Cholla Flowers

****************************************************************************
Driving back in a while ago, I could see several of the Cholla cactus were blooming, so I took Big John (the Gator) all around our place looking for pictures to take. It is surprisingly difficult to get good pictures of flowers. These six were all that were worth keeping of around 30 shots.






Got to get to work now if I'm going to have anything to show today.
*****************************************************************************

Basic Structure

*************************************************************************************
Big wind today and heavy cloud cover made it challenging but cool.



What you are looking at is the basic structure of the "pseudo" torque box that will give the roof assembly the ability to stand up against the West wind.
There a few more brace pieces to be added which will give it some character when they are stained "Redwood", and there will be a nearly 34 foot long main beam (built in-place) on top of the torque box posts that you see in these pictures.
In a couple more days the term "Torque Box" will become self-explanatory to those who are not familiar with it.
Those horizontal 2x6 pieces that look like flat roof rafters are really the ribs of this type of torque box, and at the same time, by adding the plywood platform that a torque box requires they will provide a light weight deck/scaffold that I can get up on to do the raftering.
In the future that platform under the completed roof will provide additional storage space.

The plywood attached to the lower outside face of both posts are temporary shear webs screwed to the rim joist and then to the posts after they were plumb. The wind was blowing so hard while I was working I needed all the help I could get.
The angles from which these pictures were taken makes it look like the back door of the trailer would be blocked by a post, but it's not. There is a good 3/4 of an inch clearance. Also the trailer could be pulled straight out with no interference. There is more than 2 inches between the trailer and the nearest structure.
____________________________________________________________________________
Tomorrow I'll add the nailing intercostals between the ribs and the "Shear Web/Work Deck".

****************************************************************************

Weather, Dog, Deck, Trusses, Our House and Us

*************************************************************************************
The moody blue and coral of an early June twilight looking WSW from the south-east corner. The trail angling from the bottom left corner of the picture toward the right is our south property line. I cleared it with the box blade of the tractor to facilitate future fencing.

The weather has been as fine as it is ever going to be out here; a little early season rain, cool nights, and moderate days, with a good mix of clouds and sunshine.

I used the front loader and a log chain to pull almost a half mile of old fence posts (one at a time). Most of them pulled right out, but a dozen or so threatened to spill the tractor, lifting one back wheel off the ground, and had to be snapped off and left in place.
__________________________________________________________________________________

Sharon was able to spend two weeks with me getting to know the place and the people, and was very sad to have to return to California.
The comforts and conveniences of the travel trailer made a lot of difference: good hot water for the shower, electricity for the microwave and lights, and the HughesNet satellite; and the privacy and perceived security of the completed fence and lockable gates made it easier for her to spend time alone with the land.
She fell in love with a smiling red "rescued" Pit Bull named Russell, and wants a "country dog" of her own.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

I have been able to make some progress toward the covered deck area between the trailer and the green shack. Next comes the roof over both the deck and the trailer. There will be some complexity in design and construction because of the fierce west winds we get, but nothing that can't be overcome with the liberal use of Deck Screws, Plywood Gussets, Construction Adhesive, Nailer Plates, Simpson Earthquake Ties, Ring Shank Nails, and good ol' Concrete. Nothing to it!
The deck will be redwood stained, and I have decided to change the color of the shack. I am open to suggestions as to the new color scheme.



And the front deck received a much needed treatment.


__________________________________________________________________________________

These next two pictures were just too good to pass up. That satellite dish is heavy and needed a really solid mount to stand up to the wind, so we (and I do mean we) bolted it to the ridge beam of the shack. So far so good, and it doesn't seem to lose lock even in a very gusty 35 to 50 mph blow.
As an item of interest: after two years of wind and weather the 4x6 pressure treated posts on which the shack is built show no signs of deflection or compression failure.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

There is a company in Los Lunas called Atlas Truss that often times has trusses that were ordered, but for whatever reason were not able to be delivered. We got this stack of sixteen 40 foot span trusses for $900 (less than 30% of original cost) to use for our barn. I can use eleven of them on 48 inch centers to build a 40'x40' structure, and still have five left over to make shaded parking. All that's needed for the barn application is the gussets and wind braces. Probably a dozen sheets of half inch CDX plywood (for the gussets) and about a hundred 2"x4"x16' (for wind braces and purlins) plus about 38 sheets of OSB (for roof decking) will complete the roof structure. Somewhat easier and a lot less expensive than individual raftering.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

We have finalized the options of our Karsten home and have begun the financing process. Our goal is to have the house ready to move into by the end of summer.
I'll add the floorplan and the revisions as soon as I can figure out how to convert the image from .pdf to .jpg using Ubuntu Linux, which is what I'm working in now.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Success: Click on the image to see it larger. I used Zamzar.com which is a free on-line image conversion service. You go to their website, upload your image, give them an email address, and in a few minutes you get a link to the converted image in your inbox; simple and quick.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This picture of us was taken in February, 2009.



*************************************************************************************