All 44,000 pounds of the barn arrived in mid May 2009. It was time to get busy. The first order of business was to get the truck unloaded, and that job fell to me. Unloading the truck had to be done quickly and efficiently. I checked around and it seemed like the best option was to rent a rubber tired roll frame forklift with a 6000 pound lift capacity. I went over to Heart of Texas Rentals in Johnson City (JC), and met Mike and the boys and they fixed me right up. I started with a two week rental, but knew it might take a little longer- Mike said no problem, we have several.
Home building was slow (still is), so I lined up a first string crew. I was able to land my trim carpenter Bucks Hamilton and his crew for their wages, and I would pick up miscellaneous expenses, Bucks needed a job and I needed a crew. I knew Bucks could pull this off, even if he was skeptical. This is a specialized job, putting together an oversized jig saw puzzle. The only nails are in the siding and roof decking, everything else is either bolted together with a gusset plates, or screwed together with 7 inch or 10 inch screws that use specialized bits, and the screws had to be predrilled. This job would require some rigging skills, problem solving, ingenuity and quick thinking when called for. There was a set of plans and an instruction book. Luckily the instruction book was written in English by Americans and not translated from Chinese into English. That is when you end up with parts left over because something got lost in translation. Now it was time to get the fork lift and get the truck unloaded.
I asked how they delivered the forklift, and Mike said that would be $175.00. I only had to go about 2 miles on public streets and that seemed like a stretch. They said, why don’t you just drive it over to your place? If it was OK with them I was game. In JC you can do these types of things. If Barney Fife showed up I’d just wave and keep going. I had to go from Highway 281 past the courthouse through down town, down Pecan St., and down Avenue N to our Neighborhood Lake on Flat Creek, no problem. I learned the levers, I put the muy macho machineo in gearo and hit the road. Four high got me about 10 MPH. I started to daydream as I drove past the courthouse….
What if I was down town--- back in Austin, stopped at a Red light and some young pin head lost track of his highest truth, copped an attitude and cut me off? All I would need to do to set things straight would be pull up, stick the forks under the pin head’s car, pick the car up and give the driver time to collect his thoughts while he searched for infinite wisdom! I can help with that! Then I could gently set the car down, say about 15 feet off the ground somewhere, all the while the young driver would have plenty of time to collect his thoughts, and re-consider what happened to his highest truth. Just like in the movie: The Big Lebowski the Dude needed to abide! I pulled up on the BEE Ranch a short time later and started unloading the truck. The forklift made it easy; it must be idiot proof because I did it with just a few hand signals from the driver, picking up loads that were about 2 two tons, moving them and setting them down like they were puppies. It was time for the real work to begin. I had put the foundation in during April so it was ready for a barn. There are 4 big bents, (large bolted together trusses), and 8 smaller ones for the 2 wings of the building that form the skeleton, and they had to go up first. All of the bents had been pre-assembled at the plant knocked down, and put on the truck to ship. The windows came separately on a smaller box truck. When we ran short of fasteners Sand Creek would overnight them to us so we were not delayed. That is service! From a residential framing perspective, this was not your run of the mill job. Every single piece had to be predrilled and screwed. It was like building a giant cabinet! It was bolted to the concrete and braced six ways to Sunday. It ain’t moving. I had debated about what kind of roof to use, but when I saw the barn going up there was no question, it had to be a standing seam metal roof. By the end of May 2009, the barn had a roof. There were still loose ends to tie up, but this was progress with a capital “P”. It was time for a septic system so we could flush! The boys at Dirt works were ready to go (need Dirt call Dirt, that’s his name). Everybody was hungry and willing to wheel and deal, the economy was barely sputtering and if you needed work done there was no waiting in line as in years past, the only people left with most contractors were their best people. The water line was run to the building and the plumbing was done in a day, the electrical took the same, roughed in and set fixtures all at once. Good thing the roof was on because it’s getting hot! If we were going to spend the night we better do it soon or it would be too hot. I think I’m going to rest and have a beverage.
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