My dad and I purchased an 80 acre farm in the Spring of 2005. I've decided to post the evolution of the farm. From a boring old field to a crazy playground for both adults and kids.

We bought it for an investment (yeah, right) and camping/hunting, and it’s evolved basically into the following post. Our idea was to buy a piece of property that could support a 3-8 acre pond.

The first summer we spent nights camping on the place. With a small creek running through the north end of the property, there was lots of entertainment for my small boys.

We are currently building a cabin. When that is finished, I’ll post pictures of that whole process. The cabin will be 90% surrounded by water. Yes, almost the whole thing will be over water.

I’m going to start posting (1-10 headings or so) and I’ll keep adding until complete. Here is a summary of what has taken place since we purchased the farm.

Starting with the first post:
1. In the Beginning - and no the second won't be Shout at the Devil for any of you Motley Crue fans.....

Scott

1. In the Beginning
Here are some photos of where we camped. This was the summer after we bought the place.

2. Tree clearing
We had a local lake/pond builder, Jerry Donner, test the soil to make sure it was viable for a dam. They took a few samples and found no rock. Once we had successfully tested the soil, Jerry and his team cleared all of the hedge and locust trees in the proposed lake location. Additionally, my dad had Mike Otto come to our farm during the end of the tree clearing to help design the dam and shore line.

Sounds like it's going to be a great project Scott. Please keep posting the progress.

3. Lake Construction
After clearing the trees, it was time for the fun. The construction of the dam was a fairly big event. The dam is 100+ yards long. At the top, it is 14 feet wide. It took approximately 10 days to complete.

I love the smell of brushpile fires in the morning.

Scott it's looking great. How big will the pond be? I can't wait to see the cabin over the water.

Thanks guys for the help on posting. The lake is 5 acres. I'll post with it full of water.

4. Little Pond.

The property had an existing pond that had been over grown with cattails. When the guys were clearing the trees, my dad decided to have them clean it up. It will now be used as a feeder pond. I plan on putting in 4 lbs of fatheads this spring.

We also have another tiny pond that's about 8 ft wide. It's not big enough to hold fish, but a fun place for the kids to catch frogs and crawdads.

Scott that is awesome, totally awesome. Is the cabin going to be built on the island or is it a peninsula?

Very nice Scott! Thanks for posting. Is the cabin on schedule for this year?

The cabin is going to be insane. We've been trying to get the foundation poured since the beginning of February, but the weather has not been cooperating in Northeast Kansas. We dropped the lake level three feet, but it keeps filling back up! They are now scheduled to start Monday. Keeping our fingers crossed.......

The arrow in the photo is where the cabin is going to be located.

5. Islands

We had a lot of extra dirt and it actually cost less to build two islands. Instead of pushing the dirt a few hundred yards, we just created two small hills in the middle of the lake. My dad then got the wild idea of putting a large rock platform for us to jump off. We put in three rocks with the top one cantilevered. Additionally, we put a rock staircase to the side to climb out of the water. The rocks came from the small pond that we dug out. We hit rock, and had some large pieces laying around. The water is approximately 20 ft deep off the rocks. The inagural dive was performed by my dad in early April of 2006. The water was freezing!!!!!!

I finally got time to look at ALL the pictures. Fantastic!

I thought Kansas was flat with no rocks - you've got a nice elevation change to work with there (envy). How big did the big pond end up?

Impressive. The overhead shot brings it all together. Pond envy happening here.

I see you've got a little Lochness Monster in the second photo of your last post, Scott.

Might want to cut back on the swimming in a few years!

C'mon Theo...he said 5 ac. Sometimes I think that all you Moderators do is look at the pictures (rolleyes).
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What a great project, Scott. You mention your Dad a couple of times. Is see a svelt young man diving from a boulder, then a handsome Patriarche conducting the backhoe orchestra. Would this be one in the same? This might be a good time to expound his contributions to this project, then show him this thread. Only 295 days 'til Christmas.
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I do love the creativity with the rocks and the smaller ponds. Someone had a good plan.

Yes, that is my dad in the photos. He will be 65 this fall. He is quite athletic for his age and still manages to windsurf 2-3 weeks each year.

6. Fish and Structure

In the spring of 2006 we stocked the pond with the following:
2250 bluegill – 3-5”
900 red ear 3-5”
675 channel cat 8-11”
45 lbs fathead minnows

In the fall we added 450 LMB.

Additionally, we put in a gravel strip approximately 10 yards wide and 30 yards long for a place for the LMB to spawn. We also put in a gravel beach with the gravel extending out 20 feet into the water. This has been very good for the bluegill and perch. Last summer we put in 30 Christmas trees for additional structure.

7. Pond is Full.

Here are some photos of the pond full. We never realized how much time we would spend at the farm. Not to mention the endless hours of fun we have. The kids spend hours catching frogs, seining minnows, catiching fish, etc... Basically, it's a big kid's playground and a little kids playground.

8. Garage

We started to accumulate a lot of stuff after the pond was finished. Everything from a mower to plates, silverware, life jackets, etc, etc..... Just a bunch of stuff laying around. That's when we decided to build a garage. Oh, and putting up a basketball goal is a real pain in the you know what........

Absolutely beautiful pond and surroundings!

Wow it's getting even more awesome. I think this might be another PB article in the making.

WOW! Is the garage that blue building sitting behind the cabin site? Is anyone living there? If not I volunteer.

Very nice Scott. Are you up by Atchison?

9. Storm Shelter

After the town of Greensburg, KS was all but destroyed (90%) by a tornado, my dad began thinking about a place to hide during a severe storm. They say, "you can run, but you can't hide". In the case of a tornado, "you can't run, but you can hide". So if the big one hits, and we're at the farm, we'll hide.......

Here are some photos of Jerry Donner and Company setting in the storm shelter, which they built for us.

i just read this thread, dittos to all the envious kudos above, and thanks alot for sharing this story scott, very impressive.

i hope you find great resources here to help keep things going with the fish and water quality.

Thanks, Dave. Yes, fish and water quality is very important to us. We've found the web site and magazine invaluable. Mike Otto came up to Kansas and helped us design it, and Shawn Banks is our pond consultant. We've made various blunders, but I guess it's part of the process. As far as tree planting goes, I'd rather not start a post, as our survival rate is less than 10%......... Scott

Wow! Mike Otto and Shawn Banks! That's like starting a basketball team with LeBron James and Kobe Bryant.

Nice job. I'm really enjoying the photo show. First class all the way.

10. Fun - the aftermath

Family gatherings, birthdays parties, boys weekends, etc, etc, etc,.....

Scott:

Ain't it amazing the things a person (or family) can find to simply waste away the hours around a pond? I find myself hanging out all summer long, just STANDIN' AROUND.

My wife constantly tells me to just slow down...relax. She finally sees why I built our two ponds. That's the only place where I can actually just sit around and soak it all in.

REALLY cool that you are able to share in this fantastic playground with your kids AND your dad.

Congrats...beautiful, absolutely beautiful.

Scott -

You mentioned having issues with tree survival rates. Sometimes we learn best by learning what NOT to do, so do you mind sharing with us why you believe you had such a low (I believe you mentioned 10%) survival rate?

I will be planting about 500 native bareroot trees (seedlings) this spring, so I am knee deep in research on the subject... and apreciate any input you might have.

Matt- agreed. I'll just drive to the farm to be there for one or two hours. My dad will go down there and trim trees. He loves it. It's about a 40 minute drive door-to-door. When I'm there, I just de-stress and wind down.........wierd that trimming trees is fun and relaxing, but it's true!

Scott

Weissguy- OK... Here is a text book example of what NOT to do.

IDEA:

We bought approximately 400 bare root seedlings from Kansas State University. They all arrived perfect. We then proceeded to try to plant all 400 in a single weekend (or two). We invited friends to the farm for the ‘tree planting’ party. Great on paper, not so good in practice.

Some were planted too deep and some not deep enough (roots exposed). Apparently, with seedlings you have to be precise with the depth when planting. Lots of the planting took place around where the lake shoreline had been dug out and it was pure topsoil. Weeds overtook these areas, thus crowding out the seedlings. We didn’t have the resources or time to water any of the trees. Seemed like a good idea to purchase 400 trees since they were so cheap………….or were they?



RESULT:

Most trees died. Only the ‘A’ Alphas made it. All pines died. Cottonwoods lived provided they had 100% sun and a water source near. The cottonwoods that had both water and sun, but were surrounded by weeds/tall grass died. A few (the A trees) made it, but had to fight so hard to get above weeds that they are so flimsy and tall they need to be staked/tied down.

We had really good luck with the Bald Cypruss on the islands. We kept the grass mowed and they found water, as we planted them around the edges. They are doing really well (80% survival).

Also, the eastern red cedars have done really well. They haven’t grown much, but have managed to live despite being engulfed in the grass/weeds.

MOVING FORWARD:

Last year we planted 10 trees. This year we are going to plant 20.

We’re buying less and giving more care. No weeds. Water source.

The trees don’t take a ton of work, but require some. We gave the initial 400 none.

It seems so basic, but we overlooked it.

Scott

Scott -- have you run into that "fabric" technique for tree planting? That really keeps out the weeds and grass. You still need water, but at least you don't have to cultivate.

Scott, that reminds me of something an arborist once told me. It is better to plant a 50 cent tree in a $5 hole than it is to plant a $5 tree in a 50 cent hole.

I drove this weekend from N. Oklahoma to Ft. Riley, Kansas this weekend (hope you all felt safer, I was on Army Reserve Duty!). I was actually surprised myself to see that there is a lot of rock around KS, topsoil is only a foot deep or so and the old farms all have stone foundations and/or buildings on them. Even some really old stone walls are still around.

I also tried the "mass planting" method. I might still have one or two trees out of 5-600 attempts. I am going to try fewer trees of better quality this year, that I can focus on and baby along.

Dave- we tried the fabric technique to kep weeds out, but the black fabric got hot and fried lots of the trees. The muclh blew off the plastic and left it exposed.

Scott

Svoberts- we're located in the far eastern part of the state where there is way less rock. The central and southeatern part of the state by Fort Riley is in the Flint Hills which is much rockier. They also get far less rain.

11. Spillway
I forgot to add pictures of the spillway. It has an 18 inch pipe. Additionally, there is a 6 inch pipe with a hand lever to let water out of the pond if it needs to be drained. We currently have been using this feature a lot. We keep lowering the level of the pond (approximately four feet) so we can pour the foundation for the cabin. However, it keeps raining and filling back up! It's been so wet that we can't get the equipment in there to start. The forecast looks good for the next week so we are crossing our fingers.

Finally, a break in the weather! We have lowered the lake four feet and now only 50% of the surface area remains. This was very frustrating as we would lower it and then get rain and it would fill right back up. It took almost a month to get a break in the weather.

Jerry Donner came in and had his team push dirt out even further by creating a mini dam. We want to get the cabin surrounded by as much water as possible (shooting for 90%).

Once that was done, we spent the weekend pumping out the area as there was a small leak in the mini-dam.

Monday, the work started.

The site was then measured, trenches dug, and the foundation poured.

Here is the current status. Scott

A well orchestrated attack. All the right equipment. A very impressive and ambitious plan. Well done.
Tell us more about the foundation plan. Stuff like: Will all the footers be below the normal pool elevation; is the plan to pour walls that reach above the emergency spillway elevation and then frame up from there; what are going to be supported by the stepped footers?

Brettski-
We're going to put a 5' deck surrounding the cabin. Deck level is 3ft above spillway and around 1’ 10” above emergency spillway. The width of the emergency spillway is double or triple normal. The foundation walls range from 8 ft to 3ft with about 60% at the three foot height. All footers are below normal pool elevation and the foundation wall top is 2’6” above normal pool elevation. Foundation work will be finalized tomorrow and that is a big relief. With rain in the forecast, this thing can fill up fast!

OK. Foundation is complete. Once the forms were taken off, we applied a foundation water sealant since the foundation will be in constant contact with water. This crazy goop stuff was like tar. We spent an entire day applying it with rollers and were basically covered from head to toe in the crap. It required about a 1/4 inch layer. Later that night, I called my Dad and asked if he had been in the shower and he responded, "Hell yes"! I then asked if he had any luck getting the stuff off and he responded, "Hell no"!

After the foundation sealant had dried, we brought in Jerry Donner Services for the dirt work. We packed the area where the footers meet the foundation walls with clay on both the inside and outside. We then filled the inside of the foundation with clay and dirt. We will cover the dirt with a few inches of gravel. Tommorow we will continue and hopefully be finished with the dirt work. Then onto the construction of the cabin.

Scott

The lake is now 6" from being full. We finished filling the foundation with clay and gravel. The exterior is packed with clay as well. We are putting a 10' strip of plastic around the side walls and covering it with gravel. We started and almost completed the north wall on Sunday (photo). It was back breaking work, so we're going to recruit some friends to help this weekend with the south wall. We've got a tractor, but it's tough running the gravel out in 5 gallon buckets 10'. We're also going to run the 10' gravel strip from the cabin to our gravel beach (about 50 yards). SHould be good for wading out and also bluegill spawning areas.

The center beam has been placed on the foundation. Thursday, our builder is going to begin putting in the floor joists. They are going to hang over the exterior of the foundation 5 feet so we can put a deck on it.

Scott

Hoorah! Nothing like seeing some LVLs getting placed that close to water!

Scott,
This project really intrigues me. Thanks for the progress pics and reports.
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I don't want to ASSume anything, but is there a sump pit to remove any possible seepage?

Scott
You and your dad have done a great job. Thanks for the pic. and follow ups. The story usually goes like this. The lake will be here long after the house is gone BUT NOT THIS TIME.

Otto

Thanks Mike. You gave us some good ideas and guidance. We truly appreciate you coming up.

Lyle & Scott

OK. Gravel, lots of it. Backbreaking work. We put in a 10' gravel strip from the existing beach to the cabin foundation. North foundation wall has a 10' strip, and the south wall has a 20' strip. We (luckily I recruited some good buddies) put down plastic first and then dumped gravel on top. Rakes, Water, 5 Gallon buckets, and lots of gravel. Dad was running the tractor and 2-3 of us worked the gravel. Brutal! Wish the lake wouldn't have filled up so fast. We tried to do this a month ago, but time/schedules didn't work out..... Also, floor joists and flooring are in! Exterior walls start tomorrow. -Scott

...and the Wow factor continues
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I asked this on a previous post. Is there the expectation and enginnering that the foundation is water tight?

That is awesome.

A slinger truck would save a bunch of labor moving aggregates.

Making progress. The guys finished three of the walls and then a bad storm blew in over the weekend and knocked two of the walls almost completely over. They had to spend half a day repairing the damage. Guess it could have been worse so we are thankful. My dad and the boys spent the Friday night camping in a tent on the floor of the cabin. Fish are starting to bite as well, which is always nice....

Scott

Scott

Thanks for all the time you spend keeping us up dated. The place really looks great, continue to enjoy the water.
OTTO

That is a truly amazing & awesome project.

Theo's right (what else is new?), that is an awesome project.

Brettski- I missed your question about the expectation that the foundation is water tight. The answer is yes and no. Once the foundation was dug, it was hard packed with clay and then filled with about 6" of gravel on the top. On the upper side of the south wall of the foundation has 3 ventilation holes. If you look at the above picture of my boys fishing off the side of the cabin (with the tent in the background ), you can see one on the left and one behind the fishing net. The north wall has the same holes about 2-3" lower. We sloped the gravel/clay from south to north so it will drain on the north side. So, in the event of a gully washer, yes, the foundation will get water in the inside. The photos above are with our lake at full capacity. So we have approximately 15" until it would hit the drain. The exterior of the foundation was covered with aquatic sealant to prevent any damage to the exterior of the foundation wall. I'll have to check with my Dad on the numbers, but the emergency spillway, is somewhere around the 15-18" above full capacity level I think.

Scott how much water shed feeds your pond and how wide is your emergency spillway?

I've been curious where this was going, an what you were building. Somehow, I never imagined that it would be an actual house!!! It's like a house boat that doesn't float.

Just out of curiosity, did you compare what it would take to make a floating house to what it cost to do it with a concrete foundation?

Thanks for the great pictures and commentary.

Eddie

Rockytopper- emergency spillway is around 100 feet wide. In a typical eastern Kansas year, approximately 100 acre ft/per year runs into the pond. The pond is about 5 acres.

Eddie- we actually never gave the house boat idea any thought. We were wanting a cabin and then the water around the sides evolved while designing the cabin. We originally thought about piers, but decided on the foundation concept.

Go all of the PSL beams in place. Loft and floor is now in place. They will be working on rafters this week.

Scott

How many square feet is the house going to be? Love the pictures. It is a great idea.

Ezylman- It will be 1200+ if you include the loft (main floor =960 and loft = 320). The outside eating area (left hand side of the above picture) will be an additional 600 sq feet.

Scott

Wonderful.

This is turning into one of the best ever.

Be sure and come to the convention and bring all the pictures.

OTTO

OK. Back at it. We have the rafters installed and should have the roof finished tomorrow. Siding will be delivered tomorrow along with four sliding glass doors. The guys will put on the siding and windows/doors before turning their attention to the deck. Also, ordered metal sheets for the roof.

Scott

I just looked through the entire thread again, Scott. It is an awesome construction thread PLUS there are great stop-and-smell-the-roses pictures.

Yes, Brettski, all mods do is look at the pictures. :P

Great Job !!! Thanks for the update - keep them coming.

Scott, I am amazed with what you and your family have done with this property. From the pond construction, to islands with rock diving platforms and now the cabin on the water. I'm curious. Why did you choose to put the porch on the front?. I would have flipped it to face the pond. Keep sending the pic's this is an incredible project and pond property you are building.

Scott, any chance of posting your plans? I am seriously considering a similar idea for my place. I would need to increase the size though. The wife said nothing smaller than 2000 sq. ft. of inside space.

Rockytopper- the porch on the inside was just a matter preference. We will have an 16 ft walkway (6 feet wide) to enter the cabin under the outdoor porch. This will be over a swale that we dug out, so you will have to use the walkway to entert the cabin from that side- might even toy with the idea of digging it out further so the walkway crosses water as well. If you look at the first photo below, there is a rock at the bottom. The 16 ft walkway will start here and extend to the porch. On the opposite side of the outdoor porch we will have a 22 ft dock (6 ft wide) extending towards the island. Our architecht, my uncle Sam, designed it so when you walk in, you will see straight thru to the opposite dock pointing towards the island. Additionally, there will be a 5 foot deck surrounding the entire cabin.

Ezylman- All we have are architecture blueprints which are 3ft x 3ft in size. I'll see if we can get something in electronic format to post. Increasing size shouldn't be a problem. We originally were going to go smaller, as we wanted the small, cabin feel to it, but it grew, and grew and got grander and grander as my Dad and Sam sat down to design it. It was originally going to be the cabin only with no porch and not extended out over the water. I guess that is what happens when you sit down to design a cabin with an architect over a bottle of wine.....



Here are some more photos from yesterday.

Scott

Scott...

I look forward to seeing your plans. I am really intrigued by doing something like that here. Do you know what kind of a cost increase you had by designing it like that instead of going with a traditional slab or a traditional pier and beam foundation?

As far as the bottle of wine goes, just be glad the plans weren't done over a bottle of tequila. When tequila is involved, things just never turn out right.

Thanks for the up date. You guys have done a great job.
Thanks for sharing it with us.

OTTO

Thanks Mike. Do you remember how nasty that day was when you drove up to Kansas? Gnarly wind and rain. We ended up at the local cafe. We'd love to be able to come to the conference, but schedules don't permit this year. Maybe the next year as it sounds fun.

Scott

PS- you look more enthusiastic in the second photo

Scott...

I still like the lake house idea, but my wife shot me down. She is convinced we would have multitudes of cottonmouths sunning on the deck outside the house. She runs when she even sees a picture of one, so needless to say, she wants the house away from the pond.

Hi,

Once again technology rules...

Mike Otto wanted me to let everyone on the forum know that he has had a major crash in his email system and webpage server and he can't use either at this time. He is working furiously to try and correct the problem and will be back on the forum as soon as he can. You can contact Mike at the office 1-940-665-2258 or 800-882-3478 from 8 am- 12 noon, Mon-Fri.

Kathy
Pond Boss Magazine
Office Manager

Ezylman- too bad about the cottonmouths. Luckily, we don't have snake problems where we're at in Kansas. A few water snakes here and there, but that's about it. If we did, I'm sure the cabin would be well up on shore.

Got the cabin wrapped in Tyvek, and the Hardie board on it. Also, got the windows and doors on it. Painting should start in the next few days. Also, the metal roof should start Thursday. Then we'll head into the decking part of things. The fireplaces are in and we're picking up them up on Thursday morning. They are 42" Rumfords and will be placed at the far ends (one on the inside and one on the porch). We have to pick them up and haul them in a trailer to the cabin. -and they only weigh a zillion pounds each..........

Scott

Scott,
Your project continues to take pond projects OTT and to the next level. It looks absolutely awesome. I am really impressed.

Scott...

Project is looking great. Keep up the good work and keep sending pictures.

That truly is a magnificant cabin.

Here is California we can't build withing 100 feet of the pond. So my house is gonna be 101 feet from the pond.

You are building that cabin with first class materials Scott. Hardie board siding and metal roofing. That cabin should really hold up.

Even though I'm not supposed to I find myself coveting my (forum) neighbors house.

Reading about that restriction makes me wonder WHY?

Is the California Fire dept. afraid you would possibly save your own home in a fire if a water source is near?


BTW Very cool cabin?

Rainman, In California you learn very quickly to stop asking why regulations exist. Otherwise you will drive yourself crazy - trust me.

"None of it makes any sense; you just have to know what forms to fill out."

-Radar O'Reilly, M*A*S*H

Scott...

Look into doing spray foam insulation compared to doing fiberglass bats. The spray between joists, rafter, and studs to make an airtight envelope. It also is very compatible with vaulted ceilings and metal roofs. If it is an option where the cabin is located, it should decrease your energy consumption by 60% or more. Just a thought.

icenune is great stuff we just did it. It cost more but will save you in the long run. The roofers and other locals thought we were crazy for not letting the roof breathe. Wife did all the research. I just found this thread. VERY NICE layout.

Guys- Thanks for the tips on insulation. We will definitely check it out.

Today we had the painter come in and get the base painted and caulked. The decking will start tomorrow, weather permiting.

Also, the roofing crew came in and got the roof installed.

The exterior is getting close....

Scott

Looks great. When is the grand opening?

First That may have been the worst day that I actually worked in.

You guys did a great job. The best picture was the young man jumping in the water. That is what we are all about.

Otto

I just had to go through this all again from the start. I am thoroughly impressed...and oh, so envious. You've got a place to decompress for the rest of your lives.

Truly beautiful...

Keep the pictures coming.

Grand opening was a few weeks back. We had family and friends out July 3rd for fireworks off the island. It was a great time. We put down sheets of plywood on the deck so we could walk around.

Lot's of little stuff has been done the past few weeks. Kind of the touch up stuff. Had the inspection today and only had one minor item. The primer coat of paint has been applied and the painter should finish the final coat this week. The color will be Stone 2112-40. The guys are putting up the posts for the deck. We are going to run cable railing horizontally, instead of vertical spindles/rails.-like what you see on a boat. Once finished, they will start the decking.

Scott

THAT LOOKS GREAT. YOU GUYS HAVE MADE THIS SITE THE JEWELL OF THE FOURM

oTTO

Just got back from vacation and got a chance to run out and see the cabin. -unfortunately for only 1 1/2 hours as I've got business travel first thing in the morning. Would have loved to have spent the night there! Painter is finished and deck is 90% complete. Remaining exterior: Windows on each side of the chimney (Lake side), paint the doors, and add the cabling to the rail posts.

-Scott

PS- Also, got our second fish feeder going..... Cats and Bass were hammering the food (AquaMax600)!!!!!

Thanks for the pictures, Hope your work schedule slows down so you can enjoy the place more.

What an awesome place.

Nice photos, Scott! I'd love to have a cabin just like yours someday!

This is going to be an awesome place. Neat, neat, neat! ...I like it!:)

Very nice. It sure filled up in a hurry(envy). Noticed the bois d'arc & locust trees. Might check forum on unwanted plants in case your not wild about trees with 4-8" spikes around where those young folks will be playing..the locust trees that is..
Stupid me, didn't see the last 4 pages before posting.. unbelievable no one will want to post any of their projects after this.

Scott...

It is looking real good. Here are a couple of ideas/suggestions:

1. Put a 2x4 under your composite railing to stiffen it up some. If you put it in edge and center it under that decking board, it should keep deflection to a minimum.

2. I can't remember what you said you were going to use for balusters, but have you considered running a cable every 6 inches or so? It wouldn't infringe on the view at all and it would be a good bit cheaper than using wood.

We took a two month break on construction. Since I last posted, we've finished the decking and top railing (ezylman-that's a good idea on the composite as it's flimsy. We decide to use cedar for the railing/skirt). I put up two strands of clothes lines for the horizontal railing for now. We will put in horizontal cable, like what you see on a sailboat. The windows on the west side have also been installed. Last weekend we had the first annual fish fry. Caught about 7 Cats and had aunts/uncles/cousins out for the party. The cats (stocked April 2006) are 17-20 inches long/2.5-4 lbs. The the bass (stocked September 2006) are 14-15 inches 1.5-2 lbs. We've been hitting them hard with AquaMax 600 and Purina Catfish Food.

Now we are getting back to full steam on the interior. I will post as we begin in the next few weeks. We'll start with wiring, and then insulation. Finally, we will trim the interior out in Knotty Pine.

-Scott

nice update scott, the place looks phenomenal. the fish and kids smiles do to

It's all business for the little men........ Serious, serious situation.

wow simply AMAZING. Love the sunsets as well.

Great thanks for the pictures.

AS ALWAYS I LIKE THE PICTURES WITH THE KIDS THAT ARE HAVING FUN.
oTTO

Great photos. What an amazing place you have there Scott.

This rates as one of the best projects I've seen on Pond Boss, or anywhere for that matter!

Yeah, sign me up for the drop-jaw list. Awesome!

I'm with Brettski. Me too!
I see you have a clock on the wall in your work area so you know when it's time to put the hammer down & throw a line out the door!

I'm speechless, wow!!!!!

Love that house in the pond look. Like living on a boat.

Wow, absolutely wow... amazing place.

I'm enjoying every single picture and every single word of this.

I have too much stuff to think about already!!!
That is one of the best looking LMB pics I have seen! Such a young fish with lots of potential.

Any time There is a picture of a youngster with a fish is a great picture

All- Thanks for the kind words. We finished electrical today and have the inspection tomorrow. A buddy of mine helped get it knocked out last weekend and we had a few remaining items that my Dad completed today. We are going to use solar panels mounted on the garage and have a trench dug to the cabin. It was cost prohibitive to run power to the cabin. This was a bummer as I wanted to aerate the pond. Kind of ironic since power lines run down the west side of the property..............

Another good buddy of mine is the GM for an insulation company, and insulating should be finished by Saturday. We're putting in R-19 throughout. Monday we begin trimming out the interior with knotty pine and putting in the 18' entrance (extended over water) and a 24' fishing dock. I'll post photos as we progress.

Monday, another good buddy flew me over the property in a small two seat plane and I snapped a few photos. It was a pretty cool experience.

Good to have good buddies.........








-Scott

You are very fortunate to have that aerial option available, Scott. Those are real keeper shots, man.
-
There is a small contingent of us out here that are very interested in solar power for homes. Come back with details and pics on that part, too.
-
...continued kudos for a PB showcase home

Electrical and Insulation (R-19) is complete. We are now onto trimming out the inside with knotty pine. Next week we will also begin the bridge entrance and dock. -Scott

Scott, what do you mean regarding and 18' entry way over the water?

Sunil- It's a bit tough to explain. If you look at the photo below, imagine that you are walking a straight line to the outdoor patio (along the cedars). Where it drops down, there will be water (we are pulling the land back a bit to create this). So we are placing an 18' walkway that will go over the water to the outside patio. Additionally, if you would continue walking the same angle thru the outside patio, there will then be a 24' dock extending out over the water on the opposite side. I'll post photos next week and it will make more sense. -Scott

what happens if a tornado goes thru?

i dont mean to be flip....well maybe i do, but the thought did cross my mind

Dave- page two of this thread shows photos of our storm shelter. Also, there is a crawl space under the cabin about two feet high and completely surrounded by the foundation. Hope it doesn't come to that, but we've got two options just in case........ -Scott

Lordy, just when I'm almost recovered from BuckeyeWilly's photos WHAM it happens again. I need to go lay down.

Quite a bit has been going on at the farm. We're getting back to full speed after the summer lull. Jerry Donner and Company are on the scene, which means stuff is happening.

We had the concrete poured so we can now put in both of the fireplaces, Rumfords. It's more or less a 5'x3' pad of concrete which is tied into the footings of the foundation. They will be placed at opposite ends of the cabin. One will be outdoors on the covered patio and the other in the main room of the cabin. We dry stacked one of them just to practice, so we know what we are doing once we have mortar. We only stacked them three blocks high in the firebox for practice. They normally are stacked five blocks high in the firebox, so they will be taller once we mortar...

Today, Jerry's crew showed up with the boat dock. It's a steel frame 24' long, 6' wide, with supports sunk into the ground with pilings. Here are some of the photos. They put barrels under the dock to float it, and then measured it for the correct angle in relation to the cabin. Next, they drove pilings into the ground with the hoe, and then used jacks to level it.

Mike is still trimming out the interior. Once finished I'll post the interior.

Scott, you are very brave to be working with concrete blocks while wearing flip-flop sandals!

Awesome project.

Look closely. They're steel-toed.

-----------------------------------------------------------

Scott, if this Summer has been a lull in your activity at the Family Farm, an intense period would exhaust me just reading about it.

Sunil- yeah, that probably wasn't the smartest thing I've ever done.....
Theo- I'm afraid exhaustion shall be heading your way.....It's time to take it up a few notches.

Today - moved a bunch of dirt and started the bridge entrance. The idea is to suspend a 16'long x 6' wide bridge over water that will connect to the decking on the outdoor patio. This will be the entrance to the cabin.-kind of like walking over a moat. To create this effect, the land had to be sculpted.

Scott,

I really admire what you are creating. It's truly unique and inspirational!!!!! You guys seem to have the approach that is so rare in most people, you get an idea and you make it happen. No thinking about it forever, no talking yourself out of it, you just go out and do it.

I'm curious about the Firerock fireplace. I've never seen this before, but have been wanting to add a fireplace to my home. I've just about talked myself into going propane because of the expense and effort to build on proper firebox for wood. That looks like a simple solution to my problem. Do you have any experience with them, or is this your first time using it? Can you tell me what it cost? Do you have to use the blocs for the chimney, or can you use tripple walled pipe? I have a metal roof and where it will go is throught he middle of the metal roof. Pipe would be allot easier for me if I go this route.

Thank you,
Eddie

I'm with JHAP on this incredible saga.

This may well be the only time I wish no photos had ever been posted. I barely dealt with the lighthouse and then this thread started and is just phenominal. Ive never been a man to envy someone...................till now!

Well, to add to your Lighthouse Envy and Family Farm Envy, here is some Hat Envy:

Someone photoshop in some oreos and cheetos please!

Real men DON'T wear pink!.......................EVER!!!!!

The hat should not be on your head OR the shi(r)t should not be on your back.

Is there a bird in the hat store, or did Otto's "r" key freeze up?

Oh, the horror!! This was like one of those videos where you're watching intently, and then someone jumps in front of the camera and screams - real loud! Here I'm sitting enjoying Scott's latest addition to one of the best threads I've ever followed and them "the hat". My day is ruined.....

My work here is done ... for now. Bwa-ha-ha!

That is a really funny photo. Despite a bad color, pink, what you need to realize is that they are 'Quality Hats, at Affordable Prices'. This is usually what I'm looking for at a truck stop.............

I should have won the Nobel Prize for taking that photo.

Bruce was a great sport it letting me take the picture.

Not very men are confident enough in their manliness to allow JHAP to take a photo like that all the while knowing it would be put to some nefarious uses on the internet. Well not very many sane men anyway.

It's been a while, but we're back at it after a bit of a hiatus. It's deer season, so I need to prioritize..... Finishing up the outside bridge entrance and also completed the dock. We're getting fairly close on finishing the interior trim and both of the fireplaces. I'll post more of interior and fireplaces in the next few weeks once completed.

-Scott

Scott, great pictures as always.

Wow.

Just got photos off the other camera. Interior is knotty pine and almost trimmed out. The fireplaces are under way, but a bit of work in progress. Here are a few photos of the outside fireplace. Since the photos, we have completed the exterior fireplace, but it still needs a chimney and a few interior bricks.

Scott,

More great pictures!!! You guys are really creating a fun place!!!! Is this going to be your home or a weekend getaway?

That ceiling is sure going to be painful to stain and seal!! One thing that I learned with ceilings is to work your way across the boards. If you do as much as you can in an area, there will be an overlap line when you move down the boards. For really big jobs, I like to spray on the stain with a hand pump bottle, and wipe it off with a rag. The trick is to keep moving and not let it dry before you move on down the board. Speed is king!!

The fireplace looks really good. I was wondering about the fire brick. Do you have to use a special type of morter for the brick? I'm lookng forward to seeing how you finish off the outside of the fireplace. With so many choices of rock and rock vineer, it's amazing what's availble.

Any special plans for the mantels? I can see a large log, either squared or left round on the front and bottom, but with some fishing or wildlife carved into it. I love to carve wood, so for me, that's always something special that I enjoy and look for in custom wood work.

Thanks for the pics and update,
Eddie

As always great. Thanks for keeping us posted.

Eddie- thanks for the insight on applying the stain and sealing. The knotty pine looks really good and we'd like to keep the color the way it is if possible by sealing. Do you know of any products that can maintain the natural look? It seems to yellow over the years.... We'd like to avoid this, but not sure if it's possible.

The outside fireplace has now been completely stacked/mortared and the interior firebricks have also been installed/mortared. We have the chimney, but it's not installed. This one has been put on hold, as the inside one will allow us to hang out in the cabin this winter and early spring.

The inside fireplace is now stacked with mortar and the interior firebricks have been installed. -Dad is the man! He's put in some serious hours on the two fireplaces.

The interior bricks were scored 1/4 inch with a with a masonry blade, and then broken with a 3-4" wide chisel and hammer.

We plan on spending the night Friday. Temperatures should dip into the mid teens, so we'll find out quickly if it works.

Happy Holidays,

Scott

It's been brutal cold, but we've made some progress this winter! Interior is basically complete. Cabinets and bar have been installed. Need to get the carpet and pad down in the loft. Here are a few photos. Once the weather gets warmer, we'll tackle the solar system and finish the outdoor fireplace.

-Scott

As is the always the case great.

Any updates on the place? This is by far one of the neatest projects I have ever seen.

I'm with Ryno, any updates?

I just realized that I never saw that last set of pictures. The one with the snow and ice is just amazing. It looks SOOO COLD!!!!!

This is the coolest house ever and I'm looking forward to more pics and commentary.

Thanks,
Eddie

All that I can say is UNBELIEVABLE!!!!!

WOW!

Thanks for the kind words. I took off the last 3-4 months since the weather was so bad, but will start posting again as time permits. The cabin is almost finished. Last week, the guys put in a five foot sidewalk extending from the garage to the cabin entrance. We are working on the outside kitchen and fireplace in the next few weeks. I will post photos of this. It will be a counter top surrounding the outdoor fireplace on both sides with gas, charcoal, and two burners dropped in. Additionally, we are putting in a solar system. The panels will be placed on the garage and we've run a trench from the garage to the cabin.

-Scott

Scott, I am simply amazed at what you guys have done with this project. I like many other here have built a pond/home retreat it was my dream from a very early age. I think this project deserves a front cover and article in PB mag. It would inspire others who have this dream and have just not followed it threw. It would also be a great topic at the conference for new comers to the PB world and life style.

That black soil looks so fertile! Great looking project...

Scott,

Thanks for the update. I always look for your posts when I'm on here and find what you are doing to be very interesting. While building a pond is pretty exciting, once it's done, there's not much to it except what you build around it. I think Pond Boss is really missing out by not focusing more attention on what people build around their ponds. To me, that's what makes a pond unique and special. You have made your pond very unique and maybe one of the most interesting ponds in the nation!!!!!!!!!

Eddie

As always looks great.

The inside is nearly complete. We still need to add rock around the fireplace. We got a large stone cut for the hearth. It's three inches thick. We also added another hearth stone to the outdoor fireplace. Additionally, we got the railing on the outside deck and the inside loft installed.

The solar system is five panels and 12 batteries. I'll post more of this when I get photos. The remaining item is the outdoor kitchen which has taken a little longer than expected. We plan on getting more stone from the stone company and putting a two inch counter top on both sides of the fireplace. The idea is to have a charcoal grill on one side, a gas with two burners on the other and then have a 12" wide bar with four stools.

-Scott

Scott I get more amazed every time you post. Wow is all I can say.

As a "why hire someone if you can do it yourself" type of guy, I'm simply blown away at the quality and scope of the work that is getting accomplished. My hats' off to you!

Nice sized Bullfrog to boot! I'll bet the kids are in heaven playing around and fishing in the pond.

Scott,

Thanks for keeping this post updated with pictures and commentary. The pictures are very good. Like others have stated, this is one fantastic project.

All the kids will one day realize just how lucky they were to have a place like this to spend time and explore.

Amazing, interested if in one of the last pictures if that is a bank of batteries and if so what are they use for?

I have never been so jealous of anything in my life. Holy crap. Beautiful property.

Quite a nice package... The house, the pond, the property and of course family. Very nice!

That is one first class cabin, great job, makes me think about building a small cabin overhanging the pond so I wouldn't have to walk the 150 ft. down to the water.
Fantastic place you have.

Scott, as everyone else has said - what a great read! Question: i dont recall any discussion of plumbing for your cabin. Doesn't look like you have plans for any running water, correct?

I'm curious because we have a good well on our place, and have been considering water to the cabin, which sits on one of the lowest elevations on the property right next to the pond. But running drain lines uphill (with no electricty) is tough, and we don't want to put any refuse in the pond of couse.

Did you address this in some manner at your place, or just doing without?

GREAT

Scott, the last time i read all the way through your thread (which is really inspirational, by the way; thanks for taking the time to share all your experiences), you were beginning the solar power installation and i see the system nearly complete in these latest pics. That is something we're strongly considering as well. Can you share any tips on installation or startup issues? Any particular manufacturers of equipment or materials?

I cannnot seem to wipe this green off of me.....

That cabin is uber-fantastic. Not much more to say than that - Scott, we're not worthy.

Wow! Very very nice! Well done.

Absolutely incredible. Great job Scott.

Thanks
You guys did a good job

Scott is my brother in law. We spent the evening and also overnight at the cabin last week. Fantastic. The pine wood "knotty?" is great. My girlfriend got to do two things she's never done, kayak and catch a 5lb. catfish. I also caught 4-5 bass around the 2-2.5 range. What a great place, I could have spent the whole week out there. Thanks Scott, we had a great time, I hope I don't owe you too many more Budweiser selects...

Howdy, Sting! Glad you made it up from Chile.

Glad to have you on board.
Tell us a little about yourself.

Holy crap!!! That's the kinda stuff I would do.....if I hit a BIG Lotto Jackpot!

Dude, you are blessed. That is simply amazing!

May you live a long, long time to enjoy it.

I'm Scott's dad and with Scott co-owner of the farm. Scott is in Colorado Elk hunting this week, but I will be at the PB convention this weekend. Hope to see some of you.

Not much got done on the project this summer but we are now working on finishing up the outdoor kitchen and getting a final inspection on the cabin.

Also working on the solar system. Today I got the charging system hooked up and running so the solar panels are now charging the battery bank. Still left to do is hooking up the inverter.

I may have said this, but I think my favorite part(s) of this project are the fireplaces and grills, especially that outdoor setup you got going. Would like to see the finished product. You and your family are living the dream guys. Keep it up and thanks for the incredible documentation. Inspiring.

Lyle

When you get to the conferance be sure you look me up to say hello.

Mike Otto

Thanks Omaha, the cabin does have a lot of outdoor space. We didn't realize how much until we calculated how much decking to buy. We were surprised to see that the our 960 square foot cabin had over 1300 of outside deck. One thing we really like is that with deck on all sides of the cabin there is always one side that is more comfortable to be on than any of the other sides.

That's just great. Who wants to be indoors anyway?

Pond Boss III Convention "Project of the Year: 2009" award to Scott and Lyle Krehbiel.

Thanks for the ride, Gentlemen!

Thanks Sunil and thanks to Pond Boss and the moderators for choosing us for this honor. We really appreciate it. I enjoyed the convention and meeting so many of the Pond Boss folks.

I've been working on the project this past week and will be posting the new activities in the very near future.

How about a few new pics of the project as it now stands with narration ?

You absolutely deserved this recognition Lyle, your project is truly inspiring.

Eric, I will do that. I started to do so yesterday and discovered I don't know how to add photos. I will see Scott this afternoon and learn how from him.

Thanks very much Jeff.

In the spring we started working on the outdoor kitchen. We ordered a charcoal grill, a gas grill, and two side burners. Then we finished the fireplace by installing the chimney.


Here are Scott and I with the first ever fire in the outdoor fireplace.



We also started working on the outdoor kitchen counters in the spring.







I was out of town most of the summer so progress was halted. Scott and I own the farm together and we also work together in a business I founded in 1993. Scott has been with the business since 2002 and has removed most of my load from me allowing me to do fun stuff like the farm projects while he does real work.

In September I got the project moving again and just last week we got the counter-tops the grills and the burners installed.







We also added a 13" wide bar along one side. Here is the first time the bar was used. The boys are my grandsons, Scott's sons. Tom, age 6 is on my left and Jack, age 9, is on my right. The three of us spent last weekend there.





qq

Did I mention how much I like the outdoor grill/fireplace?

Seriously, that's just great. Love the shot of the finished product, 2nd to last. Nice job as always.

Thanks Omaha, I think we will be having a lot of fun in the outdoor kitchen.

Today my cousin, Sam Frey, sent some great photos and I will share some of them here. Sam is the architect who designed the cabin, and it was his idea to have it out in the water.

Lyle thanks for sharing the pics. Great family shots.

Man, those are like magazine quality. Nice job.

Some big milestones were achieved the last two weeks.
1. Completed wiring the solar system
2. Passed final inspection from the county

We have had the cabin wired for about a year now and in order to have light we carried a deep cycle battery back and forth from home to the cabin and used a little inverter with a double ended extension cord and plugged it into the cabin electric system. This was lots better than no lights but I ruined several pairs of jeans with battery acid and the amount of power was limited.



Last March I designed and ordered the solar system and in June we installed the four solar panels on the garage roof. Also in June we installed a normal electrical panel in the garage and ran underground cable to the cabin and a sub-panel in the cabin.



I didn't get back to working on solar until several weeks ago. Got it wired up and it's working great. When the county inspected it they said it was the first solar system in the county.

The four solar panels produce a maximum of 520 watts and go through a charging system to 12 AGM deep cycle batteries of 100 amp hours each. The batteries feed a 3600 watt inverter which creates the normal 120v AC household current which is fed to the breaker box.

The system is designed for light usage and with more emphasis on batteries than solar panels since usage will not be everyday. Hence, provide battery for two or three day usage periods and then expect the panels to have a number of no usage days to charge the batteries back up.

I gotta admit, I was thinking "My very educated mother just served us nine pizzas" there for a little while.

It turned out great, Lyle. Nice clean job. Is the backup LPG gennie on the drawing board?

True or modified sine wave?

Lyle thanks for the pictures they are great. As always

Brettski you could be next on the project of the year.

Thanks Mike

Thanks Brettski,

The system is built from "Outback" products and the inverter is true sine wave.

As for generator backup there is switching wired in such that we can manually switch over to generator power and have the generator feed both the electrical system to run the cabin and also the charger to charge the batteries. We would use the little 5000 watt gas generator that we have used for construction. We expect to rarely or never use generator power except for construction needs. The cabin is intended for only part time usage and the cabin's electrical load has been kept small - fans, lights, and computers for the most part. And I hope to teach my grandkids some energy conservation (course I never did do a very good job of getting my son Scott to turn off lights when he was young

Is that the Outback inverter that has 2 separate 120v units built into it to provide 240 without adding another 120v inverter?

No, this one is only single phase. However this is an expandable system and we could add more inverters and have two phases.

Lyle, as I read through this thread my hat is off to you for keeping your family so close. I'm sure Scott and the grand kids are proud of you. Not only should you get pond boss awards you should get DAD of the year awards. Thanks, for you and Scott sharing this tremendous project with us.

By the way I looked back over those pictures while Scott was flying over the property and I didn't see where our camper hook-ups were located. I'm sure you want the pond boss family to drop by from time to time for a little R & R. Just teasing, great job guys.

The Krehbiel family shows a great propensity to lift and transport very heavy objects, by hand, when wearing sandal-type shoes.

Sunil, if you'd done a little research, you'd know that "krehbiel" is actually German for "black toe".

Mikel, thanks for the kind words. The whole idea for the farm is as a retreat where family and friends can get together and enjoy getting away from it all and enjoy one another's company. I especially enjoy all the fun the kids have there.

My hope is that this will be a family legacy passed down at least several generations.

We will put camper hookups on the to do list

The past several months have been spent enjoying the farm/lake/cabin with not much going on in the way of construction. Its really nice to have the cabin building project 99% done.

After a warm fall we are now having cold winter weather (lows in teens and highs in 30s). This fall we put insulation in the floor joists, 12" thick and R38. Also new this winter is a ceiling fan to move the warm air from the vaulted ceiling down to the floor level. With the addition of these two changes we are finding much warmer floors and much easier to heat with the fireplace only. We have already burned a cord of firewood. We use Osage Orange firewood. Osage Orange, called hedge in this part of the world, is a tree not known to much of the country. It is mostly considered a trash tree around here and is very prevalent - there couldn't be a better tree for producing heat as it has about the highest heat value of any firewood.

We had a painting project this fall to add some bar stools to the new outdoor bar. I put my wife and grandkids to work on the project.

Did each one pick out his/her own color ?

Looks like a fun project. I don't have a paved driveway, and as a result, my gravel has become all sorts of different colors from painting projects with the kids. It looks like they were trying real hard to add more color to your driveway!!!!!

Eddie

i wish i was closer, i could hook you up with an asphalt driveway..

Eric, yes, they picked their own color so now they have their own stools for life.

Eddie, it was good we had plenty of paint because only a small percentage got on the stools.

That will be a good memory of the day. I expect there are a lot of those with your outstanding project. Some of ours are trees we planted around the pond and shallow water fish hotels constructed years ago - and the trees are getting big now.

We had a nice family Christmas at the cabin. This was the second year for a cabin Christmas and the cabin was sure in a lot nicer condition this year. Last year at this time there was a lot of construction yet to do. It was a cold day in the teens but with a good fire in the fireplace it was cozy.

We are trying to establish a tradition of cutting a tree, making the decorations for the tree, and decorating the tree. We have lots of cedar trees on the property.

When we cut the tree each person takes a turn with the saw.








And when the four kids weren't busy with Christmas they hung out in the loft - i believe quite a bit of rough housing took place.

INSPIRATIONAL !
I want one.

<---speechless

That sure looks like fun. Thanks for sharing the pics.

Eric, Brettski, Omaha, thanks for the kind remarks - makes the effort of posting rewarding.

Lyle,
Tell me about the pine interior (it is pine, right?); include some details. I assume it is 3/4" thick T&G...? Did you lay in a drywall fireblock before installation? Face nail, or hidden at T&G? Finish nails or wire brads? I can't imagine you filled the nails holes. Finish on the pine?
-
And....perhaps the most important thing. What did you learn (or bring to the table) that is/are great tips for this kind of installation?

Our area had a large snow on Christmas day and since then we have had bitterly cold weather and several more significant snows. Right before the end of the year Scott and his two boys and my nephew Shawn and his boy and I spent an afternoon and night at the farm. For the first time we got to test out our sledding hill. The boys had a blast and went non-stop for almost two hours. Scott was in a tree stand on another property a little over a mile away and could hear us.





When we finished sledding hot chocolate hit the spot.

Brettski, re the pine interior. I didn't do much of the actual work of building the cabin. I had a master carpenter, Mike Meisenheimer (whom you have seen in quite a few of the posted photos). So I'll answer as best I can.

We did not use drywall, it is 3/4 T&G, hidden nails using a nail gun (or stapler, I'm not sure). One added touch is that Mike created grooves where the boards butt together. We applied two coats of a clear finish that did not change the color. We know at over time it will tend to get more yellow but hope that is a slow process.

Having done this installation a couple of time the biggest tip I can give is apply the finish to the boards before they are installed. Not a lot of fun applying poly, shellac, etc on a ceiling. It takes a lot of space for preparation but worth it in the end especially as I am getting older

That type of interior decor is very popular for the "vacation" homes in N. Wi. Like what was posted here, it's T&G pine, nailed just like you would do flooring (in the tongue), air nailer. Polyurethane finish is a LOT easier to apply before installation. No drywall, just installed directly to the joists after insulating. You'll just face nail and tongue nail the first board and face nail the last one. If any trim is installed in the corners or at the edges, the trim could hide the nail heads. If any pieces have to be butted together on the ends, it's a PITA, but the butts can be T&G'd to keep them even.

Double check the area that you'll be installing the T&G for squareness. Just like doing a roof, cheat a little on each board if necessary to ensure the last board is the same width at both ends.

If any of the studs/joists have high spots, they could be planed down, and any low spots shimmed up. Some installers place a layer of 1/4" or 3/8" blue board insulation under the T&G to help with noise abatement, and to help level out any irregularities.

You'll also want to store the wood indoors for a while to get it acclimated.

My wife Terry and I spent the four day New Year weekend at the cabin and gave it a very good cold weather test. For most of that time temps were in the single digits and wind chills below zero. We also had a nice snow one night.

First we needed some more firewood. Jerry Donner saved the day. My regular firewood guy was out of town and Jerry gave me what you see in the photo below. Jerry and his crew have basically done every thing that has been done on the farm except the carpentry. This includes clearing the trees and building the dam, building the fence, the road, the tornado shelter, all the concrete work, and welding whenever needed. A great guy and a great guy to know. He grew up in that area so when I need something he doesn't do he knows who I should call. I also buy my bison meat from him.

Jerry (on the right) and his right hand man Adam. Earlier in this thread are a lot of photos with Adam on one kind of big machine or another.



We had not stayed in the cabin when it had been this cold before so I was very interested in how comfortable it would be. It turned out to be quite comfortable with a big fire in the fireplace and occasional help from a small portable propane heater. We kept the kitchen counter area 60-65 which meant that everything closer to the fireplace was warmer than that. It was a fun time.









This deer photo was taken by one of Scott's deer cams on Christmas day across the lake from the cabin.

It's a Good Life, Lyle.

No ice fishing?

Sunil, we are cowards - that sounds way to cold!!

That sure looks like the place to be rather than out on the ice. Oh I forgot the whole house is out on the ice.

That's the best heated decorated ice shanty that I've ever seen! Just stick a pole out the window and you're in business.

You got it all there Lyle. Gotta figure in some ice fishing though. I like esshup's idea.

Is there any reason with regular feeding, Lyle's gang couldn't have beau coup big BG hanging around the cabin perimeter like all those gorgeous BG at Bent Hook Marina at Big Cedar? That'd make some awesome fishing for the Grandkids/dad.

It would work if the water is deep enough ( 3-4 feet at least). Feeding would sure help.

OK you've all got me kinna interested.

There is no ice fishing culture here because we don't normally have this cold of weather. How does one cut a hole in ice - we were there today and it appears to be at least 6" thick? What kind of fish will bite in cold weather? We do have lots of BG.

Just 6 inches I would just take an axe make a 2 foot square and chop away It will be a little bit of work but not bad

Been there, done that and got wet in the process!

I use this auger to make holes:
Strikemaster Lazer Auger

Basically all fish will bite under the ice, the best ones to fish for are BG, YP, Crappie, LMB. I've had the best success downsizing the lures and using lighter line with a very small bobber. For bait, FHM, GS, mousies, spikes or wax worms.

That is for sure.

I am always stunned to see photos of your place Lyle, it's absolutely beautiful! You are building wonderful family memories that these children will fondly think back on for their entire lives.

+1.

When can we have a PB meeting and campout at the house ? - -

Thank you Jeff, I appreciate the kind words.

Eric, any time.

We've had around 24" of snow and very cold since Christmas day so we became concerned about the possibility of a fish kill with all the snow on the ice.

Shawn Banks came out with his crew and pushed the snow off of around 35% of the lake. They bored test holes for safety and found that the ice was 8" thick.

Jeez, you can't even tell a pond is there.

I never did get ice fishing. Shortly after the lake had the snow pushed off the weather turned warm making the ice unsafe. By early this week it was water again. Now it has turned cold and there is once again a thin layer of ice. It snowed about 6" last night but I was not there.

I spent Tuesday and Wednesday working really hard putting all the construction junk and other accumulated junk into a big dumpster I had delivered Tuesday morning. If I ever built again (not planning to)I would have the dumpster in place at the construction site. I needed to get this done before snake season. As it was I uncovered a skunk - and took off running and set a new record for the 20 yard dash.



It was a nice sun rise yesterday morning so I shot a photo.

These are the high points in life, Lyle. (the sunset, not the skunk-dash)

Those shots of adrenalin work wonders, don't they! Beautiful pictures!

Desire, skill and a passion... Very impressive!

I appreciate the posts and the kind words.

I've been out of town the last two months but now back and ready to tackle some spring projects. The last two springs have been very dominated by construction so we're looking forward to being able to do some landscaping this year. We also plan to complete the outdoor kitchen by adding a limestone facade to the fireplace and counters.

Earlier in this thread we mentioned our lack of success in buying hundreds of small inexpensive trees and then not taking care of them. We are trying a new approach this year and will get just a few trees that we plan to take good care of.

Lyle that is a very peaceful scene. Good for the sprit and soul to view a few of those in person.

What species of trees have you decided to plant?

Yesterday I purchased three red maple for fall color and for spring color two redbud and 3 Forsythia. Hope to get them planted this weekend.

Over the weekend I recruited a crack tree planting crew, fed them well, and put them to work.







But the weekend was not all work and no play.

Building character! Nice!

Building Muscles also. The one armed Condell Technique!

Re building muscles notice his daddy is standing there - to take the photo his daddy (my son Scott) helps hold the fish in position and when he removes his hand I shoot the photo real quick.

That is quick. The left hand is blurred.

I just read through the whole thread and I am thoroughly impressed! Does the cabin have running water and if not how do you handle the bathroom situation?

I know that this isn't whereni should post this but i can't find where to start a new post. My brother and I have 3 acres of land that we just had cleared, we'ed like to put an pond on about 3/4 acre but aren't sure about pond structures. We'ed like one end about 8' deep ( sloped of course)and the other end about 1-2ft to raise crawfish in. once again i appologize for this being posted here but am not sure how to start a new post

Hi gjmcclung and welcome to Pond Boss. I'm going to copy and paste your post into a new thread so hang on....

The cabin does not have running water. We did not want anything that would be a problem in the winter and did not want to have to heat the cabin in the winter. We carry drinking water from home in the big water containers you commonly see for sale at Home Depot. At the garage we have two 55 gallon barrels that are filled from the garage roof and we use that for washing water. For warm weather we have a shower stall on the outside of the garage and we use the little solar heated deals that campers use. For the most part we collect dishes in a Rubbermaid container and carry them home for the dishwasher.

For bathroom we do have a separate room in cabin and we use a toilet seat on a 5 gallon bucket.

Bottom line is that we are roughing it a bit in the water department.

On Sunday afternoon Shawn Banks of Midwest Lake Management brought his electrofishing boat and we did a fish sampling.

We built the dam in February of 2006 and in May stocked the new lake with bluegill, a few red ear, catfish, and fatheads. In the fall we added LMB.

Shawn will send a report with details in the near future but the bottom line is that the fish population is healthy. Some of the highlights are:
1. we have multiple generations of bluegill, bass and surprisingly of catfish
2. the stocked bass are 16 and 17"
3. the fist bass spawn are 8-10'
4. the bass are above average weight for their length

We are not trying to raise trophy fish of any species. We most want to have a nice balance of nature. We would eventually like to have 3-5 pound bass and some nice bluegill. And we enjoy catching and eating the catfish - the stocked ones are in the 4-8 pound range.

Shawn recommended that we eat the 10-13" bass. We don't have that size yet but he expects the first spawn will reach that size this fall or next summer.







A team effort recording the results. Tom and Jack got the fish out of the tank, Shawn measured and weighed, and Scott recorded. And I was the expedition photographer.


After a hard afternoon we brought out a few beers and Shawn managed to relax a bit .

Good thing you brought out the beers, Lyle. I'm gonna hold that 12-pack of Keystone Light at 2:45 AM at PB III against Banks for some time to come.

Get a shave Shawn!

Very cool Lyle, that's for sharing that. We look forward to hearing the report details. It looks like a fun day was had by all.

Here is the raw data from the fish sampling.

Lyle

You've got one heckuva Pond Management pro tending your beautiful lake...just keep the beer under careful watch.

O.K., that's my first time reading an electroshocking report. Do the BG numbers mean that the LMB ate most of the stockers and all that's left is mostly 2 year old fish? It's interesting to see that the RES are large, but the BG's not. What were the numbers and size of BG vs. RES stocked, and were they all stocked at the same time?

The RW's are good on the larger LMB, but low on the smaller ones.

For my knowledge, what is the suggested plan of attack?

You took the words out of my mouth on the RES question. Whats going on here...interesting to see what the biologists postulate.

I have an idea........

BTW, TJ, I have my phone! Whew!!!!!

I think Shawn's report will be interesting. I do know however that he thinks that in general the fishery is in good shape.

Lyle's got the data and so some really short term mgmt actions to implement. I'm hoping to get the report done really soon, but we are slammed right now. In fact, I'm babysitting 100lbs of fatheads right now for clients to come get today.

Some keen eyes out there!! With regard to the bluegill and redear numbers, pay close attention to the scale on the y-axis (number of fish). You'll change your observation just a little once you start counting the fish in each length category. I will say the the panfish in general (bg and re) need some help with regards to condition, but it will be an easy fix that Lyle and Scott will be addressing soon with some feeding. Didn't take weights on the panfish because I didn't need to, they are thin. The smaller bass and all of the panfish are generally skinny. They are not unhealthy, but there's some resource issues going on. There will be some feeding and harvesting implemented this year to swing things in a more favorable direction. Overall, the Krehbiel's pond is in good shape and just a little tweaking will help them achieve their goals.

By the way, you've probably gathered this from this amazing thread about the property and pond, but the Krehbiel's are awesome people.....good Kansas stock if you will. I feel very fortunate that I get the opportunity to work with such great clients. Scott's boys are well mannered and they are fun to be around. I'm pretty sure one of them will end up being a biologist, so I probably need to have a talk with him soon and tell him about the medical and engineering professions:) Gotta run.

Shawn, thanks so much for the kind words. And I'm also sorta predicting that Tom might want to become a biologist. Once he is old enough to think about what he'd like to be you may be his inspiration for that.

We are looking forward to implementing your recommendations and getting the smaller fish up to good weight.

On the non-fishing front we have 7 or 8 new baby geese today. This is the fourth year this goose couple has nested on Swim Island. All spring they guard the lake not allowing any other geese on the lake. Often geese pairs will land and there is an instant war with the new geese leaving within 30 seconds. Fortunately we don't have a goose problem. This couple leaves in mid-June and we are goose-less until they come back to nest again in late March.

Re the below post by teehjaeh57 I totally agree. Shawn Banks is not only a first rate Pond Management professional but a class person and a fun guy to be around. I think we are fortunate that he is in our area, Kansas City. I'll take your advice and keep an eye on the beer

Lyle
You've got one heckuva Pond Management pro tending your beautiful lake...just keep the beer under careful watch.

In May we finished the outdoor kitchen by applying a stone facade to the fireplace and counters. The stone was a 1.25 inch veneer of tumbled limestone. This stone has special meaning because it was quarried in the Kansas county where I grew up. It turned out great and now we plan to do the same with the indoor fireplace in July or August.

I'm still amazed every time I see the place.

This project continues to nudge the bar higher. The level of quality and craftsmanship is very impressive.
-
-
-
STOP MAKIN' ME NUTS!

Amazing looking place. I have loved following this project and its progress. And Brettski, don't sell yourself short! Your accomplishments at LNP are absolutely awesome, as well!

Just. Awesome.

I appreciate the kind remarks. And I know there are lots of great projects out there, the only difference is that we have chosen to post ours in detail.

The main purpose of the farm/lake/cabin is to enjoy time with family and friends. A highlight of each summer is the week I spend here with my two grandsons, Jack (age 10) and Tom (age 7).

So after spending two years and more money than I want to think about building the cabin the boys want to camp out . So we camped out on one of the islands. We spent the evenings and nights there and the rest of the day elsewhere. It was really fun.





It was a really hot week with the heat index around 100 so we spent a LOT of time in the water and in particular the deep water near Swim island. By diving down below six feet we could get into ice cold water.

Here are a several other photos taken that week.

Lyle, those definately are the pictures that need to go in a scrap book for looking at years down the road.

What species of cat is that? Looks pretty speckled to be a CC.

Wonderful as always. Love the rock on the island.

+1

Thanks for sharing the pics and story. Great times. We did the same thing with the kids.

Kinda like the toy vs box-it-came-in thing for toddlers at Christmas
-
Marvelous ROI, Lyle.

It is a Channel Cat - they range in size up to 8 or 9 lbs and we are trying to thin them out a bit by eating them. We have multi generations of channels which astonishes the experts.

Thanks! The jumping off rock on the island is on top of two other of similar size. They were all 8'x8'by 20 inches thick and were quarried from one of the small ponds on the property.

Here is what it looked like right after the island was built. The lake is at it's deepest here, twenty foot.

That sure was a great ROI .

Each June we have a Krehbiel family get together here at our farm/lake/cabin - this year was the fourth one. There were thirty some of us this year including four generations. We start on a Friday evening and continue into Sunday. We make homemade ice cream with a six quart hand crank freezer and BBQ plenty of ribs, chicken, and pork shoulder. It's the only time each year that the extended family is able to get together and is something we had not previously been doing on any regular basis. Having the event here is ideal since there are so many different things to do - and the kids can pretty much just run and do there own thing.

Awesome, Lyle! What a great way to make lasting memories of events that can and often do shape lives! Well done!

Thank you Todd.

Does the Krehbiel family need two honorary members?

Say a CPA and an RN?

Looks like great fun, when you built your place I bet you never imagined how many family memories that you would be creating Lyle.

What a wonderful place. I have enjoyed sharing it through your posts. thanks for including us.

Thanks Jeff and Brian. When Scott and I bought the property it was for investment purposes but one thing has led to another since. I wasn't even in town when we bought it - it was sight unseen for me. But right away we got to thinking that the topography looked pretty good for building a lake. And during the cabin planning process which took place for over a year the size of the cabin kept growing and during this time it slid down the hill and ended up in the water.

So it ended up being an investment in family, friends, good times, and good memories and hopefully a legacy that will pass down through Scott's sons. It's been fun sharing this experience will everyone on the Pond Boss forum.

KIDS - For sure one of the best things about the cabin/lake is watching kids enjoy all the different activities available to them. Boredom is not an option and electronic games are not needed.

Your updates are awesome Lyle. That place is a dream retreat no matter how old you are. Incredible as always.

Great looking place Scott!

Hey if you would have made the dam just a little
"taller" your lake from the air would have almost
looked like a map of Texas!

Great pics Lyle. Who did the face painting - dog and kid look alike contest (ring-eye)?

Good eye Eric, I hadn't noticed the eye-ring look-alike. The young ladies were self inspired to do a lot of clay painting that day and they in turn inspired Tom to some clay painting. Tom being a boy went for a more basic design.

Zep, thats funny - we had never noticed before but it does look a lot like the shape of Texas.

Thank you Omaha, I'm glad you enjoyed. I enjoy posting but now that most of the construction is done I don't know if if can keep on with worthwhile posts or not. I guess as long as the number of views keeps climbing it means there is an audience and I'll keep working at it.

Heck yes, keep on posting. It's not about what's being built, it's about how people are enjoying the fruits of their labor.

Esshup, you are right that enjoying a pond is the most important part of having one. And I think I will always have some smaller projects going - it's a hobby so it's fun to keep on adding features.

Great report, Lyle!

Lyle, following your construction has been incredible, but watching all the smiles are absolutely priceless!!!

Please keep the fun coming!

This thread deserves the.....

Greg2010, that seal is GREAT!!!

That is a great seal, Greg2010.

If we are referring to JHAP, though, we might have to alter it to: "Official Seal of Awkwardness"

OH SNAP!!!

I'm not even going to ask what the hand would be doing in the seal.

it would be holding Tom G's toothbrush

Or making the Spock sign.

Thanks Rainman, thanks Sunil, I appreciate.

Thanks Greg and "ah shucks".

Last Major Cabin Project - I don't think we will ever say that the cabin is "done" but this week we are doing the last major project to finish the cabin. We built and have used the inside fireplace for two years now but have not applied the stone facade to the fireplace and nearby wall.

Originally I was going to build a stone facade myself using limestone uncovered from our building projects here on the farm. I think that would have been very cool but ran out of ambition. So we bought limestone from a quarry in Kansas and this past spring did the outside fireplace and counters. Our builder/carpenter Mike (he built the entire cabin) decided that he could become a stone mason and he did a great job. Since we liked how the outside turned out we decided to do the inside the same way. So this week Mike is adding the limestone facade to the inside.

For the last two years it has looked like this.


And today it looks like this.

Lyle,
Can you take a few pics and a couple of paragraphs (or more, please) to walk us thru the details of the fireplace construction, products used, good decisions, bad decisions, and what-not?
Thanks again for bringin' us along on such a great project.

I second brettski, I thinking of someday doing the outside fireplace off of a deck and a few more detials would really help. Also, I assuming the wall the indoor fireplace is on is constructed with noncombustible materials

We are extremely happy with our fireplaces. We heat the cabin only with the fireplace. My wife Terry and I spent last New Year's weekend at the cabin, the wind chill was below zero night and day, and we were quite comfortable. We burn hedge, a very hot burning wood, and we build really big fires when it's cold.

The fireplaces are large and can handle big fires with intense heat. The company is called "Firerock" and can be viewed at http://www.firerock.us/. Scott found them on the internet and we had a local dealer. Turned out the dealer was an old friend I hadn't seen in years - he and I coached a basketball team together for the 6th and 7th grade years.

The fireplaces came as kits of precast concrete sections. Building the fireplace was pretty easy, you just use the mortar they provide and stack the pieces. Then you have to firebrick the burning chamber. The chimney can be either precast pieces or sheet metal. We used sheet metal and following specs the diameter is quite large. The fireplace needed to have a minimum of one inch airspace to any combustible. The walls on the sides are of combustible material.

They draw great and really put out the heat. Of their several types we bought the Rumford Type and would do exactly the same thing again. Only one regret, on the inside one we chickened out on adding the last stack to make the firebox higher thinking it might look funny. We could get a bit more heat out of it if we had made it full height.

First we did a dry-stack for practice. The firebox is two sections taller than we dry-stacked.


Building the outside fireplace.


A medium size fire. We could have added one more stack to the inside fireplace and then the firebox would have been 8" taller. We built the outside one full height.

Lyle,

Fantastic place! I've been glued to the updates - much appreciated. I also wanted to thank you for the link to Firerock. I'm debating building an outdoor unit next year to enjoy as well, and wanted to find a local dealer to get the ball rolling.

Again - awesome place!

Lyle, neat website and you guys are doing well.

Lyle,

Thanks for the picture on the outside fireplace. So you built it on a solid concrete foundation. Thanks again.

Thanks for the kind comments. And Lassig, the fireplaces do weigh a lot so they need to be built on a very strong base. For the outside place we put the base in place when we built the foundation.

Scott, Jack, Tom, and I spent last Saturday night and Sunday at the farm. It's kinna neat how the boys get back to the basics at the farm.



Planted my first garden at the farm last spring. It was the first spring I hadn't been overwhelmed with other projects. Tomatoes and basil and they turned out OK.

Finished the stone work for the indoor fireplace. We're very happy with how it turned out. That was last big project in building the cabin, so I'm going to say the 1.0 version of the cabin is done. Here are the before and after of the fireplace.

That looks wonderful. Wow. Very nice.

That's just the bomb!

What a great retreat and family project!

There's no mistaking those boys are brothers! Are they twins?

yeah, it rocks

Yeah, Really

Awesome, Lyle!

Thank you all for the nice complements.

The boys do look a lot alike but they are three years apart and have completely different personalities.

Omaha, on another subject I'm a K-State grad and after Thursday night I'm not real happy with Nebraska

Ah. That was certainly a fun game to watch for me.

Fortunately for me I fell asleep at halftime and was spared watching the second half.

I was getting worried in the first quarter. The time of possession difference was slanted heavily in your favor, Thomas was getting positive yards, and you were converting third downs. A small part of me felt bad that it happened on Coach Snyder's birthday.

About a week ago my uncle came to the farm for the first time. He is 88 and loves to fish. He said this was the best fishing of his life. Between him and my cousin, 12 catfish and 2 bass were caught. I had told them to bring a cooler and to take fish home so they cleaned all the fish. We had a fish fry that evening and they took the rest home. In the summer when we ate catfish I didn't enjoy much. Now that we are not feeding and the water is cooler the catfish are delicious.

Uncle Ralph with a 10 pound channel cat.


It took all three of us to hold up the stringer.


This weekend the boys and I spent the night and ate catfish in the evening. We kept two six pound channel cats. I brought the rest home and my wife and I ate catfish tonight.



Jack with a nice bass.


Neither Scott or I are fishermen. We get our pleasure watching others catch fish. On Thursday my wife and I spent the night and I caught a catfish for dinner that night - it was the first fish I had caught this year.

Great times, Lyle. Thanks for taking us along.

Interesting about what you mentioned regarding the taste of the catfish.

CC can get off-flavored but not usually when they are on feed.

Thanks for keeping us in the loop.

Good times!!

I was wondering why they were off flavor as well.

I wonder if it was due to the heat rather than the feed.

Maybe that fish had bee feeding on the bottom for a while.


Either way these are great pics and as many have said thanks for letting us be a part of the experience.

Great photos Lyle!

Maybe it is the cooler water and not the food. I don't know what caused the taste difference was but food and water temp were the two things that changed.

Could be either or both.

Off flavor in CC --- https://srac.tamu.edu/index.cfm/event/getFactSheet/whichfactsheet/33/


The most common off-flavors in
pond aquaculture are caused by
blue-green algae, so most off-flavor
management practices are
aimed at manipulating phytoplankton
communities to eliminate
that group of organisms. A
variety of schemes have been proposed
for managing phytoplankton
blooms, but most approaches
have either been unreliable or
impractical.

Always happiest when I can find a pond to sit beside . Were it my pond I would call Shawn Banks.
Taken this morning - Barcelona Spain

Have a great time! Spain is one of my favorite countries to visit.

Thanks, we are really enjoying Spain.

Spain looks awesome! My friend in Belgium vacations there often.

Regarding the off taste of catfish. What helps is to keep them alive after being caught and keep them in fresh clear water for a few days. A 55 gallon drum works if you don't pack them in, and can keep the water quality up. It gets rid of the off taste. A friend of mine keeps them in his spare bathroom bathtub. No wonder he's not married!

Yes, I don't think Terry would let me keep them in our bathtub!!

I think my solution is to eat catfish in the spring and fall and skip the summer.

Solar System
When I wired up the solar system a year ago I did't do the connection to provide for generator input. So this week I opened up the system and wired in the generator connection. Now we can hook up the generator and it will both provide the electricity to the cabin and also charge the batteries. One hour of generator should charge the batteries enough for one day of use.

We've been using the solar system for a year and it's really worked great for us. In the summer with the longer days and in general less cloudy weather we have excess capacity. In the winter with the much shorter days of sunlight and the greater likelihood of heavy cloud cover a generator may sometime be used.

Last winter one time we spent 4 days in a row at the cabin and there was a very heavy cloud cover(snowing). I depleted the batteries just a little bit more than I would have liked. That was the only time in the first year that I would have used a generator.

Spent this very cold weekend at the cabin with grandson Tom and wife Terry. We had a great time. Had below zero wind chills and an inch of snow last night. But we kept a good fire going in the fireplace and it was cozy warm. Today we got our first sled ridding of the year.

No hard water yet?

Lyle, the place looks great all on it's own, but being enjoyed like you described is simply awesome! I hope I get to actully see it in person someday!

I think the water will be hard today. The reason it wasn't already hard is that the wind was blowing up to 40 in gusts along with the cold temps on the weekend and we almost had whitecaps. The previous week with way less extreme temps had given us hard water.

Lyle, same here in South Central, Kansas. Despite the freezing temps, the wind (30-50 mph)has kept my pond ice free, the wind died down last night and the pond froze over in 6 hours.
Do me a favor and send some of that snow down my way….we need the moisture In a bad way.

I agree, it's the using of the property that is important. I have enjoyed the building process but am glad that is done - I'm having more fun using the property and seeing others enjoying it. In fact today is one of the highlights of the year, the family Christmas Party.

Hey Lyle, Merry Christmas.

Merry Christmas to you Dave. We had a great Christmas Party here last aft/eve/night/morning. I'll post a few photos from it later.

Looking forward to those pics.

We all had a great time at the Christmas Party. It's the families of my sister, her son Shawn, Scott, and myself. Eight adults and 4 kids. We met at the cabin mid-afternoon Saturday and went until mid-morning Sunday. I had spent Friday night at the cabin to get it warmed up.

Important to me is establishing some traditions that the kids will remember all their lives.

First we went out on the property and cut one of the numerous cedar trees.





Then the tree decorations had to be made.


Of course opening the presents was a highlight for us all.

Wonderful, Lyle! I always look forward to your posts on new family adventures at your farm. Those kids will no doubt have great memories of childhood and that is truly why we do all the stuff we do at our own little slices of heaven. Thanks for sharing that family time with us!

Good stuff as always. I look forward to your updates Lyle.

It's been zero the last two nights in the Kansas City area and we had 6 inches of snow on Tuesday. Came down to the cabin this afternoon and it was 24 degrees inside when I walked in. The ice on the lake is glass (I was surprised, I thought it would be snow covered), perfect for ice skating. And with the snow its beautiful here. Have a a big fire in the fireplace and its now comfortable.

On Saturday aft/eve/night Terry and I will host a party here - we are part of a group of four couples that get together frequently. We are planning on sled riding that day with hot chocolate and Peppermint Schnapps to ward off the cold. Terry and I plan to stay here until Wednesday.

Beautiful, Lyle! Have a great time!

Although summer is my favorite time at the farm I do enjoy all the seasons. I enjoy winter the most if there is snow on the ground and this year we have pretty much had a snow cover all of January. Normally in this area we don't have that much snow or it staying on the ground for more that a few days. This is our fourth cold snowy winter in a row.

I enjoy the beauty of the snow and the coziness of the big fire in the fireplace. Its nice to sit by the fire and look outside. We've used the sled hill several times and for the first time we are feeding the birds.

Last winter we sometimes supplemented the fireplace with a portable propane heater but this year experimentation has shown that propane is not needed and is not a significant factor in keeping the cabin warm. We expect to go through around three cords of hedge this winter. In the afternoons if its sunny we get a lot of passive solar heating. If the sun is shining we can normally go all afternoon without a fire and with the cabin temperature around 70.

It's a good life, Lyle. I'm jealous.

Love dem Cardinals!!

Bing

Feeding so far we have seen a lot of Cardinals, Chickadees, some Red Headed Woodpeckers, and some Finch.

You need a heated bird bath, but that might be too much of a drain on your solar power system. I want you to work on a wood-stoked model and report back.

I'll get right on the wood-stoked model. The birds will appreciate.

Heck, you might just be able to eat smoked bird.

That would be a bonus.

I would have loved to have been here during this week's blizzard but had commitments in town. So I came down today. We had around 15 inches of snow with lots of wind so I expected I might get stuck on the quarter mile lane. I have a 4x4 F150 and thought I might have to shovel some in the drifts. But it turned out that the wind had swept the lane clear and put the snow in the field.

It was really cold last night.


When I walked into the cabin this noon it was 19 inside. I got a fire going and currently it's 4 outside and 64 inside. I'll keep the fire going all night.

The solar panels were covered so I had to get them going. I have nailed two 8 ft furring strips together and tied a push broom to them.


I took the Mule around the property getting stuck about 5 times and getting a bunch of exercise shoveling out. This is one of the times I was stuck.


Awaiting Spring.

Great pics, Lyle! Lots of work, but, man, what a way to spend your day - beats sitting at a desk by a long shot!

You are right Todd, it was a fun day and way better than behind a desk.

Well, we just went over 100,000 views and we’d like to thank everyone for their interest and their contributions. When Scott started this thread I don’t think we had any idea it would attract this much attention.

It’s been very rewarding for us to be able to share the activities at our farm/lake/cabin with folks that have similar interests. As long as interest continues to be shown we will continue to post. With spring just around the corner we have some minor projects planned and May and June are big months for having gatherings.

Thank you all very much!

Lyle and Scott

Let's go for 200,000. We thank you for letting us go along for the ride. A neat project !!!!

Thank you Eric, your interest is appreciated.

First "Spring" outing of 2011. The boys and I came down last evening and they wanted to camp out even though it was going to be 40 in the night. Too cold for me to camp out but I said they could and could call me anytime during the night if they wanted to come in. But they stayed warm and lasted all night in the tent. It's a beautiful morning and the boys are fishing. Looking for the 70s today and 80s tomorrow. And the geese are back again with their usual nest on Swim Island.

This morning.


This morning after the night in the tent.


15 inch bass but he caught an 18 inch one later


Dinner this evening

I never get tired of looking at pics like that!

We are having a good time! For me it's what having a pond is all about.

Moving rocks from where they are a detriment to where they are an asset. Last fall we moved a dirt/rock pile that came from cabin construction. So I'm raking up all the rocks and trying to get grass established in that area. And using the rock to protect the shoreline of Swim Island. Whew, it's a major workout - I'm tired.

Beautiful, Lyle!

Your hard work has definitely paid off!

I'll have to ditto the 200K by Eric.

This project, as well as many others on PB are a great inspiration to others.

Well done!

And thanks to all for sharing their projects.

Absolutely stunning !!!!!!

Are you moving those big rocks ?

Thank you everyone - I appreciate your interest.

Eric, I just moved lots of little rocks that I raked up - the white buckets were all full of rocks.

Sorry I couldn't make it to the PB convention this year - I would have liked to have met everyone contributing to this thread.

Got a new sign for the outdoor kitchen. What I like is the old school painting of the folks partying.

Classic! I love it.

Thanks Jeff, appreciate your interest.

For six springs now what we believe to be the same pair of geese has nested on Swim Island. All but one year they have been successful. That one year they nested in the fire pit and it filled with water. Since then we have kept some wood in the fire pit to keep them out.

They normally nest the third or fourth week of March and the eggs hatch 28 to 30 days later. This year they hatched April 23. About a month after hatching they leave and we don't see them again until the next spring.

During the time they are here no other geese are allowed on the lake. Every day at least one other pair makes the mistake of landing and there is instant war.

This year eight goslings hatched and we are now down to six.

Pretty cool, Lyle. We have had a pair nesting at our farm since we've owned it and believe they were present before, as well. Last year we really worked to protect them and they had - get this - 14 goslings that we counted! It was really a pretty neat thing to see happen and to feel like we were a part of helping make happen.

However, we decided that one year was enough. I am absolutely sick of the poop because they hang out where we hang out (when we're not there, of course!) and they poop everywhere. It just got really frustrating, so I began to harass with harsh prejudice this year. We prevented them from nesting at our small pond, but a pair managed to evade our radar and nest on our bigger pond where we don't spend as much time. They had 4 goslings this year and I have to concede it's cool watching them grown and learn how to live - nature is pretty amazing.

Thanks for sharing this with us!

I have a pair that's been nesting on the pond for years, and usually they keep the pond free of other geese. This year, they are tolerating 2 other pairs of geese that visit. I'm sending Kate out there when the geese are on shore, and if they don't fly away I break out the wrist rocket and steel ball bearings. They get the hint after a few splash into the pond around them.

Todd and Esshup, your experiences are interesting. Fourteen goslings sounds like a record. They do like to poop on our beach and sidewalk so we are happy to have them leave at the one month point. Last year Scott threw a few rocks at them when their welcome was worn out and they took the hint.

Lyle, the geese will walk their goslings about 1/4 mile thru the woods to a neighbors ponds. They will be back at my pond the next morning.

I'm wondering if the other pairs of geese that are tolerated on the pond are YOY from the previous year? The other 2 pairs have no goslings.

Esshup, there is a 15 acre pond just downstream for ours and I suspect that our geese walk there.

I think geese like to return to where they hatched nest so I have suspected that the geese being run-off are previous years offspring.

Looks like a tragedy in the goose family today. All morning it was mom, dad, and the 6 goslings. Then mid-afternoon noticed that dad and two goslings were missing. This eve it's just mom and four goslings. And a foreign pair have settled in to stay since dad is not around to chase them away.

Jeez, the human trend has hit the animal kingdom. Separation and divorce with shared custody of the kids. Just terrible.

Did you hear that, Todd, they threw rocks at them!? (rocks:igneous hardess)

They were just little rocks

I love the slogan of the sign, especially!

That's where it all begins, then before you know it, some poor goose is getting his eye shot out!

Ah, okay, small caliber rocks. Todd prefers double aught rocks.

Sunil, I was just poking around in a tourist shop and immediately knew I had to have that sign.

In Kansas City BBQ is serious business and we have enjoyed BBQing at the farm. We had a good BBQ smoker that belonged to a friend of Scott's who needed a place to keep it and we used it for four years. It found a new home last October so we needed to replace it and decided to build one. I went to the America Royal BBQ contest in October and looked at smokers and gathered ideas. The last several weeks Jerry has been constructing our new smoker.

Scott the BBQ Chef with the old smoker


A friend who has a machine shop helped me buy this 30" diameter, 5 ft long pipe made of 5/16 inch steel. I had it cut down to 4ft in length.


We also got a 5ft x 10ft x 5/16 inch sheet of steel.


Jerry (he built the dam, the lane, the fence, and about everything else except the cabin) is constructing the smoker and helping me with the design. Here he is cutting out pieces from the sheet of steel.


Building the firebox.


Attaching the firebox to the cooking chamber.


Getting close to being done.


When Jerry finishes I will give it a coat of high temperature paint. It's really heavy duty and will weigh around 1700 lbs. We are hoping it works well, we won't know until we use it. I'll keep you posted.

Now that's what I call a smoker that will last a long time! Looks great.

That's impressive.

What I'm really curious about is who was able to put the Knack on the top shelf?

Dave, I don't understand your question.

Dave, I'm guessing there's a forklift around somewhere. That sheet of 5/16" steel weighed right around 636 pounds......

Jerry has all kinds of ways to lift stuff. He called this afternoon to say the smoker is finished. Tomorrow morning I will go to his place and paint.

Lyle, the Knaack tool box on the top shelf is a heavy box. That's what I was referring to.

Scott that looks like beer can in the A.. chicken on that smoker am I right?

Now I know what a Knack is.

Yes, we make beer can chicken. We have a holder for two beer cans.

Rockytopper, you are correct. Two beer can chickens. We also had a rib rack on the left with five slabs of spare ribs. Oh yeah! I normally take the liberty of volunteering to make sure two half full cans of beer get placed properly in the holder.

so does RockyT

Record bass for our lake caught just five minutes ago by Tom Krehbiel. We were riding in the mule when Tom saw a huge worm. He picked it up and brought it back thinking he would catch a record catfish. He baited up, dropped the worm in and the bass hit instantly.

Way to go, Tom! Lyle, any measurements on the fish? Looks to be in very good condition. Any suspicion on age?

It was a 5 year old, 18 inch, almost 3lb bass. I guess it's just a tad light for 18 inches but it looked really healthy.

I've been intensely busy with improvements and activities at the lake the last month. So busy in fact that I've fallen behind in my posting here at PB. So this is a start at catching up.

We finished up the BBQ smoker and this photo shows it being delivered - all 1500 lbs. The old smoker is in the foreground.


But it's such a nice smoker that we figured it deserved its own 9x16 pad.


We have used it twice so far and it works great. It is very easy to control and maintain a constant 240 degree temperature.

Nice, Lyle! You guys don't actually know how to do anything halfway, do you??!! Awesome work - please keep us in the loop!

True but were not completely sure that's a good thing .

We had a party to honor Mike and Jerry and that was the first use of the new smoker. Jerry did an awesome job of creating the smoker and I promised him that he would be part of its first use.

In the photo left to right, myself, Jerry, Mike, and Scott below. About 99%
of the improvements made to the farm have been done by one or the other of these two or by one of their helpers.

Mike built the cabin and any other carpentry project that we have had. Although a carpenter he also did all the stone work on the cabin.

Jerry built the fence, lane, dam, all dirt work, all concrete work, welding, and probably more stuff that I'm not recalling right now.

What did you cook for the first time ?

Two chickens and three slabs of Kansas City Style spareribs. We had quite a bit left over.

In Kansas City slow cooked BBQ is a big deal - we probably have a hundred BBQ joints in town. And ribs are the highlight of KC BBQ. Everyone has their favorite place - it's almost a religion here. Q is our claim to culinary fame.

When we fired up the smoker the second time it was for a larger group, 27, and we had two chickens, five slabs, a pork shoulder butt, and a venison roast. And it was all good!

Sounds good !!!

Back in May we decided to make it deeper off the end of the boat dock. I haven't been very good at anticipating how things will work out - in this case didn't anticipate that everyone would want to dive off the boat dock, duh, in hindsight that is a no brainer. It was 4 feet going to 6 pretty quickly so it worked for shallow dives but we wanted to make it safer.

In order to get the hoe close enough we had to haul many dump truck loads of rocks from the rock pile on the land and dump them in the water. We had already paid to have those rocks taken out of the little pond and piled, then had the pile moved several years later. So now we paid for two more moving jobs, putting them in for this project and then taking them out and back to the pile

Scott and I probing the water depth. We got it to 8 foot in front of the dock.

One of my favorite weeks each year is the week at the farm with Tom and Jack. Of course now that the cabin is built they want to camp out every night. We spent one night in Scott's box blind, and number of nights at the site shown below. It was a great week. The boys are growing up - its a narrow window of opportunity before they will no longer want to spend a week like this.



Mixing up some "grub" which we cooked over the camp fire.


Box Blind

Wonderful stuff, Lyle! You guys have a great place to take full advantage of making those childhood memories for Tom and Jack. That stuff is going to stick with them. Way to go!

hello scott. will you adopt me? love it.

I love this thread! Keep us updated on future developments.

From a dad with young kids - keep up the good work on being a grandpa!

Thank you all for your kind remarks. We will keep this thing going as long a interest continues to be shown. And will try to make the posting interesting enough to warrant your interest.

This spring I created a four hole "golf course". When I say golf course that is a big stretch of the imagination. All I did was trim about 15 hedge trees and mow. We have three physical holes but we play one of the holes from two directions to make a total of four holes. The holes are short and one tees off with a wedge.

At our annual family reunion this June we had a two man scramble golf tournament complete with trophies for the winning team. We had twenty participants ranging in age from six to sixty some.

Getting ready to tee off on hole one.


A mighty tee shot.


Hole two.


Hole one from one direction and hole three from another.


The winning team at the awards ceremony held that evening. Yes, I was lucky enough to be on the winning team the first time the course was ever used. Believe me, I'm not a golfer but I was hot that day with my pitching and my partner hit some great putts.

Lyle, I'm glad to see a family having so much fun. I'll always be interested!!!

Nothing like the good times of family and friends at the lake !!!!!!!!!!!

Don't stop posting photos and stories like this Lyle. It warms my heart to see such generational fun going on like this. Just looking at the last photo says it all.

I think I made a special friend for life that day. He is a grand-nephew. He was so excited about winning.

In addition to the golf tournament there is a Cornhole tournament each year. The winners are celebrating their third winning year in a row.

A championship belt - that is hysterical!

I would respond but this has JHAP ban written all over it.

New Toys

This summer we added a SUP (stand up paddle board) and it has been popular with both adults and kids. The adults paddle around -the kids also paddle around but usually go out in pairs and spend a lot of time rocking the board to see who will fall off first-a good way to stay cool.




And both kids and adults have spent a lot of quality time on this new toy.


I think a cooler of beer was part of this voyage.

I just love the summertime and now fall is approaching with the kids back in school. Here are a few more memories of summertime fun. These were taken at our family reunion in June.

Superman


How big is the fish?


Proud fishergirl and prouder grandpa


Let's catch some fish


Just hanging out

Heaven on Earth!

Thanks for sharing...

Thank you Sunil. We have a lot of fun here and it's a pleasure to share.

What a great place !!! Thanks.

Thank you. It's fun for us to post here on the Pond Boss site.

In addition to our five acre lake we have two small ponds. In June 2009 we rebuilt the dam of the smallest and built a spillway out of large rocks. The spillway can be seen from the cabin and there is a waterfall of several feet as it falls into the lake. This pond is spring fed and normally has water running into the lake.

Except it didn't take long for the water to find its own path under instead of over the rocks so it's been on the “fix list” for a long time but never got to the top of the list.

For the first time since the pond was rebuilt we are having a shortage of rainfall and for the first time since built there is no water running through the spillway so this is a good time to try for a fix. (by the way, the lake is 18 inches low, the first time it's been more than an inch or two low since built in 2005)

So I just started working on the spillway. I'm hoping that with some concrete and bentonite I can persuade the water to do what I want.

After I finish and we get some rain I'll let you know if I was successful or not.




Rebuilding the dam in 2009


After a rain in 2009

Good luck with it, Lyle. As you know, water goes where it wants, when it wants.

You are so right Sunil, hope I can at least persuade the water to do my bidding for a while. The trouble is the water never gives up and works 24/7.

The grandsons has a four day weekend from school so we spent it at the farm. We had a great time - it was pretty warm so the boys were able to spend a lot of time doing what boys like to do, get muddy and catch frogs, crawdads, and fish. We also played a lot of cards and chess. And we had a birthday party for Grandma Terry.

Fatheads and crawdads


The boys made a birthday cake completely without my help.

Thanks for sharing the pics.

Let’s see - they know how to seine , they know how to cook , they know how to play cards and know how to play chess. I would say that is a very good start.

Lyle let’s hope they did not beat you at those games.

Eric, I held my own at chess but that will be tough in the future. We are playing beginner chess with no theory or experience and next semester one of Jack's courses at Middle School will be chess. A couple of weeks into that and I doubt we will be able to play anymore.

Rain: We were having a year of normal rainfall but in July it just shut down and since we have had one of the five driest falls in the history of this area. Finally, last week we got 2 inches and this week 3 1/2 and every drop soaked in - there was no run off. I'm not complaining, the grass is greening up and the trees will be happy. Now the ground is soaked so maybe next rain we can get the lake up a bit.

The dam was built in February of 2006 and the lake filled to within 18 inches of full that May. The snow melt in early 2007 filled it completely up and since then its been full. When we dropped it 3 1/2 feet to build the cabin foundation in 2008 it re-filled immediately.

It got down to 24" low this fall and our recent rains have brought it back up to 19" low.

Around 22" low in this photo.

Lyle, we built a four acre pond Labor Day of 2010. We had three feet of water of it in until two days ago. We got lucky and got a hard rain and it rained enough to fill the pond most of the way. Now it is only 4-5 foot low. We never thought it would take over a year to fill our pond but we have been dealing with this drought.

Yes, I thing the drought was even worse to the south of our Kansas City area. Glad you got it filled up most of the way.

Ready for winter!! Had two cords of hedge delivered this past weekend giving us a total of almost four cords to start the winter.

Burn Baby, Burn!!!

I bet that stuff burns hot. It is the most dense wood that I've ever worked with. I would hate to be the guy that cuts it.

Dave, you are so right - hedge (Osage Orange)is a really dense wood and has about the highest of heating value of all woods. In this area hedge is trash tree and grows abundantly. In the rural areas around here some people do a lot of their heating with hedge. Since our cabin has only a fireplace for heating it's great that we can readily get hedge.

Here are some energy densities for wood.
Osage Orange 33
Hickory 28
Oak 27
Ponderosa Pine 15

The first year of the cabin Scott and I tried to cut our own wood. We spent an entire day cutting hedge and got about 3/4 of a cord. Around here we can have hedge delivered and stacked for around $175 a cord so we each earned about $11 per hour. At that point we decided we would be better off sticking to our day jobs .

We build such hot fires that we had to have our grates custom made out of 1 inch square steel. We melt anything you can commonly buy.

Lyle, I used to make my own knives and, on a couple of occasions, I used bois d'arc for the handles. Beautiful wood. However I couldn't shape it with a carborundum stone on a grinder. It just scorched. I had to use a rasp. Never again.

Prior to the invention of barbed wire (bob wahr), it was planted closely on the edge of fields as a fence for livestock. Nothing got through it. I once read that the seeds were more expensive by weight than gold.

Wow, amazing place you guys have built. I was having a serious case of pond envy until I realized I am satisfied with what I recently dug especially since I never thought it would ever happen for us!

Great work you have done, it must be hard to go back to work after spending a weekend there.

I wish more of my family was healthy to enjoy our addition. My son is the only kid under 17 in the extended family, and my parents are both ill (my mom has ALS, horrible!). Treasure your time when all are healthy and never take it for granted! You are truly blessed.

Send some of that Osage our way! I heat primarily with wood and was happy to get about 50% hickory this year. Only problem with hickory is it is very high in ash content. I am constantly having to clean out the stove as compared to maple/cherry/ash.

Lyle try railroad rails for a grate. They work great and last a long time. I have one set that is 30 years old in the fire place.

Dave, yes we have a lot of hedge rows around here - Osage Orange thrives here. So now it has spread out beyond the rows and can take over pasture land if the land is not maintained.

Liquidsquid (not sure what to call you) thanks for your nice comments. We have been fortunate in having family able to really enjoy our lake and cabin.

Good idea Eric. I wonder where one could get rails. This spring I had two new grates welded up so we have one in reserve.

Lyle, I'm sure I could get you rails, but I have no idea how to get them down to you. I have a couple of neighbors that work for the railroad.

Another use for Osage Orange.... A buddy of mine makes these by hand in his workshop. He kills deer every year with his, but since I don't hunt whitetails, mine just hangs on the wall, except for when I practice with it. It's a 5 foot bow with a 60lb draw. It will flat out drive an arrow.

Impressive bows!!

Eric, with my backup grate I've probably got 6 or 8 years covered. Then maybe I can find some local rails.

Beautiful wood. I'm not real sure how to treat dense wood but bodark has one potential problem. Years after being cut it can dry and crack. I had one old wood bow explode when I drew it. Sparky, I would look into treating it on a periodic basis.

BTW, the 4th picture shows an interesting notch or something. What is that for?

It's just a fissure in the wood. Not quite a knot, more of an irregularity. My friend starts off with osage logs, 6" or so in diameter and around 6' long. He splits them lengthwise into quarters, then dries them for awhile.

His shop is full of bows in various stages of completion, from raw staves with the bark still on, to finished units. He claims the most heartbreaking aspect of construction is when you pour countless hours into shaping a bow, only to uncover
a critical defect in the wood that renders it junk... it goes from a functional work of art to kindling for the stove in just a few minutes.

He assured me that the fissure in my bow would have no impact on it's functionality, since it ran with the grain. So far so good after 7 years. I have wondered about the bow drying out, though. I need to ask him if I should treat it with something.

P.S.... Happy Thanksgiving, fellow Pondmeisters. I hope you all get to enjoy time with family and friends.

That fella with the visor is one handsome guy

For sure the family Christmas party at the cabin is a highlight of the year for me. I'm hoping that an old fashioned Christmas tradition is being established that the kids will have fond memories of for the rest of their lives. And I'm hoping that when the kids are young adults they will insist on the tradition being upheld.

So first need to make the decorations for the Christmas Tree.


And then go cut the tree - with a late basketball game and the sun setting at 5pm the tree was cut in the dark this year. The kids all took turns in sawing down the tree.




Back to a warm fire


And a good dinner


And then the presents!!!






But we can't forget the lake. That's what started all this!!!
A hard working crew breaking ice the next morning. Even in wintertime kids still like to play with water!!

Thanks for sharing ! Nothing like home for the holidays. Watch those kids on the ice.

Pretty neat Lyle. Kids at Christmas are special.

They are trained to not be on ice but we do keep an eye on them. And yes, kids do make Christmas special.

Wine Tour: I know Kansas is not known as a big wine producing state but there are now almost 30 vineyards and wineries in the state. Recently we had a party at the cabin and combined it with a winery tour. A 14 mile drive from the cabin can encompass three wineries with the closest only 2 miles from the cabin. All three grow their own grapes and all three have tasting rooms. We had a good time seeing the wineries and tasting their products. Some of the wine was surprising good and we picked up a few bottles to enjoy with dinner that evening.

Any new updates from the pond?

Mike, after a very busy December at the farm there has been very little going on in January and February. Probably March will be slow also but we're planning a very busy April, May, June. April will be the big “get ready for summer” month while May and June will be the biggest activity months of the year. Late May and early June are the most beautiful weather of the year for Kansas and I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else those months.

Projects for the spring include a big load of gravel and beach work, some parking lot work by the garage, tree trimming, and mowing will be getting started. I also want to transfer a bunch of dirt from the big dirt pile to the back slope of Crawdad Pond. Additionally we plan to install a cell phone antenna with a repeater as cellular phone and internet signals down at the cabin are weak.

Some memories from last summer to get us ready for the upcoming warm weather.

Lyle,

On the cell phone antenna/repeater are you using Wilson Electronics? I installed one last year and it works great. If you want to expand to internet also look into a cradlepoint router with a 3G/4G usb dongle.

Good feedback. Yes, I was looking at using the Wilson and using their Yagi antenna mounted on the cabin's roof. Using their repeater I can use my computers wireless card for internet as well as my Motorola Zoom tablet.

I sure you know this, you need to point the antenna at the cell tower giving you service. You can find this a couple of different ways. You can download a signal strength app and walk around outside the cabin and see where you get the strongest signal. Hopefully this works for you, it didn't for me since I have 3 towers all roughly the same distance away. Two of them are from my provider so I focused on them. I went out and found the GPS location of them (drove to them and recorded it). I picked one that appeared to be a clearer view based on terrain between the house and the cabin. Using GIS tools (Expert GPS) I loaded the GPS location of the chosen tower and that gave my the compass direction to point the antenna at.

The reason I have the cradlepoint router is that I have internet cameras at the farm that allows me to keep an I on the place and email me when they detect motion. I also have a weather station at the farm that can be viewed on the internet at

http://www.weatherlink.com/user/lassig/index.php?view=main&headers=1

Mark:

How do you find the locations of the towers? For instance AT&T

Scott,

There are websites that are suppose to tell you where the towers are and who the providers is but I found them very inaccurate. I drove around looking for them and at the same time watch the signal strength on the phone. The bars are not accurate enough need to look at the physical strength. Also you can tell who the provider of the antenna is in the network settings on the phone (the signal strength is also there). It was a good way to spend a hot summer afternoon.

The weather station is really cool.

Thanks. Signal sucks here at the house. I've been right next to a local tower (maybe 75 yds away), and dropped the call. Moved a couple hundred yards and the signal was maxed out.

Nice thing about the weather station is it includes inside temperature and will send an email when it drops below a temperature that I set. Actually many items can be set to alarm and send an email.

Mark: What weather station do you have, and what does it do about snow (if anything)?

It measure it as rain when it melts, but not much gets collected so this isn't an accurate measurement.

Probably a Davis Vantage Pro Wireless, which I also own. You can get a "bucket warmer" for this station which requires some nearby AC power to keep the tipping bucket warm enough for measuring water equivalent snow. All kinds of accessories, and I think I am going to get another station plus repeater down by the pond just for curiosity sake.

I have own my station for 8 years now, and with a few minor problems such as ants getting into the remote unit I have had not problems. Ants apparently are conductive and when they crawl across terminals make you think it is raining pretty hard out!

Anyways there are some great hobbyist/serious weather folks out there which I am one of. My station on FindU: http://www.findu.com/cgi-bin/wxpage.cgi?CW3833
(Gap in readings were when I was down in Montgomery, AL.)
And on the Weather Underground:
http://www.wunderground.com/cgi-bin/findweather/getForecast?query=14469 Which usually gets my station to come up.

Sooo... yes, these are highly recommended stations and are affordable for the quality. There are other stations that cost much less, but their accuracy is horrible and survival rates are miserable.

Now, before I completely thread-jack, I bring you back to your daily programming.
-Mark

Sorry Scott I missed the question, it is a Davis Vantage Vue. Lots going on today for both work and the farm so running in circles a lot. Back in Chicago land (great) now for a couple of days. Counting the days till I go back to the farm (4).

Mark, where in Chicagoland? I'll be headed in there probably Wed night thru Friday. I'll be near Midway Airport. If you're up that way, give me a shout and maybe we could get together for dinner or something.

Thanks guys for info on the weather stations. I've been wanting to get one for a while.