An Old Goat Ranch in Texas

[terry.dinerman]

"...a long run...."!!???

.... just wait till you see the pics of the conduit laid out in my next installment ... BOY HOWDY is it a long run ...

BUT .... The Commissariat of Power has been very good about sending the District Field Engineer out to my property for a site visit, (two times so far) and I am on first name basis with the Area Engineer .... just a phone call away ...

"Mid-South" has been VERY supportive of an owner builder ... and I am currently waiting for an approval of my route and materials while I am at sea ... I just gave the Engineer the combo to my lock ... very laid back ...

Since I am not a "Rush Job" and made it clear to the Engineers that I was all about doing the job right the first time, I get good solid advice from some fairly experienced folks with GREAT credentials ...

It seems that they have a sense of "Customer Service" that a lot of other utilities believe is a relic of the past, and I can find few complaints with the process so far, except for the COST ...

I am going to have to earn a lot of frequent flier miles to pay this one off ...

Thanks for your advice, and BE SAFE ...

T

 

[terry.dinerman]

The Great Underground Power Massacree 2

"The Most Dangerous Man In the World vs. "The Underground" - The Supply Run

Right - When we last left our Hero .....

With all consultations made, plans laid, and a Bill of Materials whipped up, I had gone as far as I could on paper and it was now time to locate supplies ...

You would think that 2" Sch 40 PVC conduit wouldn't be quite as popular as it is ... I phoned every large electrical house within 50 miles of Houston, and for whatever reasons NOBODY had any 2" in 40 foot joints ...

'No way, no how ... 10 foot joints or nothing ..."

I was equally surprised at finding the best price on the 2" pipe at Lowe's ... and that the local Big Supply House would not match them ...

So ... I cleaned out every stick of 2" x 10 foot Lowe's had, and bought the rest of the pipe and all the long sweep 90sｴ from the Big Supply House ...

The short length of 3" pipe and elbows had to come from the Big Supply House as did the primer and glue.

I got the quart cans of glue in anticipation of around 100 joints ... <sigh>

Lowe's also had the best deals on a 200 amp feed-thru panel, breakers and a cool little outdoor outlet box with two duplex GFCI outlets pre-installed ... a short length of rain-tight flex conduit, assorted PVC connectors and nuts, a ground rod, clamps, #4 ground wire, a couple of rolls of masons line, big log of PVC tape, and an 8x8 post to mount it all on rounded out the supply list.

It pays to "Let Your Fingers Do The Walking"....the big stuff was available in abundance at the Big Supply House, the rest on the shelves at Lowe's...

By shopping around, I saved enough to pay for the box, breakers, outlets and sundries....

So ... lighter by $1200 but with a light heart, I loaded up the trailer and headed to north to The Ranch.

I stopped at "Bubba's Bait" for a big lead sinker ... And a "Mule Drown-der" Dr. Pepper for the road ...

Be Safe ... :thumbsup:

Next Installment:

"Layin it all on the LINE..."

 

[texasjohn]

Terry, you have me hanging on every word....keep letting us know how things are going. Prayers for your son. I, too, have done some traveling but not as much as you. It is amazing how different things are in Texas compared to some of the places you and I have been.

 

[wedge40]

I love the title of this thread.
It makes think of some sort or retreat for old b**chy women.

Wedge

 

[terry.dinerman]

, for

Terry, you have me hanging on every word....keep letting us know how things are going. Prayers for your son. I, too, have done some traveling but not as much as you. It is amazing how different things are in Texas compared to some of the places you and I have been.

Texasjohn-

Glad you enjoy my ramblings and THANKS for the prayers! Every prayer helps, as Ben continues to defy his physicians....

Yeah...it's a wide world out there..."High Pay, Travel, Adventure"...

I want to fall down and kiss the dirt every time I get off the airplane in Houston...but these days security would think I was preparing for some kind of mischief....

It's the thought that counts....

Be Safe!

Terry

 

[terry.dinerman]

I love the title of this thread.
It makes think of some sort or retreat for old b**chy women.

Wedge

Well....there IS one old buck and a pretty nice doe...

It was almost named "The Old Goat's Ranch"....

 

[terry.dinerman]

The Great Underground Power Massacree Chapter 3

"Layin it all on the line"
or:
"The Most Dangerous Man In The World v. The Commissariat of Power"

So When we last left Our Hero, he was sucking on a Dr. Pepper and headed inland to The Old Goat Ranch, with a trailer full of conduit and electrical supplies in tow.

After checking in at the tepee of my MIL and FIL (mother-in-law and father-in-law) and after making the traditional offering of burnt flesh and pickled vegetables from their favorite Bar-B-Que in Navasota, I set up camp in their Guest House, a comfortable room and bath that serves as the center of their garage.

After a life of High Pay, Travel and Adventure, my idea of camping now revolves around air conditioning, soap, lots of hot water and satellite TV ... I also usually try to get a hot tub somewhere in the mix too, but, there's a war on and sacrifices must be made ...

I drove the mile down the road to the Ranch to drop off the trailer, check the place over and report in to Good Neighbor Joe.

Now, Joe is the fellow who sold us the place subdivided his land and gave us the best part of the undeveloped portion and has since become a True Friend and Mentor in all things Country, Philosophy, War and Peace, and Life In General .... he is:

" ... full of information vegetable, animal, and mineral, quote the fights historical from Marathon to Waterloo, in order categorical; he is very well acquainted, too, with matters mathematical, he understands equations, both the simple and quadratical ... "

... and best of all, he is happy to be an Un-indicted Co-Conspirator whenever needed ...

I can sit and listen to Joe for hours ...

He knows just about everybody around those parts, and with 20 or so tough years in general contracting and a few happy ones as a Mud Marine, his advice is hard-won and mostly SPOT ON regarding most anything he takes the time to advise a person on ...

Joe has been schooling me on the local intricacies of Underground Power from the start of this part of the project and is DYING to get his hands dirty ...

BUT -

... it seems that today he has a problem with goat-weed ... it's taking over his pastures and his Pasture Posse is finding it tough to pick out a square meal ...

He would have taken care of it himself, but his tractor is on the fritz so I got myself a MISSION ... and any problem that can be cured by a little seat-time can't be too bad ...

Now, the nature of my job means working on TOGR (The Old Goat Ranch) is interrupted by my trips abroad for a month at a time, ( that pesky Working for a Living stuff ) so I usually start in with a little mowing, general maintenance and cleanup, ANYWAY ... and Bro Joe keeps a close eye on the place during slack tide, so I have no problem with uninvited two legged guests ...

It's easy for Joe to figure out who is who ...

Anyone who HAS permission to be there already has the combo to the gate, and if they forget it, they can find Joe or just go down to the Jubilee Feed Store / Tire Service and Hair Care Emporium or Garcia's Cafe in town and ask anyone ...

Anyone who does NOT have permission to be there will have to deal with a Marine and let it be said that I do not envy anyone who chooses THAT path. Tho he is slight of stature and gentle-natured, Joe ain't a man to be toyed with ...

So - I tinkered with the Little Green Machine, fired it up, hooked up the mower and got down to work ... nothing quite beats an afternoon mowing 10 acres in 105 degree heat ...

But, with plenty of ice water in the cooler and frequent breaks under the trees to enjoy it, I managed to clean things up on his property and mine, the Pasture Posse was rewarded for enduring the noise and being chased around by the tractor with a double helping of snickerdoodles and Joe had one less thing to worry about.

Days start early at TOGR ... But since my days at sea start at 04:30, I feel like a louse when I sleep in until 05:00 ...

Getting up early grants me the advantages of being able to see the star-filled sky just before dawn, having a light breakfast / coffee and a nice visit with MIL and FIL who are also early risers, you can get work started during the coolest part of the day and still get almost a full days work in before the brutal heat of the afternoon makes it just too harsh to really enjoy what I am doing ...

It was nice getting out to TOGR ... the smell of yesterdays cut grass was still hanging heavy in the moist air and I would rather smell that than the best French perfume.

With the mowing completed, I had a clear field to start marking out the Utility Corridor ...

During our initial Planning, Precious Bride and I started off by making a detailed scaled map of the property and recording all features and changes made on it as a continual record of everything above and underground, for our reference and the use of our contractors and descendants.

I have seen to many instances of folks plowing up wires or pipes or falling into cisterns or septic tanks, clobbering well heads or wrecking septic fields that they had no idea were there, and the number of horror stories I read on TBNet just reinforces the need to keep good records right from the start.

All the utilities will run down the driveway which runs tight along the southern fence-line, starting at the main gate, where the local Water Dude terminated his main and the Commissariat of Power is due to set a pole for the road crossing needed to bring power on to the land.

In this way, all utilities will be grouped in a well marked and easily accessible lane to ease initial installation and future repairs or upgrades and any future subdivision of the land will be made that much easier with the availability of power, water and communications running right past each potential parcel.

Tho I will mark the lines as I bury them with "repurposed aluminum underground utility markers" (crushed aluminum cans) I will also plot the location of the ditches on the Master Plan at 100 foot intervals ... it's too easy to mark out stations every 100 feet along the south fence where I will run a tape out to the middle of each ditch and record the distance for post-eri-ority ...

There will be separate ditches for the primary power, which needs to be 5 feet deep, the water main which will go 3 feet deep, a service power line for lights along the driveway and a gate opener plus a spare conduit or two for future cable or fiber-optic communications lines which can rest 2 feet deep.

If you are going to do it yourself, and have a trencher rented for a day ANYWAY ... well, I figure it would be a waste not put in everything I can think of.

So I broke out the measuring tools, stakes and flagging tape ....

Mindful that the Commissariat of Power requires at least a 10 foot clearance between the power ditch and the property line, I marked out the intended routes for the Primary Power along the north margin of the driveway, then the Water Main, leaving enough room for the secondary power and comms lines between the Water Main and the interior pasture fences.

Staked / flagged it all out, made some notes on the Master Plan and called it GOOD.

Now on to the next issue ...

A 90 degree change in direction is going to be required to run the utilities into the house site from the Utility Corridor, and Engineer Dude gave me two options regarding the Primary Power:

• He could have the installation crew set a junction box at the corner and make three cable pulls.

or:

• I could make a long sweeping 90 degree curve in the 2" PVC conduit so only two pulls would be required to reach the transformer pad.

Since there is going to be one junction in the line about half-way along anyway, to allow the Commissariat to use up short lengths of wire and provide a spot for a second transformer to potentially serve additional houses that might be placed there in the future I decided to make a long sweep and avoid one additional box and connection point.

Here is where the Texas heat came to my aid ...

I glued up enough pipe to make the curve, about 60 feet in all, and set it out on the driveway in the sun to bake ...

It got up to 103 that afternoon, so the gray PVC soaked up the sun and was soon limber enough for me to hand-drag it around a t-post I drove in for the purpose .. it worked like a charm I soon had a 25 foot radius 90 degree elbow, complete with pulling string all wrapped up and ready to go

The Power Dudes should have no problem pulling cable through that but just to be on the safe side, I will get Engineer Dude out to approve of my work before I schedule anything ... we could always put in another junction if he doesn't like it ...

I finished out the day by making all the tube turns / risers ... four from two inch pipe for the Primary and two from three inch for the Secondary line to the main disconnect ... the impressive length of those risers made that deep ditch look like a mighty good way to keep anyone from hooking that line and since I think it will be running 13kva or so, that is a GOOD THING.

[FONT=&quot]NEXT: Day 2
[/FONT]

 

[terry.dinerman]

The next day started off with a beautiful, cool foggy morning ... of course, anyone from Texas knows the nicer the summer morning, the hotter the afternoon is going to be so I put a good foot under me and got started ...

To run the main line, about 800 feet or so, I decided to use my pickup as a "Lay Barge" and assemble the line as I drove ahead 10 feet at a time.

I loaded up a bunch of pipe, used the tailgate as a workbench and my tractor as the anchor for the spool of pulling string that I was lacing thru each section of conduit with a 1 pound lead sinker as I assembled it.

Tho I have blown pulling strings thru some pretty long stretches of HDPE conduit, I have found that the more joints in a line, the greater chance of a hang-up so I did this run piece-by-piece.

I pulled up a stick of conduit from the pile, ran the string, cleaned, primed, glued, drove ahead ... pick, string, clean, prime, glue, drive ahead ... repeat as necessary ...

I was making some good progress, but it was getting to be a PITA climbing in and out of the truck every 10 feet and as the temperature climbed, the ice water supply was starting to look a little low by about 10:30 or so ...

... Then the Marine landed ...

Good Neighbor Joe spotted my gate open and tried to sneak up on my in his Prius ... in "Stealth Mode" you can hardly hear that darned thing rolling on my sandy driveway and I guess I am still a little deaf from living too close to the artillery .... so Joe got the drop on me ... and scared the BEJAYZUS out of me with the horn .... I have GOT to remember to order some gravel ...

Anyway, heat or no heat, Joe would not be talked out of helping me, so he put on his working hands and threw down.

Once we got the rhythm down, that pipe went together in no time at all, and by high noon, we had the main line strung out and capped.

Now, I am all about being self-reliant, but nothing beats a helping hand now and then .... Good work with Good Friends ...

I also highly recommend having a Marine or two around at ALL times ... you never know when one will come in handy and like a good pistol, it is better to have one and not need him, than need one and not have him ...

With this part of the work done, Joe and I parted ways ... he to complete some errands and me to clean up for lunch with MIL and FIL. I took a siesta thru the heat of the day ... I believe it hit 107, so waiting till late afternoon to continue was just the sensible thing to do ...

It was still pretty warmish when I got back out to TOGR around 4 that afternoon ... still WAY hot, but when compared to the oppressive humidity of the Gulf Coast, the dry heat of Central Texas is a cake-walk ...

The finishing touches that afternoon included setting out the tube-turns and capping all of the open ends of the pipes with heavy plastic and electrical tape to keep critters and moisture out while I await final approval for the route and materials and start digging the ditches

That was a good day's work ... a tip of the Fedora and a cheap cigar to Good Neighbor Joe. HOO-rah !

 

[terry.dinerman]

I slept the sleep of full babies and old dogs that night ... woke up refreshed and content breakfast with MIL and FIL was a leisurely one, and I wandered out of the house about 7 to see what I could accomplish ... or what mischief I could get into ...

I had already set the Power Pole once I laid out the route for the conduit, so I decided today I would hang the electrical boxes and wire up what I could.

The Commissariat of Power provided their own meter can, which I picked up at their yard on my way thru Navasota ... I already had a 200 amp feed thru panel to act as the Main Disconnect and the assorted breakers to power an RV hookup, the Barn and some GFIC outlets.

But now that the boxes were laying out on my tailgate, I noticed that the PVC fittings I had bought were too large for the knockouts on the back of the meter can ... oh well ... since it was still relatively cool I decided to at least drive the ground rod

I have a VERY heavy post-pounder ... I made it years ago out of a piece of oil-well drill stem about 4 feet long with a 3 ID ...

... it probably weighs about 60 pounds but sinks t-posts into anything but solid rock like it was driving them into marshmallows ... it was not very long before the ground rod was in place and I had the ground wire clamped and run halfway up the pole.

I am going to have to give that post driver up eventually ... every time I use that sucker I am reminded the next day of how many years it has been since I was 18 ... but ... it sure does the job RIGHT NOW ...

I went back to MIL and FIL's and did a little "Yellow Pages Recon" and found an electrical supply house in Huntsville ... not too far away ... and tho the Jubilee Feed Store / Tire Service and Hair Care Emporium has a remarkable selection of all sorts of building supplies, I doubted they would have a 2ｽ" dia x 10" galvanized conduit nipple.

I STILL CHECKED on the way past, tho ... I have seen odder things on their shelves but it was to no avail ... they couldn't even find a piece of pipe that size in their scrap pile to thread ... oh well ...

Now MIL and FIL and TOGR are far enough away from "Town" ( with a Big T) and the "Big Stores" (with a Big "B") that you don't just up and take oof on a ride like that without checking to see if anybody needs something ... MIL and FIL gave me a list ... Good Neighbor Joe was already out and about ... so having fulfilled my commitment to Good Manners, Common Sense, and Neighbor-li-ness, I headed to Huntsville.

I live for these rides, because for me at least, this is the part Texas that I dream about ...

Town (with a small T) itself dates back to just before the Texas Revolution, and is a nice quirky mix of old and new, brick and steel, wood and stone ... once out of town, you pass thru gently rolling countryside, dense woods broken by wide open expanses both fenced and unfenced, and that day, a lot of the ranches were taking a cutting of hay, so the round bales dotted the pastures in orderly rows and here and there the balers were still working, adding that wonderful perfume of fresh hay to the air ...

... this was a "window down - radio up" sort of ride ... the BEST kind ...

This part of Texas was settled in the early days of the Colonial period, so the occasional old cemetery can be found if you watch for the road signs and I am told by "Folks Who Know" that a few colonial or Republic era ruins can even be found along the route ... I will have to look for them someday ... there are some sagging old barns and sheds from the 20's and 30's quietly deteriorating ... they are so far past their "Use By" date that the only thing holding them up is the rust from the corrugated tin ... some magnificent new homes and farm buildings on obviously old, well-loved and carefully tended land ... a movable feast for someone starved for a month at a time for something to look at besides the ocean ....

Most of the trip to Huntsville passed in this state of reverie ....

As soon as I was in range, I shared my euphoria with Precious Bride via cellphone, she was in her office at work, faithfully slaving away, balancing the books for the Big Multi-National Corporate Giant ... you might think it cruel of me to taunt her with such visions, but she considers it a guilty pleasure and a small victory when she can enjoy a good road trip even vicariously ... it gives her a few mellow moments during her hectic workday, which keeps her from tipping over the outhouses and shaving the dogs of all those fine folks who screw up the books she has to tend ...

BTW - She is an AWSOME bookekeeper - I gave up keeping the communal checkbook about 20 minutes after we met but that is ANOTHER STORY ...

So -

As luck would have it, the electrical house I chose was tended by some fine folks, very supportive of an Owner / Builder and they got a good laugh as I explained my self-appointed status as "The Most Dangerous Man in the World" ... they apparently see lot of folks like me that don't KNOW they are TMDMITW, which makes them even MORE dangerous than me ...

The manager even took me on a tour of the warehouse, which was VERY well stocked as this company does a lot of business with the Texas Dept of Criminal Justice prisons in the area.

And a nice touch was finding that two of the staff are licensed electricians who would be very pleased to make a little butter-and-egg money visiting my site to inspect my work or bid on work I might need done and all at popular prices

... You just have to talk to folks ... I will do business with these people again ... I barely spent a $20 bill but got a million dollars worth of service ...

With my business to the Big Electrical House concluded, I drove on thru Huntsville and visited two of the equipment rental companies there ... It looks like renting a trencher capable of a 5 foot deep cut will be a little bit of a trick, as most of the units are out on projects at this time.

The smaller rigs are plentiful and rent cheaper than the Big Box stores, but I will have to plan well in advance if I want to trench the deep cut, and have a Plan B in case all the machines are tied up there are several owner-operators with back hoes around Grimes County, so it shouldn't be to much of a problem should all the big trenchers be tied up ... I will give Dirt Guru first shot ...

My route thru town finally took me past the grocery store, where I filled MIL and FIL's order, got a nice big cup of gourmet coffee and even got a FLU SHOT fer cryin out loud ... you have to love a modern BIG Grocery Store ...they stock everything from Birth to Death and anything in between ...

Fortified by the coffee, I left Town, taking another route back to TOGR, also thru the backroads ... when you get off the main highway around here, you are on roads that might have had their origin in the cart paths of the Republic ... they wind and twist and present new surprises around every bend ... and even if you travel them frequently, you find the farms and ranches are always changing, and it is surprising how quickly you will begin to recognize those changes ... when time is short I must take the Straightest Path but when I can meander,I much prefer the backroads ...

I dropped off the groceries on my way past MIL and FIL's ... one of my most endearing traits to both MIL and Precious Bride is my ability to carry 10 plastic grocery bags in one trip and reach all the high shelves in the kitchen without a ladder ...

... a fella has to go with his strengths ...

Back out on TOGR I had the boxes mounted, popped the breakers in, got the ground wire hooked up and the GFCI outlets wired in just a little while ... nice getting the right parts ... I sealed up the meter can with a plastic bag and duct tape to keep the hornets / bats out ...

Later, when the power and water is in and a little of the dust settles, I will put a small peaked tin roof on the top of the pole and rig some lights under it as a sort of electrical "Tiki Hut" ... I don't like the harsh glare of the usual mercury vapour or halogen lights neither does Precious Bride

I just need a little light so I can get a good silhouette to aim at .. I am an "Iron Sights" kind of guy ... I think Precious Bride prefers the night vision goggles or that pink anodized Gen 4 scope with the sequins ...

With the pole done, this was as far as this project was able to go ... it is now up to the Commissariat of Power to get the road crossing settled with the Texas Department of Transportation ...

<Darth Vader Music in >

!TEXDOT!

<Darth Vader Music out>

For those TBN-ers not lucky enough to live in Texas, we have a saying here that runs "...if the TEXDOT man comes out of his burrow and sees his shadow, your project will be delayed another 6 weeks..."

I got a bad feeling about this, but ( ... and you know what Dr. Phil says about " ... But ... " ) this is one of those times that things are totally out of my control ... you just cannot be in a rush dealing with TEXDOT ....

When I got back to camp, I found that MIL had whipped up a small feast with the groceries I had carried back from Town, so MIL & FIL and I sat around the fire and feasted, visited, told horrible stories about people not there to defend themselves and in general had a real nice time.

 

[terry.dinerman]

nI got another wonderful nights sleep even tho I woke up with sore shoulders from the post-pounder ... BUT ... I have reached that delicate stage in life where, if I should wake up WITHOUT something hurting, I get nervous that it might be the rally before the END ...

So I washed a couple of aspirin tablets down with the breakfast coffee ... I remember when cold pizza and warm beer was the "Breakfast of Champions" ...

So with time running short before my deployment, I contented myself by spending one last day at TOGR cleaning up the site and doing a little dirt-work... I scratched around on the recently cut interior fenceline right-o-ways and pushed some of the brush that Dirt Guru missed up into the "Brush Fencing" ...

I pulled out dozens of tire-stabber stubs and roots by chain and box-blade ripper, and smoothed things out nicely cut some ditches ... and when it comes time to put in the fence, the cuts will be well-settled by the coming wet seasons rains ... I might scatter some rye grass seed next trip up ...

Wow ... already planning the Next Trip <sigh>

So it was well before noon when, with a heavy heart and lighter wallet, I backed the Little Green Machine back into the barn, locked up and said "Adios" to Good Neighbor Joe and the Pasture Posse, went back to MIL & FIL's to clean up and break camp and by early afternoon I said my goodbyes to them and turned south, heading back to the Coast, to my Precious Bride and the Kids, and my next deployment

For you tourists, one of many nice parts of the ride home is found going south on Hwy 90 and entering the town of Anderson from the north ... you pass some of the most beautiful ranchland, and just about the time you are about to run off the road gawking, the spire of the 1891 vintage Grimes County Courthouse comes into view on top of the hill ... be careful the speed limit drops from 60 to 35 right about there ... Constable Dale will git ya!

Oh yeah, just north of town ( with a small "t" ) you pass the Szymczak ranch .. a real showplace to be sure but I love it mostly for the sign ...

In town you will pass a roadside museum of well-preserved old wooden buildings ... worth a visit .. and I won't tell where you can find the Edsel Collection ... wander around town and you'll bump into it ...

I never KNEW there was a Edsel Wagon...!?
____________________________________________________

Well ... It's almost time for me to head back to Texas and pick up where I left off ...

Apparently the French are on strike again ... so flying Air France thru Paris may be another ADVENTURE ... What can you say about folks who have 600 different kinds of cheese ...

"Every job a MISSION, every meal a FEAST, every paycheck a FORTUNE .... I LOVE MY JOB !!!!"

Till next installment ...

Be Safe!

T