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Post by mark206 on Feb 8, 2018 7:41:28 GMT
LauraD, Congrats !! Wish you all the best.
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Post by LauraD on Feb 8, 2018 14:49:50 GMT
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Post by LauraD on Mar 1, 2018 2:30:48 GMT
I've been getting tired of sleeping on an air mattress on the floor of the shed, so I made a bed frame for it. Didn't take too long, and the only thing I had to buy was one 4x8 sheet of plywood; the rest of the materials were odds and ends I had lying around. Here's the frame when set up. Note that it is in three sections. I made it just high enough so that the tubs we use for storing things will fit underneath. I can fit a total of 6 tubs under the bed, and the total bed height is 22" including the air mattress - just perfect for sitting on. The first two sections have only one set of legs permanently attached, so I can disassemble the frame and stack the sections. I can either leave the final section down as a bench... ...or tip it up as well, which takes even less floor space. Note that the sections are stacked, with the legs one on top of the other. At this point, the three sections together are only 16" deep. The 2x4s running the length of the board are for extra stability. No bowed plywood for this girl!
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Post by LauraD on Mar 5, 2018 14:14:07 GMT
Went to the property this weekend! The bed frame worked great, though our air mattress appears to have sprung a leak. One thing I did discover: the bed frame also works great as a work platform! We were working on the insulation, and I quickly discovered that I could use the bench to stand on. Add the middle section to it, and I didn't have to worry about accidentally backing up too far. Put a chair on top, and I didn't need to use the ladder at all. Yeah! It was so much easier than having to use the ladder, and much more convenient to just move the chair while working on a section. We got three more 4' wall sections insulated; only eight more to go!
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Post by LauraD on Apr 14, 2018 20:03:28 GMT
Finally got back to the property this weekend. My neighbor is going to run his cattle on it for 3-4 weeks (14 head), so we needed to get the place ready. He brought a friend along, and I was amazed at how much the three of us got done in only five hours. We removed all the old, fallen-down fencing that was inside the perimeter fence; opened up some spaces in the remaining interior fencing so the cattle could get around easily; took care of a tree that had fallen on an inside fence & got the fence back up; and installed a proper fence around the "pit." By the time we were done, the place was ready to let the cattle in. And a good thing too, as the grass needed to be mowed and hubby & I haven't finished the riding lawnmower maintenance yet. I'm really happy with this arrangement: we get the labor to clean out the bad fencing (done); he gets a fresh place to graze his cattle; and we also get the place brush-hogged once he moves the cattle back to his place. I don't want the entire field done, so he's going to do the already-cleared areas and basically the back half of what's left. I just need to mark the saplings that I want to keep so he doesn't run them over. If this works out well, we'll probably do something similar in the fall. Here's the new fence around the pit: I took a look at our game camera photos and got a couple of surprises. In addition to the usual animals--deer, squirrels, rabbits, crows, raccoons, and coyotes--a couple of neighborhood dogs had been back on the place. I've caught them on the game camera before; now I just need to figure out where they're coming from and close that area up. The camera also captured a new visitor to the property: Yup, Bob showed up and brought his cat with him! I didn't realize they were nocturnal; the camera caught this one in the dead of night both times. And now for a fun picture...
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Post by merks on Apr 18, 2018 12:53:08 GMT
Looks like its a win win for you and your neighbor. Must have been nice to have all the help getting the work done.
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Post by LauraD on Apr 18, 2018 20:43:12 GMT
merks, Having all that help was FANTASTIC! I never would have dreamed that we could have gotten so much done so quickly!
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Post by LauraD on Jun 27, 2018 22:40:58 GMT
Well, we finally got down to the property this past weekend. Thank goodness for the neighbor and his cows! He's been keeping the place up just great, so we haven't had to worry about mowing it at all. I just wish we had more opportunities to get down there, but things have been pretty hectic so far this year. I got a couple pictures from the wildlife camera that weren't actually cattle; here they are.
A skunk (yuck!),
a turkey,
a hawk,
and finally, our resident coyote.
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Post by Ken on Jun 28, 2018 13:38:51 GMT
Lots of piles of great soil-building material have been deposited for you, nice!
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Post by LauraD on Jun 29, 2018 16:47:26 GMT
Even better, the neighbor has a way of breaking them up so that there aren't "shoe bombs" lying around all over the place!
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Post by LauraD on Sept 21, 2018 23:17:15 GMT
Finally got back to visit the property recently. Had a good stay except for the seed ticks. Got one more wall section insulated as well, so we're nearly halfway there on that. We've discovered that it's actually cooler in the shed when we leave the insulation up as a "ceiling." That surprised me at first. I guess the cooling effect doesn't compensate for the heat that comes in through the roof - something I'll need to keep in mind when designing our final abode. Not a lot of wildlife pictures this time around; the deer don't seem to come out that much when the cattle are on the place.
Just walkin' around...
Thanksgiving dinner...
Where'd mom go?
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Post by merks on Sept 30, 2018 14:02:09 GMT
LauraD, Glad you got back and thanks for sharing the pictures. I've been wondering how things were going. Your place looks so peaceful. When do you think you'll be able to move out there for good? I can only wish to ever own a place like that.
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Post by LauraD on Oct 1, 2018 16:26:34 GMT
merks, I don't know when we'll be able to move. It will probably be a couple years or more. Neither of us have jobs nearby and there are some basic things that need to be done first, like digging a well.
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Post by LauraD on Oct 16, 2018 0:39:47 GMT
Spent the weekend at the property and got another two wall sections insulated. Only have five more sections to go - yeah!!! It was pretty chilly on Friday night - low 40s - so that was great motivation to get working on the walls. No game camera pictures this time. Lots of deer (all does), but no exceptional pictures.
Here are the two wall sections (6 wall cavities) I did this weekend.
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Post by merks on Oct 16, 2018 10:23:19 GMT
Sounds like you have plenty of time to get things done around there, slow and steady wins the race right? I love how you are decorating even though things aren't complete. I would do the same Thanks for the update.
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Post by LauraD on Oct 26, 2018 22:24:31 GMT
Hubby and I went down for a day trip last week. We finished off one wall section and did another (total of five wall cavities); only three sections left!!! The dog spent a lot of the time in her favorite spot - under the card table. The cattle were on the property, so we got to see some of them. This one bull calf was just adorable!
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Post by merks on Nov 3, 2018 11:53:26 GMT
The calf is cute, but your puppy is way cuter.
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Post by LauraD on Nov 5, 2018 14:04:21 GMT
Thanks, merks! Our dog's great. She barks at anything strange, which is exactly what we would like. We were so happy the first time she barked when on the property - it showed that she's finally beginning to think of the place as her territory. And boy, does she bark at strangers! We like to call the doorbell the "canine activation button"!
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Post by merks on Nov 10, 2018 13:11:41 GMT
LauraD, LOL love the name of your doorbell. We had a Chocolate Lab until this past spring. He was 11 yrs old and it was time to let him go. He was a wonderful watch dog, yet friendly as can be.
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Post by LauraD on Nov 19, 2018 0:30:37 GMT
Went down to the property this weekend. I had hoped to get some more insulating done, but we spent all Saturday afternoon deer hunting instead. We only saw two deer briefly (no possible shots). The insulation is definitely helping. It was around 68 in the shed when we shut the heater off and went to bed on Saturday night. The next morning it was 31 outside and 48 inside. A few more pics: The black snake I saw this past summer.
Some turkeys enjoying the evening.
Winter fun.
Oh yeah!!!
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Post by ceresone on Nov 27, 2018 17:23:05 GMT
You mentioned moving the shed later, did you think of building it on skids so it could be moved by tractor? Oh, and ants,late getting caught up, I used the tube glue like you use for paneling, to stick some floor tile down, I had a dust pan full of dead ants next day. Building looking good. Howell. County here
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Post by LauraD on Nov 28, 2018 13:55:27 GMT
Hi ceresone! I designed the shed so we could take it apart again, but I'm not sure that will happen. We are still debating where we want to put the main house, barn, garden, etc. We may leave the shed where it is and put the garden in that area, in which case it will become the garden shed. I've been using raid ant repellent and it's been working just fine, but I'll keep the tube glue in mind if any ants show up. My main concern is keeping them away, as there's no way to kill them all off... We looked hard at several properties in Texas county, but were never able to get a decent contract on any of them. I'm really happy with what we've got, though. We've got good neighbors, town isn't too far away, and we've found a great church. Now it's just a matter of getting local jobs and making the move (gulp!)
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Post by Ken on Nov 28, 2018 14:19:02 GMT
... Now it's just a matter of getting local jobs ... Wishing you luck! I also have a good job in KC area. It's hard to give it up for a local job to make 1/4-1/3 what I'm making now. And that is assuming I could find something I want to do in my county.
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Post by LauraD on Nov 30, 2018 14:39:32 GMT
I know what you mean, Ken. The nice thing is that we own the property free & clear, so we won't have any debt once we sell the house. That helps at least some with the finances.
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Post by LauraD on Dec 17, 2018 14:20:17 GMT
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Post by LauraD on Feb 6, 2019 21:42:49 GMT
Went down to the property a couple of weeks ago, and got the last wall section insulated! Lots of does on the wildlife camera, along with a couple coyotes, but nothing either exciting or exceptional. Here are some before & after shots of the walls. The old pictures almost look neater due to the amount of (necessary) stuff we keep at the place. Next trip we plan to vacuum the ceiling, walls & floor to get the insulation dust off, and wipe down everything else. We'll have a nice, bright, clean cabin when we're done.
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Post by merks on Feb 11, 2019 12:43:59 GMT
Wow LauraD, it looks great! You guys have come a long way.
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Post by LauraD on Feb 11, 2019 14:04:14 GMT
Thanks, merks! We were at the property on Saturday & went "shed hunting" for deer antlers. Didn't find any, but found bones here & there. I've been surprised at the number of bones we've found on the place, but then we seem to be short on squirrels.
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Post by LauraD on Feb 15, 2019 20:32:51 GMT
A couple of pictures from the game cameras. The first one looks pretty cool with the mist on the lens...
...and this one was just plain cute.
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Post by LauraD on Feb 27, 2019 13:54:56 GMT
Took a day off and went to the property yesterday. We got the shed all vacuumed out and everything wiped down. No more insulation dust!
The weather was just perfect for the job: sunny and 60 degrees out. It was a really nice break from all the snow and ice we've been getting this year. Of course the temp has dropped today and we're expecting snow/ice this weekend. Back to winter...
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