Hmmm....oh, there's plenty I can't do! But, the good part about this is in case one career fails I'm all set for another!!:grin:

Cheers
Dave

We stopped in on Ranchio del Molnario last week to find all the forms up for the shop/booth and Kelly's barn! :eek2: Oh, and the house has a level pad too, but nobody cares about that! :smirk:

While Kelly was enjoying a nice leisurely ride on the John Deere Z915E 54" Commercial Grade zero turn mower with optional Bimini sun top and adjacent cup holder, I finished about 90% of the exterior trim and started in on the installing singles on the roof. Next visit up there I should be able to finish it up on the outside with board and batten siding, a skirt to hide the concrete formers, and a paint finish to match the house. Form now, I'll keep this blue trap on the roof and apply for hurricane relief. What? A hurricane in central Tejas?? Yep... hurricane SuperDave!!:smile::bs:

Cheers
Dave:beers:

Wha... no basement? What you gonna do for protection when that hurricane hits?

I think a basement is the last place I would want to be when a hurricane comes through.

Better then the attic.

You know, I've only lived in Texas for about 12yrs, and I'm not really sure why they don't have basements down here. :confused2: We had them in the Northeast and I loved having them. I think when General San Jacinto surrendered to Colonel Santie Annie, I think the stipulations of the surrender were unconditional laying down of arms, the returning his wooden leg, a Democracy installed with a cool state flag, and no basements. :smirk: Although I wasn't a history major, so my details may be sketchy and totally inaccurate. I may or may not have been eyeing up the girl in the front row of class during that lesson in 5th grade.

Now, we do have the occasional tornado alert, so we may put in a shelter in the garage that's capable of withstanding an F5. But in talking to the locals, it is extremely rare that one touches down here. I asked the local lumber yard guy here, I says to the guy, I says, "Hey, do yous guys get those freakin' tornados and stuff here? " Once he pulled out his "NY/NJ accent to Texas speak" translation book everyone is issued down here, he tipped his hat and with a piece of straw in the corner of his mouth, replied, "Yyyep..."

So, we'll see. Our neighbors are installing one that could probably withstand Alpha Centauri slamming into the Earth, so we may just run over to their place. It even has satellite TV in there! :smile:

Cheers:beers:
Dave

It's been deluge after deluge here in central TX the last few months and it seems the only rain in the area was directly over us every single time I picked up a hammer and a nail! I guess I should have picked up a screwdriver and some screws. Maybe that would have brought in some nice weather! :frown: Well, regardless.... minus the electrical inside, I'm happy to report the well thanks and future filter system are housed in style! :eek2:

Some shelving inside will double for a mini-temporary tack room for Kelly until the barn is done, which we are STILL waiting on concrete. That's a whole 'nudder story:mad::thumbsdown: Hopefully next week! More to come.... i'm itching to work on my Cuda!!:burnout:

Cheers:beers:
Dave

Typically no basements in Texas due to soil conditions. Either shallow limestone or expansive clay that makes basement construction very expensive. Land is normally cheap and flat in most parts, so it's typically more cost effective to build a larger footprint to capture any additional living or storage space desired.

Am enjoying following your build.

Thank you for the info, and although it's not one of my highly enlightening and entertaining/informative car builds, it's as equally suspenseful...maybe :frown::confused2:

Barn is ready for concrete tomorrow!! Shops and house get poured this weekend supposedly!!:eek2:

Cheers
Dave

Welp, let's see? MCACN? Nope.. couldn't make that. Turkey Day? Not home. Christmas? BWAHAHA!:haha: Yeah... won't be there for that either. What was I there for? CONCRETE CITY BABY!!! Everything is poured and we had a delivery of sticks for the house the same day. Monday the two shops start to go up as does the barn. And right behind those guys is the spray foam insulation guy. Everything should be up by next Friday. The following week 560 5"x7.5ft round fence posts show up along with 1600 2x6x8 fence rails. More on that later.

Once the barn is up I'll start trimming the interior with the stalls, subwall out the tack room and trailer/ tractor storage areas, and then finish it all in rough cut and smooth finish Cedar for that fresh closet/ horsepoop smell all horsey people seem to love.:confused2: Oh yeah, this barn will rival the Anheuser Busch Clydesdales hang out! Yep... I'm talking beer taps everywhere!!:eek2:

More to come next week. Happy belated Thanksgiving!

Cheers:beers:
Dave

And it starts....:headbang:

It's I prestidigeous day here at the newly named "Flying M Ranch":hmmm:. The first Shop gets set up which shall provide years of enlightening, head scratching entertainment which will not only provide visual stimulation, it will be sure to increase one's vocabulary to boot! :no::biggthumpup::rolleyes2:

I snapped this pic of Scarlett this morning against the sunrise. Oh.... don't kid yourself. This ain't my horsie. That would be Kelly's as is the other. Me? I'm just the guy that buys the hay! :crazy:

Cheers:beers:

-dave

Beautiful picture

Good morning!

X2, Scarlett is a Beauty!

Dan

How much Horsepower does Scarlett have?!

Thanks guys? Oh, riding? One. When it's dinner time or poopin'? 1,250!:burnout::3gears:

One shop going up! I'm starting the trend by wearing my Gen II Viper GTS sweatshirt. :headbang:

Cheers:beers:
Dave

Morning folks! Thanks for tuning in to the latest developments here at the Flying M Ranch. We've since renamed our residence from the Casa del Rio Molnario, to a better suited one. I originally wanted to go with the letter F in the center since I really don't give a Flying F$@& about much... ahem.... but I filed the appropriate paperwork, sent that up the line, and even tried to flirt with the lady in charge (I had two buttons undone on my shirt too!:blush:), but no dice. Kelly said "F"orget it!! So, Flying M Ranch it is!:smile: And as such, I've designed a new logo which I'll weld out of rebar. The wings are based off my old TWA wings. The M is obviously for our last name, the horseshoe symbolizes Kel's horses, and the industrial look being made of rebar will tie it all in. Somehow I want to get a car part in there but haven't figured it out yet. Maybe a spider gear from a differential for the star? Thoughts?

Here's the barn being laid down, the shops going up, and the house at sunset. It was the perfect photo opportunity yesterday and the weather for all of this couldn't be better, fortunately. Today, 580 fence posts arrive and I'll start installing 10 acres of fencing. Who's doing that? Why, me... of course! Yes, i'm that stupid:hmmm:

More to come with such thread updates as, "It looked straight when I measured it!" And..."Honey, i'm about to start pounding the fence posts in. Dial 9...1.... and when you hear it get eerily quiet, dial 1 again! ":tongue:

Cheers:beers:
Dave

I'm sure it's going to be killer Dave, congrats.

Dave,

I really like the Flying M ranch symbol. A nice rusty spider gear or set of planetary gears would be interesting replacement for the star. Although it looks great the way it is.

Congrats on the great progress!

Phil W.

Thanks, Guys! Yeah, that lone star is well, kind of appropriate for the Lone Star State, I guess. :biggthumpup: Maybe I'll just stick with that.

So montabulous day yesterday! The mini-MCACN Texas editions were completed and today they install the spray foam throughout. I got so busy with this delivery of 560 fence posts that I forgot to take pics! :frown: But here's some entertaining shots of me using the Skytrack 8023-6100 All-Terrain lift/ hauler unloading the posts. Fearing the worst, the driver asked if I'd ever operated one of these? To which I replied, "Why sure I have! My Tonka collection was pretty vast as a kid and I know'd I had one of these in there somewhere! ":rolleyes2:3gears.gif

Each pallet had 50 on there and they weighed 3000lbs each. Once unloaded, I positioned them along the outside edge of the property. That was 4 pallets, so 12,000lbs man-handled across 10 acres. :thumbsdown: Who signed up for this anyway?? I gotta go out on another trip to recuperate! :laugh::biggthumpup:

I'll start pounding the posts in with the Shaver HD6100 post driver on the back of my John Deere 3025E-6100 later today! :eek2:

More to come...

Cheers:beers:
Dave

Wow! 560 posts, that is a lot of pounding. Note to Dave, pointy end goes to earth, LOL.
Once installed, I assume you will then paint all the posts New Jersey White, LOL.

Love this.....

Why sure I have! My Tonka collection was pretty vast as a kid and I know'd I had one of these in there somewhere! "

Too funny :)

Looking great!

Dan

I've actually used one of those Skytraks before. I used it to unload my Sharp VH3 mill off of the trailer and set it in my shop, and then take it back out of the shop and load it on another trailer when I sold it. Then I used it to put my Excello mill in the shop.

Is that Mistletoe or a bird nest in the tree behind you ? You could spear it with the Skytrak.

Good eye, Charley! Yep...Mistletoe. We're taking it all out since it's a parasite. Anybody needs some, I can hook you up! :biggthumpup:

Even though this is Texas, I think this is the New Jersey style though. No kissing under it. You just get smacked in the back of the head! :shocked:

Cheers
Dave

I have never seen fence posts with a sharp point on the end. I am a farmer in ohio and never seen them. Ours are just flat. Those have to start easier. What is the soil like Dave, looks sandy?

Bill
Dave is going to hand set those posts with his 20# sledge :grin:

:haha:

Must have taken an awful big pencil sharpener to do those.....

Bill, I ordered them from a place in Wyoming. They custom make those specifically for those pounding in posts with a driver versus auger/concrete method. I was the launch customer. Actually, I wasn't. But that sounded pretty cool! :biggthumpup: I've done about 230 or so already and got one pasture done. Due to strategic scheduling, I go back to work Saturday so my plan is to have the perimeter of the property done before I go back. Since that's not enough work, 1600 2x6x8 fence rails come today! :smile::drool:

Kelly's dream barn is up, my two shops are up and getting insulated, and there's a house taking shape. :biggthumpup: I think it's supposed to rain Friday, so what's one to do then? Sit back and take it easy? :hmmm: Rest a day to catch up on posting on Yenko?:laugh: Why, no... of course not... you order 50 2x4s so you can start trimming out the interior of the barn for the tack room, tractor storage, and trailer storage areas. :rolleyes2: Rest.....flllpppp.....HA!:crazy:

Cheers:beers:
Dave

So, if the house is under construction, and we sold the house in Houston, one might ask one's self.... self?....where exactly are our Ranch Hands living these days? :hmmm: That would be the Tailwinds 6100 24ft Travel and Recreational Assimilation Storage Home....or, TRASH. :biggthumpup::hmmm::crazy:

This Pint-Sized Picasso of living space will be sold right after we get the keys to the new house in May. Get your bids in now! Low mileage. Towed only twice : once onto property, and once off when sold:wink:. This 2012 model features not one, but TWO propane tanks for heating on those long cold winters, or boiling that large pot of water on the stove which will take thirty minutes. Yes, don't miss your chance to own this come Spring. Just in time for break-down-on-the-road season! :smile:

And this other picture is a funky sunrise I caught the other morning. What looks like you had one to many Killian's Irish Reds... or one Pabst:thumbsdown:.... is actually a phenome..fenomen....phe...er, a trick on the eyes. What you're seeing is a shadow from a ridge of trees on top of a large hill creating a shadow against the sunrise. :blush: How cool is that!? Waaaaaaaay cool! And this only happens this time of the year right before the Winter Solstice. Any other time the, the mountain is away from the sunrise and you don't get that shadow. Sort of like how the Maya planned their junk around, but on a totally non-related and similar scale. :hmmm:

Cheers:beers:
Dave

You guys are building a dream!!

Looks like a really nice place to visit... but no snow??? Did you know this deficiency before buying?? Hope you didn’t get bamboozeled.... :-)

Is there enough space for a 1320 + slowdown zone? A little pavement and a set of vintage start lights could make up for the lack of snow??

Ryan W31

Awesome stuff Dave :biggthumpup:
Do you have a picture of that thingie pounding the posts in ?
Mike

Wow - actual roof rafters instead of trusses. Don't see that much around here anymore. Actual attic space you can use.


Looks like it is coming along nicely.

Wow, missed that , I didn't think anyone was left that could stick a roof :biggthumpup:

Of course I do..... THIS GUY!!:tongue::hmmm::biggthumpup::eek2:

Cheers:beers:
Dave

I have used the shaver and wonder how many people get hurt with those.
Hopefully not the guy pictured above!!

Oh Yea !

Ha! O.k, sorry Mikey!:biggthumpup: As was posted by Lynn and Bill, I'm using the Shaver 6100-HD post driver. Fitted to the John Deere 3025E with auxiliary hydraulic controls, it makes pretty quick work of these posts. Out of 560 posts ordered, I'm down to 150 left to do! :laugh:

So one might wonder how I'm getting my fence line so straight? The tried and true thumb and squinted eye method with exposed tongue sticking out? :hmmm: Sextant? :dunno: No, although you can't go wrong with the thumb and eye method. I'm using exactly what the ancient Peruvians used when laying out the Nazca lines. It's called the Line Wizard 6100 Infrared laser line sight. Set this bad boy up on either end, line them up until the LED light comes on (indicating your aligned), then use a straight stick/ pipe/ rebar and dangle it in front of the beam. When broken, a "beep" will be heard from a audible sensor hanging around your neck. Drop it to the ground and you have the start of a laser straight line!

Now, it's up to you whether you want to make Monkeys, Spiders, and craaaaaaaaazy looking crap on your land. For now, I'll stick with a straight line. :biggthumpup:

Cheers
Dave