Ye Old Garage

[sublime68charger]

That's pretty cool pic, with the lighting like that. And instead of having your heat shields fastened directly to the wall, put some stand offs between the shields and the wall. About 1"-2" thick, ceramic or brick would be my first choice.

walls have held up so far. the extra heat shielding is doing its job. If I could easily remove the stove's and off set the heat shielding I would but it's close quaters in there and for now I'll just have to keep watch on them. With the stoves now being brick lined and bolted down to 2x4's that are screwed down to the platform they are on there staying there till they burn out and get replaced. So far after I added the heat shielding have not had any problems with hot walls. I due need to put some on the platform that the barrel stoves are on. I had that smoking a bit so it got water dumped on it and was fine for the rest of the day. It might be just keep a pot of water out there for in case needed. I can use the same pot that is my finish pot as I don't use that till the very end when I'm down to just the fisher stove and all the other ones are cooled down or cooling down and not running any more.

 

[sublime68charger]

Ran 44 gallons this last weekend. I had the forced air stove really going almost had a steam pan on that stove foam over I had to unplug the forced air for a few minutes till it calmed back down.

Also got a Murphy cup so makes know when you have syrup easy poor syrup into cup then put Hydrometer in cup. If hydrometer floats at lower level then dial guage on cup keep boiling. Goal is to have them match up. If Hydrometer floats higher than guage you have syrup plus and need to add sap to dilute it back down.

also my little half pans fit in the trailer bucket slots real nice fill them up out there at trailer and then take into sugar shack and place on stove to start the boiling process. When a big pan needs sap just dump the 1/2 pan into the big one and take back outside to refill.

 

[sublime68charger]

So I'm cooking away on my sap and truck pulls into the driveway. Its a guy selling pictures of your place taken from a plane from this last summer.

Didn't really want or need a picture but didnt have one of the house and all of that so went ahead and got the picture.

not the best pic taking a pic of a pic but I still think it looks pretty cool.

 

[xtremek]

Which house is yours?

 

[sublime68charger]

Main House is by the camper. To the left is the atv/garden tractor workshop, was photo studio at 1 time. Yea Old Garage is upper middle. Wood Boiler is to the right of garage along with tarp shed for fire wood storage.

Chicken Coop is down by garden in Lower left. along with small garden storage shed under pine trees.

Sap stove's are at bottom of drive way in the right the sugar shack is above the house under a tree Shack is closer to the house now. Can pic out the sugar shack as its all white.

Missing in this pic is the yard barn hidden by the trees and the sawmill tarp shed plus the scarp shack sheds which is 4 truck toppers that are set up on top of some garage door panels. that store ATV/Trailers/lawn mowers. its not pretty storage but it keeps the weather off of stuff.

 

[captain14]

Sub,

I’ve asked about your numbering system for your tractors and ATVs to keep track of PM schedules.

Now it’s time to give each building a number like they do on large campuses….

 

[xtremek]

The ATV shop is what threw me off. It looked bigger than some houses I see.

 

[sublime68charger]

The ATV shop is what threw me off. It looked bigger than some houses I see.

ATV shop is like 1100' square feet. Building break down is 4 rooms.

9x13 small office with shelves My tool box and tool storage is all in this room.

20x26 with 15' ceiling this was the main photo shoot room had high ceiling with track system to provide different back ground for Photo's. Now has french doors that are 8' tall this is where the atv's come in/out if done correctly I can get 2 of them in/out with out having to move the other one. most time's there's about 3 or 4 atv's or garden tractors in this area.

10x13 was business entrance display office. Had shelves with picture frame displayed. This now has Fuse ball table/Air hockey table. Big screen TV and misc storage. suppose to be kids gaming center but it gets over run with other things as well.

also has bathroom and sink.

Nice building to have to store things in and work on smaller projects.
Floor is carpet which is nicer when having to lay down to work on things. There are a few stain's in it now but it has held up pretty well over the years.

The ATV shop stays at 65 all winter long heated from the outdoor boiler. which in nice for starting ATV's to plow snow when temps are in the single digits. before the boiler heat was added. I heated just the small office and bathroom with electric baseboard heat and electric for the studio was running $250/300 a month for 3 winter months was not cheap and the rest of the shop was in the 40's or 30's. only heated the small office and bathroom to keep the pipes from freezing.

 

[sublime68charger]

Sub,

I’ve asked about your numbering system for your tractors and ATVs to keep track of PM schedules.

Now it’s time to give each building a number like they do on large campuses….

I might have to start doing that.

there's enough stuff around my place now its getting hard to keep track of it all that is for sure!

 

[sublime68charger]

Got to be on Fire ****** for the Girls Gymnastics team had 2 of the members qualify for state compention. 1 of the fun things to due is get to slow roll a fire truck threw town at 25MPH with lights and sirens going full blast! We roll threw town at 25MPH and drop them off about a mile outside on there way out of town! Pick them up at the High School and go and visist the other schools before we make our way out of town with them! Good times and for the kids on the bus it has to be a great send off for them as well I would think!

 

[sublime68charger]

so sapping today, Ran around 60 gallons threw the sugar shack and got 8 pints all said and done.

My helper from last week and sapin is hard work had to take a break in the chair with blankets!

Though I did make her get up early so we could go out in the woods and gather the sap save's me a bunch of time to have a extra hand to truck buckets from tree's to trailer.

 

[xtremek]

How much longer will you be running sap?

 

[sublime68charger]

How much longer will you be running sap?

3 or 4 weeks all depends upon the weather. as long as night is below freezeing and day time is above the sap will run.

you get 3 or 4 nights when temp stays above freezing the sap turns bitter and your done. can still boil it but wont taste very good.

if you have a day or 2 that stay warmer you can still run as long as other day's are cold at night.

also if your tree's are on North slope and in woods that they don't get the sunlight can run a bit longer on them as well.

 

[sublime68charger]

Still in the sap. Pic of the finished sap all canned and ready to be put on the shelf till needed.

Had boy scout campout this last weekend got home Sunday at noon and the wife had got things started but most the buckets was frozen solid so I spent a long day of boiling and got doneish about Midnight. I'll have to due final boil on the last 2 gallons next weekend while im starting the run on that sap. Made for a long day of dealing with frozen sap buckets.

 

[sublime68charger]

Also 1 kid in FFA wrote a grant and got some Money to raise meat chickens as part of a FFA project so went and got another Chicken coop and will have to find time to get it set up as well.

Also anybody got a good way to tie up loose ends on ratchet straps so they dont flop around in the wind. I came up with just some electric tape and that seemed to work pretty good?

 

[XJSuperman]

For short pieces I loop around stuff until it looks like a mess (because I'm no boyscout and don't have a knotting badge), or I use zipties or in your case tape. Grip-ties work good as well. But for longer pieces of slack, there are some good videos on youtube showing how to roll it up, and tuck it back through on itself where it cinches down nice. Thats my go-to method these days.

 

[bugnut]

For the strap ends I bought and use these. Just pull them tight.

 

[JAB82]

I use plastic spring clamps for my 2 inch binders

 

[xtremek]

I just tie the end to the tight part. How many pints/quarts/gallons of syrup do you have so far? And how many chickens will be added to the flock?

 

[sublime68charger]

Been a bit since I posted but Spring is in full effect Maple syrup season is over.

Having fun with the John Deere 140 catching front tire air moving some Paver bricks I made like 15 trips and had a blast on the trips down to the storage spot for the pavers the loading and unloading not some much but the 30 second loaded trip was a fun time.

 

[sublime68charger]

I just tie the end to the tight part. How many pints/quarts/gallons of syrup do you have so far? And how many chickens will be added to the flock?

43 quarts this year I think is the total count.

50 chickens for Meat production via a FFA project. some ducks as well.

Next project is getting other chicken coops setup and workable.

 

[2Rocky]

Just found this thread.

When I saw the first picture i knew you were a good parent.

 

[xtremek]

What're you going to do with the pavers?

 

[sublime68charger]

What're you going to do with the pavers?

I have a area behind the ATV workshop that is just dirt that I started putting down pavers till I ran out. So I'll finish off that.

the Sugar Shack is getting moved to up by the wood boiler and gonna put pavers for the shack to sit on them instead of the runner beams just having to sit in the dirt.

Will use some of the pavers as a base for the other chicken coop as well.

I'll find a bunch of use's for them.

Price was right just show up and load them up was only 40min trip to go and get them.
Friends selling there house and moving in to town and they had a huge garden that used the pavers to hold down plastic in the garden Heck I might even due that with some of them in my own garden.

Ill find use for them I know that.

 

[sublime68charger]

so Work this last weekend.

Put a lift on the duck house it'll be up of the ground a bit to give them shade under the house if they want to use it.

Tractor and forks made putting the lift with runners on easy.

 

[sublime68charger]

Then since I had the Tractor for the day.

Sugar shack got moved to its new spot.

I'll have to level it up yet and such but its moved out of the yard by the house. Now up next to the wood boiler and the wood shed and I can get power to the shack out there which will be nice to have.

was moving the shack and had to brace up the lower side since that side was downhill and then has probally 700 plus pounds of wood stove on the lower side and didnt want the shack to tip over so put some bracing in under that side to keep it from tipping

 

[xtremek]

Yeah, having your shack tip would not be a good time.

 

[sublime68charger]

Yeah, having your shack tip would not be a good time.

when I first started to move it and was on the flat turning to the right the right side was leaning down alot that made me a bit nervous, Hence when I got to where I was gonna be going up hill a bit and leaning even more to the right I decided to put down the runners and give that side some bracing to keep it from tipping.

There is alot of weight on the right side of the shed due to the 2 stoves being on that side of it. Heck when I get it leveled off in its new spot I think I'll even add a some blocks under the right side to help with the weight that being carried over there. Wish the runner's it sits on was more to the outside instead of were they are at but you work with what you have.

 

[drivesitfar]

Looks like you’ve been super busy now that the white stuff is gone.

I’ll bet you can keep off the dew this summer cause with all this cool stuff you’re fixing and building on the farm retirement should be fun.

 

[sublime68charger]

So, going after a 8x10 foot shed this saturday problem is the car trailer is only 82" wide between the fenders. so making some runner rails for the shed to ride up on and be able to clear the fenders.

got some 14' 4x6's and stared with them added some 2x3 old fence support board I had to the top of the 4x6 to give me enough height to clear the fenders up front I'll have 2 4x4 stacked with a 2x4 on top of that.

1 cross brace at the tail end and 2x3 in the stake pockets to keep the 4x6's from getting tippy. Plan is to get the shed started up on the rails then maybe put floor jack under leading beam of shed and lift it up and then winch the shed on up onto the trailer I'm thinking the floor jack would roll up the trailer better than just dragging the shed up on my rail beams.

I'll find out saturday. This shed is only 7 miles from home so if I need to go home and get more boards for bracing I can due that.
Pics so you can kinda get a idea of what I'm taking about. I wonder if I need to put in other board for bracing like the rear?

I have more 2x3 that I might cut to fit and then leap frog them as the floor jack come up the trailer deck with the shed. put like 2 more of those just to help hold the 4x6 runners from wanting to side shift and get tippy?

 

[sublime68charger]

if any body has any great or bright Idea's I'm all for it.

pic of the shed. only 1 I have but it suppose to be 8' wide by 8 length is not a problem its the width.

Been on my to due list to make up some runner rails for moving shed that are to big to go between the fenders and I guess the time was now.

Shed was free on the local CL on sunday and I found the 4x6 base of my runner rails on FB on Wed only 40 miles away and went and got them and spent last 2 nights making up the rest of the rail system to make it work.

 

[xtremek]

You've moved a couple of these. What exactly are you concerned about? Looks like the trailer is set, is it loading the shack?

 

[sublime68charger]

You've moved a couple of these. What exactly are you concerned about? Looks like the trailer is set, is it loading the shack?

all the others fit onto the car trailer between the fenders. well cept for that 16x20 shed that kinda covered over the whole trailer. My main concern would be the shed shifts and tips the rail over and then crunch's down on a fender or it tips off the trailer as well. I think I have a pretty good handle and plan on this but thought I would ask before hand rather than post up pics of the epic fail when I totally missed a simple thing that I should have done. I could screw down Shelf hanger brackets as well to help keep the rail runners upright, Heck I think I might just due that as well just add them to the runner's and let them float on the trailer deck. as a stabilising force.

 

[xtremek]

Put it on the trailer sideways? I would think that would be the most stable for transport.

 

[sublime68charger]

Put it on the trailer sideways? I would think that would be the most stable for transport

Not to worried. if the roof was the other way I'd thinkg about that but I think I load it up the way it is. Its a 8x8 and the floor joist run cross way's under the shed and I want those joist's to be sitting on the rails. that is the key to me that it has plenty of support when I get it up on the trailer.

I'll take pics and post back tomorrow how this all goes. I thinking it goe pretty smooth but then when you think that way things get bumpy.

just glad this is a close by and i'm not going hours from home. If I need to go back home and get more stuff to help me out I can due that instead of trying to take everything I think I'll need along with me.

though I'll porbally take a bunch of stuff with me anyway.

 

[sublime68charger]

Shed made it home no big problems getting it loaded

 

[sublime68charger]

Back on the ground already as well

 

[sublime68charger]

some more Pics of getting the shed loaded up and then unloading as well.

all in all things went pretty smooth.

 

[xtremek]

So what's the reason for this shed?

 

[sublime68charger]

So what's the reason for this shed?

It's gonna be feed storage for the 2 pigs 15 ducks 65 chickens. So I won't have to store feed in the workshop or back of the truck in the garage. Price was right free. Needs a roof but I think I have enough tin to manage that