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    On Friday 2-28-2020 I purchased a 600 gallon tank to be used for the septic system. We picked up the tank and loaded the truck late that afternoon but decided not to leave out until morning.

    Saturday we left San Antonio at 6:30 and headed out to Rocksprings. We made a stop at the lowes in Kerville for plumbing supplies need to connect the Tank to the bathhouse.

    We arrived at the ranch at about 10:00 AM. We first had to build a level base for the tank to sit on. Of course we used metal. 100% of the metal was scrape metal we got for free. We used an 8' round off a metal spool for the base and then leveled it up and added the uprights and supports (pics 1-3). After creating the base we decided to add a cover over the base to ensure there was nothing on the base that could wear a hole in the tank underneath. I believe that I shared the story about the old Valero awning panels that we got for free previously, so we used those panels. The panels are Aluminum on the inside and coated with a plastic coating and a plastic print design on one side. The opposite side has an all white coating on it. We laded down a layer of the panels and cut the to fit the round.

    We placed the tank on top and began plumbing the tank to the bathhouse. The tank is 40' away from the bathhouse, and because the bathhouse sit up pretty high on its own the pipe is suspended pretty high. when you look at the pictures it is hard to tell but the pipe is about 5-6' above the ground. We built some temporary supports for the pipe as seen in (pics 4-8). I do need some ideas on how to build permanent supports for the suspended pipe. My first thought is a concreted drill stem supporting the pipe with a rock facade, basically rock pillars.. But I and not convinces that will look the best. IF you have seen any cool ideas please pass them on to me!

    We have some really old fashion steel gutters that are like half rounds (pic 9) We have enough to cover the top and bottom of the pipe so it will look like a old steel pipe going from the bathhouse to the tank. I think it would look cool to make the tank itself look like a wooden barre. By putting vertical wood pieces from the base up to the height of the pipe so it will look as if the pipe empty's into the barrel. We have some old strapping from a old wooden water tank that we will use as accents to create the look of a giant barrel.


    Next weekend will be the maiden voyage for the wife at the ranch. She has been out before but only for the day. She and one of her girlfriends will be coming out with me on Saturday, and staying the night Saturday night. Hopefully everything will go as planned. I still have to set the toilet in place and plumb it in but that will only take a few minutes. Then I have the install the 20w solar panel on the bathhouse to provide power to the water pump and lighting system in the bathroom.
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      Better get the toilet set for the women folks or you’ll be in trouble. It’s looking good and you are making great progress. Keep posting!!

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        Originally posted by macoop View Post
        Better get the toilet set for the women folks or you’ll be in trouble. It’s looking good and you are making great progress. Keep posting!!
        Oh yeah the is the first thing I am putting in! Funny thing was my wife said would not spend the night out there without a shower and a functioning toilet! So this is a real turning point for us, if things go well this weekend she will be spending more time with us helping on the interior of the cabin. We have a LOT of work to do but its all easier things that she can help with.

        I am definitely excited!

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          This weekend with the Wife and Her friend was a HUGE success! They absolutely loved it out there! First I put them to work.... they had the task of painting all of the fence pipe black to match the gates. They made short work of that and got it done in high winds in only an hour or so. While they were doing that I installed and plumb'd the toilet. Everything worked out great. I FINALLY took a picture of the shower setup as promised (pic 1) I also got a picture of the installed toilet and Sink (pics 2&3)

          After the girls tested out the toilet, they felt like drinking and exploring. I didn't much more work other then cleaning up the drops and misc materials we left out after the septic install.

          We walked the entire perimeter of the property and the girls had so much fun picking up rocks and seeing nature. Our Neighbor ran into us right when we arrived back to camp and offed to take us around in his ranger. I am so glad he did; the wife has always scoffed at getting a SXS but now she is the one who wants one!!!! He drove us around the area a bit and through his property as well. By the time we finished the tour the girls we full on drunk. IT was about 4PM! We went back to the cabin and enjoyed the deck before preparing for dark and dinner.

          It was a full moon and before the sun even went down we pulled out the telescope and got great views of the moon.

          For dinner I made us backed potatoes, and Ribeye steaks cooks on a cast iron skilled with butter and rosemary. I cooked them in the pizza oven at about 700 degrees. It was delicious. They said it was the best steak ever (they were good but the girls were drunk I could have served opossum and they would have devoured it)

          The girls had such a good time I asked to give me a few of there favorite pictures that they took while out there (pics 4-13)

          On a serious note if you even had a cast iron pan over 600 degrees do not use a cheap oven mitt! I bought a oven mitt from the dollar store because I remember that the last time out we didn't have anything to grad the cast iron pot, we ended up using cardboard that time. Well the cheap oven mitt I bought melted as soon as I grabbed it! By the time I got it 3 foot over to the table it had burned plum though to my hand. Luckily I dropped it on the table before it burnt me. I should have taken a picture of it. I am going to find a better mitt for sure.
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            Looks like it was a success. Now you get to enjoy it.

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              Success!

              Rwc

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                New oven mitts?
                https://www.amazon.com/Lincoln-Elect.../dp/B00547HD90

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                  Originally posted by kmack View Post


                  Exactly what I need!!!! thanks!

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                    Well Covid-19 has been a struggle and I hope everyone is doing well. I have been lucky enough to get out to the ranch two out of the last 3 weekends.

                    Three weeks ago my son and I brought along my friend Chad and his son JD ans well as Andy's son Koby. Because of all the rain we focused on getting the existing piles of trees burned and clearing out other areas. First we burned existing piles, and even though the ground was still really wet it is amazing how quickly the pile went from a small fire to fully engulfed (pic1) On Friday afternoon we couldn't get the chainsaw to run so we had to stop for the day.

                    Saturday morning we headed into Rocksprings and purchased a new chainsaw and a ax from Lowes. When we returned to the ranch we couldn't get the brand new one to start either. We pulled and pulled on that **** thing for about 2 hours. While Chad and I messed with the chainsaws the boys decided to use the ax. There was a old dead cedar tree in a clump of oaks that JD and My son decided to work the ax on. The base of the tree was about 8-10" and hard as hell. They worked and worked on it and finally got it to come down! (pic 2) We never got the new chainsaw started but we were finally able to get the old one running and cut out about 50 cedars (pic 3) We stacked and burned those right away. After that we enjoyed a cold one or two that evening by the fire.
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                      looks like 1/2 a good time 1/2 some darn hard work cutting cedars! looks good.

                      p.s. nice look with socks and flip flops on!

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                        Last weekend My Son, Koby, Andy and I went out to try to get some more work done inside.

                        The weekend before a purchased a Yamaha Grizzly 660 from a neighbor at the ranch. It needed a new battery so I brought a new one with me. Friday we installed it and the sucker started right up (pic 1)

                        Saturday we started early and began working on the interior walls. We got the master bedroom wall on the living room side completed with tong and groove cedar on the top and rusty corrugated wainscoting. (pic 2) We had to install furring strips to the 3" posts on the exterior walls because the insulation was too thick. We were able to get the front living room wall and 1/3 of the East living room wall completed with plywood skinning. (pics 3-6) Before skinning we installed electrical wiring for the light switches etc inside the insulated walls (pic7). I was really pleased with the progress and fell that the interior finish out will go pretty fast!

                        Due to the oil prices one of my neighbors who owns a company that does work for the oil companies came to me. He wants to keep all of his guys employed, and asked if there were any projects that he could have them do for me. I have planned to build another metal building to act as the hang out area so the cabin could be used for sleeping and relaxing. I wanted to create a building that looked like a saloon. I told him what I wanted and he gave me a heck of a deal on creating the structure and roof only (no walls or floors as i want to do that myself) The cost was barely more than I can buy the materials for, so I said heck yes! Pic 8 is a drawing I made on what the Saloon building will look like eventually. They will be done with the structure as I asked them to this week. I will be going out there this weekend coming up to continue on the interior finish-out.
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                          Originally posted by forced-2-work View Post
                          looks like 1/2 a good time 1/2 some darn hard work cutting cedars! looks good.

                          p.s. nice look with socks and flip flops on!
                          That is my son! He can be an idiot sometimes.

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                            Good stuff

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                              Yessir!!! Awesome.

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                                this has been great to follow along!

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