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Epic Barn Project Ranch

Mid August Epic Barn Update

After all of Ashton’s Family left, we spent some time catching up on work. We had just gotten 10 poles in the ground, so we spent a week or so filling in the holes, and tamping it down hard. You’d be surprised at how long just these small tasks take.

Epic Barn Project:

The deconstruction destroyed 3 of the long poles, so I had to purchase some pressure-treated square ones (under the tarp above).

On the 19th of August, Clayton came out to help get the remaining 6 poles up. It was a long day, but we managed to get them plumed and started filling in all the holes.

Epic Barn Project:

Epic Barn Project:

Not too bad for a hobby, eh?

Epic Barn Project:

Now that we have all the poles in the ground, I borrowed yet another gadget from Buzz. This thing on the left is a laser level on a tripod. Once I got the tripod level and straightened out, I can rotate the laser level around to create a “level mark” on every pole. I just finished doing that today, so now every pole has a pencil mark that is exactly level to the other pencil marks on every other pole.

The mark on the “uphill pole” is 2.5 feet off the ground, and it’s about 4 feet off the ground on the most downhill pole. So the slant of the ground is about 1.5 feet from one end of the barn to the other.

My shortest short pole is 7 feet 2.5 inches above the “level mark.” (My second shortest short pole is 7’6″.)

My shortest long poleĀ  is 10 feet above the “level mark.”. (My second shortest long pole is 10′ 4″, and then 10′ 9″).

I’ll have to cut down all of the poles to be the same length as the shortest pole of their type (to have a level roof).

Here’s the Epic Barn Project as it is today:

Epic Barn Project:

Epic Barn Project:

I feel like I’ve done the hardest parts, but there is still a lot left to do…
Ashton Anna

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Ashton Anna Family Horses Ranch Summer

2009 Family Trip in Images

Hi All,

Here’s a picture diary with some notes of when my family came to visit this year! We had a great time.

One of the many projects everyone worked on was putting up the fence around the “foal paddock.” Everyone pitched in and worked hard. It cam out looking beautiful. Grandpa Joe even took time to help spread the weeds. =) (Just kidding, he worked on it more than anyone else.)


Here’s some family photos:

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Ashton Anna Epic Barn Project Ranch Summer

Epic Barn Project: First 10 Poles

As I’ve mentioned before, this is going to be a “pole barn” which means the entire structure relies on poles sticking into the ground. This epic barn will have (and had) 16 poles. We dug 16 holes, and now we have got to fill them.

8/4/2009: Bryon Harrison helped a lot in this stage. He lined up the poles with the appropriate holes:

Epic Barn Project:

Epic Barn Project:

Here’s the first four corner poles up and braced. (If I could do this again, I would have measured these corner poles to make sure they were placed perfectly (and square), plum them out and then fill them in.)

Epic Barn Project:

8/5/2009: Then we started bracing up the inside poles. Once they are all plum and centered, we braced them with the old purlins.

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Epic Barn Project Ranch

Epic Barn Project: Breaking Ground

After all of that Construction Preparation, we have finally broken ground!

On the night of the 29th (just after the last post), Donald came out with his skidster and worked long into the night digging out a level spot of ground for the epic barn project and creating a drainage bermĀ on the hill behind where the barn will be. Thank you Donald!

Epic Barn Project: level foundation

As you can see from those pictures, we have piles of wood EVERYWHERE! We have finished cleaning up the mess at Buzz’s, and moved all of the materials to around the construction site. Here’s some shots of the endless amounts of wood:

Epic Barn Project: level foundation

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Ranch Stone Wall

Stone Wall Update + Snake

Geoffrey and I put in a couple hours on my stone wall back on the 4th of August (I changed the date on this post ;)).

When Donald helped us dig out the Garden, I had him put a lot of the excess dirt into my stone wall area. Now that we have a good start with the dirt, Geo and I moved some more rocks into place to make a nice rounded corner next to the “turn around spot.”

Here’s a quick before (from last year) and after:

One of the first large rocks we moved had a large beautiful snake living underneath it: