I couldn’t figure out a cozy corner for my friend L’s Marshmallow and then clued in that if I removed the pallets, smoothed out the gravel in front of Miranda, and trimmed some sucker growth, I could have a really nice landing spot for smaller RVs (I have room on grass for bigger ones!). It would also be pretty much the spot where L parked last year, which he found very satisfactory.
So between work spurts today, I hauled and raked gravel to make a level surface along the back of the passenger side of the RV and then hauled the super heavy pallets with almost no space between the boards to make a deck.
The ruts and horrible pallets made walking back here very hazardous!
Long line of pallets to the truck. Not really necessary now that I have the gravel.
Many loads of gravel later…
I’m going to keep an eye out for scrap plywood to lay over top. I’m also looking for deck chairs that won’t blow away in the wind!
A table would be nice, too. 🙂
Left over pallets, which I will use between the floor and things I plan to store in the sheds. Imagine this area all smoothed out and with a guest RV parked on it!
I think I earned the biscuits and stew I have prepared for dinner. 🙂
It’s been a day and a half, but Haven has buildings! Again, they are fir-framed storage sheds once used to store grain. They are normally constructed on skids to make them easy to move.
The guy who moves graineries, J, has done hundreds of these. In a best case scenario, which is about 95% of the time, he just winches the graineries up, slides a dolly onto the rear of the side skids, attaches a hitch to the middle skid, hooks the hitch up to his truck, and away he goes. Average time from arrival on site to departure: 20 minutes.
My graineries were in the 5% that do not go smoothly.
The smaller one, which will be a shed, was not attached to its skids. J and Charles were shocked since they had come out recently to scout out the buildings and this completely escaped them.
Followed hours of trying to get the building attached securely to the skids, including a run back to Charles’ place for parts. We had arrived on site around 9:30 and didn’t get on the road with the first grainery till almost 1:30. I had complete faith in J by this point. He’s a bit of a loud mouth, but there was no cockiness here, just expertise.
It was slow going through a pasture and up a rutty private road to a gravel road, and then it was smooth going all the way to Haven.
When we got on site in the morning, I expected the buildings to be smaller than I remembered. They were bigger! I had this vision of Haven being completely crowded so I was relieved when the smaller building rolled into Haven and I saw that both would fit comfortably and still leave room for a clothesline, garden, guest RV parking spot, and Moya parking spot.
I had originally planned to stick both buildings together, but tree stumps and overhead lines nixed that plan. The shed wound up at the southwest corner of the property, near the street. Right now, its opening is right on the street, but Charles will make me a door on the side and the existing hole will be covered.
Having the first building in place, I could see where the other one would go and I hope it would be far enough south to clear my office window. My clothesline plans changed when I realised that instead of putting in posts, I could just string the clothesline between the two buildings!
It took a bit of time to get the first grainery settled and reasonably parallel to the curb. We had something to drink and set off to get the other one.
The larger grainery was on skids, but the middle skid, the one the hitch is supposed to attach to, was too wide! J got under there with a chainsaw and shaved the extra width off! After that, it was fairly quick going to get it loaded. I could tell that J and Charles fading fast.
It was much slower going bringing the larger grainery back to Haven as it is much heavier. It was a bit of work to back it in because the ground is so soft. I was really disappointed when J dropped it the first time as it was right between the RV and the neighbour’s shed, meaning a very closed in view from the office window. But after repositioning his truck, he was able to get it back just far enough for me to be happy with the positioning.
I don’t deserve any credit for all the hard work today. I documented the whole event and occasionally fetched parts, but mostly stayed out of the way. Charles and J are my heroes! I can’t believe how hard they worked today.
J originally quoted me $500, but because of the extra time, he asked for another $200. He hadn’t expected me to have the $500 today, so he said the extra can wait until I see him on the wagon train in a couple of months. $700 to get these two buildings on site is a bargain! Remember, the buildings themselves cost me nothing!
Charles and I started to work out a plan of attack for the buildings, but that will be the subject of a future post. They’re on site now and the rest can wait for a bit. The only thing I am going to try really hard for is to scrape the money to put a tin roof on them this year. We shall see.
There is short video after the pictures.
SaskPower moved onto my property this half of a tree that belongs to the neighbours in the book. J winched it out of the way.
My future shed and house! I can just hear what y’all are thinking. This is just easily changeable cosmetic stuff. What’s important is that these structures have solid and straight frames that will outlive me.
Back of the larger one.
The smaller one was filled with super heavy barrels, which J just winched out of the way.
Close up of the little one.
Moya on the prairie.
Winching it up to get the bad news that it’s not attached to the skids.
More abandoned buildings in the distance.
There were lots of birds on this pond and they put on quite the symphony.
Once I clean it up, I will have a bathtub. ???:) Or something. I couldn’t leave it behind.
You can see that the wood got wet, but it’s not rotten. I will be hosing both buildings down with a bleach solution.
Close up of how the buildings were winched upwards to get under them.
Wagon wheels behind the bigger one.
This is a big, two-story grainery. I’m glad J isn’t equipped to move these or I would have been tempted!
Classic car graveyard.
This barn is being reclaimed by the climate.
Hitching it up again now that the skids are attached.
A metal bar is run under the middle skid and attached to it with a bolt and then the bar is attached to the truck hitch.
Because the skids weren’t attached during construction, the guys has to resort to chaining them in place. Lots of extra work!
Back of the small grainery showing some of the chain.
Locked and loaded and legal!
On the move!
Stopped on the road watching the roof of my shed come up over the hill.
Winching up the house.
Getting the dollies under it.
Driving down into the hamlet.
Here comes my house! 🙂
Because of the soft ground and overheard wires, we had to drop the house a few feet further north than I would have liked, but the position is quite satisfactory as it does not block my office window.
Inside the house. It has less evidence of water damage and the floors are really nice fir boards.
Haven with buildings.
Inside the shed.
View from the office. I can still see through the neighbour’s yard.
This video is worth watching for the last couple of seconds. Listen to what I say and see if you can catch it.
I said, “Is it supposed to be baloting like that?” I meant wobbling or teetering, but I apparently lose my English and resort to French when I’m excited and tired and hungry. 🙂
The only thing missing to make the return to Haven perfect was running water. I was in Willow Bunch today and went to the town office to ask when I could expect the hydrant to be turned on for me, but the office was closed.
Well, late afternoon, there was a knock at my door from a town maintenance guy who wanted to inform me that he’d been procrastinating on getting the hydrant open, but seeing me moved back and settled was the kick in the pants he needed to get the job done! Everyone here is so kind!!!
I’m hooked up and filling the holding tank now, seeing as I need the water pump to get enough pressure for a shower. Once the tank is full, I’ll be able to see if the water heater fires up. Let’s cross all our appendages that I will be able to take a shower at home tonight!
My water system appears undamaged (no leaks) from the harsh winter I just put it through, so I’m cautiously optimistic. But we all know how temperamental my water heater can be…
I was done with the pressing work for today by 9:15 and immediately packed up to move. I wasn’t going far, so I just made sure the important stuff was secure inside, disconnected propane, put away the power cord, and, most important, remembered to put up my step!
It was too early to go ask Caroline to be a spotter and I decided that I could get out on my own. I got into trouble going into the spot because I underestimated how tight the turn would be. By backing straight out to just a few feet of the trees, I would clear the overhang and then be able to do the “wheels tight to one side, back up as far as possible, wheels tight to the other side, advance as far as possible” method of getting out of a tight spot with little manoeuvring room. It worked beautifully and I had zero trouble getting out!
Getting into Haven, however… Because so many trucks have been going in through the rear alley it never occurred to me that there was a giant branch in the way that I would not be able to clear! I wound up having to back out of the alley to the street, go around the block, and access Haven through a neighbour’s yard. Before I get any looks, that neighbour drives through his yard all the time, so I didn’t make any tracks that weren’t there already!
That put me in a better position to get onto the RV pad. The gravel isn’t level, so I did some back and forthing until I was positioned as best as possible and then used levelers to finish. It’s not perfect, but I suspect I will settle into the spot. At some point, I will ask Charles to help me put blocks under the axles as I am tired of rocking in the wind!
I was done by 10:30. Wow! I then did a quick run to town and had a celebratory lunch. When I got in, I sorted out the internet, managing to get full bars on my Mifi with the new booster and antenna, but zero bars on the iPhone. Very odd. It does have a decent signal strength and Siri is working, so I’ll try later to see if I can surf with it or not.
My front door is presently wide open and I’m off to dig my chairs out of Laura’s garage so that I can have a beer on my porch later. 🙂
Wow, do not mess with my electrician! He emailed last night at 10:30 to let me know that he would contact SaskPower first thing in the morning to sort things out for me. He emailed at 10:30 this morning to let me know that was done and that I was promised power by Friday at the absolutely latest. But not more than an hour and a half later, SaskPower rolled into the hamlet!!!
His wiring job is absolutely perfect. I have work to do today, so the move will be tomorrow afternoon.
All the outlets register 120ish volts. This is the reading from the 30A outlet, just to assuage the fears of those who have seen 30A outlets wired for 220V.
If you ever need electrical work done in southern Saskatchewan, do not hesitate to call Brad Gould of Gould’s Electric in Assiniboia!
