This, that, and the other

[mikim]

I felt like Bernice, wondering where Mikim is when you really need him.
trust me ... she ALWAYS KNOWS .... doesn't mean I'm always there ... but if I'm not, she knows why. see ya'll on Saturday - have a safe trip -

 

[txdon]

Monday evening and Lucy has arrived and promptly gets stuck!!!! On Top of a dry hill!!! Lucy blames the driver. Bobby was taking pictures but I think Harvey told him something because he has no pictures of me pulling him out with the Kubota.

 

[jinman]

Was Lucy stuck because she was trying to pull "Bertha"? (I just made up that Bertha name because it sounded right for a camper.) The Kubota pulling them all out would have been a pretty good picture. I'm glad it worked and you didn't have to go to the extremes you did before.

 

[ronjhall]

Rookie RV'er.
Some RV'ers know better than to take 30,000 lbs up Don's drive.

 

[txdon]

Ron the road was fine, it's the open fields that Lucy has a problem with.

Lucy's nose was against a tree in deep sand and "Bertha" was starting to back into the yard at an angle and Lucy's wheels started spinning. We hooked a chain from the FEL to Lucy's trailer hitch and pulled back wards and moved out of the way as Bertha straighted up. Bertha ended up outside the yard. Jim, you are right, Bertha is a good name.

This morning we head to town to gather our basic materials.

 

[mikim]

the road was fine,
Don -- didn't you add some gravel to that road a couple of years ago? Seems I remember a couple of piles sitting there waiting for you to spread. Maybe it's time for some more.

 

[bgoodman]

Here's where we stand this evening.

Plenty more to come once Don and Harvey look through them

 

[bgoodman]

I think this picture shows how Harvey sets his fence posts.

That's it for tonight.

 

[ronjhall]

the road was fine,
Don -- didn't you add some gravel to that road a couple of years ago? Seems I remember a couple of piles sitting there waiting for you to spread. Maybe it's time for some more.

Don's drive surface was in very good shape last I saw it in January. He was still working on clearance in the last few 100 ft to get a delivery all the way to his pool. You can see in the pictures that Harveys fifth wheel was very close to the branches. Hope he did not get to many scratches on his RV.

 

[bgoodman]

It's starting to look like an entrance.

The old gate & posts are gone, Harvey got the top rail welded in and the second rail will be in tonight as well as the hog panel that Don's attaching to the fence.

Lucy decided to leave Don some new ruts to fill again.

Final picture is how we looked leaving Supak steel in La Grange, TX about noontime yesterday. Those are 24' lengths of pipe on Lucy as well as a pallet (42 80lb bags) of cement.

 

[txdon]

the road was fine,
Don -- didn't you add some gravel to that road a couple of years ago? Seems I remember a couple of piles sitting there waiting for you to spread. Maybe it's time for some more.

Yes I did Mike, but as you can see in Bobby's picture above, One has to be ON the road after a one inch rain. (Actually that is an almost Lucy stuck picture from this morning.)

We are flying on the construction of the entrance. Each day that we work would take me over a week to do.

Yesterday, after Harvey dug all 20 holes with a hand hydraulic post hole digger then he cut the poles.

I was going to grab my cement mixer but Harvey said it would be too slow so he grabbed 6 (six) bags of 80 lb. sacrete, poured them in the wheelbarrow, added a little water, mixed, shoveled into a post hole, added a little more water, Mixed, etc... etc... the 6 bags filled two post holes. We mixed 58 bags this way. I think I mixed about 1/4 of the mixture and my sides were so sore. Harvey just kept going and going. I did use the tablespoon of mustard for pain that Harvey recommended and surprisingly it did work! Day one consisted of driving 75 miles to get the materials, removing the existing entry and gates, digging the holes, cutting and setting the post, a very good day.

Today Harvey was welding and cutting all day. The temp is in 90s and very very humid after the rain we had this morning. One side of the entry is ready for the girls to paint and by noon tomorrow (weather permitting) the other side will be ready. Each side is over 50 ft. long.

I find it impossible to keep up with Harvey physically, he is a machine that will not stop. If anyone thinks that working with Harvey for a week would be fun I would suggest you workout very hard for 6 months prior, seriously!

Harvey was trying to post some pictures but his laptop and my Wildblue internet are not clicking very well, he will try again tomorrow.

 

[Kyle_in_Tex]

One side of the entry is ready for the girls to paint and by noon tomorrow (weather permitting) the other side will be ready.

TxDon, Harvey, you guys need to get under cover fast. There is a super cell with a hook echo coming from just north of Elgin headed east south east. It is 10:41 PM here. Storm should be here in 15 minutes. Hopefully it will die down and head a bit north....Talk later

 

[txdon]

Kyle, thanks for the warning, we were watching it, went just north of us.

 

[mikim]

and now you're in the clear weather wise .. shoiuld cool off today and a nice weekend coming.

 

[txdon]

This is Harvey using Don's log in. Twixt and tween the internet provider and my Vista programed laptop logging in and posting pictures is like pulling teeth without pliers, or even fingernails.

We've got the entry way wings complete except for paint, and the vines and leaves of course. Vines and leaves you ask? Things happen, or will happen.

So the girls are going to paint down at the entry way and us guys are going to start the gate. Nothing is in stone yet on the design, it will be a committee gate. We've got all kinds of things we're wanting to do with it but besides the constraint of none of us being artists we're looking at limited materials and time. I think we're going to get lucky one more time.

Bobby has been taking pictures like crazy so we'll have a pretty good record of the process and the product.

And yes, we're having fun. There's no work like construction. It seems everyday we're having a picnic at lunch time and then eating out (back by the pool) every evening.

 

[bgoodman]

This is where we were when I left this evening. (Pardon the golf cart and car in the way.)

and the gate still sets as a bare frame.

I gave Harvey a copy of every picture I took before I left, but here they are for anyone that wants to look link

 

[jinman]

Bobby, I like your pictures, but I'm not sure Don is taking care of the most important piece of hardware as he should. Don't you think he should protect this "prized possession" a little more? (See yellow arrow in attachment.)

 

[wroughtn_harv]

Bobby, I like your pictures, but I'm not sure Don is taking care of the most important piece of hardware as he should. Don't you think he should protect this "prized possession" a little more? (See yellow arrow in attachment.)

Jim, it's worse than you think.

 

[wroughtn_harv]

Today was a good day at Don's house Texas. We didn't have a Bobby to kick around but lucky us, Mikim showed up.

One of the things we wanted in the gate was a wagon. Resizing the circles I'd rolled in Wylie to the size we needed for the gate was tough. So shortly after Mikim showed up we climbed into Lucy and went a hunting for some real deal wagon wheels for the gate.

 

[wroughtn_harv]

We found the perfect wheels for the gate at Don's dad's house. What was kewel was one was from one of Don's grandpa's and the other was from the other grandpa's place. They're not just perfect wheels, they're family.