener....

The wild-flower seeds packets Precious Bride and I collect throughout the year were scattered amongst the native grasses have also sprouted and are putting on quite a show, some shooting up well above the seed-heads of the grass... I believe I will continue this practice of haunting the "clearance" racks at the big-box stores and feed stores... and naturally, with the nearby water supply, I have a sprinkler set up on a fence post to keep them nice and happy.

The drip irrigation has not, however, done as much good on the trees along the driveway... it seems the oak blight that has been affecting the area for some time is still around, as most of the new trees we planted have turned out pretty sickly, while the few left in their pots in the nursery area and the non-oak plants like the crepe myrtles are thriving... another good reason to only buy trees from the "clearance" rack...

I'll keep watering the stragglers until spring and see how it goes... If the oaks fail, I'll get more crepe myrtles...
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The Pipes, The Pipes are Calling...

The big jobs since our last meeting have been mainly in the plumbing systems... I have managed to complete the gas and domestic water plumbing, except for the final connections to the utilities... I'll rent a small trencher next rotation home and get all the digging done in one go...

For gas, I chose good old-fashioned black iron pipe... I looked at the latest in gas piping technology, plastic jacketed corrugated stainless tubing, and the price was out of control... Over three times the cost of buying a set of threading dies and ALL of the materials to pipe the house in black iron...

Of course, even at the high materials cost, the folks who do this for a living save big in labor costs... in my situation, I need to keep the cash in my pocket whenever possible, so I got to cut, thread and twist a bunch of pipe the old fashioned way... I've done my share of pipe fitting (pipe FIGHTING?) over the years, so the gas pipe went in without too much of a fuss...

The only hiccup was in the tooling, as I have finally found a Harbor Freight tool that sucks... well, PARTIALLY sucks, at least...

The HF electric pipe threading tool was a mixed bag... the power-head was remarkable... it could tear your arm off with the torque, but the cutting dies were made out of cheese... absolutely unusable...

To their credit, the HF folks took the tool back without a question, and I wound up going to the local plumbing supply house and buying a Rigid manual threader head and the 1/2" and 3/4" dies.... after using the little-bitty-cutsey-poo 18 inch handle that came with the ratchet head only long enough to cut and thread a 48 inch long handle on the thing, the threading was no problem at all... I even discovered they make FOAM cutting oil these days... the counter guy tossed me a free can of the stuff... imagine threading pipe without all the zissing and dripping? It pays to bring a box of donuts with you to your suppliers every once in a while...

So I have some pretty good threading tools in my collection now... of course, I hope to NEVER EVER have to use them again, but one never knows, right?

Next was the water supply, and for this I chose PEX...

The PEX piping system is absolutely perfect for my project, as the natural cavities in the walls between the horizontal framing members created built-in chases for the piping and electrics... I only had to drill a very few holes to run all the piping...

I designed the system using the "Home Run" style, where each source of water in the house has its own supply line running unbroken back to a manifold... thus, the most distant tap in the house has no more fittings than the one closest to the manifold... just two... one connection at the manifold and the other at the tap...

In between is unbroken, flexible poly tubing... I built an "unwinder" gizmo to allow me to pull the tubing right off the roll and snake it through the walls without kinking it... the slippery 1/2" poly tubes wrapped spaghetti-like around the corners without a hitch and the nail-on clips made it so easy to finish off, I was able to run all the tubing in the house in a little over 2 days by myself...

All of the plumbers down at the supply house unanimously recommended using the stainless clamp-style fittings over the crimp-ring style and now, after putting in the pipe, I tend to agree... the clamp tool will not release until proper tension is achieved versus the crimp ring tool which requires you to use a "Go-No Go" gauge on each fitting after crimping...

I found only one leak when I pressure tested the system, and this was due to a deep scratch on one leg of a "Tee" rather than a defective clamp... and if you do need to disconnect a fitting, removal of the stainless clamps can be done with a screwdriver, while the crimp rings need a special tool

All-in-all, I am very pleased with PEX... if there is any drawback, I would love to see a UV resistant product that could withstand direct sunlight.

I also included a run of tubing for residential sprinklers... the price of the sprinkler heads is so low, about $8 each, that it would be foolish not to include this important safety feature in any new construction. I estimate the total materials cost for adding 6 sprinklers to the house is around $150... I should recoup that on the first insurance bill...

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Cement Mixer Blues

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bSOn5gQFDpE

Now that I finally knew the locations of the water supply manifolds, I was able to final figure out where to site my water heater... PB and I decided a small shed outside of the mudroom is the best way to get the water heating and treatment equipment out of the way and we gained a nice dressing area in the mudroom in compensation.

Pouring the slab for the shed was not without its drama... such a small slab is not worth hiring a concrete truck so Charles and I dragged my small cement mixer out of its storage place in the weeds back on "Tractor Bling Row" along the back fence...

Its a good little mixer... one of Precious Brides Craigslist finds, so you know we got it cheap... unfortunately the drum is mounted on a swiveling pedestal that is better suited for a plasterer rather than the small concrete jobs I need to do... the machines center of gravity is perilously high, a fact that made itself apparent every time we mixed and tipped another bag of pre-mix.... catastrophe was just around the corner thru the entire job... I finally wound up taking a tie-down strap and tying the drum carriage to the pedestal and just tipping the whole shebang over to dump it.... 18 bags later I had just about had enough of that... I will not use this machine again until I do a "chop and drop" job on the frame and get the **** thing a little closer to the ground...

I got the walls and doors built and installed the next day and it is awaiting my return to Texas next month to get its skin... the same color metal as the rest of the house, all from the scrap pile... the cover sheets the metal company used to protect my kit are more than enough to skin the walls and roof... I just need to order some trim and hang it all up... and I'll still have enough bits and pieces of tin left to make a nice matching dog-house...

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I Like to Move It

Tho I am doing a lot of work in the house solo, Charles my Right Hand has also been busy as the maintenance of the rest of the place... the guy just never stops... Charles kept busy doing some welding on the mower, mowing / weed-eating the Ranch and over at MIL & FIL's house, clearing up downed tree limbs, dragging all the railroad ties out of the bushes and setting them around the leach field, planting the pampas grass and other new plants, pulling all the fence corner posts out of the bushes in prep for the fencing jobs to come and clearing the fence right-of-ways... Charles does not like to be idle, says he seizes up if he moves too slow, and there were days I had to scratch to find enough work to kept him in motion... Charles is one of the Good Ones..

His crowning achievement this last trip was building a cargo pod on my 16' trailer...

I am going to need to start moving a lot of stuff around between the coast and the Ranch.... when I saw the price of covered cargo trailers, and the cost of rentals of trailers or trucks, I decided to build a nice sturdy cover on my existing trailer...

Like most of my projects, it is a mix of new and recycled materials... the frame is all new treated lumber with a skin of galvanized corrugated sheets salvaged off of an old bus barn... when I start towing it around, I am going to put a sign on the back of it declaring it a "Redneck Airstream" and see how long it takes for a photo of it to get to the Interweb....

I like the whole "Pod" moving concept... I will be able to park this contraption at my house on the coast and load it at my leisure, then tow it to the Ranch and unload it at the same pace rent-free...

Once the moving is done, I will have a tool trailer to keep my gear in while I rehab the coastal house for sale, and when that project is done, I foresee an honorable retirement for the pod as a chicken house, or "Poulet Chalet" as Precious Bride likes to call it...

The trailer is a full 8' tall, 15' long and 7.5' wide.... cavernous... a lot more room than the prettier stuff down at the trailer lot... even in consideration of the cost of the new materials and Charles time, this rig is a **** bargain

I'll let you know how that all works out...

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Bits and Pieces

Other minor but important projects included building a heavy wooden cover to protect the septic tank lids and re-setting the slab for the propane tank, which had to be moved to allow access for the septic guy's back-hoe... the weight of the slab was way over what The Little Green Giant could pick up or even drag, so I had to use the same mobile home axle I used to move the containers out to the barn to move the slab... If I can get some wheels under it, that little JD 870 will move it...

As usual, Precious Bride kept watch on the Interweb and located a fine specimen of a Parlor Stove that I picked up for a pittance... tho I had planned to build a small masonry heater, this stove is too pretty to pass up... I can feel the heat on my poor cold feet already... Craigslist has been good to us...

Our more traditional antique hunting has been showing some results as well... Precious Bride and I have been making a weekly pilgrimage to "Bob's Emporium and Fine Junque" over in Pearland for some time now and finally found a side-board suitable for use as a bathroom vanity... we have a beautiful hand-hammered copper sink that will really look fine set in the dark cherry-wood and the hutch portion of the piece is just asking to have a mirrored cabinet door built for it... part of our eclectic decorating style (whatever junk fits) is using re-purposed furniture for as much cabinetry as possible... Bob has a great eye for well-built antique furniture and doesn't charge as if the stuff was going into a museum... our motto:

Fine Junque at Popular Prices...

I have been storing up all sorts of vintage doors, decorative bits and pieces and distressed wood in anticipation of the finishing work... having all my woodworking machines set up in the Great Room is going to make the cabinetry work a pleasure...


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Sudden Freedom, Speed Bumps and Spare Change

I suppose the only speed bump over the last few months was having to spend my discretionary funds on emergency vehicle repairs and unplanned expenses...

Just when I had my eye on a nice new shotgun, (It was Dove season, after all...) Bubba got himself released to a "Half-Way" unit and needed a few bucks to get established.... then my poor old truck decided to need some cooling system work and a new pair of tires...

My discretionary funds quickly dwindled down to me and Precious Bride having to go digging thru the ashtray before ordering up a pair of "Foot Long Cheese Coneys" and "Route 44 Lime Slushes"...

...but when you come down to the finish line, it's fine by me having just enough money to stick a few shells in with my old rusty-trusty bang-stick, keep on building some dreams, help out a friend, and snuggle up with my Precious Bride in my reliable old beat-up truck for some fine dining down at the Sonic...

Life is Good...
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Of Mice and Men

So there you have it as I have said so many times before, this project is like a mouse eating an elephant... the only way it will work is one small bite at a time...

Repeat if necessary...

Thanks again for checking back, Gentle Reader, and as ever,

BE CAREFUL OUT THERE

See you at The Old Goat Ranch...

Terry

 

[Kyle_in_Tex]

A good read whilst I drink my morning java. extra sweet due to my wife putting her finger in it. wink wink.

Sorry about your chugholes in the road of life. Glad you got so much done. Trailer sounds like a doozey. I once planted a "butterfly wild flower mix" in my small front yard bed and the stuff likes to proliferate so much, I had trouble getting the weeds out of my bermuda grass for years. Now I still have horrible winter weeds.

Glad your truck is patched up. Let me know if you need to borrey a shootgun, I have a spare. I commute daily to College Station.

 

[EddieWalker]

Always fun reading your updates!!!!

Eddie

 

[terry.dinerman]

Hi, Kyle! Glad to be of service!

No worries about those speedbumps, if it's something money will fix, I got that covered... since I am still willing to do stupid stuff for money, I can always find a way to make a few $$ and Precious Bride, being a well-bred Southern Girl, has "rat holes" I don't even know about "justincase"...

My old truck has plenty of life in it yet... and money is all it takes to keep it going... That Hoopty has been a faithful servant and I work it pretty darned hard, so when it needs, it gets...

No worries about the shotgun either, tho I do appreciate the offer... I have a pair of Mossbergs, a nice H&R single and an el-cheepo Rossi on the rack now... and thanks to Obama, enough shells to sink the Bismark... no I don't "NEED" a new addition... old "Rusty" has been mine since 1977 and as reliable as the dawn... if you go out of your way while commuting, it should be to come by and sit down for some sweet tea and talk a little treason...

And of course, when a friend like Bubba needs a few $$, I will find it somewhere, if I have to shake out the couch cushions and haul out the penny-jar... some of his troubles are beyond fixing, but that doesn't mean we give up on the ones we can deal with... so Bubba gets a boost now and then, an ear that will listen and like everyone else, a place to sit down for some sweet tea and talk a little treason...

Be CAREFUL OUT THERE... that commuting is dangerous stuff...

T

 

[terry.dinerman]

Hello to you too, Eddie! And thanks! I stop what I'm doing to read your stuff.... you never disappoint...

Be SAFE, Brother

T

Always fun reading your updates!!!!

Eddie

 

[ultrarunner]

Great update...

Have not been able to view the pictures... each time I click it says unavailable, contact admin.