Alright, already! For all of you who have so sweetly asked that I post new pics of our progress:
Here's the first chimney that went up; the back smaller fireplace.
Here's a shot showing both fireplace chimneys. Now for the roof:
This started Tuesday; from the looks of it, they'll be done this afternoon! With the galvanized roof and the housewrap, it's quite a bright structure right now. Can't wait to tone it down with the dark siding.
Construction update: Monday the trusses for high, central portion of the roof were set by crane:
Here's the last truss being set. It's the front gable end of the lodge:
.....I still couldn't do anything like what these guys have been able to do; and in only 4 days so far:
There's the first chalkline being snapped, and now for the progress made in the four days:
Day 1: All the lines are chalked and the outer walls go up.
Day 2: All of the outer and most of the interior walls are framed and squared up.
Day 3: Outer walls begin to be sheathed with OSB; interior walls are finished up.
Day 4: Back half is ready for floor joists; No more left to frame on the 1st floor!
Not bad for four days, huh? The first floor is all framed. The floor joists are placed and nailed for the second floor. The lower trusses will go on soon, and the second floor will be all framed out in no time; the crane is scheduled to be here Monday to place the high trusses; Katie bar the door!
This past weekend, we opened our February hog season with a BANG! Our hunters had great luck with the hogs and an all around good time. Here are some highlights:
The Remsburg group, above, had great luck on their first night out, scoring 5 hogs.
The action the next night was awesome as well:
Danny Remsburg shows off his 150# hog, taken the evening of the 16th.
One of those Sandy rascals, Danny, with a nice 200# hog, also taken on the evening of February 16th.
Steve Wolfe shows us the blaze on this 150# hog, which was his first.
The next evening, February 17th, Ed Esworthy shot his first hog; it was a nice one, weighing 220#!
Great lakes of concrete, batman! The slab for the new lodge was poured on February 8th. Wow!
How happy is Ashley (Miss Heely herself) about that lovely skating surface? (Here's hoping she doesn't get an anchor bolt through the forehead...
Big thanks to the guys from RC Builders & Grading, Inc. in Etowah, North Carolina. 105 yards of concrete in about 6 hours with no problems = a great slab!
After endless planning, bids, paperwork and waiting we have finally broken ground for our new lodge! Here are some pics from the construction to date:
Once site prep was done, here came the rock for the foundation:
A kid's favorite playground; a construction site....
Concrete arrives!
Watch for more pics soon!
Last Weekend we had a corporate group from the Atlanta area, David Stephens Tile. What a weekend! All together, this group took 20 shots, and harvested 13 animals. We also had a soccer/football match out on the lawn, the likes of which Red Bluff has never seen before! Here is a photo rundown of the weekend:
Do you notice a theme above? Lots of firsts, and a lot of fun!
Here are assorted pictures from October. Once we slow down a bit, we'll be able to load them all into their respective photo albums; in the meantime, I thought you'd enjoy a sampling:
Jake Walters poses here with a nice 170# hog that he took on October the 6th.
Russell Fowler shows off his 'flying' piggie, taken the 7th of October. She weighed 120 pounds.
Here's the dynamic duo of Ryan Ensko and Amanda Bell, who came on a hunting trip with their dads, Mike and Jake. Ryan got this nice hog on November 10th.
Hank Williams here, all smiles as you can see, shows off his 75# hog, taken the 13th of October.
Joe Lucas here proudly show his hog, a 75 pounder also taken on the 13th of October.
Now for some deer:
What a smile here on Bob Shaner--it's his first deer! This is his second year hunting with us at Red Bluff; his patience really paid off. This 7-point deer, taken on November 10th, had a 17.25 inch spread and weighed 170 pounds. (By the way, now all of our hunters want a lucky hat like Bob's!)
Mike Ensko here shows us a really nice morning buck that he took on November 11th. This 9-point had a 17 inch spread, and weighed 170 pounds. What a fun morning!
What's wrong with this picture? Oh, yeah, the wrong hunter! Here's the actual shooter:
Kevin Teachout here poses proudly with the 8-point buck he took on November 9th. It had a 17 inch spread. He had a great hunt story--heard first, then saw this buck chasing a doe down in the G section one morning. The buck stood still for just one second, and it was enough for Kevin to take him. Great job!
John Stowe smiles here with his second nice buck he took during his trip with us this year. He took this November 11th; an earlier 7-point was harvested by John on the evening of November 8th.
Please go to our photo galleries for a more complete collection of pictures of what our hunters have harvested to date!
I just love looking at all of the names on our schedule. Some of them really make me smile. Recently we hosted a group of friends from New Jersey who had a great combination of names: Stashluk, Waliky and Corsentino. Don't you just love it? Sounds like nicknames on an episode of MASH to me. Just kind of rolls off of the tongue. Anyway..
They had a great hunt - here are some highlights:
Here's sort of a 'dreamy' shot of a bunch of hogs they took on the evening of October 16th. And a group shot of the hunters that night:
All together, the team harvested almost 400 pounds of pork here. This were first time hogs for Jim, Cathy and Dick.
I've already posted a picture of the deer Jim Stashluk shot (see the post "The Bucks are Coming....The Bucks are Coming!!! ") Joe Corsentino also scored with the deer - he shot two. Cathy shot a buck on the morning of October 17th, shown here:
We look forward to hosting them again soon!
Every year we host a corporate group made up of customers and employees of Wayne Automatic Fire Sprinklers. This year, they had a GREAT hunt! In their three days of hunting, there were more than 40 shots taken that resulted in the harvest of 19 deer and 4 hogs. Put on your seatbelts, here's a photo lineup of the weekend:
Here is Kevin Rhoden with his personal best; a 9 point that had a 16" spread and weighed in at 170 pounds. (Morning buck!)
George Sterner doubled up the morning of October 27th with this spike and doe combo.
Bill Coy, above, poses with the 6 pt. he took on October 29th (another AM buck!)
This is James Gribband, posing with his first ever hog, which weighed 90# and had a nice blaze on its nose.
On the evening of Saturday, October 28th, the planets must have aligned, because suddenly all of the lead that these guys were flinging around was finding its mark (Ahem...We couldn't exactly say that about the Friday PM hunt). Here is a lineup, literally, of all of the animals harvested that night:
We also had a few firsts during the weekend. Here below is Brent McLocklan with his first buck, and the accompanying ceremonial blood, taken on the evening of the 28th:
Doesn't look too happy about it, does he?
It was a great Fall weekend; perfect for late nights around the firepit, good food and fellowship.
