The Driveway Widening Project is Complete

The Missouri Department of Transportation completed replacing the old rotten and too narrow culvert for our driveway and it has made the entry much more usable and most importantly safe. Before it was so narrow you had to swing out into the other lane to enter when heading north and it was really a challenge for larger trucks or when towing a trailer.

We started this process when a friend suggested we contact MoDOT because our culvert was collapsing and so we did and the entire experience with them has been nothing less than impressive. A local representative came out and took measurements and sent a recommendation to the regional office, a highway engineer came out from that office to verify and help us complete the permit application and within a week we had the permit. We then contacted the local office again to schedule it and within a week it was done as you can see below.

These guys were very friendly, serious about safety and when I mentioned how good their equipment looked one of the workers said that they have had serious budget cuts so they have to really take care of their stuff...and besides he said, "we take pride in our work". As a tax payer I sure don't know how you could ask more than that.

You can see we really needed new culvert, this old culvert was too short and completely rotten.

 

Our driveway entrance ended up about 6 feet wider which makes a huge difference when entering or exiting the drive.

They will come back next week and cut a bevel in the ends of the culvert.

 

Their vehicles were spotless inside and out (of course I had to check them out...I cant get enough of heavy equipment) and it only took them about an hour and a half to complete the entire job. Someday when I have some extra money I want to get a small dump truck...I mean, every guy needs a dump truck.

So this long planned project is also complete. We are starting to feel like we have made significant progress on the old homestead this year and we get a real sense of accomplishment as each project gets checked off. We have always lived in houses where you had to think of resale value and we knew we would be leaving at some point, and often within a few years so retiring to a place we never plan on moving from has changed a lot of our perspective. We do things to please us and make our place more usable and suitable for us and we just don't care if anyone else would do it the same way or likes what we do (though we try not to do anything that would cause issues with neighbors etc.). We also know we have the rest of our lives to get things done so we are way more relaxed about time lines.

 

Speaking of on-going projects, we are still extending our fence line to enclose the new pasture that is on the land we bought from a neighbor earlier this year and our hired hand Travis and I set these gate posts yesterday. They were sunk 2.5 feet deep and then set in concrete and there will be an 8 foot gate in the middle to give access to the neighbors pasture where we keep steers on his pasture. The next step will be to put up the H brace and wire cross brace and then string barbed wire up to this point from below the hill in this picture.

 

We will then sink T-posts all the way to the back wood line in this picture, place three corner posts and braces, then put in a gate to the pasture behind the trees in the back and another gate to our existing pasture in the old fence line. We are leaving the old fence and will use this new pasture as part of our rotational grazing program. Once all this is complete, we will fence off the pole barn shop and maintenance/trailer storage area and do some cross fencing in the main pasture. We are also building a small cabin, deck, and dock at the main pond which will require some fencing so we are not going to be done fencing for awhile but we take our time and Travis is a hard worker who make it possible to get these things done even with my injuries. 

 

 

 

 

Progress

The front fence project is complete, the sewer line installation is well underway, and we got a new vehicle project. We have had people mention that we seem to be always so busy and having fun and though that is generally true, its not by accident and its never too early to plan for what you want to do. I truly don't know how people could be bored in life.

One of the projects from the last post was the fencing across the road frontage of our property to connect up to the chain link fence in front of the house we installed earlier this year and its now completed. Its about 330 feet of Red Top field fencing on T-posts with a strand of Gaucho barbed wire on top. Our part time hired hand is a very hard working young guy and he drove all the posts and helped us run the wire and he sure got a work out.

 

We put in a people gate between the two fence styles for access because its such a long stretch of fence and we are pretty happy with it.

 

 

And now looking in the other direction on the other side of the house we have the sewer line dug and laid well underway towards the eventual linkup about a mile away.

 

In the previous picture if you look close you will see a backhoe in the far distance and this is now a picture from the backhoe looking in the same direction. Our nearest neighbor is in the trees in the far distance and the sewer line will go across his property to eventually link up to the terminus of the existing line. We have great neighbors who didn't hesitate to sign the utility easement.

This view in the other direction from the backhoe shows our house in the far distance so you can see this is no small project but we are very happy to get connected to the sewer system.

 

This view is a little closer but still looking towards our house and the backhoe is behind in this photo. If you look to the left in the tree you can see the remains of the fence they cut (about 8 feet) so it was lucky we aren't running cattle here right now. The contract requires them to replace any fencing and this fencing was real old anyway but we may just replace the fencing ourselves.....yes we are that particular.

 



All that effort to lay a small schedule 40 pipe 4 feet under the ground.

This is looking towards our right middle pasture and beyond those trees in the background is our main pond. The leaning structure in the back right is an old hog barn that I would love to rehab but alas its probably too far gone. I just hate that these old structures disappear.

 

We all like the activity that surrounds projects like this and I admit I never out grew Tonka trucks. I have to watch the machinery, I enjoy hearing them work and usually they let me have a turn operating them...now if I can only convince Holly we need our own dump truck.....

 

This little cream puff was only driven to church by a little old lady...Actually, I have a friend who owns an auto repair shop in a nearby town and I had asked him to keep an eye open for a parts truck for the hot rod. He called me a week or so ago and said a dealer took a 1990 Dodge in on trade and that I might be interested in it.

This truck was a one owner local trade in and only has 119,000 miles on it and is in great shape but cosmetically it needed enough repair (some body work and paint) that the dealer didn't want to fool with it because he didn't want to spend the money to fix a 22 year old truck that would then not bring him much of a profit. My friend told him he may have a cash buyer and he said he would let it go for what he had into it to get it off his lot so we got it for $1200.

 

When Holly first saw it she was aghast because of the bad paint but when we test drove it she was shocked. The engine is a throttle body electronic fuel injected 318 and starts right up, its quiet, and the truck is tight as can be and drives as smooth as our GMC.

 

It had a canopy on it so the bed is unmarred, it really was owned by an old man, and its never seen farm use or hauled anything. It just sat outside all those years and the late 80s and early 90s vehicles all have paint issues thanks to the EPA mandating a reformulation of auto paint that wasn't up to snuff. Those older cars and trucks you see with the peeling paint are mostly from that era.

Absolutely everything on this truck works as it should including the AC, heat, stereo, cruise control, tilt wheel etc. and as you can see the interior is nice without even a tear in the original upholstery.

 

I have been through this thing top to bottom and mechanically its a gem. No leaks of any type, no rust, and other than a brake job it needs nothing.

 

It even had the AC system retrofitted to R-134a freon back in 2001.

All four tires are good..

 

 and other than the bent front bumper and dent in the right front there isn't much body work needed; just some rust over the rear wheel wells..the cab corners are fine. So, I have already had two offers on this truck for more than we paid for it as its hard to find older trucks in this good of shape. Plans are to do the brake job, deal with some minor body repair then grind off all the surface rust and prep it for paint. But this time instead of spraying it the plan is to use Rustoleum enamel rolled on with a closed cell foam roller. Young guys don't get this technique usually and think only the new PPG type paints will work but this is old school enamel we are talking about and its hard as nails and it will look great. You dilute the paint with mineral spirits at about 1 cup of paint to 3/4 cup of mineral spirits and roll it on in thin coats (5 or 6) then you wet sand and buff it out. It sounds crazy to the uninitiated and I sure wouldn't do it on an expensive hot rod but for a work truck it will look nice and its a good option. The purpose here is to fix it up and sell it at a profit but you know you can never have too many trucks and this one may be too nice to sell!!

 

We will be sure to post the progress of the Rustoleum paint process (we are thinking blue, grey or silver)...I can already hear the skeptics groaning.

 

Life is good.