RDrancher's Photo Thread

RDrancher · Mar 11, 2015

Kyle_in_Tex said:
Great news! Paychecks on the way. Mama needs new shoes and baby need more diapers. It will feel like you gave yourself a raise when you get through buying diapers. Only then, they start wanting fancy clothes or video games....$$

Yep, the mattress is getting thin. I think I watched too many westerns during the bad weather and got a bad case of levergun disease. Now I have to feed them too!

Kyle_in_Tex · Mar 11, 2015

My FIL has gotten Ruger #1 lever gun disease. I think he has 5 or 6 calibers of them now.

He also has a super nice Browning falling block with an octagonal barrel that will drive tacks at 100 yards. 45-70.

Threepoint · Mar 11, 2015

John, thanks for the thread update. Your pics and tales from the front are an inspiration. :thumbsup: Congrats on the new baby!

RDrancher · Mar 17, 2015

Thanks Threepoint!

Not much work related biz going on lately. I did finish up a culvert / entrance job today. Spongy pumping ground and more rain on the way tonight.

We took the 'Burb out last weekend to our local 1/8 mile track for the Radial Roundup. Watched a new world record run in the X275 class and a 4.03 run to win the pro class. Lots of fun being able to back right up to the track. North Star Dragway - North Star Dragway Home

Kyle_in_Tex · Mar 18, 2015

Nice family there John. My wifey likes those "Holy" pants too.

RDrancher · Mar 18, 2015

Thanks Kyle. Maybe I'm just old, but I'll never understand buying worn out britches. This younger generation...I'll tell ya.

RDrancher · Mar 27, 2015

Strange week indeed. The sun finally came out, but the pits didn't start crushing material until Tuesday evening. The material was still too wet for my liking on Wednesday, so I hustled to get a couple of jobs done yesterday and today.

First one...graded and cut a small swale followed by three semi loads of concrete washout and a topping of 3/4 minus.

Second one...Graded, cut swales and used the excess dirt to repair all the damage done by the concrete truck and crew when they poured the shop slab/footing. Topped it off with two truck & pup loads of crushed limestone road base. No way was I going to back the trucks over the homeowners already cracked concrete, so I shuttled from the street.

EddieWalker · Mar 29, 2015

Have you noticed any change in price for material with the lower cost of fuel?

Eddie

RDrancher · Mar 29, 2015

Eddie, I had wholesale material prices setup with my two main suppliers before the fuel prices rose and my prices have stayed the same. There was an increase from one pit to my supplier, but I was informed a couple of months before the increase so I could adjust my pricing. I only get one product from that pit (3/4 minus topping). The increase was $1 per ton, and I don't foresee it going down in the future.

RDrancher · Apr 4, 2015

I knocked out a few one day jobs this week to catch up a bit.

I broke out my LPGS this week to give it another try. First job with the landplane was to re-grade this gravel driveway. I think I'll have to modify my landplane to make it work the way I want it to. First thing is to cut off the annoying skids so I can get a nicer edge.

Cut and installed a couple of culvert extensions to widen a driveway entrance for a customer with a new travel trailer. Removed rip-rap, installed the pipe ends and bands, backfilled with some roadbase and re-stacked the rip-rap. Sorry, only took one exciting photo.

This was actually the first job of the week, but the uploader is putting the photos in alphabetical order. I used my box blade for this one. I cut a swale to reroute the uphill neighbor's grey water away from my customer's driveway, then regraded and topped it with a semi load of base.

RDrancher · Apr 4, 2015

Here's another driveway regraded and topped using the landplane. I also cut better drainage heading toward the front yard from the concrete apron. I also re-graded the neighbor's driveway while I waited for my load of rock.

I spied a nice collection of JD's while leaving the job.

PapaPerk · Apr 4, 2015

Nice pics and really neat work. I'm always impressed how much you do with your New Holland. How many hours on it now?! And what model is it?

Thank you for taking the time to post pics. They are great!

RDrancher · Apr 6, 2015

PapaPerk said:
Nice pics and really neat work. I'm always impressed how much you do with your New Holland. How many hours on it now?! And what model is it?

Thank you for taking the time to post pics. They are great!

Thanks! My TC35D is hovering around the 3000 hr. mark right now. It's had a few hiccups along the way, but most were from using it for commercial work that it was never designed for. It's been a real money maker for me and my family.

PapaPerk · Apr 9, 2015

RDrancher said:
Thanks! My TC35D is hovering around the 3000 hr. mark right now. It's had a few hiccups along the way, but most were from using it for commercial work that it was never designed for. It's been a real money maker for me and my family.

That's an impressive amount of hours for all loader work! Thanks for the info!

RDrancher · Apr 20, 2015

It's been a "try to beat the rain" spring for sure.

On this project I graded out a few triaxle loads of fill dirt to build a horse trailer parking area and widened the driveway, then spread out a few loads of gravel. Since everyone and his brother was trying to beat the rain (including me), trucks were spread pretty thin. My regular driver's blue Peterbilt broke a trans, so they spent all day getting this International roadworthy. My first loads showed up at 4PM. I finished at 9PM...and it didn't rain until the next evening.

The uploader loaded the photos in reverse order...so enjoy! :thumbsup:

RDrancher · Apr 20, 2015

After getting 3" of rain Saturday night I started on the mudbog today. This job is right behind the campground I mulched and built last summer. It's at the lowest elevation in the neighborhood. A tree company processes all of their firewood here and at somewhere along the line they thought that a wood chip driveway to the back would be a good idea. The uploader loaded the photos in random order this time....... :confused2:

murphy1244 · Apr 20, 2015

You do some of the finest work my friend!

RDrancher · Apr 20, 2015

Thanks Murph! I appreciate it.

My back started acting up today so I barely squeezed out 7 hrs in the CTL before I had to call it quits. My wife rubbed it out with some Two Old Goats lotion and it does feel a bit better. I swear I heard a little girl scream at some point......

/pine · Apr 20, 2015

Nice work as usual...try a hot tub (plus the massage) for the back...!

EddieWalker · Apr 21, 2015

I get back pain every now and then and found that laying on the floor, curling my head into my knees and rocking back and forth works the best for me. I also enjoy my hot tub, but that's more for overall comfort and relaxing.

When its muddy, do you add more rock?

Eddie