Norm and Chris and maybe some others asked for what is going on at my new place.

I'll put ground level pics in the next post.



Ok, so it's a 15.72 or so acre parcel. Entrance is to the lower right on the east side. The yellow is the property line. The red are the two field grade areas that I mow. The C shaped one on the right is a legitimate field surrounding an old house lot which I haven't bushwhacked into. The building was destroyed in the 80s. My friend's garden is immediately to the west of the woodlot in that field. The other red is the southern part of the property. I mow into the neighbors' property as they inset their new fence 30 feet. This is Libby, daughter of Jim who passed and she inherited, and her husband Dave. Jim owned 60 I think, and they kept 45.

The purple is what I mow with a real mowing deck. About 3 acres. It used to take 9 hours, now takes 3 with the massive deck on the tractor.

I have, 3 actually, I didn't label the third one, bodies of water. Lake 1 is mine, and there is a pump house on it and and observation screened in yard shed. Lake 2 is split between 4 people, I have 2 points of access, one where it says Lake 2, and the other in the back top left. I actually have property across it, and there is a dead aluminum bridge there. The one I didn't label is a swamp on the west side.

There are 3 main buildings. There is a barn that is a 60x80 main area, a vestibule, a lean to shelter on one side, and a closed in section with horse stalls on the other. There is a 4 bay shop. The middle 2 bays have garage doors. There is a berm house. It has a 2 car converted garage and many rooms. There is the previously mentioned observation yard barn, two more yard barns in great shape, one in good, and one in poor. There is a lot of internal fencing on the property due to it being different sections and purposes over the year.

 

Front of berm house, garage to left. It's two stalls but messed up.



Main driveway standing about the same place as previous picture, looking east to road.




Standing sort of on roof of berm house, looking north to where I want to build. Shop to NW to left.


Standing on roof of berm house, probably same spot as previous picture. Roof of berm house, barn facing us, can see vestibule, main barn, equipment lean to to right, horse stalls to left, a good yard barn in front of barn, and the bad one to left. This is looking west.



Standing outside of property, next to new fence, southern line, looking east. The orange stick is the line.




Shop front.



Shop main 2 bays



Barn main interior 60x80 dirt floor.


Same shot, in vestibule



The nicest yard barn

Shop and nicest yard barn from berm house roof


Building site for house north of berm house.



Better barn picture.



Driveway in front of berm house looking south


Observation yard barn over lake.

 

I need a better lake picture.

 

WOW, John! Quite impressive, now I see why you need that Big lawn equipment!

 

John - Thanks. Excellent opportunity to consider a water well dedicated to outdoor use. City water isn't inexpensive & it's beneficial to have a dedicated outdoor source separate from the main city water supply.

 

John - Thanks for the images. Remarkably, the images are in the same (correct) orientation relative to your descriptions - which made it very easy to follow along.

 

John - x2 to everything Greg and Norm said. Awesome pics, diagramming, and descriptions. Awesome property! 👍

 

John - I re-read what you said. You have an old twin pumps pump house. Are those twin pumps operable? What is the water source for those twin pumps - underground well, feeder line(s) from the main lake? Are the twin pumps themselves or the line source(s) "capped" (if inoperable)?

 

Balsamic Reduction Falafel Salad

 

Cool John. What was the property before. A horse farm? Looks like a great place to WORK Please share with us your plans

 

John - Curious if Mr. James Stewart established the gnomon for that Armillary Sphere? It isn't a full Armillary Sphere. It appears to have only three rings. Did he (or someone) establish the gnomon or was it a simple "yard ornament"? It isn't very large I suspect it might be a simple yard ornament but who knows. It's a very simple Armillary Sphere which doesn't appear to have been established as a simple sundial. None-the-less, it sorta piques my curiosity.

 

Jim, from what I can tell, James Stewart (I guess he didn't go by Jimmy), bought the property sometime in the 70s with his wife Donna. I think the barn was already there, and the concrete floor is cracked from supposedly shaft mine blasting nearby. The elevation changes on my land are from two strip mine pits from the 40s. I own 75% of the mineral rights and no shaft mines here. His daughter, Libby, was born in the early 70s. He built the berm house. The barn and the shop show that they were added on to at some point. She rode horses, and they housed horses, maybe stabled is the word.

I intend to:

1. Build a house in the empty corner of the lot. It was a horse riding ring at some point.
2. Convert berm house into old car showroom garage.
3A. Build a shop and refurb existing or
3B. Rebuild and expand shop.
4. Not sure what to do with barn other than keep it. Maybe some upkeep.
5. Drastically upkeep the vegatation for better lake access and removal of internal fences and uncontrolled undergrowth.

This is a zillow shot. He bought the property as a flag lot with the buildings. He then bought the lot with the field and the woodlot in front, and the two kicker lots to the north, at a later time.
It was one lot with the 45 acres to the south, so he probably bought all that, lived, died, and his daughter split my part off. We're technically a subdivision of two lots. Los Caballos.

If I could get my hands on the properties to the north and west, I could privatize the lake to the north.

 

Norm, according to Libby the center lake was the water in the 80s for the place. It is feeder pipes underground from lake to pump, and pump to berm house and I believe they are disconnected and capped. The place is on city water now. The pumps have power and buzz when switched on.

 

I suspected there might be the chance a lake was used to feed to twin pumps pump house. That's a ton of underground work which has already been accomplished. Fine if the lines from the pump house to the berm house have been disconnected, yet it would be sweet if you could employ the underground feeder pipes from the lake to the pump house. Obviously (I suspect) no need to power if the pumps are not being used. You can back flush (clear/clean) those underground feeder pipes from the pump house to lake that would make a nice source of free water for many reasons (a couple already discussed), but free water to water your eventual lawn would be nice; although, I can understand if you have no pressing needs to establish a manicured (weed-free) lawn. So, are there any water lines to any of the buildings (other than the berm house) emanating from city main water line?

 

Norm, there is a lot of "art" on the property. There is a huge thing behind the barn which has no function. The one you mentioned does work as a sundial and was accurate last time I looked. It is cheaply made. Most of these things are mowing impediments.

 

Sorry, the horse hitch didn't need to be there. There are quite a few of those around.

 

It would be nice to enable the pumps to go somewhere for free water. Water only goes to berm house, no water at barn or shop.

 

Hi everyone.

Just living large here at work. Not busy, but fairly steady. I may make it out of here with 30 wheels, that's okay.

John love the place. I'm envious. Love the idea of a showroom in the berm house. You should concrete the floor in the barn. But that would cost a lot. Is this going to be your forever home? No thoughts about going back to Florida? We haven't heard about your dad for awhile, how's he doing?

Gotta run past the State Farm place again today. Somehow they've put me on email only for statements. Call me a dinosaur but I like paying my bills by check and mailing them. If I don't get a bill it doesn't get paid. So when I go in to pay my premium(and it is "a premium") I'm going to tell them to switch it back. I've about had it with SF.

Never heard of West Marine. I'm guessing not a stellar place. Let me clarify. I don't totally exist on Harbor Freight. You need to be careful with them. They are good for benign things like brooms and plastic/vinyl tarps. I wouldn't buy anything from there that my life would depend on.

The computer says it's a nice day out. I guess I'll putter around in the yard at Mom's. Hope everyone has a good day.

 

Mike - West Marine is same as you described for HP.

 

As you already know, 1/2 the FICM mounting hardware was missing & I just found 1/2 the hardware for the FICM mounting bracket missing & what was there wasn’t tightened. Sloppy sloppy sloppy!!! Managed to disconnect both the ICP sensor & IPR sensor. Spent considerable time cleaning antifreeze & engine oil from flooring under truck so I can continue working. This is not an easy job under normal maintenance conditions, add to the fact I have yet to find the leak source. This job is Ford mechanic’s dreaded procedure & I’m tackling it. I have about 4 hrs into it today & I’m thinking I’ve had enough for today.

 

Wow John, quite the spread. 2 more inches of rain, totaling 9" since last Wednesday. After I checked my rain gauge, I noticed standind water in the yard near the house. I thought, hmm, that's a first, but a lot of rain, so not surprising. Then I looked closer, someone living here, and not the cat, left the water on and it was coming out of the hose. Not high volume, but enough to inflate the water bill. Two days ago, I used my Bissell floor cleaner, it sucks up a lot of crap, stuff that I don't want in the drains, so I took the dirty water reservoir outside to rinse it, but apparently, the one responsible (not the cat) neglected to turn it completely off. DUH!

 

Dan - When I was employed, I returned after a three week customer engagement in Britain (or some country) to find my water bill (in the mailbox) was 5-6 times higher than it's normal amount. I $HIT my britches. Checked all outlets/faucets - nothing unusual. Walked the area from the city water main to the house & the ground was completely saturated with water where the main meets my house. Had the plumber here next day, installed new (underground) line from the main to my house problem solved. Headed to Town Hall (water department). Bring my receipt for the repair & we'll remove the additional water consumption. Brought the bill to them and they removed the exorbitant charge.

 

Norm - I installed a Sprinkler system for my parents home fed by the lake behind their home (red marker in their pic). I had worked irrigation for a Landscape Company as a summer job in highschool. I dug all the lines by hand and installed all the heads. Parents house denoted by red marker. The lake is spring fed. The two red arrows denote two separate channels that connect with the Battle Creek River. Great fishing lake with Redear Sunfish, Bluegill, Rock Bass, Yellow Perch, Large Mouth Bass, and Northern Pike, but no Walleye.

 

Chris - I don't believe it remains cold enough for Walleye & I'm equally surprised about the Northern Pike (that has to be the Southern edge of their range). Oh man, the remainder of those pan fish make my mouth water. That's a lot of digging from those two areas. Good job.

 

Hi guys,

I went over to see my Mopar buddy over in Illinois for about 5-hours this afternoon. I hadn't seen him all winter. It was really nice to visit with him in person.

I was excited to see the '72 Dodge Dart Custom 4-door he just restored to be used as his daily driver. Slant 6, automatic. He did an outstanding job! He's still got a little sprucing up to do under the hood.

I took my laptop with me and showed him several highlight clips from Gabe's games that I had downloaded using my LiveBarn subscription. He was blown away by how much Gabe had grown and his level of development as a hockey player. It was really great to see him in person!

 

Nice restoration of the Dodge Dart. Glad you enjoyed your 5 hour stay. I owned a 1962 Dodge Dart. It felt like I was sitting on the pavement while driving it. I rolled my 68 VW bug in a road rally end-over-end and twice sideways in 1972 (w/ my GF in the car). I bought that '62 Dodge Dart for $650 because they said I qualified for a $650 Master Card. Hey, I had a car that was all that mattered at the time.

 

You rolled a 68 Beetle with your GF in the car, in a road rally?! How fast do you have to be going to flip a Bug end over end and twice sideways when NOT off road?

Whatever your life has been Norm, I'm thinking "not boring" would describe it.

 

Norm - There are alot of great Walleye lakes at that Lattitude across southern Michigan. The lake where my parents lived was not stocked to the best of my knowledge, all the species migrated in from the river.

 

A community college treasure hunt road rally out in the boonies along gravel roads (farm fields). Approached a blind corner going up hill, gravel road took an immediate right turn, the VW bug did not. Try to corner, bug flipped rolling down a hay field. Roof caved in to the steering wheel, car laying on the passenger side, GF knocked out below me as I'm holding onto the steering wheel. Climbed out through the opening where the front windscreen used to be. It was an event. No one injured.

 

Oh yeah. I was thinking you were talking about Missouri. Forgot this was Michigan.

 

Thanks Norm, I'll tell my buddy you think it looks nice!

My Dad bought a '74 Beetle as a commuter car to drive to/from (~30-miles) his new teaching job everyday in '74. I decided to switch to the same school district and we would ride to/from school together. One day the students had a 1/2-day and I decided to take 2 buddies home and spend some time with them while my Dad had to stay the whole day. I was going too fast, drifting corners on a gravel road, and lost control, sliding it sideways when the tires finally decided to grab, rolling onto the passenger side. We had to climb up out of the driver's side door like crawling out of a Tank turret. I caught some real hell for that one!

 

Norm - I will add this one extra tidbit on Walleye from Missouri, they are plentiful and very large in the southern portions of the cold, spring fed stretches of several Missouri Rivers including the Black, St. Francois, and the Current where I personally caught several 8 - 10lb'ers during the many years I owned my cabin near Doniphan. It is not usual to read validated accounts of fishermen taking a 15 -17lb fish during the prime season between November - February. Check out this article by the Missouri Department of Conservation.

https://mdc.mo.gov/magazines/conserv...20until%201988.

 

John, I have the exact same horse head hitch in my font yard If memory serves me right, I think they are the same ones that line Bourbon street in "The big easy:

 

Wow love the Dart! Love the color. That actually looks like it could be a 73 or 74, but your friend would know his car best. Didn't he take ill a little while ago? Hope he's doing well. Love the Dart. Chrrr chrrr chrrr!

 

Thanks Mike, I'll tell him you love the car. I'm sure you're probably right about the model year, I'm double checking with him. We were talking alot yesterday about another car he has, a '72 Dodge Demon he was planning on restoring but is now in the process of selling it "as is" because sad to say, but he's running out of time. I think I had '72 on my mind from talking about the Demon. The next car he is going to start in on restoring is a '65 Dodge Dart Convertible!

My buddy, Dave, is 70 now. He has beat cancer a couple times now. He beat prostate cancer over a decade ago, and esophageal/stomach cancer about 2-years ago. He's been cancer free over a year now. 🤞 He doesn't look well to me. He's lost some more weight lately that he can't afford to lose. With his last cancer they had to remove a large portion of his stomach and esophagus, so he can only eat very tiny meals, and even then he has digestive issues. He's 6'8" tall, and he told me yesterday he's down to 170 lbs. I told him yesterday that he'd better get back to the Doc and see what's going on with the weight loss? I'm pretty worried about him!

Addition - Mike, you were correct, the Dart is a '73.

 

Very nice Dart Chris , i had a -71 Plymouth Valiant as a daily driver. The car worked great .
Very nice job your buddy done to the car and sad to hear about his cancer .
Here is a dancevideo for us old gentlemen

 

Glenn - Great to hear from you! Thanks for the compliment on the Dart, I'll let my buddy know.

The video sure doesn't get lost in translation! 😉

 

Chris I hope your friend can remain healthy and enjoy life a little. Be a shame to not be able to enjoy that Dart! The only thing that would make it better would be if it were a Valiant

Been a good morning, had 27 wheels by lunch. Tomorrow will be a fraction of the crew so we won't do so well. I think it's kinda funny.

No plans for after work. I'm expecting a phone call at 3, then gonna talk to my hot rod neighbor about a car. So nothing gets done. That's okay.

Hope everyone has a good day.

 

So Chris you know I also look at an A Body Chrysler forum. I went there after I posted above and what do I see, pictures of a beautiful green Dart. I said, those look familiar. I didn't realize you friend was a member of FABO. For A Bodies Only.

The last Darts are called "Beakers." Because of the "beak" that sticks out in the middle of the header panel.

 

Hi Chris , Norm , Mike and all of you. Hope you and your familys are doing well . What a nice
place Koda has got , plenty of space. Here we had a really nice sunny springdays now.
Our bikes are not started yet but the 98 is on the road after winter storage , the work with the
88 engine continues but there has been some work in the woods with firewood.

Have used the Suzuki atv more now and also the lighter Stihl 194 chainsaw for smaller cutting.


The little 250cc engine runs good . Tomorrow the waterexercise began again after a few
weeks break and i,m looking forward to it .

Here is a video of one of the carclubs i is member of , very old video but it,s an old factory building.
This winter there was about 40 cars stored there.


Hope everybody having a nice evening.