"It looks like Morton set short glue lams posts to get out of the ground and then nailed the rest of the columns to those? Were the upper columns in pieces or were they already together and just mated up?"
Yes, columns are assembled and precut at factory, factory installed " bird blocking 2x4s spaces the girts or siding nailers onsite. The columns are nailed to the treated columns in the ground with one nail, wall is assembled on the ground and then rotated up with tractor loader.
"I see what looks like OSB around the bottom. How thick is that and was that optional or stock? Is it for protection from animals kicking or you getting too close and is it structural as well?"
7/16 OSB, mainly to prevent dents in steel wainscotting, my wainscoting was screwed in and the rest nailed, Beavis probably had all his steel screwed on.
Beavis beautiful building, I was not all that impressed with my crew, the salesman was a little too comfortable, they did not live up to all the hype morton put out. But I am on the picky side when I drop a lot of coin.
This is one of the threads that I wish I did not miss due to my sporadic TBN lurking.