Creating a Workshop & Home

[EddieWalker]

Here's the back of the workshop and back door into the house. I will finish the wall in time, but priorities have me going in a different direction right now.

Again, this is a picture of my collection of hunting trophies. Do not look if this offends you.

 

[Farwell]

Eddie,
Beautiful.
When in California did you ever get a chance to visit the restaurant in Rio Vista that has over 100 trophies, many of them are exotic?
Your collection is the largest I have seen outside of the one in Rio Vista.
Lots of folks here in Michigan have some pretty large collections that I have heard of but have not yet seen.
Farwell

 

[Bird]

That's certainly quite a collection. I've never been to Rio Vista, but the biggest collection I saw in my travels was the International Wildlife Museum in Tucson, AZ.

 

[Farwell]

Bird,
Kinda reminds me of an AFLAC commercial. I love wild life museums. I do not think I will be visiting Arizona in the near future but I am sure that Michigan has a wildlife museum and I plan on putting it on my list of places I would love to visit.
Farwell

 

[OkeeDon]

Eddie, as much as I like to follow your progress, sometimes it's hard to imagine keeping up with you. So, when you have a minor setback like a little pissant leak, it makes you seem human again. However, I don't wish very many of them on you... /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

I'm not a hunter myself. As a city-bred guy I'll probably never kill anything unless it's for survival, and as long as there are supermarkets I'll probably survive. But, I'm absolutely not "offended" by your trophies. If I had been raised in a differnt culture, I'd probably have joined you. It's a legitimate sport, and your trophies are works of art.

 

[AntrimMan]

Eddie, I can understand the leak, it happens. Nasty to walk in to but there you are and it's an easy fix compared to the other obstacles you have hurdled.
Now the electric heater is ok for a single family, I had one 40 gal for years and never ran out even with the girls in line. I'm concerned that additional electric heaters will not have the necessary recovery to supply the demand in the morning when you get all the sites rented. When using campsite showers I have heard the familiar oil burner running behind the wall, no lack of capacity there. I sure hope my sister doesn't vist you, she can kill any water heater.
As for the trophy room, well, I notice you have never been married, no MIL trophy.
Seriously, you and the help have done a bang up job. Not that it means anything but I'm sure impressed.
Thanks so far for all the pics and editorials, they are entertaining and educational.

All the best,
Martin

 

[DannyD]

Eddie,

Being a former hunter and now animal lover/rehab/rescuer........you wall does not offend even me. I have no problem with the LEGAL and humane taking of game animals. What gets my dander up is the mistreatment of animals, circus animals, bad zoos, and humans that think a tiger or lion would make a great pet. Or humans that dont take care of animals they have taken in or bought as pets. Really irks me, to want to slap the snot out of some lousy excuse for human.

I do want to know about one in particular......the spotted deer with the head gear in the second post, what is up with that. Not that I at this time would like to take a wild animal, I would love to travel to the places you have to photograph them.

Looks fine.

 

[tjkadar]

Eddie,

You have a ton of work to do. It looks like you'll be busy for a long time to come with little or no spare time. So, if you wanna ship me those dumbells that sit under your large and varied collection of animal trophies, I'll be happy to babysit them for awhile. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[EddieWalker]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( Eddie,

I do want to know about one in particular......the spotted deer with the head gear in the second post, what is up with that. Not that I at this time would like to take a wild animal, I would love to travel to the places you have to photograph them.

Looks fine. )</font>

Hi Danny,

This is an Axis Deer, also called a Chital Deer. They are native to India and considered Tiger food. There are more of them in Texas now than India, mostly in the Hill Country. I've seen them of a few ranches and also in California at a State Park just north of SF called Point Reyes. One day I saw a herd of over 200 of them.

A few interesting bits of information. They have their spots all there lives. They don't have a mating season and in any given herd there are does in season all year round. Nobody knows why this happens, since it's the only deer species to do this.

The majority of the bucks will grow their antlers several months earlier than other deer species with hard horns by June, though there are several in every herd that will be hard harn at any given time of the year.

They are grazers, prefer open habitat and aren't bothered by the heat or humidity if they have plenty of fresh water available. Extreme cold will kill them after about three days. There are herd animals. For me and my wildlife preserve, they are the perfect animals for my guest to see.

Eddie

 

[FL_Cracker]

Offended, not a chance. But now I see I have more work to do on my collection.

Fantastic collection, you must have a lot of time in all those hunts.

Charles

 

[wushaw]

What??? No BUFF AKA Black Death.. with all those great mounts from the dark continent and no Cape Buffalo /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif A buddy of mine was over there for three months and took many trophys...all with a bow. The storys and video are amazing.
You've got a fine collection /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif

 

[bgoodman]

Saw the workshop/Home for the second time today. Eddie and Steph were getting the drywall taped and bedded. Still an amizing project.

 

[bmac]

Eddie,

Like Don, I am not a hunter. So I've never had any trophies like you have shared with us. I do know that it is not cheap to have game mounted and was wondering if the sawdust and other debris from your workshop will adversely affect your trophies? I know you probably don't have many options right now with the construction, move, etc. going on, but when I looked at the 1st picture with all the heads above the saw, the first thing that came to mind was those beautiful trophies covered with sawdust.

Impressive collection.

 

[jinman]

Eddie, I'm glad to see you made your transitional move on time and are getting settled into your new home. As soon as you catch your breath, I'm sure you will be scrambling to complete the rest of the project. You've made the biggest hurdle in my estimation. I think (hope) it's all down hill from here. Congratulations! /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif

 

[woodlot]

Ed - I'm not a plumber but I've never seen an ell in a T&P relief drop. That looks like it might be dangerous if that T&P valve blows. I've never seen a CPVC one either but thats probibly no big deal.
Your mounts are beautiful. You sure seem to have acomplished a lot in your life. I've gotta spend less time watching TV, you are an inspiration.

 

[EddieWalker]

Just a quick update.

I've been working on finishing everything off so Steph and her kids can move in by the end of the month. Downstairs is painted, floors are stained and the kitchen cabinets are half in. The other half is on order.

One interesting project turned out to be installing the ceiling fan. The vaulted ceiling is has a 4:12 pitch with the light going in the center of the peak.

I cut a piece of 2x8 from my scrap pile to the pitch, then cut it to fit the mounting bracket.

 

[EddieWalker]

I stained it to match the ceiling and attached it.

 

[Holzster]

great idea

 

[EddieWalker]

Sorry, I've had some signal issues with my satellite internet connection and wasn't able to upload the last picture of that ceiling fan.

 

[EddieWalker]

Another experiement was to stain the floors in the family room, hall and kitchen. My thinking is to keep it smooth to keep clean-up simple. Stain is the cheapest method I've come across. Three gallons at $26 each at Lowes for the Quickrete brand plus two gallons of degreaser/etcher for another $25 each.

The hardest part was cleaning the concrete before puting on the degreaser/etcher. Steph and I were on our hands and knees for hours. Not very much fun.