Long time

Well it has been a very long time since I last blogged. Scrappy and I have been a little busy with the house/barn. The house is starting to take shape and Scrappy can finally visualize it now which is to say she is getting a little excited too. We can't wait to finish and move out there.

Woke up this morning and it was raining, we really needed some it has been months since our last rain. All the new pasture grasses I planted back in the spring have died because of the lack of rain and 105 degree+ heat.

Went to South Carolina to see my youngest daughter graduate basic training this week, now I have two in the military, my oldest daughter lives in Oklahoma now so I have no more children in Texas but that's o.k. I'm very proud of them all and see them when I can. Got to see the grand kids while I was there also, they are growing like weeds it wont be long before I can put Matt on a tractor or horse by himself and Abby is a living doll.

Before I go any further I need to say how much I love my Scrappy and how much I missed her While I was gone "Rockin Chairs Baby".

Also "Hey Susan Look I'm posting".

Well to get back on track here are some pics of the house/barn that I took the other day

Remember when it looked like this?

Heres that same bedroom

Thats all for now

Rain Again

Well I just noticed that it was raining the last time I posted and its raining now alot of rain.

Scrappy and I have got the barn finished except for the overhead doors so we have started on the house portion of it.

Its going slow but the goal is to build it out of pocket so as not to have a mortgage when we are done. I got some of the framing in last weekend but still have alot more to do.

Here are a few pics. so far.

This is looking at the bedroom from the future hallway

Its really larger than it looks just ask Scrappy.Well on another note we went to Waxahachie last night and on the way home we saw this.

Now the pic doesn't really tell the story but the horse be hind the one in front is nothing but bones, we stopped and took this pic to show the Ellis county sheriff. Scrappy and i were trying to decide if these were rescue horses or not because they just showed up on this property a while back. But after watching for awhile I think they are just being abused there was no hay in the pen for them and it looked like someone either the owner or a concerned passerby threw a clump of oat hay over the fence to them. So today I'm calling the sheriff and let him take care of it.

Well gotta go have a great day

Rain

Well its the weekend again and the rain has been here for two days, not gonna gripe about the rain though we needed it very badly, but it sure doesn't help me on the barn.
Anyway am gonna try to get the roof finished this weekend if the wind cooperates.
This is what it looked like Wednesday evening when I went to feed.

Have a great weekend

Weekend

Well it Friday the weekend is upon us and it looks great, gotta seed the front three acres tonight and go get the barn roof in the morning. Well the other day we gave one of our asses to a neighbor down the road so we have to take it to him tomorrow if we can get it in the trailer.
she has only been trailered twice, should be fun, ill get some pics if i can.
We are going to have a chickenfoot party Saturday night with the neighbors lots of food and fun, for those of you who don't know what chickenfoot is google it, its a great game.

Have a great weekend

Windy

Well couldn't work on the barn this weekend roof sheets didn't come in, so instead thought I would build an pasture rejuvenator to use at the farm.
This is what I came up with.

Looks mean doesn't it? Scrappy named it "Terminator". I only have one problem with it, I cant seem to get enough weight on to make it penetrate the black dirt we have.

Those blocks of concrete weigh about two hundred pounds each and it still wont punch all the way in. Guess I'm gonna have to wait for some rain.

but anyway they sell these things for around $800.00 so if I have to wait to use it that's fine it was cheap to build.

Not much to talk about tonight, im tired and going to bed.

Have a great week

Back to work

Well it was back to the office this week after a long week of working in the cold and wind. I did get alot accomplished last week and my muscles feel it.

I got all the wall metal on and Scrappy, the daughter and I started painting. Now painting is not at the top of my list of things I like to do but with Scrappy's back injury I will be doing all the painting from about five feet on to the top and that's alot of wall. I'm still waiting for the roof steel to come in I haven't figured out how I'm gonna put that stuff on by myself yet, but I will think of some way to do it.

The only real problem I had with the wall panels was the wind, where this barn is located there is a 100 acre field to the east and a very large pasture to the south and north so no wind blocks.

I would watch the weather in the morning and that would tell me what side of the barn I was going to be working on for the day. So I would cut a sheet drag it out to the wall that I wanted and lift it about half way the wind would do the rest, there were time i bet i could have put up a whole wall of sheets and never use a screw. Well anyway the walls are on just need the roof.

Here are some picks from last week.

That's Scrappy painting as high as she can reach which is about six feet. And the daughter is on the ladder at the other corner.

Can you imagine the two of us living in there, Its gonna be great!!!

Well that's all for now I'll leave you with a pic. that I took while having coffee the other morning, He was pissed because I wouldn't get up and feed him right "THEN"

Have a great week

Crittr

Vacation, What vacation?

Well I'm on vacation this week working on the barn, cutting and hanging the wall sheets.

I would not have any trouble if the wind would cooperate with me but some of the sheets are seventeen feet long.

the white stuff on the sheets is calcium from them being stacked in the rain for a year, all of the material I'm using to build this is recycled from other buildings except the roof, it will be new. Here are some pics so far.

The butt dance

Well I'm on vacation all next week and will be working on the barn, but first let me explain the title of this post. Every time Scrappy has a day off she does this little dance in front of me in the morning while I'm getting ready for work, so now its my turn (5) days in a row ha ha.
I have a very busy week, I'm going to try to get the walls on the barn this week weather permitting.I made a rude comment about Scrappys gelding tonight and it made her mad, hes the retired ranch horse she has, anyway what i would like to say is I love that horse and he will be on our farm until the day comes for him to go to that golden stable in the sky, after Scrappy broke her back i wanted to get her something a little more layed back than the mare so i was at work one day and a co-worker / cutting trainer said "have i got a deal for you, I've got this ranch horse that would be great for her to start rebuilding her confidence and all you have to do for me is build my barn" so i said sure. I started helping him on the barn and brought CD home and Scrappy was happy as a Lark and when shes happy I'm happy.
I'm going to take her to Olive Garden for valentines dinner this afternoon, she loves that place.
Sorry for the lack of grammar in this post but its 5AM and I'm on my first cup of coffee waiting for the sun to come up, I'm going to try and cram about two weeks of work into this next week so by the end of that time i should be ready to go back to the office.
have a great weekend

Crittr

Sunday

Well went to dinner with Scrappy last night to a steak house in Hubbard and we started talking about raising beef at the farm and she told me that she would not be able to eat it after feeding and taking care of it for months. So I'm looking for feedback on this idea. There is nothing i would like more than having a freezer full of beef and pork.

I didn't get everything I needed to do done this weekend. I got the last of the wall pipe on and started moving dirt to build up the floor on the stall side of the barn. It is where my 60 year old tractor is sitting, I believe Scrappy has said on her site that we do not own any equipment that is less than 30 years old, but the old stuff last longer than the new junk you get today.





























Have a great evening
Crittr

Ice

We don't see alot of bad weather here in Texas but Wednesday was an exception, woke up at five and not a sound outside, I love it when its quiet. Went to feed the horses and got a couple of pictures. Now keep in mind its not the ice like they get up north but when something like this happens in Texas you cant even buy a loaf of bread because everyone stocks up like they will be stranded for weeks.
Took Scrappy to work because all the other husbands took their wives, about half way there Scrappy said "you know I could probably have driven myself" but it was good alone time with her, it was also our anniversary so we chose not to do anything but go home and wait till this weekend. Gonna take her to a steak house in Hubbard then see what happens after that.
I didn't forget our anniversary but I was a one day off because when we were married it was going to be on her mothers birthday but we moved it up one day at the last minute (another story completely).
I am going to finish the pipe on the barn this weekend and start dirtwork I have alot of that to do. Scrappy is already picking out furniture for the house in the barn. Well have go, sorry about the rambling here's a few pics for everyone.

Ice Cold

Well closed the office early today because of the ice storm they say we are going to get this afternoon, went to the farm and threw some hay so the horses / asses don't get cold tonight, was thinking of making chili for dinner but Scrappy shot that down so we compromised and are going to have chili dogs instead. I have some pictures to put on here but haven't taken them off the camera yet, thought I would wait and take some of the ice we are supposed to get tonight.
On another note I'm not the type to just sit around doing nothing so this weather is driving me up the wall, Scrappy and I have so much to do and we can't wait till summer when the days are longer and warmer.
can't think of anything else to say so stay warm everyone.

Crittr

Scrappy

Just sitting here waiting for the sun to come up and just wanted to clarify an earlier post.
Scrappy will help me work on the barn I didn't mean to make it seem she will not help me,
she just doesn't like the cold.
I came home this morning and it is 38 degrees outside just right to go climb a ladder, (sucks)
it was almost 80 yesterday.
Well gotta go more later.
Crittr

Tired of the cold

Well the weekend is upon us again and as usual the weather here in our great state was beautiful all week until today. The glorious weather man for channel 8 says here comes another cold front about the time i have to go back up the ladder, high of 40 tomorrow. I asked Scrappy last night if she was gonna help me and got a lesson on the possibilities of her going out in temperatures below 60 "Absolutely not!!". I guess I'll have to ask the daughter to help.

enough for now. The pic below is what everyone will be doing tomorrow (except me!!)

Don't they look cozy?

Have a great weekend

Crittr

The Barn

Well I took the day off Friday to work on the farm, unfortunately it was the coldest day of the year and my buns froze. But anyway I got the rafter pipe on.

Here's a pic.

Saturday came and the daughter and me put up the last truss, not quite as cold but the wind was blowing hard.

Here's a pic of daughter thought you might like to see who I talk about.

It was very cold on the ladder Saturday.

But it was worth it, here's what I got to drive for three days.

That's Scrappys truck and she doesn't part with it very often. So now I have to move about forty cubic yards of dirt in to level up the floor and Scrappy has to paint the steel and we can start putting on the metal sheets.

Well anyway have to go here's a pic of the farm for you.

Crittr

This Week

Well last night Scrappy told me that we may have a buyer for the house in town, Yippee!!! that means we are one step closer to living on the farm.
Gonna get the last of the trusses up this weekend and all the perimeter supports on, This time of year is a bummer because its almost dark when I get home from work, cant do anything but wait for the weekend.
gotta go,will post more with pics Monday

Crittr

My weekend

Was Gonna go to the drive-in Fri. night but the reviews for "Unborn" were so bad we decided to skip it, So went to dinner with the neighbors instead.
Went to the farm Sat. morn about 7 the temp was 30 degrees and the wind was blowing about 40 mph. so I couldn't put up any trusses which was a bummer.

Here's what it looked like Sat. morn.

Woke up to freezing temps. Sun. but no wind so me and scrappy got some things done. Daughter stayed away all night and didn't get home until late Sun. morn. so she didn't help this time.

Here's what we did.

That truss in the pic below weighs about thirteen hundred pounds and Scrappy was about to have a fit because that big red truck with the homemade Ginpole and 40 dollar winch in the pic above?. Well its HERS.

Don't know what was going on but these birds flew around all day.


and finally this is Scrappy coming out of the little general store in town.


That's all I can write for now, check back later if ya want
Crittr

Work

The daughter and I started setting trusses on the new barn last Saturday and all went well.
The sun was shining and 70ish degrees with a strong wind. And then along came Sunday!! Well things sure changed in the 12 hours that i was home cozy in the house. The temp fell to 23 degrees and the wind was howling when I got to the farm. Now please keep in mind that my daughter will help me with anything I ask her to do, But she does not like to get up early especially on Sunday morning So when I thought about asking her to get up at 6:30 and with the temp outside I figured it would be against my better judgement so I went alone.
Well anyway we have two trusses standing and rafters between them and will stand the last of the trusses Saturday wind permitting. Sunday I will start putting rafters on the new trusses.
Going to see "Unborn" at the drive-in Friday night hope the movie is not a flop, but I'll be with Scrappy so the evening will be great regardless of the movie.
Well gotta go
Crittr