Deer and Framing

Easter weekend 2014 was on the schedule as a long weekend for work on the container cabin with the main goal of framing out the inside structure to prepare for having spray foam insulation installed. Plans were made, time off from work was scheduled, and materials were bought on Thursday night, with a plan to drive out to the ranch late Thursday and be ready to work all day Friday and Saturday.

Unexpectedly, Thursday also turned out to be the day that the first deer of 2014 was killed. But not on the ranch. In Austin. With my pickup. In Brother's neighborhood.

Luckily the deer was small and I wasn't driving very fast, so the damage was minimal. So after a short delay, we headed West and arrived at the Rockin' P safely with no further vehicular carnage.

Friday dawned clear and fairly warm, perfect weather for another day of building our dream. But no work starts on the Rockin' P until a proper ranch breakfast has been prepared -- in this case, Brother's breakfast tacos.

After breakfast we were ready to measure, cut, and nail our way through the day. We had 92 2x4 boards to use in building out the internal framing on the walls and ceiling so that electrical, water, and insulation could be installed before we cover it with paneling.

The framing started a little slow, trying to determine how best to anchor the studs by drilling as few holes in the container's metal walls as possible. Lots of fitting and figuring to see how it should work.

But once we got it figured out, the work went smoothly on. And on. And on, and on, and on. From nine in the morning until midnight pretty much straight through, with a beer and hotdog break around four in the afternoon. But when you've got busy lives and not much time to spend, you've got to make the most of it. In the end, we completed about 95% of what we wanted to do this weekend.

We also had a chance to fit some of the kitchen counters and cabinets, and visualize how the different living spaces would come together.

Overall, we were pleased with the amount of work we got done. In three weeks we'll be ready to complete the electrical wiring and hopefully have the insulation sprayed in. Then we can focus on finishing the interior and building a bathroom building at the end of the container.

But building the container cabin is not the only work to be done around the Rockin' P. Feeders have to be filled and maintained to ensure the wildlife will be attracted to the property and supported through the summer months of drought.

And our feeders have taken a beating so far this year, getting pulled down (and subsequently cleaned out) by wild hogs and local grazing sheep, and having the battery timers knocked off by deer. So we undertook our repairs and re-filled two of the three feeders with dry corn, putting the third feeder in storage until we figure out where the hunting blinds will placed on the property. This is the work we actually look forward to, and hope to be spending a lot more time on once the cabin is completed.

By 7:00pm Saturday we were basically exhausted, so we packed up our tools, closed up the container, and headed East back to Kerrville to meet up with our better halves for the rest of our Easter weekend with Mom and Dad. A shower and a couple of cocktails later, and we felt pretty good. Can't wait to do it all over again in three weeks.

Welcome to the Rockin' P Ranch

Welcome to the Rockin' P Ranch, our own little slice of Texas heaven in Edwards County, TX. The main purpose of this blog is to track the conversion of a 40-foot shipping container into a hunting cabin that even the wives will want to visit every now and again.

A few details to get started.

The ranch is located in the northeast corner (panhandle) of Edwards County, TX, on the edge of the Edwards Plateau in an area of rolling terrain with prairie grass, juniper, mesquite, cedar, and some oak trees. Elevation at the ranch is about 2,000 feet, and the climate is dry -- Edwards County receives about 22 inches of rain per year, most of it in brief thunderstorm downpours.

It is also home to an abundance of wildlife, including deer (white-tail and exotics such as axis, sika, and black bucks), Rio Grande turkeys, wild hogs, doves, coyotes, fox, and jack rabbits. Probably some snakes too. Probably lots of snakes. We just haven't seen any. Yet.

We got this place primarily for hunting, shooting, and beer drinking (not necessarily at the same time, and not necessarily in that order), and to just have a place to get out of town and work on outdoor guy-stuff type projects. To that end, it has exceeded our expectations so far.

Our ultimate goal is to have a comfortable cabin with power, water, and all the amenities of home. The property came with a shed that the previous owners had been using as a cabin.

But it was in pretty bad shape, lots of evidence of rodents, water damage, etc., and overall it did not fit with our "cool comfort" design aesthetics. The wives would not ever be spending the night in this dump, and we really didn't want to either.

So we started with a 20-foot storage container to use for, well, storage of all our equipment, tools, whisky, etc.

This is where we are also sleeping for the time being, with a set of bunk beds pulled out of the shed.

Its nice and dry, but quite cold when the weather is cool, and heats up quickly in the sun. Like oven-hot even when its only 70 degrees outside.

After setting up the storage container, we had power brought onto the property, courtesy of Pedernales Electric Co-op. Gotta be able to charge those iPhones and run the margarita machine.

The first weekend in April 2014 we took delivery of a 40-foot container that will become the real cabin.

Since we knew we wanted to install doors and windows, we had the container company (TexStar Containers, Miles, TX), cut the openings and install a frame.

Saved us a ton of time and effort to have the openings cut and framed out, and all we had to do was install the windows saved from a previous home remodel, and a set of french doors from Lowes. The results were pretty good, and every thing went in easily, except for the french doors at first.

Before we installed anything, we leveled the container with paving stones across the front to account for the slope of the ground from front-to-back. We jacked up the container with a 2.5 ton car jack and slid the paving stones under the edge. Except that we started in the middle, and the container sagged under its own 9,250 lbs of weight and slightly bent the I-beam running across the bottom. Who knew you could bend a steel storage container? Well, we did it. But a few shims under the door frame to even it out and we were back in business. Not that Bubba, the neighboring ranch dog was too impressed.

Next steps will be to frame out the inside, and run the electrical and water lines to prep for the container being insulated with spray foam. Between the foam and the two AC/heating window units we have, which will be installed in their own openings at the back of the container, the building should be comfortable in the summer and winter. Watch this space for more photos and detail real soon.