AZ ranch

[BoFuller]

Mr. Fuller way back near the start of this forum I had mentioned working in that area and the spring mud was and event to decide maybe other options were better.
I had been called to a Micro wave site as the spring snow was melting and the 3/4 ton Chev. with loaded tool bed became stuck crossing a small creek . and moving forward backward to get out only went deeper unrolled winch and connected to a tree . getting back into the pick up from window since the mud was up to door handles of truck. winch tightened until it snapped like a whip cracked into the tree. called company helper that lived at Kingman. and he drove over a 100 miles to where the pick up now had mud flowing into the powers bed. by time he arrived the winched steel cable had been spliced and drug under the body of truck and connected to another tree. the other employee tied his truck to a tree and a winch cable to frame of truck I was driving. So double winch and my truck in reverse was able to get the truck out of the mud hole in middle of the road.
Used fire hose to wash and even then could hit bump in high way and a sheet of dirt landing caused traffic behind me slow down .
Enjoy your mud it is sticky and last a long time.

Glad your able to get improved road.
ken

Good to hear from you Ken. I have not been in anything as deep as you described but I have gotten stuck with my travel trailer. Many a time I have hit the car wash and sprayed out buckets and buckets of that mud. No love loss in covering it up. It will be a great improvement.

 

[joeyd]

Who runs the grader? An operator with a good eye and fine touch is hard to find and worth their weight in gold.

 

[BoFuller]

Who runs the grader? An operator with a good eye and fine touch is hard to find and worth their weight in gold.

My neighbor, Todd. It’s his grader and he’s getting pretty good at it.

 

[Thall303]

For anyone that did not read your entire thread while building your home, I would encourage them to do so.

Best thread yet and hooked me on Tractorbynet!

 

[BoFuller]

For anyone that did not read your entire thread while building your home, I would encourage them to do so.

Best thread yet and hooked me on Tractorbynet!

Wow, thanks for the kind words. I believe I was inspired to start the thread after following Obed’s thread. His was the one that hooked me on TractorByNet. And several others were favorites, like Motor7, Goat Ranch, and just about anything posted by Eddie.

 

[Thall303]

Eddie would be the contractor I would hire if he were closer

 

[Ken]

I have been reading Obed's thread on building his house and it is awesome. I am totally amazed at what I have learned on this forum in the few short weeks I have been on it. I'm going to do a little thread on my own so I can get some of this fantastic advice, and hopefully cut back on some of the mistakes I'm likely to make on my own.
Several months ago we started looking for a place to build a vacation/retirement cabin. A month ago we closed on 40 acres in Northern AZ just south of I-40, near Seligman. I'm 61 and not a contracter (actually an accountant), but I'm going to try and do as much as I can myself. If I finish it in less than 3 years I will be extremely happy.
Here is a picture of the view from one corner of the ranch.

Mr. Fuller what would you have done different . Now closer to finishing the planned work.
Is this photo looking West or toward Ash Fork .
ken

 

[BoFuller]

Mr. Fuller what would you have done different . Now closer to finishing the planned work.
Is this photo looking West or toward Ash Fork .
ken

Photos of the road work are facing West.

What would I have done differently? Wow, I don’t know that I want to dwell much on that one. I might have hired a experienced local contractor to deal with the County. Heaven only knows how many times they said I had to do something that was merely preference vs actual code.

The 2 year limit on building is BS. I would have preferred to stretch it out and enjoy it more, but regs are regs. It almost seems like a blurr sometimes.

Would I have picked another County if I knew then? I doubt it. Location is perfect for us. Neighbors are the best. Things work out. I guess I don’t believe in luck or chance. All things are directed by Him.

I’m fine with not having drilled a well. I haul water about once a quarter. I really enjoy the solar setup. A 3.8kW system is just right for us. About 8-12 times a year we use the backup generator. Usually in January when days are short and panels are covered with snow, but occasionally in June when the whole family visits (lots of showers, laundry, etc).

There are a few little things, like wishing I had a switch here or there for lights and such. It’s near impossible to push more lines through when you came through a log and then chinked over it.

The Tongue and Groove floors are a pain to keep clean (vacuuming the cracks), but I wouldn’t change it. I love the look.

I might have considered going with one less layer of logs. The second floor is 8 feet before the roof starts. The headroom from wall to wall is nice but the roof is really way up there when you need to get onto it.

If I wasn’t under the time crunch, I think I would have dug out both sides of the crawl space and put a couple water storage tanks down there. I dug out half of it, so it’s about a 5 foot space.

Oh yeah. I cut down one big tree early on because I thought it might block our view. Any blockage would have been minimal. What I did was make the house more visible from the road a half mile away. I think that is my biggest thing, as far as what I would do differently.

 

[BoFuller]

I just had my 4 grandsons here for 10 days. They are 5, 7, 9, and 11. This is the 3rd year they have come for 7-10 days and they love it. They live in a nice community, but a 100 by 200 foot lot doesn’t compare to 80 acres. They rode the zipline, rode quads, shot BB guns, built a fort, shot off rockets, had squirt guns fights, nerf gun battles, and other assorted activities. It was sad to see them go, but this grandpa could use a few days of rest.

 

[EddieWalker]

I just had my 4 grandsons here for 10 days. They are 5, 7, 9, and 11. This is the 3rd year they have come for 7-10 days and they love it. They live in a nice community, but a 100 by 200 foot lot doesn’t compare to 80 acres. They rode the zipline, rode quads, shot BB guns, built a fort, shot off rockets, had squirt guns fights, nerf gun battles, and other assorted activities. It was sad to see them go, but this grandpa could use a few days of rest.

Sounds like they had the had best vacation ever!!!