Latestarter's ramblings/musings/gripes and grumbles.

[Baymule]

Isn't "cull" lumber usually twisted or curved or split or cupped or etc, etc, etc?? There is a reason it is in that rack!

Yup! The joke around here is that if it is crooked, it has my name on it. One night we were in Lowes and a worker dropped a bucket of roof pitch from a high shelf. It hit the concrete floor, popped the top off and splattered goop all over some 2x6x10 on a rack. We just smiled......and scooped 12 of them off the cull rack the next morning.

Just because a board has a split or chunk missing, it can still be used, like @Mini Horses pointed out. We bought boards that were perfect but had speckled mold on them. Or at least the workers at Lowes thought it was mold, we used them and they still look the same, the mold monster has yet to show up. There are bargains on the cull rack.

And I have gone dumpster diving for used lumber, cut off ends and all sorts of throw away stuff. Our barn is built out of scrounged, used and cull rack materials. We had to buy twenty two 2x6x20 rafters because I didn't have enough, all the roof decking was new and the metal for the outside. Insurance appraised it for $30,000 we have less than $7,000 in it. The metal was the most expensive part, then labor, and the few lumber articles we had to buy.

 

[Mini Horses]

Pretty poor business sense. They sell boards from 8' in 2' increments. Sell a 16' with slightly damaged end cheap rather than cut 2' off and sell a full price 14' board?

Boards come tagged, size & grade. They won't sell otherwise, so discount. Even when an employee misscuts a board, glass, etc. -- DISCOUNT. That's business.

Same with so many businesses. I've done resets for American Greetings cards.....pulled brand new cards to trash, put identical back up in a different location. Tears me up!!!!!!!!! I hate such waste but, that's business. Don't even get me started on customer issues.....wow!

 

[Mike CHS]

I have picked up my share of culls at both Lowes and Home Depot.

 

[Latestarter]

Found a CL add requiring a call... no texts, no messages, just a call. They deliver truck loads of used poles for 200-500 dollars a load and stack them neatly at your place. Vary in length from 8ft to 30 ft. I'm going to contact them and see if I can buy them from them there and pay $.50-1/foot and hand pick what I need and I'll do the transport. Save them the cost & time of the trip and they'll make more than if they delivered them. Now I need to find a 20-22 foot bumper pull trailer to get them here I then have to figure out how I'm going to stand them up and get them in the holes Guess I'll worry about that when that time comes.

 

[Latestarter]

Oh, and on another note, the goats have now discovered how good alfalfa is... And I've discovered how much of it gets wasted... As they bury their noses into each flake and pull out a mouthful it seems they dump as much on the ground as they keep in their mouths... At $11.50 a bale, this is not going to be a regular thing...

 

[Baymule]

You can't put many of them on a trailer......ask me how I know..... We put 19 of them on our trailer, moving them here from Livingston....driving REEEEEEEL slow all the way home.

I then have to figure out how I'm going to stand them up and get them in the holes Guess I'll worry about that when that time comes.

You'll do what we did and find a couple of handy neighbors with a BIG tractor that you can hire.

 

[Mini Horses]

I am laughing because it's so "been there". And you will buy it again. I tried putting it in a feed bunker, they ate, then jumped in! Smaller round, big & deep tub used. Figured I had that fixed and found they just took turns as fewer could fit in!! Of course, soon as they stand you get pee & poop added. Now, no one can eat what's left...which is very expensive bedding!!

Look at Premier's website. They have some great feeders -- sheep & goat -- that are proven effective. Free plans for them. Yeah, these guys keep you thinking!!! But we keep on keeping them, the little cuties. You get milk -- isn't that enough?

 

[Latestarter]

Of course, soon as they stand you get pee & poop added.

So yeah... they love walking under the hay rack and peeing on the spillage Makes it impossible to move it back up into the rack. Lately I've been finding poop in their water trough... Is that a statement by them of water quality I wonder? If so, doing that surely doesn't improve it would be my guess. I wonder if they're squatting and peeing in it too? Since it's a bathtub, I then have to scoop out the water level to get the weight down so I can tip it and dump the remainder then clean it... They're great at making work for me... Keeps me at least temporarily busy/occupied, gives me something to do.

Beef... it's what's for dinner... and breakfast... oh, and lunch too

Just finished a nice grilled ribeye for breakfast, brought out a package of thin sliced rib eye and a nice roll from the freezer to make a philly cheese steak sub (W/mushrooms & onions of course) for lunch, and a package of ground beef (85% lean Angus) to make something for dinner... Figuring I'll make a hamburger helper since I have a bunch of them. They've been there for a while as I've kinda lost my taste for them, but figure I should get them used up. Also, I expand them (use more hamburger/add extra noodles), so it will make additional meals for the next couple of days. Maybe that's why I've lost my taste for them... eating it for three days straight... Now that I think about it, I guess you'd lose your taste for about anything if you had it too often.

Finished pounding T-posts yesterday morning for the initial pasture. I have a couple of older rotted posts on existing fence that I'm going to need to dig out and replace. Next is wood post bracing (H's and / \ leaning). Not starting that today though... real heavy humidity/low clouds, and already sweat making warmth. Supposed to have a (slight) chance for some rain today. Sure hope we get some. It's awful dry here. Haven't had rain in several weeks.

How bout them Detroit Lions? Beat the Giants in their house last night. Course the way the Giants have been playing, they'd probably get beat by the Browns or Jets Anyway Football season is here and since it's the only sport I enjoy, I'm happy

 

[babsbag]

My goats eat only alfalfa as it is the cheapest hay where I live and we have no browse or pasture since we are a dry State all summer. In addition to 1200-1400 lbs of alfalfa hay every 8 days they eat 100 lbs of alfalfa pellets and almost 50 lbs of 16% goat feed per DAY.

I buy lumber off of the cull rack too. A few twists and turns doesn't matter for most things. I am watching for 2x4s at the moment.

 

[Bruce]

And I have gone dumpster diving for used lumber, cut off ends and all sorts of throw away stuff.

I have my barn for that. After I finally got the contractor to make the guys stop throwing everything in the 30 yard dumpster (4 years ago) I have lots of 2x (mostly < 8') full of nails and screws to pick through since they "dismantled" the stud walls with reciprocating saws.

Yeah it takes time to pull the nails/screws but it takes time and MONEY to go buy a new piece at the lumberyard then cut it down to the size needed. I couldn't build a shed or anything but I can make lots of smaller stuff. Much of the "scrap" was basically new wood that was taken out when we had to 90% rebuild the north building of the house. The prior owners "rehabbed" the place, making finished space in the second floor (*), while ignoring and covering over the rot. Those 2x that weren't new are from early in the last century when a 2x4 was 2" x 4".

* I'm fairly certain the building was originally a barn when built pre Civil War, moved and attached to the house prior to 1900. At some point the first floor was converted partly to living space - kitchen in 1 bent, another room in the middle bent and a workshop/1 car garage in the 3rd. Neighbor across the road said the upper part was unfinished when the people we bought it from bought it in 1999.