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Above 1200 Sq/FT Out on Quaker Road

Wokspaces above 1200 squarefeet.

Finallygotit

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Joined
Jul 6, 2013
Messages
4,083
Location
Tucson, AZ
All of it is looking really good Mike! Congrats! Stay on those contractors. Get it done your way, not theirs. You're the one who has to live with it.

:beer:
 
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jblnut

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Joined
Jan 17, 2015
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7,025
Location
In the Middle of MN
Just like any good home build you need the quality control guy and looks like your it.

if it matters I do like that your garage roof extended out so the porch was straight across. AND I bet you’ll love the extra room in your garage.

nice work on the tiling snd I’m sure it will pay your family huge dividends in the years to come.

we’ll done!!

btw we’ll take pics and updates whenever you can get them to us.
Everyone says "What a HUGE garage, I bet you'll really like that !!" Well yeah ... but it holds a different set of purposes at this point in my life than it would have before the shop was built. The intention with it is to have it be house/personal stuff and keep the farm stuff and repairs up in the shop. I'm still excited for it though !!!

I LOVE tiling !!! It will benefit us for decades to done. Super excited to see each and every foot go underground !!

I am almost embarrassed with the lack of updates .... it isn't because of a lack of stuff going, it is because of all the stuff going on :willy_nil

Looking good!

How big is your garage, and what size are your garage doors?
I think it is 28x46 and has 10'x8' doors.

All of it is looking really good Mike! Congrats! Stay on those contractors. Get it done your way, not theirs. You're the one who has to live with it.

:beer:
I've known these guys for years and have no issue telling them where to stick it when needed. I got my way in the end and gave in with a few things once a logical explanation was given to me.

I came across this video and thought of you and your father, totally cool machine used by Van Damme Drainage....click on the link.
I've seen that before !! Super awesome video !!!!

I saw that video last night too. This thread was the first thing I thought of!
The first thing I thought of was how cool it'd be to be there with them !!
 
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jblnut

ALLIANCE MEMBER
Joined
Jan 17, 2015
Messages
7,025
Location
In the Middle of MN
Miss Lily helped me put together a drag for behind the 4-wheeler. She was all equipped to help weld :lol_hitti
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I figured it was only fair that she test it first. It worked well but needs a bit more weight.
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Crooked AF BUT it'll be behind sheetrock so it's all good :thumbup:
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"Hey Leo !!"
(Puts hand to ear) "Yeah Dad !!!"
"Smile for the picture !!!"
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*Looking into the master shower ....
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That is Greg. He's our cabinet guy. Super standup dude !!
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Outlet boxes in SIP walls look strange :dunno:
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What a mess of wires in the garage attic !!!
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Hey look !! Steel is on the roof !!!!!!!!
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BORING HOP YARD

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 13, 2007
Messages
1,102
Location
Boring Oregon
Steel on the roof, what a nice milestone! Your garage is going to be nice and with all the other covered storage on your farm is just icing on the cake. Pick up a project and set it off to the side and not plug up you garage / workspace. I call it "expensive storage" when its in my way or I have run out of room to work without hurting a finished project.
Looking forward to more progress, thank you for sharing.
 
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jblnut

ALLIANCE MEMBER
Joined
Jan 17, 2015
Messages
7,025
Location
In the Middle of MN
Steel on the roof, what a nice milestone! Your garage is going to be nice and with all the other covered storage on your farm is just icing on the cake. Pick up a project and set it off to the side and not plug up you garage / workspace. I call it "expensive storage" when its in my way or I have run out of room to work without hurting a finished project.
Looking forward to more progress, thank you for sharing.
I am incredibly grateful to have all the spaces under roofs that I do have. We're about to embark on another under roof space for the Golden Harvest seed sales adventure we started. The hayshed is going to get completely concreted and a partition wall and ceiling are going to separate a 48x56' area of the 112' total. I am wicked stocked to start turning it into a seed warehouse !!

100a subpanel in the house garage right?
I honestly had to go and look what it was !!! The entire house only has one panel. All lighting and upstairs outlets are on 15a circuits and all kitchen and exterior and garage circuits are on 20a circuits. That panel is going to be fairly full when it's all wired in. There will be an exterior 50a run to the NW corner by the kitchen for who knows what over there one day. Mama Bear is talking about some sort of patio over there and I don't want to run out of power !!
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Just curious, what happens to the existing house once you move into the new one?


Great update Mike, glad things are moving along for you.

Jay
Thanks Jay !! Fun stuff, a guy named Jay has built all kinds of stuff around here for us and will build another stacking slab and do the hayshed remodel soon. He's a real standup guy !! Really knows how to drink Busch Light so we get along well :lol_hitti
 
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jblnut

ALLIANCE MEMBER
Joined
Jan 17, 2015
Messages
7,025
Location
In the Middle of MN
What a busy day for the littles !! Picking rocks and leveling things out. They all had fun and we drank lots of pink lemonade :lol_hitti
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Sheetrock is here !! I wish I had thought to film this crew. They stuffed 12' sheets through a window opening while on the forks and set it down on the floor in the house. Truly amazing to watch people that are good at what they do !!!
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Day one of siding and they got quite a ways for only two guys !!
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That is the beginnings of a Dolby Atoms 7.2.4 Surround System :drool:
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Someone said "Hey TikTok is fun!!" Good grief what a time pisser but I'm having a little fun making some videos I guess !! Let me know if it works out to view well on here or it's dumb.

The power went out and was going to be out for a while !!
https://flic.kr/p/2msrmjg
I had to run the genny and carry cans of fuel to the tractor to fill it up so I filled it up completely once power was restored.
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We went tiling on Saturday !!!
https://flic.kr/p/2msnHPv
We did some tiling for a neighbor. I think we did around 2,700' total in about 3hrs. Not bad !!
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Man we were digging up some REALLY nice grass to put this stuff down !! In a "normal" year there is no way we would have been driving where we were. It's usually pretty soft here and there was moisture fairly close to the surface. This ground is in the area that the water from our land runs onto so it makes sense that it's be wet being so much farther down hill !!
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An INSANE amount of slope :lol_hitti
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Saturday evening's project was to get all the busted soybean bales out of the hay shed. I thought the best way was to gather them with the pallet fork and haul them out with the rock bucket and grapple.
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It was a bit of a **** show but it actually worked fairly well !!
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One of the feed bins is empty .... guess which one :lol_hitti
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A co-worker came for some grass hay for his horses today. 29 bales on that trailer !!!
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jollygreengiant

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 10, 2013
Messages
2,359
Location
Ontario, Canada
Since we're talking about panels and wiring, will you be running any high voltage/high amp circuits in the garage? I think some areas they are mandated in new builds, for electric vehicle charging.
 
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jblnut

ALLIANCE MEMBER
Joined
Jan 17, 2015
Messages
7,025
Location
In the Middle of MN
Niceeeeee
Yee yee !!

Since we're talking about panels and wiring, will you be running any high voltage/high amp circuits in the garage? I think some areas they are mandated in new builds, for electric vehicle charging.
No. At this point we are not doing anything but by putting the panel where it is we can add something down the road if we need to. I guess by saying we are not doing anything there will of course be a 50 amp welder plug below the panel. You just never know when you need to run a seven and a half horse motor or a welder in your house garage :lol_hitti
 
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jblnut

ALLIANCE MEMBER
Joined
Jan 17, 2015
Messages
7,025
Location
In the Middle of MN
Looks like the house is coming along great!
It's a long way farther now .... I seem to have lost, I dunno what, the time/energy/motivation/drive, to post every couple days on here like I've bene doing for a long time. I sure what to but cannot seem to sit down for the time it takes to put it all together. I'll try to do better though !!!


Great! Love the updates!!!!
Me too ..... when they are posted at least :lol_hitti
 
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jblnut

ALLIANCE MEMBER
Joined
Jan 17, 2015
Messages
7,025
Location
In the Middle of MN
Time to make some mouse poison holders !! These keep the stuff out of reach of the kiddos and the mice seem to love climbing through pipes so it's a win win !!
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It was raining one morning and the littles were out in full force with their umbrellas :lol_hitti
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Well. ****.
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The tires let go at 65MPH with this boat anchor on their back. I asked the lift rental company how heavy it was after this happened and they said "16,000lbs. We thought it was a bit much for that trailer but whatever. People overload their stuff all the time, not our problem." Well gee. It would have been nice to know that because I'd have left the damn thing on their lot if I new how heavy it was !! We usually rent a JLG340AG and that is about all this trailer likes and it weighs in at 9,600lbs. The 1-ton diesel freight train on front of the trailer didn't seem to notice the extra weight so I really had no idea until the tires let go :rant:
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I used the lift to, well, LIFT !!! It worked well actually and was the only use it got all day. I told the rental yard to come get it and said it was sitting in an abandoned farm yard.
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I cannot say enough AMAZING things about the crew at Wallace Tire and Auto in Benson, MN. The owner dropped what he was doing in the office and changed tires around for me. Super standup crew !!
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I left with the two I brought and two more because I figured the other tires were also shot so may as well replace all of them as long as I was dinking around.
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Back on and ready to run !!
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When I got back home after that waste of a day we went out to do some combining !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Om nom nom munching that corn down !!!
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Poor drought stricken corn really doesn't look like much and it's yielding less than 25% of what it did last year :sad:
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The first dump of the season took 7 acres to fill up a 300bu hopper on the combine .... last year that'd have been 1.75 acres. It is what it is and we'll have enough to feed the cattle so it'll work out !!!
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It took a while but it's full !! First load of the season going to the bins :bounce:
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BORING HOP YARD

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 13, 2007
Messages
1,102
Location
Boring Oregon
Greetings, I'm hoping the picture of the Littles is them waiting for the school bus for some good old in person learning.
Its great you were able to get a big enough return to cover your feed. What a weird assed summer we had.
Thanks for sharing, time for another cup of coffee!
 

XJSuperman

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 26, 2018
Messages
3,087
Location
Central Iowa
Everything I've seen about MN harvest has been bad news. Sorry to see the corn yield is down. At least your corn appears to be standing up still, seems a few guys have it laying down.

Iowa is chugging right along and making decent yields I think. We did a little 20ac field of beans and got roughly 55bu/ac so we're happy since its a test farm and not a real farm. The machines worked and thats what counts for us.
 

loganb

ALLIANCE MEMBER
Joined
Dec 29, 2011
Messages
5,533
Location
Omaha, NE
It's a long way farther now .... I seem to have lost, I dunno what, the time/energy/motivation/drive, to post every couple days on here like I've bene doing for a long time. I sure what to but cannot seem to sit down for the time it takes to put it all together. I'll try to do better though !!!

Don't need to explain yourself to anyone here! You've got an off farm job, an on farm job, a family that is equivalent to another full time job plus building a house while completely ignoring the emotional challenge that a challenging harvest brings. I don't fully understand the harvest aspect as I'm "off farm" at the moment but have a pretty good idea of how it goes and although its way more work physical work to harvest 180 bu corn than 45 bu/acre, the mental drain on the weak yields more than makes up for it. There is a reason Dad often describes what he does to folks he doesn't know as "Professional Gambler"....it does generate some interesting conversations but there is much more truth in it than most realize

You take care of your 4 other full time jobs, the internet friends will be here when you're rained out or broke down...preferably at the same time!
 

jeepxj

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 2, 2008
Messages
17,858
Everything I've seen about MN harvest has been bad news. Sorry to see the corn yield is down. At least your corn appears to be standing up still, seems a few guys have it laying down.

Iowa is chugging right along and making decent yields I think. We did a little 20ac field of beans and got roughly 55bu/ac so we're happy since its a test farm and not a real farm. The machines worked and thats what counts for us.

the bottom counties in MN seemed to get just enough to get by.
 
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jblnut

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Joined
Jan 17, 2015
Messages
7,025
Location
In the Middle of MN
Greetings, I'm hoping the picture of the Littles is them waiting for the school bus for some good old in person learning.
Its great you were able to get a big enough return to cover your feed. What a weird assed summer we had.
Thanks for sharing, time for another cup of coffee!
Yup. The littles were waiting for the bus to go back to school for a little more normal year .... hopefully !!! We have enough grain to feed the cattle but won't have very much to sell. We have crop insurance for years like this but that no where near makes up for the losses in the field. It basically covers inputs for next year so we can keep going.

Wow, sorry to hear about the corn yields. I'm assuming the beans didn't fare as well either?
Soybeans were all over the board actually. The best of them did VERY well for our area and the worst of them didn't pay to combine. I learned the yield monitor goes down to 3bu/a before it stops reading. Didn't really need to know that :dunno:

Everything I've seen about MN harvest has been bad news. Sorry to see the corn yield is down. At least your corn appears to be standing up still, seems a few guys have it laying down.

Iowa is chugging right along and making decent yields I think. We did a little 20ac field of beans and got roughly 55bu/ac so we're happy since its a test farm and not a real farm. The machines worked and that's what counts for us.
"There isn't much there but what IS there is damn nice !!" That is what the Pioneer guys usually say on a normal year but we're borrowing the phrase this year as well :lol_hitti


Don't need to explain yourself to anyone here! You've got an off farm job, an on farm job, a family that is equivalent to another full time job plus building a house while completely ignoring the emotional challenge that a challenging harvest brings. I don't fully understand the harvest aspect as I'm "off farm" at the moment but have a pretty good idea of how it goes and although its way more work physical work to harvest 180 bu corn than 45 bu/acre, the mental drain on the weak yields more than makes up for it. There is a reason Dad often describes what he does to folks he doesn't know as "Professional Gambler"....it does generate some interesting conversations but there is much more truth in it than most realize

You take care of your 4 other full time jobs, the internet friends will be here when you're rained out or broke down...preferably at the same time!
Thank you Logan. The last month (has it really been that long ?!?!) has been a wonderfully stressful one. I decided to take a break from GJ for a bit but have lots of stuff to post up in the coming weeks I hope. Since I've moved my workstation up to the shop I'm not by my laptop as much in the evenings so it's been harder to find time to do this in the first place. I've been playing with TikTok while out and about and am having a pretty good time with that !!! @jblnuts. I hope putting that up here is okay ......

Hope all are Well There!!!!
All is well !! Busy but well !!!!


the bottom counties in MN seemed to get just enough to get by.
Our bottom ground did okay but there is very little of that in our gravel hills. Other parts of the state/country were hit harder so I really can't complain.

Hey Mike, just thought I’d check in, any updates? I imagine you are swamped with harvesting and the new house build. Hope everything is going well.

Jay
We're actually done harvesting and are working on baling straw for the steers. We averaged in the 65bu/a range for corn and 23bu/a for soybeans. Not great but it could always be worse I guess :dunno:

I'll get caught up with pictures sometime but the house got the first coat of paint inside today so it's coming along !!!
 
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jblnut

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Jan 17, 2015
Messages
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In the Middle of MN
Wow this seems like forever ago but Pops and I got the hayshed cleaned out for concrete.
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What a dusty mess !!!
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We hauled in 12-14 loads of fill to level it all out.
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Pops used the power shovel to level out around the outside walls. It worked quite well !!
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All leveled out nicely !!
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Ready for stakes and mud !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Well now things are going to get done. The littles are here to help !!!
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Hey look !! Some stakes have grown up out of the dirt :lol2:
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Oh that looks so nice :drool:
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Stakes are set, dirt is tamped, things are ready for mud !!
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jblnut

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Jan 17, 2015
Messages
7,025
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In the Middle of MN
Paint inside of house and ready for concrete = PROGRESS.
Shhhhh .... don't tell anyone but the concrete has been poured for a few weeks already .... I'm just way behind on posting updates :lol_hitti

The paint however, did just happen today. Mama is getting excited to move in sometime in the real near future. I think cabinets go in week after next. Or something. I dunno :dunno:
 
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jblnut

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Jan 17, 2015
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In the Middle of MN
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jblnut

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Jan 17, 2015
Messages
7,025
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In the Middle of MN
Whilst fueling up the combine I was smarting off to Pops (go figure) and I caught this picture mid-finger of encouragement :lol_hitti
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She sure is a thirsty beast !!! I think I put around 54,398,378 gallons in the tank. Crazy :willy_nil
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Absolutely crazy how green the corn was and it was still bone dry. This field was in the 16% range. I like to combine it around 20% so it was plenty dry :eyecrazy:
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Not great looking stuff but it's what we got !!!
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I know it's not the largest combine out there but there are are those that say it isn't the size, it's how you use it :beer:
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Pump, pump, pump it up !!!!
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Dry dry dry dry corn :rant:
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Don't worry about the mule .... Just load the wagons !!!!!
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We switched from corn to beans and back a few times as things dried down. Always a good time !!
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Oooooooo soybeans !!!
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Up and in the bin they go. Fun fun !!
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My sister got in the way of the perfect sunset combining shot :lol:
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Jayman17

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Joined
Feb 6, 2017
Messages
3,805
Location
Seattle, Wa
Mike, just curious why is it a bad thing that the corn is drier than usual? Wouldn’t that be less time in the drier?
Any update on the house?

Jay
 

drivesitfar

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Joined
Oct 23, 2013
Messages
36,023
Location
Pacific Northwest
sorry your crops weren't as great as you hoped they would be, but with all the drainage improvements you've been doing when the weather does cooperate in the years to come I bet you'll be smiling.

do you have a time lapse video on the house to post?

since you are one of the techies here are you going to hard wire your home for internet or have routers and wifi everywhere? also what wire are you going to use 5e, 6, 7, or 8 or ?

keep up the great work and hopefully you and the littles and mama bear will be moving in your new digs soon.
 
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jblnut

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Jan 17, 2015
Messages
7,025
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In the Middle of MN
How long does it take to change over the combine from corn to soybeans?

nice Pics and maybe your Pop's was telling you that your a # 1 in his book!
It doesn't take all that long. I'd say in under an hour we can roll in the yard with the corn head on and back out with the bean head on ready to go. There are a few things inside the combine that need to be adjusted but most of it is done from switches and stuff in the cab.

I'm him #1 favorite son :lol_hitti

Mike, just curious why is it a bad thing that the corn is drier than usual? Wouldn’t that be less time in the drier?
Any update on the house?

Jay
When the corn is dry it shells out in the header before it can get into the combine. We have some adjustable parts on the corn head to minimize this but it gets really bad around 16% moisture. Take a soft piece of bread and throw it at the floor, now take a piece of toast and throw it at the floor. The toast will leave way more crumbs. I dunno how to parallel it I guess :dunno:

I'll toss some pictures below BUT as of today the cabinets are installed and the main flooring will be installed Thursday. I don't have a lot of pictures for some reason but I'll post what I do below.


sorry your crops weren't as great as you hoped they would be, but with all the drainage improvements you've been doing when the weather does cooperate in the years to come I bet you'll be smiling.

do you have a time lapse video on the house to post?

since you are one of the techies here are you going to hard wire your home for internet or have routers and wifi everywhere? also what wire are you going to use 5e, 6, 7, or 8 or ?

keep up the great work and hopefully you and the littles and mama bear will be moving in your new digs soon.
Drain tile helps in a dry year as well. When the top soil layers are not saturated in the early spring it forces the crop roots to go deeper to look for moisture. When it's dry out this is a good thing because there is typically more moisture down below.

No time lapse unfortunately. I have a camera on a 60' pole looking at it that I thought was set to take a snapshot every hour but it didn't. Not much on the exterior has changed lately.

Wire ?? What's that ?? All the kids are using that fancy fiber stuff. My little well house is where the property "hub" so to speak will be as that is where the internet service is going to land on the property. From there I already have fiber ran to the shop, steer barn and chicken barn. A couple runs to the house will happen soon hopefully. Inside the house I put some LARGE smurf tube to a few places in the house for data runs. Most likely going to be some 2nd hand (but new) Cat6a stuff I snagged from another GJ member. A pair of Unifi AP's in the house will do the bulk of the work in the house. I have a 24u data cabinet to setup with all my stuff in the mech room eventually that'll house my TrueNAS box, Plex server, Ubiquiti UNVR and firewalls along with a few other nerd things I've been working on.

Mama Bear is almost annoyingly excited to move in. I just want to be done with the whole ordeal so I know what it's all going to cost. I am literally losing sleep over the money leaving every day but it'll be over soon. For some reason the amount of money spent on this house has stressed me out WAY more than it should. I wrote out a $5k check for a brand new Jenkins 7' skid steer tiller and didn't blink an eye. I also asked the painter guy to stop dropping so much sheetrock mud because he was going to put me in the poor house. Argh I'm all messed up :willy_nil


Thanks for the idea. 100% stolen from you. Modified slightly to break down to pack in the jeep. only a 20" disk.

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Glad to inspire someone else to do it as well !! Looks like you're seasoning it with some good ol' straight 90 weight :lol_hitti
 
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