Dirt

The neighbor's yard is now ready for topsoil and grass! For ten years now, this area never supported any vegetation. Hopefully by this fall, it will be green!

After Travis popped up the rock in the lower area, he graded the slope up above and then replaced the rock with one to two feet of dirt. A french drain will go in later.

The rock/dirt that Travis popped up. We are awaiting a rock bucket...

Hitch, Trailer and Tractor

Jason has been requesting pictures of the trailer, so here you go (plus more).

This is the goose neck hitch that Travis made. The rectangle hitch in the middle was on a steel plate. Everything else was designed and made custom for his truck.

Hitch down.

Hitch up. Yes, it is dirty.

Travis headed to Amarillo to buy, then work more than he thought he would have to on this trailer. We got it for a good price, so he says it was worth the headaches.

Bailey got to stay in Amarillo to hang out with his Grandparents while Daddy headed to Missouri to pick up the tractor. When Bailey came home, the one of the first things he wanted to see was the tractor.

New Shed Here and Old Shed Gone!

Travis has hated his old shed ever since we moved to our house. It is short, so he would always hit his head and it is very small. We were thinking about buying a shed to use until the shop and storage room are built. Our neighbor had an extra shed in his backyard that was basically empty, so he said we could borrow it.

I wish I would have taken more pictures of the process to get the shed up on the trailer, then over to our yard. It consisted of using the tractor to lift it up, then putting tires underneath, then Travis backed the trailer underneath the shed. Sometimes it is very helpful to have a neighbor with twelve wheels and tires laying around.

Travis made a ramp to get up into the shed.
Bailey is posing with the shelves and yard tool holder that Daddy made. Of course is isn't allowed in here without me or Travis.

Travis wanted lots of pictures of the shed demolition. He is overly excited to be finally getting rid of this thing.

Bailey got to help too!

Travis has been smoothing off the ramp and surrounding areas so that it is more easily maintained. Hopefully we'll get some sod on this soon.

Project/Yard Update

My ground cover in March.

Sidewalks and flowerbeds before stone.

These are the big rocks we are using for the flowerbed border.

Time out - hired some neighborhood "big boys", as Bailey calls them, to help pick up rocks in our neighbor's yard.

Back to flowerbeds. This one is complete.

Currently my one flower bed. A work in progress.

I still need a landscape plan for the new flower beds. I won't buy a single plant until it is complete!

The grass is really green in May.

This is Travis' happy place and a frequent evening hang out. No putting holes please!

Digging a trench to drain this water out of the neighbor's yard. We're about 95% sure this is a city water leak. When undisturbed, this water is crystal clear plus the road is really torn up near where we think the leak originates. The City is aware of the issue, yet does nothing...

The pile of rocks is getting bigger and bigger. These will be used to build the neighbor's wall after all of the rocks are dug out and a french drain is installed.

We have a constant stream on the other side of our yard. I think this one is ground water. It's characteristics are completely different from the neighbor's water issue.

Yucky orange slime with an oily surface. Gross!

Notice his hand.

Still digging the trench...

Almost there!

Spotting scope/telescope. Everything aluminum is custom designed and made by Travis.

After anodizing.

Project Update

Travis has been working on several projects simultaneously: scope rings/accessories for a spotting scope, switch boxes for his truck and tractor parts (not shown here).

Here are the scope parts.

Here are the truck switch parts.

Fort Progress/Rebar for Fish Tape???

The fort is coming along. There is still work to do. If you look closely, you can see a little monkey in these two pictures.

We had flood lights on all of the corners of our house except for by the playground area, which was nearly impossible to put in due to our vaulted ceilings. Since a fish tape wouldn't get to where we needed it, Travis drilled a hole in the fascia board and stuck a piece of rebar through. It worked! Now we have light all around the house so we can stay outside after sunset to work and play.

Bumper/Winch Project (continued)

Travis rarely takes pictures of his projects (and I'm usually the one taking the pictures). He took lots of pictures of this one, then I THOUGHT I lost my camera before they were downloaded. Thank the Lord, I found it, so now I have lots of pictures of the latest phase of the bumper/winch project.

This phase is the electrical box for the front bumper lights and future back bumper lights. Here is the wiring schematic.

He drew up the whole box in 3D cad. Here are the flat parts that he designed and had water jetted. We bought a 48" sheet metal break so he could make the bends.

This is a series of pictures that shows the process of putting the box together. This is definitely not an "out of the box" project. This is as custom as it gets.

This last picture shows the complete box. Next comes installation...