Double B Ranch - Dec 2019 through May 2020
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MARCH 27 - 28, 2020:
Well, March marked the start of the Corona virus panic here in Texas. Listen, we certainly did need to stay home and "flatten the curve". We accomplished that - there weren't people dying in the streets, and our hospitals here in Texas were not overflowing with Corona cases. The city of Houston spent $60 million on a temporary hospital in the GRB parking lot that wasn't used. That's ok, better safe than sorry - but IMHO, we need to get the economy going again. What's the death rate of Covid-19? Is it THAT much worse than the normal flu? In a bad year the regular flu killed 60,000. We've hit 100,000 deaths with Corona - and yes it would have been much worse had we not 'flattened the curve' - but do these numbers support completely shutting down the economy?

OK, enough of that talk. Let's get back to the ranch pics.

I usually stop at the HEB in Fredericksburg for supplies, but not this time. I opted for the Valero in Harper instead - and they had toilet paper!

The slab for the barn has been poured!! This is the patio area.

....center of barn...

...and the back entrance area.

Some great views from the patio area.

On the left you can see the spot for the door of my shooting range.

This is the master bedroom, and you can see how they moved the door.

The vanity in the master bath

The 'fur-down' above the shower

I had a decision to make. We could have tried to patch the missing spots in the back beadboard that was installed in 2008.
I wasn't confident we'd be able to make it look nice, so we decided to replace it, and stain it to match the original 100 year old beadboard in the main rooms.
I was really happy with the end results.

You can see all the new beadboard stacked up

Oh my, what a mess...

Making progress on moving the hot water heater outside.
That little hot water heater shack is probably built better than the entire house.

We had a virtual happy hour at work, and I had to find a high spot on the ranch to join.

My 2nd attempt at burning some piles went much smoother

CLICK HERE TO SEE VIDEO #1 - Starting a huge fire

CLICK HERE TO SEE VIDEO #2 - That fire is HUGE!

Now THAT's A FIRE!!

A HUGE burn pile now reduced to ashes

It cleared up the view from the barn a bit too

Panoramic shot from the barn porch

APRIL 3 - 4, 2020:
I came up again the following weekend to check on the progress. It was still such a mess inside - sawdust (and regular dust) everywhere. There was also a HUGE storm that blew through this weekend. It woke me up around 3:00am, and there was water literally POURING into the house from several spots on the north wall around the fireplace, windows and door. Needless to say, patching and caulking those spots suddenly became a high priority.

BOOOOOO - no big breakfast.
Sometimes I'd drive up Thursday after work, and then Friday morning head to the Truck Stop and work from there (ranch has no phone service).
This time I couldn't sit and relax inside with a big breakfast. Instead I got a big coffee and worked from my truck in the parking lot.
For lunch I'd get a burger to go. ...and eventually when things started to wind down, I'd head back to the ranch and get a head start on the work there.

Look at all that sawdust....jeez,

I brought the ceiling fans...

Will this ever be clean again?

The floors have been patched where the walls were.

While under construction, the electrician shut off power at the back of the house.
Unfortunately, this meant I had to run an extension cord to the water pump, and this left the backdoor cracked ...and it's wet.

The back bedroom is full of stuff...what a mess...

The vanity for the guest bath is in.

The guest bath is almost done!

And the master bath is looking good too - new window.

Making progress

Looks like it's ready for the tile guys to install the shower

Floors patched as needed (that door was moved as well to make room for the shower)

Doing some finish work in the master bedroom

While still super messy, it's nice to see the space so open.

Looking out the front door.
Notice how green it is. With the rain, everything started to bloom

I count eight deer in the yard. My record so far is eighteen.

This is where I used to park the Polaris.
It's hidden pretty well, but after the huge storm I realized maybe it wasn't the best place after all.

The Cobb draw was pretty full~!

It was wet everywhere

APRIL 10 - 11, 2020:
The guys finished the bathrooms, and the tile guy finished the shower. Pretty much all that was left to do at this point was install the glass around the shower, and for the electrician to install the lights and fans. So, I figured it was time to start trying to clean up.

I love how green and lush everything looks this time of year.

Look at that - bathroom is almost done!

Oh, that shower is nicer than the one at my house here in Houston.

So green and pretty

One week after the storm, and there's still lots of water in Toby Creek

One of my better pictures.

This is the view from 'The High Spot' in the horse pasture.

Turkeys by the pump house

While cleaning the house, I found where Welton carved his name. (No idea who Welton is - but whatever)

The dirt foundation for the barn is starting to green up as well

Look - I made a clean spot!

And it took a while, but I finally cleaned up the back bedroom.

APRIL 17 - 18, 2020:
Since I had mostly cleaned up everything and we knew the electricians had finished, Jacqui and I were excited to get up there and see the progress the following weekend.

Buc-ee's had a sign saying 'mask required'. We didn't have any, so we improved with shirts.

Howdy folks!!

HELL YEAH - Look at all those lights.
It's brighter than daylight! ...we had dimmers installed so you don't burn your retinas.

WoooHooo! It's really starting to take shape now.
Notice how the beams do not match the ceiling - I'll fix that

Lights above the shower too - nice!

I used a boiled linseed oil rub on the beams, and the 100 year old wood soaked it up like a sponge. It was the perfect match,

Halfway done with that beam.

Jacqui paints while I stain the beams - we had to share the ladder.

Only one beam left to do.

..almost done!

After working inside so much, we had to get out and enjoy the ranch a bit.

And we found this neat spot in the horse pasture.

APRIL 24 - 26, 2020:
The barn is almost done!! This is a huge milestone in the project. It gives me a place to actually store some things - like the Polaris, and the new zero turn riding lawn mower I just purchased. Also, there was a TON of stuff in the house that I wanted out - but really didn't want to just throw away - so the barn was much needed.

I'm really happy with the location we chose for the barn. It's just far enough from the house to not be very visible, but still close enough to walk there easily.

There it is!!
These pics were taken at sunrise.

Hell yeah! Look at that nice huge overhang/porch area.

It's not done yet - but I was so excited to see it finally take shape.

The main entrance at the back

And that smaller door will be used as my shooting range.

This is gonna be the party space for sure!

The rolling doors are ready to go up.

BOOM - doors!

Ahh hell yeah, look at that view!

Wow - look how nice it looks after I mowed the yard.

So green and pretty - and mowing was actually pretty fun.

Now that I had a place to store stuff, I was able to clean up the back of the house.

MAY 8 - 10, 2020:
Since the barn is up, we decided to purchase a used Ping-Pong table. Jacqui, Lauren, Austin, Paris and I made the trip up to enjoy.

Ping-Pong in the barn!

Austin whooped up on Lauren, and wanted to play all the time!

We had FUN!!

And we also moved up some furniture.
That couch used to be upstairs, but Austin didn't like it - so it was perfect for the ranch.

Paris keeps guard at the door

We also spent some time outside shooting. Both Lauren and Austin are really good shots....
Jacqui....not so much - so she stayed back and painted some more.

Not the most graceful, but she was accurate.

Jacqui said "screw it" - I'm painting the entire kitchen.
...and it looks great!

Yep, it's really getting close.
We still have to get rid of that big desk, and clean up some more - but it's so close!

I really love all the open space - the house has completely changed since we got it.

MAY 15 - 16, 2020:
If you made it this far - this is the last weekend documented on this page. Phew! As I write this, today is Tuesday, June 2. I do have more pictures from the past couple weekends - but I had to draw the line somewhere or I'd never get these posted. So anyway, this weekend I moved up the bunk beds for the back bedroom. It's a good thing my brother was at his ranch that weekend too, as I needed his help getting them set up. I also mowed the grass again, and grilled steaks in a huge storm. Fun!

We'd been getting plenty of rain, so it was green and all the flowers were blooming. Just gorgeous.

I get the grill lit as the storm clouds roll in.

The rain is coming!

CLICK HERE TO SEE VIDEO #3 - Grilling during the storm!

As I suspected, there was some water in the house - but less than I thought there would be.

The back bedroom can now sleep four.

I also burned a couple more piles - with only about 100 or so left.

Jacqui used a 'marble wrap' on the counter top - looks good!

Mirrors are hung temporarily, as we still need to paint.

OK - that's all for now folks!!