OT: Building in isolated location

[spro]

Very impressive work.

[seal killer]

Steve--

Ok. The plan is not fully worked out, yet. Gimme time.

--seal killer

[SteveHGraham]

You could spend the TV money on some nice screen doors.

[SteveHGraham]

I have been reading about the Yellowstone thing, and the large ring of "unsurvivability" in which some of our forum's members find themselves. Obviously, I am concerned. I hope everyone has taken the time to make sure their machines will not go to waste after the event. Some small engraved instructions reading, "In case of volcano, property of Steve" would give us all peace of mind.

[seal killer]

All--

It really is starting to look like a house! The lower floor is (mostly) framed in. Most of the upper floor trusses are in place. (All of them were in place right after I shot this video.) The safe room still has braces in it as the concrete roof cures.

The YouTube video shows the construction progress. And, take another look at the view! Plus, it looks like I've acquired a new pet. (The game camera caught at least two, maybe three of them, plus a lot of turkeys and deer.)

https://youtu.be/C53KPH24JS8

The view . . . [attachment=0]05-21-17 The View - resized.jpg

This guy does not seem timid in the daylight!

--Bill

[neanderman]

Some small engraved instructions reading, "In case of volcano, property of Steve" would give us all peace of mind.

[neanderman]

Bill, is that a grey wolf? Looks a bit large to be a coyote.

[seal killer]

Ed--

I wouldn't know a grey wolf from a penguin.

On a somewhat related note, our traveling companions spotted a black bear on their 160 acres immediately to the west of ours. Her husband had hiked down to do some trout fishing. She got in the Grand Cherokee (good Idea) and came over to visit us as we sit on top of the cliff and enjoy the view.

About a year ago, we saw a very large black bear about two miles from our build site.

--Bill

[SteveHGraham]

Must be nice to see a tree that doesn't have fronds on it.

[spro]

But this is a frondly site.

[TomB]

On our mountain in VT there are always bears. They mostly have a route and if left undisturbed will pretty much remain out of sight. They are however noticed when they turn the garbage cans upside down and then throw the empty can down the road. A lot of people have a dog(s) and the dogs will alert everybody to a local bear. Sometimes the dogs can chase the bear out of the yard and sometimes the bear chases the dog into its house. My across the street neighbors have a compost pile (attractive nuance for bears) and what most people would call a junkyard dog (Charlie). Charlie can chase the bear out every time and seems to enjoy the sport. I've heard them say that in the evening they can tell Charlie "The monster is out there" and Charlie will get excited and run to all the doors.

But so far Charlie has only dealt with the sows (female). During the spring the sows establish territories of a few square miles of less. At the same time the males establish a territory that encompasses 5 or more sows' territories. The male then spends the summer and fall roaming around his territory including a few days visit to each of the sow territories. So when you see a bear in the same general area for weeks on end it likely a sow and they are pretty docile unless you are between them and their cubs. But when you see a big bear that comes and goes on an interval it is a real Bear (male) and they can be obnoxious. Small bears without cubs are typically yearlings and they behave like teenagers; form a group and hang around the mall. i.e. the dumpsters.

They are an interesting animal and seem smarter than we give them credit for. We had one 2 or 3 years ago that seemed like it knew how to read. It had been a nuance in Connecticut and the state held the hearings and got permission to shoot it. The local newspaper announced that in the headlines and the bear disappeared. It was a distinctive bear in that it had been tagged with clamp on ear tags from two areas so it had a tag on both ears. So a few days latter the bear was spotted and reported in Massachusetts. Maybe a two weeks later she had settled down in Southern Vermont. As bears go she was basically tame and we had people getting within 5 of 10 feet of her to get a good picture. She arrived here in mid summer, established her territory adjacent to another sows territory then survived until the first day of hunting season.

[seal killer]

All--

A lot of progress has been made. I have been running back and forth between KC and just north of the Arkansas line (south of Springfield, MO) up to twice a week and am about to head back down today . . . after just getting back, Sunday. Needless to say, my updates are far behind.

I've created a new YouTube channel dedicated to just this build. If you've watched any of my amateurish videos, you know I'm not Keith Fenner. Although we are ready to pour the upper floors--in real time--the current state of video updates is through the slab pour.

A road guy told me that the material that came out of the excavation would make an ideal base for road improvement. I experimented with it last week and he was right. The red, iron rich material packs very well and likes to stay where you tamp it down, which makes it easy for me to create the slope to drain it. I'll go over it with river rock (my current thinking). If river rock doesn't work out, I'll go back to 2" clean white gravel. I've got a 100' section on which I'm experimenting, so it's no big deal if it doesn't work out.

Tomorrow, the roof trusses are to be delivered. I need to be there to MAKE SURE the delivery gets all the way back to the site. I've done my darnedest to force the delivery outfit (I had to pay for escort services) to use a short tractor instead of a full length rig. A 10 wheel beast has no chance of getting all the way back to the site. We tried that once and failed. My guys wound up hauling the load 3/4 of a mile to the site using my Komatsu.

Here is the new YouTube channel. Currently, there are three videos on it with the latest being the slab pour. It was cool watching the pumper get all the way back there with his big rig! But, he was a good ol' boy and knew what he was doing and took his time, which of course he charged to me.

https://www.youtube.com/my_videos?o=U

--Bill