Above 1200 Sq/FT Harley Jim's place

[Strouty]

Take a break for safety's sake.........

You have been doing a lot lately, glad the cactus can be saved, I guess maybe in the future it should be kept low to the ground?

 

[Kevkx125]

Hey Jim just stopping in to say your projects around the house are looking good and I hope you are having a great weekend!

 

[Jayman17]

I’m in favor of Philly cheesesteaks! Nice break from all the work you do around your place.

Jay

 

[harley jim]

Yesterday was a good time, the food was fantastic. The break was well needed, thanks guys.

Dalton called this morning and two people in his house have strep throat, so I told him to do me a favor and stay home!

Pat got busy moving trucks and I drove the carport down the hill.

Landed, now to reposition the tractor.

We had to cut out one leg to get the tractor in from the side. We used most of my load straps to rig the back rail to drag straight behind the tractor, it wanted to spread without straps. Right side looks good.

Left side lined up.

Right side in all of the way. There is only about three inches on either side, that was pretty close from the tractor seat.

Left side followed the right side straight in.

It's almost perfectly set in between the walls, I will use a tank bar and set it perfect before I drive the pins in on the front/house side, then the back side will come apart and be rebuilt.

Then the bil called and said the flea market was on fire. Him and Tara had a store in there. It got so hot it melted the taillights out of her car and broke the windshield when the fire dept sprayed it to cool it down.

Finally got back home. The carport was in the woods so it's really dirty, now we need to wash it and get the leaves off. Hopefully Aaron will get the dingo here tomorrow and I can finish the dirt work.

While I had the tractor here I decided to take the curve out of the upper driveway.

 

[harley jim]

I put some of the gravel I had scrapped off the lower pad in the hole. Came out nice!

 

[BuffettFan]

Lots of good and a chunk of dammit!
lots of progress on your end, ***** about the flea market.

 

[harley jim]

Terry it *****, I used to buy a lot of consumables from Howard. He put on a better fireworks show than the city dose. You can hear 100,000 dollars worth go off in the link, he had just filled a semi trailer full a couple of days ago.

https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=694950011757104&id=100037263349959

 

[mybigwarwagon]

Wow. The fire *****. I hope he has good insurance.

 

[xtremek]

Gotta ask, why is the carport sideways to the driveway?

 

[shortykorte]

I believe so they can park wide instead of 2 deep.

Happy belated birthday. On the mini bike, Ed is fixing one up with an electric motor.

 

[harley jim]

Shortys right, the Jeep, the GMC, and Pat's F150 will fit once I get the posts rearranged.
Thanks Shorty, I'm going to try to get the Tecumseh running on this one, it will probably be a winter project.

 

[Bears Fan]

I didn't realize your carport was so large until I saw it sitting sideways in the drive! nice job on all the projects you have going on, the front of your place is looking awesome

That sure ***** about the flea market burning

 

[harley jim]

Thanks for the kind words Tony, it's all finally coming together.

Howard is not sure what he is going to do yet, he is 80 years old and there was no insurance. Howard ran the R.O.M.E.O. club for everyone, every morning they gathered at his store, he had an outside area with seats and stumps to sit and bs.
Romeo= Retired, Old, Men, Eating, Out club.

 

[harley jim]

We got a lot done today.

We got the grade set for the concrete.

Got the walls back filled. Still lots more to do there.

Same here.

Got the pad leveled, Josh is going to bring me a load of crusher run to top coat everything next week.

The Dingo worked out perfect for finishing the tight spots.

The the skys turned black and it was time to quit. They were calling for hail so.

Pat decided to try out the fit. It's raining like crazy now so all of the dirt will settle and the dust will go away, I'm glad I stayed with it and got all of the dirt moved before it became mud.

 

[mybigwarwagon]

I hope you put my truck under cover before it rained.

 

[harley jim]

Pat truck blocked me, it's under a tree in the back yard.

 

[xtremek]

How much work is it going to take to make the awning the way you want it?

 

[harley jim]

It will be a bit of a challenge to support one side of the carport while I rearrange parts. First step will be to dig four post holes and set the legs in concrete, then using a laser transit I will cut them to the proper length.
Next I will need to levitate the east side while I remove everything. The bottom rail will need to have the leg inserts trimmed to 2", then four receivers for the four legs will need to be welded to the bottom side. Then all 35' of rail will need to be reinstalled at the top of the leg/truss connection. Then add four legs back to the mix. Piece of cake/ slice of pie!

 

[mybigwarwagon]

Can you borrow the tractor to hold up the side you are rearranging?

 

[harley jim]

Yes, and he has two 20' bar joists that I'm going to bolt to the bucket to spread the load. I have scaffolding to set up also. Im not taking any chances.

 

[BuffettFan]

Pat truck blocked me, it's under a tree in the back yard.

I've got a free stall.
Just sayin.

 

[mybigwarwagon]

I've got a free stall.
Just sayin.

Hey, get in line.

 

[don long]

Jim
I think that I would qualify for the ROMEO club Sorry to hear that it's toast
Sounds like you have a plan for the awning. Good luck with that.
I'm working on a plan to get my english phone booth held up while I bolt things together too.

 

[Bears Fan]

Looks like all your hard work is starting to pay off

 

[harley jim]

Terry, I appreciate that, but it may be risky.

Willy,

Don, the Romeo's have it bad here, the flea market burnt and the Hardees resturant went out of business, there loosing meeting places left and right.
That phone booth has got to be heavy, it will take more than a coat hanger to hold it up!

Tony, slowly it is, I got all of the dirt roughed in just as the rain started, it's still raining so everything is settling in well.

Not sure what I will get into today, it's really wet and muddy here.

 

[harley jim]

It rained all day, I got caught up on my Masonic paperwork, almost!

 

[harley jim]

Went to the post office this morning.
The new motor showed up for the auto egg turner so I got it installed and back in the incubator, we have about 10 more days to turn then they will lay on the screen until they hatch, then into a brooder for a couple of weeks.

I got a new thermometer/ hygrometer to keep things where they need to be, 95deg, and 60% humidity.
I'm working on an electrical junction box for the carport, one is too big and the other is too small. Might just make one.

 

[harley jim]

It's been quiet here, it has been raining since sunday so I've been trying to program some smart switches, they are smarter than me.

Also I've been working on an electrical enclosure for the carport. Not much else to report.

 

[xtremek]

No work on the golf/jeep cart?

 

[harley jim]

No, I've been trying to get these other projects out of my way first, I need to really put some thought into the chassis of the cart, it is not looking like I wanted it to. I may have to go another direction.

 

[xtremek]

I thought with the rain, you might have switched to the shop.

 

[harley jim]

I did but for other stuff,
I had to look at the golf cart and mini bike while I worked on the box.

 

[drivesitfar]

I know you’re not making all these improvements to your property to sell right away cause sounds like you’ve got amazing neighbors. That said I bet the old owner wouldn’t recognize the place cause you’ve sure changed the street appeal not to mention the improvements for function. Any before and after pics from the street you’d like to share?

Best of luck on baby ducks too!!

 

[harley jim]

I dont ever plan on leaving here. Hopefully my last trip out of here will be in a meat wagon headed to the crematory!
I have pics on my laptop, I'll pick out a couple. I took hundreds of pics as I built the place, I would like to put them on a slide show frame some day.

 

[cbacres]

Jim, I thought I can’t wait till I retire. But watching you doall the things you do and the backlog you have, I’m not sure I’ll have the time to retire.

 

[harley jim]

It looks pretty bad from the outside looking in, but really if you look at it from my view it isn't too bad. Pat and I bought this place at the end of 2012 and it probably should have been burnt down and just started over. But we are stubborn and determined, we looked at probably a hundred properties and didnt like any of them.

When we pulled up, I shut the truck off and we sat silently looking at this view. She and I both fell in love and each was silently trying to figure out how to convince the other that this was the place.

The same view today.

This is the front, note the door is in the corner, the piece of plywood is where the A/C was, a window unit.

The front elevation now.

The west side had lots of water damage and rot. A tree had fallen on the back porch and had been poorly patched.

The whole west side had to be rebuilt.

The back, a total rebuild, we removed the chimney and while hauling the brick to the dump the trailer tongue latch broke and we rolled our 95 Tahoe.

It is still with us but barely, this is where I broke my neck but didnt know it, eventually I had four vertebrae fused.

It's getting dark.

 

[harley jim]

Lots of changes everywhere.

And the shop didnt exist then. There were no outbuildings at all except the well house.

Our first winter here, for those that think we never get snow.
Edit, I just noticed my 49 Ford behind the truck down the hill

 

[mybigwarwagon]

Wow. That is a lot of work. The place looks teriffic.

 

[harley jim]

Willy, It is almost emotional to look at the pics and know that Pat and I did 99% of the work all by ourselves. The initial rebuild was 10 months so we could convert our constitution loan to an end loan.

 

[don long]

Thanks for the tour of the outside of the house. The work you are and have done makes much more scents now.
You started working on your house the same year that I started working on the inside of the party garage. We both had much more energy back then lol
Great job.