Winter Roost Continues

 If you thought the first week was fun filled, lets look at week two.

This is just a reminder of what the lot looked like when I arrived. Carol and I discussed pouring a concrete pad for the RV, with a small patio area attached. Like any "housing community", there are requirements for making lot improvements, no different here. I went to work on creating the required drawing to be included in the request packet...

How simple can it be. I submitted our request on Monday. That day I also began looking online for a concrete company that could do the work, keeping in mind that it may be several months before the work could be done. The first call I got was from a company that was a four hour drive from us, and wanted $16,000 to $18,000 to do the work... that wasn't happenin'. My first call was on Tuesday to a local company in Artesia, they were quite swamped with other projects, but I was given a name of another company that does more residential market work. I got a call back that day from this company, and he asked me a few questions, and I asked when he could come out to do an estimate... he came out that afternoon to do the estimate. The bigger question was when could the job be done... remember I'm figuring a couple months out. Once we agreed on the price, about three times less than the first guy, he said they could start that week, and Thursday sounded like a good day. Keep in mind, my request hasn't been approved yet, but thankfully, I know the people that have the power to approve the request.

Before I even began calling the concrete guys, I marked off the area for the pad, per my submitted drawing of course. Now the fun really began. I wanted to ensure the gravel on our lot didn't get removed, so I spent most of Wednesday raking rocks. Refer to top photo for the before, now lets get to moving rock...

This is about a quarter of the gravel moved. Raking gravel is NOT one of my gifts, and I certainly would not want to do it for a living. I guess if I worked at it the muscles would come around, and it wouldn't be that big of a deal.

With that said, here is my pile at the end of the day...

Doesn't look like much, but it is close to a 1/2 ton of gravel re-located. This was just from one side of the trailer, I still needed to get under the trailer and the side closest to the property line. After eight hours of moving rock, I decided that I would just rake the rocks close to the property line, and the rock I couldn't reach under the trailer, could stay there.

The morning the concrete crew was due to arrive, I moved the trailer to another lot for temporary lodging.

The dark spot in the photo is the gravel I removed. The lighter area in the middle is gravel I could not reach under the trailer.

The concrete crew ran a little late, but once they arrived, they hustled. When the estimator came out he thought the area was pretty level... that theory changed when they were setting the forms, the property line side was lower than the are closer to the middle of the lot.

Time for lunch, then they will be back to do the rebar installation. It was tough seeing one of the workers throwing all the gravel I removed back into the pad area. The reason he did it was to level the pad area before adding the rebar.

Lunch time is over, and they are back to work. The rebar process is a lot faster than the old days of twisting wire around the rebar with a pair of pliers.

The wire wrap gun hooks onto the rebar and wraps the rebar together, looping and twisting the wire, then it cuts the wire. What is neat is the wire is on a spool.

The days end result...

Forms and rebar, just waiting for the concrete... tomorrow.

Weee, tomorrow is here, or at least the next day. The concrete truck was due sometime in the afternoon... but like all things, changes happen... the truck, or should I say trucks, arrived before 10 am.

This is the first truck of the morning.

Each truck carries 10 yards of concrete. 

So why did we need a second truck... the pad required 13 yards of concrete. Carol and I learned a lot watching these guys work, and there was a lot to learn. 

If you think this looks great, just wait, there is more to be done. I bet you are thinking that's a large pad, it is, about 900 sq. ft., don't forget the big trailer that is going back on it, and part of the back will be a patio.

This is the first step after the pouring and secreting, floating the surface. Even floating the surface, it still creates some lines.

The almost finished product is waiting for a bit more... but they will get to it after they finish lunch, and the concrete dries a bit more.

Lunch is over, and they're back to work.

My first thought was... how could he walk on my new concrete pad. What he is now doing is floating the surface with a mechanical float...

They start using this machine when the concrete is hard enough to walk on, in this case it took multiple passes. The more passes, the smoother the surface.

This is one of the crew putting the rounded edge on the pad. It gives a nicer edge, and helps with removal of the wooden forms.

This is the finished surface of the pad; it is a light brush for traction if the pad gets wet. The pad takes three days curing before we can move the trailer home.

Meanwhile, the concrete contractor is cutting the relief lines in the concrete, that way when it cracks, it will do it at the cuts.

New day, time for the finishing touches on the pad... actually around the pad. The first thing we did was move the trailer from our temporary site to its new home... the pad.

We moved the trailer over a little before the concrete contractor arrived with the gravel.

I helped the contractor spread the gravel, but I will need to bring more gravel in to finish the lot. We did get the gravel spread out to areas around the pad... and off he went.

We took on another project, our shed. The shed will only be 3ft x 5ft; we don't want to get in the habit of storing a bunch of "stuff".

We are building the base for the shed. I made it a sled style base so that it could be moved if desired in the future. It is required that the shed be anchored down because of the winds that come up once and awhile. Originally I was going to use plywood for the floor, but I like slats better.

With the base completed, and the anchors cured, it was time to build the shed. 

The weather began changing when Carol and I started to put the shed together... so what's new. At first the wind was just a breeze, then it grew a little stronger, then the clouds started passing over. In the clouds was thunder, so Carol watched for lightning. As raindrops started invading our space, we were calling it quits for the day.

Because it doesn't rain here much, Mother Nature gave it to us in an extremely large quantity this go round, but when morning came, the skies were clear. That was my signal to get back to work on the shed.

The goal for the day was to get the roof and door on...easy peezy... except for Mother Nature. I learned that to install a roof on a sheet metal shed, it requires wind... gusty too. Undaunted, I carried on, possibly smartly.

This is an almost finished project, the roof is on, the door hung, and the shed secured to the base. The final step of this project is securing the base to the ground.

The project is now finished... and the shed is now filled.

Here are some other projects accomplished...

FAIRIES IN THE CACTUS

UMBRELLA CLOTHES LINE

One last goal attained was the propane company coming out to hook us up to our new tank on the lot.

The tank came the same day the concrete contractor was due to arrive, so the propane guys just set the tank that day. After the curing and moving the rig on the pad, the propane guys came back out to complete the installation

With all the fun we were having, the park was preparing to have fun themselves. Every year they have a "Roundup". Roundup is a week long evolution. The purpose of the "Roundup" is to make money for C.A.R.E. C.A.R.E. is a medical facility that cares for Escapee members. We decided to participate/observe. Carol entered her chili, and I showed up for activities.

The first event of the "Roundup" was a plaque presentation.

This stone sits under a tree on one of the lots in the middle of the park. What is so important about this lot... it was the lot the founders of the Escapee RV club owned when the park was created in 1983. It also marks 40 years the park has been around.

Yesterday was pizza night, today was taco lunch, and TP Toss.

The object was to toss a roll of toilet paper through the toilet seat. I was only successful once getting it through the toilet seat, but I hit the seat several times. I thought I should get credit for the almost... women complain we men have a bad habit of missing the target too often.

The next afternoon was a couple of different events. I participated in the Frog Toss game. 

The object of this game was to launch the frogs (bean bags) from the wood, over to the lily pad.

The other event involved golf carts, an obstacle course, and humans. A couple climb in the golf cart, one is the driver, the other is the navigator... no problem. Wait a minute, I forgot to tell you that the driver is blind folded, and gets direction from the navigator. The obstacle course involved turns, weaving through cones, backing up, and backing up again attempting to get close to the final cone; all this is timed too. 

They had a Sheriff, and several Deputies. Their purpose was to write tickets, fine people, and write summons' for court appearances. I myself received a ticket, and a summons; Carol received a summons. With a summons the accused showed up in front of the judge, who determined the fine for the offense. Remember, this money goes to C.A.R.E..

A little about C.A.R.E. for those unfamiliar with the Escapee RV club. The facility is located at the home park in Livingston, Texas. The way it works is simple. A member requiring care makes arrangements to lease one of the C.A.R.E. sites for the duration of their stay, in some cases, permanently. The facility also provides housekeeping services and meals. If a member suddenly needs a higher level of medical attention, they are moved into one of the rooms in the facility so that they can receive that care. Escapee members not requiring care may volunteer to work in the facility.

The remainder of our stay will not be as exciting, so posts may be sporadic.