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Praetorium Honoris

Sunday, March 8, 2026

Construction Progress,

 Well Campers, another week has gone by.  Not a lot of "Big" things going on.  


This  Big Thing was seen out the back door of our current domicile

Got another big thing.  We had an on-site meeting with our contractor to look at the site and measure where things are going to go. 

Notice the Electrical Connection on the right and the water connection to the left of the big tree in the middle of the picture.  Progress!!
 

But to our, unprofessional, eyes some of the areas that were cleared of trees and brush are not clear enough for the buildings that are going into those clearings.

Specifically, and most importantly, the clearing for my Brother's cottage has two large trees in the center of it.  Didn't know if that was an oversight or just waiting for the tree clearing guy to get us back on his schedule.  Hence, one of the reasons for our meeting.

Upon meeting with the contractor, he said that the clearing guy was coming back this week to take down the mature trees.  What he'd brought out last week was to clear the brush and small 2-3" saplings.  Okay, that makes sense. 

The other clearing area in progress is the area for our hobby huts.  A workshop for me and one for Mrs J who affectionately called hers  a "She Shed".  As can be seen below, we need to take down a few saplings and small trees to have enough room for those.


Another factor that's got to be considered is order of construction.  The house is obviously a big deal in that schedule, but we need to get shelter and fence for the horses before they bankrupt us at the horse hotel they're currently staying at.

Oh, and off topic, when you're mucking stalls and shoveling "you know what" into buckets, it serves you well to inspect the bucket and insure that it isn't covered with fire ants.  I didn't!  The little bastiges are brutal and numerous.  Spray Benadryl is an integral part of our mucking equipment now. 

Back on subject, juvat!

On subject, aye Sarge!  

So, the horse area has high priority.  Not sure of the priority for our house versus my brother's cottage and time to construct for each.  Hence the meeting this morning.

Mrs J has been working hard on the designs of the structures mentioned.  Once we get the "wish list" settled, the Contractor can take them and turn them into blueprints which will take 2 weeks.  At that point, construction can start and he estimates it'll take 8 months to complete.

He then can move his teams around all four  projects so things can get done simultaneously.

So, that should speed up completion a bit or at least make the 8 month date more of a reality. That's where we are in this project.

Just to change the subject and given the time of year.  Mrs J sent me this funny, but true screenshot.  Enjoy! 

 ,”

Found on Instagram

‘True Dat!

Peace out, Y'all! 



18 comments:

  1. Fire ants are a real pain. I discovered them after I moved to Houston, TX back in 1979. I didn't know about them since we didn't have them up in the Texas Panhandle. I found out the hard way.

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    1. Yes, yes they are! I first encountered the while stationed at Moody. Had a few hills in Fredericksburg but few enough to be containable. Dosed a couple of hills when we moved into our rental which has taken them out for now. Haven’t encountered them on our new property which doesn’t mean anything. We shall see.
      juvat

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  2. Progress! Appreciate the update, have a great week.

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    1. Some progress, just in the planning and site prep stage so far. Looking forward to progress and, most of all, completion.
      juvat

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  3. Thanks for the update juvat, good to see progress, communications between you and the contractor is important eh? As to fire ants.....geeez...

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    1. Nylon, my pleasure! Contractor seems to be a good guy, Got a couple of recommendations about him. As to fire ants, today is the first day I can wear my rings. Mrs. J insisted on one. ;-)
      juvat

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  4. Ahead of schedule! Glad to see the progress on the homestead. Invisible but important steps. And we learn all about it on Sunday, instead of impatiently waiting until Monday.
    Horse accommodations should be relatively easy and quick build, and the cost savings are important. Also, getting the critters acclimated to "their very own" home would be nice, so they will be attentive when you converse with them. And, caring for them will be an excuse to check building progress.

    Is horse poop good fertilizer? if so , you can start prepping spots to grow things along the drive or fence line.
    JB

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    1. JB,
      First Last. I don't know, but I'm gonna look into it. If so.....Stable and fencing should be pretty easy. Water also, the well is only about 20 yards away.
      As to Sunday. I don't know how Sarge writes 6 posts a week for years on end. Doing it for a week or so was a bit of work. Glad he's almost back.
      juvat

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  5. Nature: "Aw, ants. Cute little things. Completely defenseless though"

    ....God enters the chat....

    I had not thought about the staggered build. What a jigsaw to figure out.

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    1. Fire ants are very small, maybe a millimeter or so, and they don't go about onesy, twosy, unless you add several zeros to the figure. I know I had over 20 on my hand before I felt the bite and looked. Today was the first day that the pustules weren't white and itching (Benadryl is a savior). Itching is controllable now.
      Contractor said he thought it might help as when one crew finishes or gets to a stopping/waiting point, they can start working on another aspect of the build. We shall see.
      juvat

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  6. only 9.5 illegal immigrants - uh! by my counting (fingers only, no toes allowed) the number I get is much, much higher
    and, uh!, BTW, you left off the huge number of politicians' staff sitting on their mobile, fuzzy-eared, four-legged carriers (I'm being polite)

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    1. Boron, there sure are a lot of them. I wonder what effect the lone (now dead) gunman's activities will have on the Austin population. We shall see.
      juvat

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  7. No fire ants in Northern Colorado but wasp/hornet/yellow jackets nest everywhere, quickly. For instance, behind the fuel door on your car.

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    1. WSF yeah, it might be a tad chilly in Northern Colorado. Not a fan of Hornets either though!

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  8. Benadryl is good, so is Lidocaine spray or cream. Also Bactine Max which is also over the counter, has both lidocaine for pain relief and benzalkonium chloride to help kill any germs, which is my favorite go-to. Very happy not to know anything about fire ants. Yellow jackets are bad enough, thank you very much!!

    I would think a horse shed and fencing would be a fairly fast project to complete unless you want a palace for a barn.
    My niece manages a stable in CA, and she has said that renting space in a barn is not for the light of wallet.

    Horse manure is like cow, chicken and turkey chit...it is "hot", meaning it needs to sit in a compost pile for about 6 months to a year before you can put it on any gardens or plants as it will kill them pretty quickly. However, if you want to make a "hot bed" for a winter garden, dig a pit about 3 feet deep, frame it up with some rot resistant wood, we used locust, dump about 18" of horse manure in, cover with good soil and plant your plants/seeds. Put an old window frame over it, raise one side to promote shedding of water/sleet/snow, and be able to open one side on warm sunny days to keep the temps from getting too hot inside. The rotting manure (horse is best, but cow and chicken do work) helps to keep the garden bed warm enough to prevent freezing and to promote lettuce/carrots/tomatoes growing probably all year winter long where you are. We had a very nice hot frame of cold hardy veggies all one winter here in Upstate NY when we tried it. Temps stayed in the 40's inside the hot frame over nights when it was down close to zero outside.
    Rabbit manure is really the only one you can put directly on a garden right out of cleaning out the cages.
    But they all certainly work well. We put 1 year old turkey chit on the gardens when I was in MI...the pepper plants grew taller than me, and I am 5'4". Talk about bumper crops!!! Had over 125 butternut squash that year!

    Suz

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    1. Lot’s of good info in your response, Suz. I’m going to pass it on to MY Suz, who is also the Master Gardener here. I’m just the shoveler. 😉
      juvat

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