Beginning construction of the barn

Go to beginning of fire blog to see tree removal and causeway widening for the beginning of the barn project.

The big tree that had to be cut down to prevent the fire from spreading was in the way of the proposed location of the barn.  Our neighbor wanted the wood to make furniture, so he borrowed a large tractor to move the wood from our yard across the street to his yard.  This tractor is bigger than Carl's and has landscape tires on the back (note no large treads--it is smooth for working on lawns).

 The log is so heavy, it brings the back right tire into the air about a foot!  Steve rearranged the log so he could drive more safely--on all four tires.

 Oops!!  Unfortunately, the ground was not level and the log fell off the tractor onto the side of the causeway.

 Here Steve is moving the log at last.  Notice he is still uneven--the rear tire is up in the air.  Below he is picking up the next load.  And it is getting dusk and he has the lights on.

 He made 4 trips to take all the wood to his place.  It is getting darker and the loads were lighter and easier to load and transport.

Dad is adding road base to the expanded causeway and trying to make it firmer and bigger for all types of deliveries.

The ground is now clear of the tree, except for the stump which the firefighters left when they cut the tree down.  There are a lot of tractor tracks--we had plenty of rain and the soil was soft and the loads were heavy so lots of tracks.

 Because of the rain and repairs to the causeway (because of the log disaster above) we had damage to the causeway.

 Dad fixed the damage with water bars and more fill dirt and road base.

 Stacie, the water bars are held in place with the sticks I rescued from you (the ones you were going to throw away!)

 We had to get 30 cu. ft. (supposedly 38 tons) of road base to help level the barn and for the interior floor of the barn.  Here is the 2nd load.  The first load came on a 10 ton truck (8 tons were delivered and he drove in), but for the 2nd and 3rd loads he came in a 15 ton truck, dual axle and backed in from the street.  Here he is starting the backing.  He walked the causeway beforehand and Dad told him where it was soft, new dirt, etc.

 Unloading the 15 tons near the former tree that we had removed a couple nights ago.

 Dad limbed up the tree several feet and still the truck hit the branches.

 Here is the causeway after two loads of road base were delivered over it.  It seems to be holding, but it is very soft and we have quite deep ruts.  After all deliveries have been done we will fill in the ruts and level it out and rake out the tracks as much as possible.  Carl, Dad wants you to know that your idea of cutting the tree down, and straightening out the roadway is a good one.  This driver did a lot of straightening out of the road when he drove back and forth.  The dual axle truck had a much longer wheel base and needed a straighter roadway.  Note the small pile of road base (to the left) we still have leftover to use to fill in ruts, etc.  We'll probably need more, but we can use the causeway and may wait until next spring when we can get more ruts out and level out the roadway.

 Here comes load #3.

 

 Note the pile behind Dad.  It is 38.25 tons and is just to the left of where the barn will be--up the hill.  The prep work will be done this week (so we were told) and then we have to wait 4-6 weeks for the construction of the barn. So more photos to come.

 This is behind the sheds, between the dumping site and the causeway & street.  Note the deep ruts--the dirt here is again very soft, even though we have used this as a roadway for several years.