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“We are getting set to poor more concrete tomorrow - it’s just one 12’ length of wall, so it should go quick.”

Our barn burned down in the 50’s. When they rebuilt it, they did a p*ss-poor job of it, so the foundation has been crumbling in places. The concrete was first for the flooring - we filled in all the gutters - it had a milking parlor on the lower level. That’s where he built the new chicken coop and the new puppy/birthing pen. He also upgraded the stall accommodations for ‘the steer of the year.’ Once all the old stanchions are out and sold for scrap, he’s going to use the largest space for a workshop down the center of what WAS the milking parlor.

Last year he re-poured most of the north facing foundation, which meant taking apart some of the barn flooring above, and now we are working on the little last piece that’s needed to finish and that happens at 11am, TODAY!

Next project has to do with pulleys and come-alongs to stabilize the actual BARN because through the years it has shifted about 8” to the south.

He’s doing a great job - I’m just Clean Up and General Labor - we also have LIGHTS in the barn now, though one section has been on the fritz since an electrical storm a few weeks ago. It’s always something! ;)

Next project has to do with pulleys and come-alongs to stabilize the actual BARN because through the years it has shifted about 8” to the south.

That reminds me of a house I rented from a fireman. It was an old railroad town neighborhood, the predecessor to subdivisions I suppose. It had that layout of two roads with a drive-able easement in between to have a back way in which I've always thought was kinda cool. Back access + neighbor buffer + no visible utility poles on the real roads.

The house had a shed barely big enough for a small car and it had similar lean to it. I went in with come-alongs and chains and chain binders, ran big lags screws into the corners to hook to and slowly straightened it up and then cross braced it.

The fireman/landlord came by one day and saw it. He was in awe and said; How did you do that? He said he was scared to even go in there.

Almost got a job straitening up a cool looking old barn near here several years ago. In that case, I would have worked from the outside to keep it from falling before I messed around inside because it was leaning pretty hard and had less framing than the little garage. Would have tagged it to a big tree or two with chains.

ANYWAY. Fireflies are out tonight.

Got the linear actuator today. Nice looking unit. Will be interesting to compare it with the cheaper ones I get.

Mechanically, it's the same as a hydraulic jack/cylinder. This one's electric and there are air cylinders too. All are Linear Actuators. (action in a linear motion aka straight line in/out)

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extended

Attaches with a pin through each end hole like a hydraulic cylinder. Took a reading at both extents and set it electrically to the mid point. Didn't measure but it looked like 20% extended to me. Will have to play with it some more