Roy's Summer Project (A Picture Story)

“Where in the Heck is Roy, part 2.”

From Mid-June to the end of August, I kinda fell off of the MTF map. So here is what happened . . .

*** In Review ***

Many of you know I bought Big Greene (BG) in July 2010, added the FEL a few months later and begin working on the creek side of my house. It was a mess, but I opened it up real good:

Before


Afte


Then I added some RR tie landscaping and built a garden area:



Then I added some more RR tie landscaping and shored up the creek side of my house:



And I got the garden planted and started gardening:



*** End of Review ***

In early June, a lady in my neighborhood saw me working in the creek with the FEL, and stopped by. She said she had a bunch of limestone landscaping rock in her yard that I could have if I would just move it. Well, I had no clue what I would do with it, but with BG, the FEL and a trailer -- I knew I could move it. So I went down the street and got it:







And piled it in the creek next to the house:



I’ll just figure out what to do with it later.

But by Late June it was too dang hot to hang around Central Texas, so I loaded DW (dear wife) up in the RV and we went to Colorado for 10 days seeking cooler weather. This is when I first fell off of the MTF map:







Now that is what you call really fresh rainbow trout. Colorado was nice, low 70s in the daytime, upper 40s at night; but we had to returning home and get back to gardening. But I quickly figured out that our gardening tools (hoes, rakes, shovels, hoses, herbicides, insecticides, etc.) were scattered everywhere – in the garage, the back porch, front porch, and RV shop – all over the place. So I told the wife we needed a garden shed, and she said “we should get that for our anniversary.”

Now I have to pause here and tell you she is one heck of a woman. Last year she suggest we buy Big Greene for our anniversary, so we have had some really cool anniversary gifts the last couple of years. With that said, I suspect on next year’s anniversary (it’ll be #35), I may pay dearly for the last two.

I started looking at shed kits, but they are just too flimsy for me, so I decided to build my own. And of course a garden shed needs to be close to the garden, but I didn’t have any place to build it due to that part of my property being pretty much lost to the creek. But then I remembered that I did have those rocks, and I did have a mighty GT with a FEL. So I went to work stacking rocks and moving/hauling material as we built up a place to build the shed on:











I was working on it every evening after work, and all day on the weekends. I was one tired puppy when I came in the house; so it was supper, bath and bed -- which kept me off of MTF in the evening.

Working in this small area makes you realize why you have a GT with a FEL and not a 2305 or 1 Serious. The X748 has a shorter wheel base and a very sharp turning radius. I think with a 2305, I would have ended up doing a lot of shovel work on this project.

After getting the road base packed in, I begin working on the shed foundation. BG was making it all happen:















BG was a big help here: carrying in the material and then packing it down. I couldn’t have done without BG.

I put in the steel, and hired a guy who knows concrete to finish it out for me.







Once the concrete was set:



and the forms were removed:



it was time to start building. So I picked up a trailer load of lumber to started framing:



We worked on the project every weekend. Since Texas was in this drought, there was no fear of rain before we could dry it in:















When it was roofing time, BG was once again a big help. I loaded the FEL buck with shingles and BG served them up to us:





BG saved a bunch of trips up and down a ladder.

I use ½ inch OSB board in the walls, wrapped the whole thing in #15 roofing felt and put up HardiPlank cement fiber board lap siding:



When the shed started looking like a barn, we dubbed it “Lil’Barn” (our RV is named Lil’House.) The way it is built, Lil’Barn will be here longer than I am, for sure.

I panted Lil’Barn to match the house (it is a wife thing):







Lil’Barn is a 10x 16 shed. It just under 10 feet at the top plate and 14 feet at the peak. The gambrel roof creates a wonderful loft storage area:



The big door is a Janus roll-up overhead door:



I had this old work bench in the attic of my house. I used it 25 years ago for a reloading bench (when I was a farmer in a previous life, I was an avid hunter. I reloaded all my own shotgun and center fire ammo.) When I moved to the city I kept the bench, storing it in the attic. I am sure glad I did. I painted the top, sealed it with a polyurethane sealer, cut a hole in it and drop in a utility sink:



I’ll use this area to wash the garden vegies, shell peas, etc. I didn’t hook it up to sewer, just ran some 1 1/4” PVC though the foundation and will let the sink drain into the creek. I figure since I'll just be washing dirty hands and garden produce, the sink can drain into the creek:



I buried a line from an air compressor in the RV shop, so now I have compressed air in the Lil'Barn. This will be very handy for blowing the dust off of BG.



When I finish the wiring, I’ll have a 220 outlet that I will use in the future for a welder.

And now we have all our garden tools in one spot, and right next to the garden:



Which is where this story begin.

So, that is the whole story about the summer project that kept me too tired in the evenings, even for MTF. The End.

(Don't you just love happy endings!)