Lakeview

A hazy day view from the middle of the dam, facing south, across the lake to the peninsula the house sets on now. Someday, our dream home will set there.

Lake time fun

The water is warm, the dogs want to play too, and there is nothing funner.

Smaller posts and Beams

We have been slowly culling the smaller posts from the pile, and here's a picture of some of the resulting items. I am so pumped! These are in such good shape, and have hardly any cuts, or defects, or nails.

Wood braces

These are 4X6 corner braces from the barn. There must be twice as many still in the pile at the site. They will come in handy when the time comes. The holes you see are from wood bees. Most of the wood is poplar, but some is walnut, few are oak.

A few pics

Here are some pictures I've wanted to share.

David L. Spreading some seed on the barn site. We want something to hold the soil in place, and as things go, we are a slow moving crew. The several weeks it will take for fescue to grow will be used gathering more wood for the basic frame.

 

This will be the tree centered in our turn around at the end of the driveway. It's quite large, and despite having a little lean, it is very sturdy. Below is a photo of her leaves. Any good tree aficionados out there able to give me an I.D. ?

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Susan, the prime mover.

Susan has been the prime mover on this project. I may be the imagineer, but she makes it all come to life. That is a 30' trunk from an eastern ceder she is setting on. It came down after the Kentucky Ice storm in February this year. [That is a whole 'nother story!] I'm not sure what we'll use this wood for, probably  mill it into boards for the bathroom walls, and for a small closet.

 

My little blue tractor is her second best friend. She manages to get it to do things I would never think to try. Somehow, I seem to get it stuck in a mud hole whenever I use it! Sometime when I know she isn't looking over my shoulder, I'll tell the story of how our first little blue tractor ended up!

 

She's a beauty! [I refer to the upper photo!]

Tulip poplar trunk

This sucker is 60 feet long, and 22 inch diameter at the small end! It was standing in the wood below our dam, damaged by the winter ice storm. Most of the top had been broken out of it.

Pics from earlier in the summer.

 

Jonathan, moving so fast, he's just a blur!

  

 Matthew, doing what he does best!

 

Jonathan, showing disbelief as Matt lends a hand.

Jon helps take out the Sumac

 

My boy Jonathan turned out to be a real trooper. It was like pulling teeth to get him started, but then once he got to going with that pole saw, he made quick work of that stand of sumac. I had knocked as much of it down as I could, with the tractor and bush hog, but the center of the stand had too many years to get established.

  

He was proud of himself, and I of him. I'm glad I've got him to lend a hand. We both got a rash from this stuff, but easily treated. I've got some pictures of the bonfire we had latter, I'll post them sometime.

My little buddy

Katherine Bailey and I ride our Kawasaki Prairie 400  four wheeler for the first time in years! Just got it back from the shop, for the umpteenth time! And thank goodness, I got a hold of the keys before my boys did! We ride slowly, and safely, just take established trails and avoid any steep grades. Don't get the wrong idea here, I don't advocate breaking the safety rules!

Basic Tiberframe

This is an early rendition of the frame I want to use for our monitor barn. I'm new to Google Sketchup, so it takes me quite a while to make a rendition. I still have a lot to learn. This should give you some idea about what we are thinking.

The road takes shape.

David L. has been shaping the road. The east pasture slopes up from the lake at a pretty good angle, and continues uphill past our fence on to the next property. We just finished renovation of the fence on that property line, and now have been putting the driveway in. David L. is our land sculptor. It doesn't look like much in the photo, but the undulating hills and steep slope has been giving way to a nice, smooth, relatively flat, and happily well drained roadway. We have had the wettest summer this year! Despite all the rain, erosion while working the soil has been kept to a minimum by David's keen eye for level and true.

Timberframe Monitor Barn

This is my inspiration. Beautiful, isn't it. I downloaded this so long ago, I have forgotten from where. If it is yours, and you want me to remove it, just make a comment below.

Fall color

Jonathan took this closeup photo of the wild flowers overtaking our pasture.

Some of the smaller dimension boards.

These are some of the smaller dimension boards. Less than ten percent of the haul is represented here. Will have more new wood to use also, as we have a few trees we had to take down for the building, and the road. Losing a great tree can be very sad, but then being able to use the tree to some other purpose helps lessen the blow.  It supports greening the environment by sequestering the trees built up carbon content.

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More wood arrives.

More, and more each day! These posts are great. Some have a bit of dry rot, but will be able to save sections here and there. The work goes slow, but it's worth it. There are dozens of small dimension boards, like 3X3's, 2X4's, and 4X4's. I've got a magnetic metal detector to help find the nails, lots of work to come!
The road work has been progressing well. David has made quick work of the uneven trail we had been using, and now have a flat even roadway to the site. Soon will come leveling work on the pad.

20 feet 8 inches long!

I love these large posts! Now we need nine more! I know we'll have to produce some new posts, from the timber we have on the farm, but I'm figuring how to use the antique wood where it will be seen, and any new wood will be somewhat hidden.

Suzie Johnson's Barn Wood

These are some pictures of the wood from the old barn we are having torn down. There are eight 12X12 posts that are in good shape! I am so pumped about this project. I've been rethinking the basic plan of the barn, since we have made the switch to using the post and beam system. I am a decent self taught draftsmen, but I'm not interested in redrawing all the plans by hand, so I have been spending some time learning Google Sketchup. I had looked at the program some time ago, when it first came on-line. I didn't take to it very well, but now that they've ramped it up quite a bit, and I have a reason to take the time to learn it, and it is great! I suggest anyone who wants to draw look into Sketchup. I use a mac, and the combination is powerful! I'll need to post some example sketch-ups.