Big Barn’s Retirement Farm Shop

[ovrszd]

Not sure if everyone feels this way. Hammers are a very personal tool for me. They each have offer a specialty. I have favorites and others that I rarely use.

I might be working on something for Terry and looking around in search for a hammer. She'll point and say there's one. I'll say not that one.

But then, in reverse, I see the same situation when she's working in the kitchen.

 

[Big Barn]

A couple of Toulouse geese showed up at the farm a couple of years ago and decided to stay. This is the first year their chicks survived as the raccoons have gotten to their eggs in the past.



The girls in the office made a shaded area for them complete with a small kid’s wading pool..and they treat it the same way as kids do.

This is a photo taken yesterday.




The 4 chicks are about a month old. It’s amazing how much character they have. During the day they know to stay out of the way of the loaders, cars and trucks. However once the gate closes they’ll take over the sales yard including one of their fave things.....climbing to the top of the bark mulch or soil piles and sliding down!










Anyone here have experiences with this breed?

 

[Big Barn]

What the heck. Might as well make this Animal Day.

View from by kitchen table just now....

 

[ovrszd]

You might try building a nest box. Not being familiar with this particular goose I must ask the obvious question. Do they nest near a pond? Do they use a pond like other geese?

If so, build a nest box out in the pond elevated a foot or so above the water. You'll have to provide nesting material in the box each year. No land animal can rob the nest.

 

[Big Barn]

You might try building a nest box. Not being familiar with this particular goose I must ask the obvious question. Do they nest near a pond? Do they use a pond like other geese?

If so, build a nest box out in the pond elevated a foot or so above the water. You'll have to provide nesting material in the box each year. No land animal can rob the nest.

Thanks for the great suggestion.

However there is no body of water nearby. This year they nested in the back of the bark mulch bin in the top corner of the concrete lock blocks. Last year’s nesting was in a tall patch of grass with disastrous results.

 

[ovrszd]

Thanks for the great suggestion.

However there is no body of water nearby. This year they nested in the back of the bark mulch bin in the top corner of the concrete lock blocks. Last year’s nesting was in a tall patch of grass with disastrous results.

That's thought provoking. A goose that doesn't nest near water!!!
My nest bos is a 14" tall bottom section of a plastic 59 gallon barrel. Used a piece of 1/4" wall 1.66" outside dia pipe about 8ft long. Welded a flat square plate about 14" across, 1/8" thick to the top of the pipe. Then drilled holes to bolt the barrel section to the plate. Used the loader to push it into the pond floor until it was about 1ft above water. About 6ft from shoreline. Canadian Geese love it.

 

[Big Barn]

Most of the weekend was spent replacing the old mixed brand/remnant sized pallet racking I was using in the back room of my shop. One unit had mismatched components and was bolted together making it totally UNuser friendly for shelf height adjustment.



Having the rolling stairs made dismantling (and assembling) easier to do by myself.

Disassembling 9 foot unit with bolted load beams.



This pic shows rolling stairs using bungee cords to help keep rack frame upright.



New units in place. 12foot and 8 foot sections.





My “new” sections of pallet racking were gifted to me as well as my “old” stuff long ago by old friends in the business.


Old units outside shop door ready to be paid forward

 

[bigtiller]

Re: Big Barn痴 Retirement Farm Shop

That's what I did last week also. I found a 6'x6.5'x2' Dewalt on sale so I bought one. 4 shelves that each will hold 2500 lbs. I had all my hobby stock stacked up in a dark dirty corner of another building. It's much nicer to have it next to the welder and table.

 

[Big Barn]

That's what I did last week also. I found a 6'x6.5'x2' Dewalt on sale so I bought one. 4 shelves that each will hold 2500 lbs. I had all my hobby stock stacked up in a dark dirty corner of another building. It's much nicer to have it next to the welder and table.

View attachment 612190View attachment 612191

NICE! In many ways that size rack would work better than what I have.

And perfect for storage for less than full length material for welding projects.

 

[Big Barn]

My friend Bob dropped by this morning with a piece of 1/4” steel plate. He needed to modify the screening capacity of the sluice box he uses for gold mining.

It was to be a trial and error/best guess concept to replace the previous screen which was smaller in area with 1/2” holes.

This was the result. 3/8” holes with “eyeballed” spacing. (My fave version of accuracy )

Plate shown before straightening out curve as a result of multiple punching from one side.



Old mechanical iron worker used. I’ve never run a modern hydraulic unit but apparently it would have been WAY slower.



All in all a little tedious for my liking but fun none the less....

Donuts, (which I found amusingly appropriate ) were involved, but I declined.