Author: Fixitpat

This is the latest chapter in a continuing story, to jump to the beginning…

After living on the land that we purchased one year ago I’ve finally had a chance to look back on the journey that’s brought us here. It’s been a whirlwind filled with ups and downs, challenges and rewards that are too numerous to fully explain. Along with all that I have found a new perspective that has changed my life forever.

In the past I felt a bit overwhelmed at the prospect of so much work to be done. It always seemed an insurmountable obstacle that I would never fully overcome. With this year of diligent work around our new home I’ve come to realize everything happens in its own time and as long as one remains focused on daily progress anything can be accomplished. To put it another way a sprinter can only cover so much distance, but if you keep walking you can cover a far greater distance in a relatively short amount of time. Now I wake up every day with a renewed sense of purpose that I am forever grateful for. Having so much important work to be done and knowing it is all possible is a deeply satisfying feeling.  

Additionally I have been amazed at the challenges that have been so much easier to complete than I could have ever expected. Frequently I would look at a problem that I held no prior experience of and with a minimal amount of study immediately come to a full understanding of everything involved. It has all turned out far simpler than I ever expected, and while the execution of certain tasks was still a lot of work, I never hit a point where I didn’t know what to do next. 

All of this work has allowed me numerous opportunities to reflect upon my younger years. I have enjoyed a broad range of experiences in my lifetime and been blessed with fond memories and amazing friends along the way. That being said I have come to understand that I was largely led by influences that were perhaps not in my best interest. A lot of what exists in the material world is fleeting at best, and so much of it is designed to make a person focus inward for strength and motivation. I feel early on this kept me from a level of success that I believe we are all capable of. I’ve found that true motivation and inspiration comes from looking outward and living a life of kindness, generosity, humility, and most importantly faith. Once I changed my outlook on everything my life was reworked into something far better than it ever was before. I have been truly blessed by the skills and talents I’ve been given, blessed by a new home of utter beauty and splendor just minutes down the road from my dear Mom, and blessed with an amazing wife who loves me deeper than I ever could have asked for.

I can’t possibly describe how much gratitude and love I feel for our ALMIGHTY GOD and frequently I find myself in tears when I try to put it into words. I truly am forever changed and blessed with every coming day. And in this place we have landed, everywhere my eye turns I am continually awestruck by the majesty of his creation. 

As far as our progress this year, there have been too many accomplishments to elaborate on in my usual way, so I prepared a slideshow to share the highlights of our journey.

Thank you to all of my amazing family and all of my wonderful friends, both new and old for their continued love and support. I truly would not be where I am now without all of you!

As always, thank you for reading and 

GOD BLESS! 

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This is the latest installment of a continuing story, to jump to the beginning…

Hello everyone! It’s been a little while since our last update, so sit back and get comfy because there’s much to discuss! 

First of all, the center ceiling beam has been trimmed with crown molding and the finished look is exactly what we were going for! Almost all of the wiring has been completed with switches and outlets, and soon we will be starting on the plumbing…

But wait…

It’s time for a bit of a departure.

It’s time for some very big news!!!

Let me back up a bit…

In late January we received notice that the rent on our condo was once again going up. This time the increase was a bit more than comfortable, so I went to my job and humbly asked for a raise. I was disheartened though, thinking I wouldn’t see any of it with the rent increase. 

Combined with that, we recently calculated the total amount spent on Airbnb’s for weekends up at the farm. Suffice to say, it was more than either of us were expecting. My wife smartly suggested that for the price of rent now we could easily be paying a mortgage and investing rather than throwing money out of the window on rent. Another huge bonus was if we acquired something closer to the farm we would save all the money we had spent on travel and lodging, be closer to the family and take our time building on the farm rather than rushing to get up there.

So we began looking, or rather, she began looking. She’s always been fascinated by the search and thrilled with discovery. Every day when I would come home she would show me properties that she had discovered. We combed through them and began to narrow down what we were looking for. 

After finally settling on a few choices, we made some day trips up to view the listings in person and further refine our search. We looked at quite a few, however most seemed to fall short in one aspect or another. Eventually, one property caught our eye. A nicely renovated mobile home on 1.5 acres that was currently being operated as an Airbnb. It was in a great area adjacent to a horse farm and close to both Gainesville and Ocala. It checked all the boxes of what we were looking for but unfortunately it was already under contract. 

So we went back to looking, trying to find something that rivaled the positive aspects and personality of the property we had missed out on. After a few days of coming up dry, my wife tried some new search terms to find listings we hadn’t seen yet. Right then one popped out at her that had been hidden on all previous searches. 

A listing for a nice looking 2/2 mobile home, separate 4 car concrete garage, and 5.94 acres of beautifully wooded land. When I came home from my day job she was excited to show it to me and I was rather impressed to say the least. Then she showed me where it was on the map… 

I was astonished as the site was just off Williston Road, almost exactly halfway between Gainesville and the family farm. This would put us minutes away from my Mom, our build site and minutes away from town. 

I immediately told her to contact our realtor which she had already done so as to make us be the first in line to go under contract, a lesson learned from the original search. Within a few days she had done a virtual walkthrough and we decided to submit a contract. The more we looked into it, we were amazed as the listing had been on the market for almost 9 months and the asking price had been lowered several times over that period. Additionally, as frequently as she had been looking at properties near Gainesville and the surrounding communities, for some reason this one had never appeared before in her search results. It seemed as if the Good Lord had set it aside just for us. We both prayed for guidance moving forward. 

The next thirty days were a whirlwind, doing an in person walkthrough, having the home inspected, shopping the mortgage and insurance and making sure everything lined up correctly. There were a few hiccups. The inspector discovered that the home had polybutylene pipes that needed to be replaced in order to gain insurance. This was done successfully but the timing was tight getting the inspection recertified. Insurance was also difficult based on the age of the home, which had been manufactured in 1992. After many refusals and quotes that were downright outrageous, we finally got an offer that worked at the last minute. 

Despite the stress of the last few weeks, everything miraculously fell neatly into place.  So we drove up on March 28th and signed the closing paperwork, making us proud first time home buyers!!!

After taking possession and with little other than changing the locks planned for the weekend, I loaded up the trailer with an assortment of tools to take to our new place.

The new four bay garage is going to be a huge game changer for us! Having inherited my father’s tools meant I had two of a lot of things.  Now I’m able to declutter the workshop on the farm, and I’ll be able to tailor each space towards its best use. The farm workshop will become a designated woodworking shop and the garage will become the welding and mechanic shop.

I almost forgot to mention that one side of the garage space has been fully finished out into a guest suite, complete with kitchenette and full bath!

So now we begin the process of moving. With 60 days left on our lease we will be fully transplanted by the end of May!

At last we will finally be close to my family and close enough to help my Mother with anything and everything she needs. That is the primary reason we started this endeavor over two years ago.

It will be nice to put more time in on correctly finishing the build of our steel building conversion, but now we have the freedom to work on other aspects of the farm as well! We can begin cleaning up the land from all the scrub tree overgrowth. We can begin getting the garden area into shape so that we can finally get some plants into the ground and start our homesteading journey. We can plant the fruit orchard, and most of all we can finally get some animals and start farming for real!

We are extremely grateful to the team of people the Lord sent to us that helped make our dreams of moving come true and for the knowledge and strength we gained during this process.

As we pause to reflect on all the new blessings that have been bestowed upon us, we are touched by emotion and filled with gratitude to the Creator. It is through his grace and favor that this reality has become manifest. 

The LORD provideth and our cups runneth over.

Amen. 

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This is the latest chapter of a continuing story. To jump to the first chapter…

A new year has come, and with it, a renewed sense of energy and excitement! Even though it seems like much still to be done, we can see the light at the end of the tunnel. Everything is falling into place as it was meant to be. We have set the goal of having the space habitable enough to sleep there on weekends by the end of May. Once that goal has been reached we will be up more frequently and we are determined to make 2024 our last year of city dwelling.

A lot of people look at me as though I were crazy when I talk about building this place ourselves and creating a fully functional farm, especially at my age. However, I have found age to be no more than a state of mind and understand that anything is possible with spirit, determination, and faith. Every moment we spend up there working towards our future makes me feel like a kid again with giddy excitement at every turn. 

We’ve been diligently working on the ceiling, which of course is one of the more difficult aspects of the build, and when that is finished everything else should be comparatively easier. After insulating the rafters and installing the galvanized roofing panels the next step was to trim out the center beam.

We chose to wrap the beam in pine which was stained the same color that our upstairs floor will become.

I decided the easiest way to do this was to build interlocking channels that could be screwed into place. This way everything could be completely finished with a clear coat prior to installation, as opposed to after.

Once everything was dry I began putting them up. The first went up rather easily but I needed to modify the second section for the ceiling fan box. 

Anecdotally, if I was going to run into any trouble I knew this would be the spot. While the beam overall is pretty straight there was a subtle bend in it near where the first two sections would meet. Once I had everything set for the ceiling fan, I lifted the section into place and was surprised to see that both of the side pieces that would interlock with the first section had warped in exactly the correct direction to allow for the bend in the beam! I said a quick word of gratitude to GOD and later laughed with my wife that perhaps my late father had come down in spirit to lend us a helping hand.

Once it was all up we both were quite happy with the look but did notice that the new lumber didn’t fully conceal the edge of the roofing panels as intended. So a quick trip back to the store and we picked up some crown molding to finish off the look of everything. 

Sunday, all that material was stained, sealed and left to dry for installation on our next trip up. A big thank you to my lovely wife, for the countless hours of brushwork put in on everything that has required pre finishing.

Once the trim is complete we will be finalizing the electrical wiring prior to connection and then start the plumbing. After those are in place, we can finally start covering the walls. I’m super excited by our projected progress over the next few months and look forward to being on the other side of the hurdle with this build!

As always, thanks for reading and GOD Bless!!

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A lot has happened, and I don’t know if I have the words to adequately encapsulate everything in a blog post, so this may be brief. Let me start by saying thank you to everyone that has been following along, I’m happy to be able to share our progress with all of you!

We came up with the goal of getting our fancy new ceiling installed. With quite a bit of effort, and a bit of consternation on my part, we were successful. We couldn’t be much happier with the look of the galvanized roofing panels as our ceiling! It is nicely reflective of ambient light, and was far less expensive and time consuming as other options would have been. The installation was fairly straightforward so there’s not much to say about that, but here are some pictures of the progress.

We were also able to spend some much appreciated time with loved ones from my side of the family. It’s always so nice to reminisce about stories of the past, and catch up on recent events.

On a final note, some words on my father.

While we may not have shared the closest of relationships, he taught me a great many things, like the value of hard work and how to be a good husband. I will always remember riding with him in his pickup, delivering phone books, riding shotgun on the old tractor, “helping” cut firewood from fallen trees on the farm, and taking calves we had raised to the livestock auction. Regardless of anything that ever happened, I always knew he believed in me, and I loved him for that.

Michael H. McKinney

Jan 20, 1947 – Dec 24, 2023

Rest in Peace Dad, while you may not have been able to see our progress with your own eyes, I know you would be proud. I’ll miss you.

Well, it’s been one year since we welded the steel loft frame in, and we are extremely grateful for progress we’ve made. Every step of the way brings us that much closer to returning to the beautiful land I grew up on. 

Once again, we headed up to the farm for the Thanksgiving holiday planning to put in another week-long session of work, and of course, enjoy some fellowship with family.

Even before we got there however, I received news that a large oak had fallen atop the former chicken coop / old greenhouse.

Arriving to survey the damage ourselves, I was disappointed to lose an existing structure I had hoped to make use of. However, what started as disappointment turned into a blessing in disguise. Even though the old building was soundly built, it was framed with an abnormally low roof height, and unusually short door to gain access. Thinking things through, I realized salvaging what I could from the damaged old building and constructing something new in it’s place was going to be advantageous in the long run. 

So we decided to let it sit as is for now, as there was more important work to be done

Originally, our plan for the week was to remove the roll up door, and install a sliding glass door in it’s place. However, my wife made the astute observation that it wouldn’t be prudent to close off the big access way before we were done using the scaffolding. I agreed and so we changed our plans accordingly. 

It was decided to finish the ceiling and any wall work that would require the scaffold. We spent the first day sourcing the materials, which didn’t go exactly as planned. An initial stop at the big store where I have an account proved unsuccessful. We were told the specific items we wanted would not be available until early January. After leaving there and stopping for a quick bite, we pondered on how to proceed.  The Good Lord always has a way of pointing you in the right direction, and my wife suggested checking the first store’s competitor. I looked online and found everything we were looking for in stock and available for pickup. Surprisingly, the total price ended up being quite a bit cheaper as well! We swung by and paid for everything, arranging to pick it all up the following day. 

On Sunday, we celebrated an early Thanksgiving with my father’s side of the family. We were very thankful to see everyone and share some home cooked food.  Over the meal, stories were swapped around, and I learned some fascinating family history that was new to me. Apparently, my father’s father, who was a navy man and former mayor of Gainesville, was at Normandy during D-day and piloted one of the landing craft delivering troops to the beach head. As the story goes, his landing craft became stuck in the sand because of low tide, and he wasn’t able to free it until the tide had come in. This is something very few of us knew about, and it had only come to light when some old documents had been discovered. We were all surprised to say the least. 

Everyone was also excited hearing about our progress, and we look forward to living closer so family time can become a more regular occurrence!

After the festivities, we went back to the farm, hooked up the trailer, and headed into town to pick up our materials so we would be prepared to start work the next morning. 

Monday began with cutting and stapling up insulation. Even though the entire building had been sprayed with foam insulation, our goal is to create as energy efficient a place as possible, especially considering the Florida climate. 

I was very grateful to have my uncle Steve help us out for the day.

Steve has always been one of my favorite uncles, and is the source of many fond memories from my youth. Freshwater fishing on the local waterways, my first adventures hunting, and even working at his local restaurant were experiences that would shape my development for years to come. As of late, Steve and his wife have become a seafaring couple, living on their boat for part of each year exploring Florida’s coastal waterways and St. John’s River.

So while Steve worked at cutting the insulation to length and tethering them to the rope I used to pull them up, I spent the majority of the day on my back, on top of the scaffolding. While this didn’t initially seem too strenuous, by the time I was done my shoulders, back, and legs were quite sore from maneuvering into position for each piece.

Once we were done with the section above the living area, we used ladders to work on the ceiling above the loft. We managed to install about 80% of everything and feeling worn out, we called it a day. 

Back the next day, I was able to quickly finish installing the remaining insulation, and tidy up some loose ends from previous visits. Then it was time to start prepping for the ceiling material. Originally we had thought to use tongue and groove pine, but since we plan on having wood walls we thought it would be nice to have some contrast. Some time at a new friend’s barn conversion provided an inspiration, and we decided to go with galvanized roof panels for the ceiling.

We think this will give the space a rustic look, reflect natural light, and fit nicely with the rest of our design ideas. Additionally, this material was drastically cheaper than the pine, and will be far faster and easier to install. 

The first step would be to install furring strips perpendicular to the rafters, so the sheets could be anchored securely at each edge and overlapping seam. I was only able to get them started before running out of daylight.

Thursday, we celebrated a quiet Thanksgiving with my aunt and uncle from my mom’s side. Again we were thankful to stop for a day to share some time with loved ones and enjoy another wonderful home cooked meal. We showed them our progress and my uncle offered some good advice for moving forward. 

My uncle, Guy, is quite an interesting individual as well. He has been a long time collector of native Floridian artifacts.  I have memories from my youth of walking with him in freshly plowed fields, and in freshwater creek beds, looking for arrowheads and shark teeth.  Visiting his house was always a treat as well, the entire upstairs of his unique A frame house served as an exhibit of his personal collection. Later, he founded the Silver River Museum, which stands as an example to other teaching museums in Florida.

Sadly, Friday was our time to head back to the big city, in order to have a weekend to recover before returning to the daily grind.  So we tidied everything up, securing all the tools in their appropriate storage areas, helped my mom a bit, and hit the road. I had hoped to have the ceiling finished on this trip, but we will be back during Christmas and I feel good about being able to finish it up then. 

As always thanks for reading, and GOD Bless!!!

Welcome back friends, I’m glad you’re here! We have a lot of updates to go over, so make yourselves comfortable and let’s get caught up. 

Part 1 “Milestones”

Late in August we took an unscheduled trip up to the farm to help with some unforeseen complications regarding my father’s care. These are the times I very much wish we were already moved in, so we could always be there when needed. 

While we were there, I had a bit of spare time, so I put in some further effort organizing the workshop. Every time I look at that space I see revisions and improvements I’d like to make, but the limited times we are there are typically focused on advancing construction of the living space. Although I didn’t have the time for a major redesign, I did get things tidied up a bit, and performed some maintenance on a few of the older tools. 

With that out of the way, I worked on getting us set up for the following weekend, when we would begin the pre-wire for electricity.

At one point walking between the buildings, I heard something loud in the distance. At first I thought it could be a gunshot, but it didn’t sound quite right. Without giving it much thought, I went about my business. Later that afternoon, as we were leaving the farm for the day, we found a large tree had fallen, blocking the driveway. Our property is full of old growth trees, so this is not altogether an unusual occurrence. The timing of this event though, was another matter. We were in town on a last minute notice, and had we not been there this would have been a major complication for my mother to deal with. I see the deliberate timing that GOD places on our lives that causes us to be in a position to do the greatest good. My wife and I understand with GOD in our lives there are no coincidences and for that we are extremely Grateful!

I’m a little embarrassed to say, growing up as a country boy who couldn’t wait to get to the “big city”, I’ve had little to no experience using a chainsaw. There were numerous times as a kid when I went out to help my Dad as he cut firewood, but he was always the one running the saw. Once I got older and eventually left the farm, I’d never really encountered the opportunity to use one again. 

Being no stranger to power tools, I wasn’t that intimidated… and funnily enough, I had asked for a new chainsaw last Christmas, in anticipation of future farm chores. 

So right here, the Good Lord handed me an opportunity to learn something new.

The next morning we returned to the farm with the necessary fuel and oil, and I loaded up and headed out to the downed tree. Everything went smoothly and I made short work of the obstruction, clearing it off of the driveway. I was impressed by the efficiency of the saw, and thankful for the chance to break in a new tool. To say the least, it felt like I had turned a milestone on the way to becoming a proper country boy again.

Part 2 “Walking the property”

After clearing the driveway, I decided to take a quick tour of the property. I grew up here and wanted to see the current state of things I remembered from my youth.

There has always been a small pond on the low point of the land, but it has been crowded by unrestrained tree growth. Future plans are to clear back some of the surrounding area to open it up and revitalize it as a natural reservoir. 

Also, there is a historic old building on the property that unfortunately served as a dumping ground for all kinds of scrap. There is a lot of metal to be salvaged out of this area, and hopefully with a little care and patience, the less stable parts of the building can be shored up so that it can be preserved for posterity.

There is also an old greenhouse that my father had constructed many years ago. We recovered a bunch of tempered glass panels during our cleanup that were used for the original roof covering. The glass roof had eventually been replaced with a tin roof and the building was converted into a chicken coop. As there are no chickens currently, it has become a storehouse of old odds and ends. The building has good bones, with a low cinder block wall, good framing, and solid roof.  Once we get it cleaned out, my plan is to convert this into a sawmill for processing timber.

And then there is the old garden, which is adjacent to the boathouse. Eventually, we want to clear this back to a clean slate and redo it with cinder block raised beds and a new surrounding fence to prevent animals from gaining access to our produce.

Lastly, we see the old berry patch, with a few scraggly blueberry bushes clinging on for dear life. The long term goal is to turn this into an orchard with various fruit trees.

I am very excited about the potential of everything this land has to offer us, and can’t wait to be here permanently, so we can get started!

Part 3 “Electroculture”

The next phase of our build was pre wiring the place for electricity. This was accomplished over two weekends of work. The first step was plotting the course of the circuits and boring the desired pathway through the framing. 

Then the new breaker panel and receptacle boxes were hung in their respective positions. From that point everything went rather smoothly, pulling all the wire from end points back to the main panel. Once the panel was wired, now the only things left are to wire the outlets and switches, and wait for the electrician to make the connection to the power pole. While a pre-wire isn’t the most photogenic aspect of our construction, I did snap a photo of the breaker panel to document the progress.

As always, we give the utmost gratitude to GOD, for keeping us safe, and showing us the correct path forward. 

Until next time, thanks for reading, and GOD BLESS!!!

Hello everyone! 

Welcome to any first time readers, and thank you to everyone following along! 

After two weekends of work up on the scaffolding, we have successfully installed all the rafters for our ceiling. While it took a bit of effort, everything sailed along rather smoothly. 

Normally, at the end of a productive period of work, it is customary to feel a sense of pride and accomplishment while viewing the results. While I am pleased with our progress, I feel less and less like I can take any credit for what we have done. 

True, I am a clever fellow with a moderate amount of experience in several areas. This project,  however, is the biggest feat of construction on several levels that I have ever attempted. So when things just seem to fall into place, I know better than to chalk it up to ingenuity or sheer luck. 

All my successes belong to the Lord GOD Most High, and they are his gifts to me. I am humbled, more than anything, to see how he is guiding me on this journey. He has kept us both safe, during unexpected moments. He has shown me the way to assemble everything so that it yields the desired result, and is structurally sound. Every time I’ve felt like I didn’t know what to do, he has led the way. I am forever grateful to be his servant, and offer him all the praise, honor, and glory for what he has blessed us with. Especially the fact that we are returning to the land I grew up on, to try and give back to it what God desires.

So without the usual technical play by play, here are some pictures of the process and results for illustration.

Recently, as we come and go from the farm, we have started to see more and more deer. Of note, was a young doe that seemed to be as curious about us as we were about her. She seemed to not be very skittish and would watch us intently as we slowly drove past. It seems the deer feel safe in our area because we are surrounded by private property, and no one in the area hunts (at least to my knowledge). So the deer have adopted the area as a refuge. Such amazing, beautiful, and gentle creatures they are, and we are honored they feel safe enough to share our space. 

GOD is good.

All the time.

And all the time GOD is good!

As always, thanks for reading and GOD  BLESS!!

Originally posted June 5, 2023

With any journey through life, it can be said there are but two paths. The path of least resistance, which most of the time leads to an acceptable outcome. Then there is the road less traveled, the more arduous journey, the uphill climb, which always leads to a destination of greater beauty and accomplishment. I have not always chosen the more difficult path in life, but as of late I find it to be the preferred path. 

I’ve always been a fan of the old timber framed buildings, with the artistry of their design. Every board is cut and placed with intention, and every piece supports the other. I try to adhere to that mindset, believing that the skeleton of a building is equally, if not more, important that the final appearance of the interior. With a very  specific idea in mind for the geometry of the upper wall edge and ceiling, I knew the carpentry wouldn’t be easy, but I did understand how it would be possible. With some determination, sweat, and one or two bruises, we were rewarded with exactly what we wanted.

The goal was to leave the angled braces of the original steel structure exposed, to create an architectural accent. In order to achieve this, the upper level of the side walls had to be assembled in smaller separate pieces rather than in longer continuous sections. That, coupled with the fact that in several spots the insulation had to be cut back to allow the wall to be level, slowed the process down a bit. In the end though, it worked out perfectly.

With the side walls completed, the rest of the upstairs could be framed out, and the ceiling framing was partially completed.

On a technical note, I have become intrigued by the utility of pocket screws. They became the most effective way to join the upper side wall sections together, due to the orientation of the studs.

Additionally, I decided they would be better than nailing the ceiling rafters in place. First, to avoid any splitting of the timber, which occasionally happens regardless of how careful one can be with a nail gun. Secondly, the use of the screws effectively locks the ceiling parts together into one solid piece when done. Even though a bit less time efficient, the payoff is a stronger build that acts like a solid, resonant structure… much like a piano. 

We are so happy with the progress, and grateful to GOD for showing us the path and keeping us safe along the way.

Thanks for reading and GOD bless you all!