Apologies to Beefy

[cypressfarms]

Beefy was probably laughing, knowing him, when he said that it irritated him when some members like myself and a couple others seem to disappear from time to time.This is true, and I wish to extend my sincerest apologies to my fellow Beefmaster buddy.

Here's what I've been looking at for the last three months:

a house that needed roof repairs and other misc. stuff but at least it's still standing

the local co-op who had some bad luck with a corn silo

my barn, which no longer exists

Oh, and 25 whole trees downed from that danged storm. Gustav's eye passed just west of us. Every tree on the property lost branches, but 25 whole trees were uprooted or snapped. Mostly native pecans 100+ years old.

I've prepared a report for the local FSA (USDA) office listing everything in case their is some sort of disaster assistance, but I'm too middle class to get that type of support. They tell me by January I might know if I qualify. The barn is a complete loss, homeowners policy won't cover it because I had hay in it, the USDA won't cover it either. Anyone know how to build a barn that'll hold 100 round bales cheap???

Every fence had damage to it. About half of the paddocks are still unusable. The only thing that's helping me is that the cows are pretty tame. They've gotten out 3 times since the storm, but I've been able to bring them back in by pulling a feed trough.

At least the ryegrass is looking good. All of the hay (although I do have enough) is out in the weather - really had no choice.

Beefy's right though. I should keep in touch. It would have made the days a little lighter to see who's arguing over which bull looks better.

 

[TheBullLady]

Wow.. what a mess! My condolences... I can't imagine that kind of catastrophe, although there are a lot of Texan's that are trying to live through it. It does make a lot of the petty squabbling seem pretty unimportant, in the scheme of things.

 

[Beefy]

Hey Cypressfarms, i didnt know you were hit! whats all that junk on the side of the house? skeeters?

 

[Joy of Texas]

Oh wow you have been busy. I am sorry for your loss,but happy no one was hurt.If I lived closer I would come and help.

 

[cypressfarms]

Hey Cypressfarms, i didnt know you were hit! whats all that junk on the side of the house? skeeters?

Yep, we caught the east side of the eyewall. The only time that I've ever been scared during a hurricane, and I've been through Katrina and a bunch others. I actually made the whole family go into the "family room" because it's not close to any trees. My girls were kind of freaking out. The pic is of our house (the back) and that's leaves stuck to the side. The wind was so strong that leaves (and everything else) were blowing sideways. The barn made it through the first direction of wind, but the east wind demolished it. A lot of people don't realize who haven't been through a hurricane - but the winds can start from one direction and then change, sometimes twice, dependant upon your position in reference to the eye. For Gustav the wind first came from the south, then the east, and finally the west.

Most of the 25 trees that were downed looked like this:

It is kind of depressing when you ride up to where a fence is supposed to be to find below. At least the big trunk you see (a huge pecan tree) fell away from the fence. Oh yeah, and d.d. the dalmation made it through fine also.

 

[smallrancher]

My deepest condolences. I feel very bad for you. That is sincere! If you rebuild where you currently are, do not expect the same from me again. I repeat, I really do empathize with you, but this is your one chance, do not rebuild and expect me to feel it again. MOVE!!!!

 

[dcara]

My deepest condolences. I feel very bad for you. That is sincere! If you rebuild where you currently are, do not expect the same from me again. I repeat, I really do empathize with you, but this is your one chance, do not rebuild and expect me to feel it again. MOVE!!!!

My parents live in Hot Springs, AR and suffered downed tree damage from Ike. Are they supposed to move to? How about everyone in tornado alley? Then there is all those folks in the whole western half that are at the mercy of, earth quakes, mud slides, fires, vollcanos. The midwest and east are flood prone, the north can have blizard conditions (to us Texans thats any wind chill below +30F). Maybe we could all become a tribe of seasonal nomadic ranchers. If you haven't had to deal with any loss from a natural disaster consider yourself lucky. However, I do think it is fool hardy not to take whatever precautions you can against the higher probability possibilities for your area. Building a beach house on the gulf coast I had always thought was crazy. Then I saw a picture of a lone standing beach house with only minor damage in a completely devastated area after a hurricane. It had previously been destroyed and the owner had it rebuilt to withstand a hurricane. Sometimes you just have to pay your money and take your chances.

 

[dun]

I thought the house with what looked like holes all over it was from hail damage. That's the way ours looked a couple of years ago.

 

[cypressfarms]

What do you consider cheap? Under 10,000? I built a 40X60 hay shed without the sides for 9,500 dollars. I had a friend who owns a construction company order the materials at a discounted rate though.

I'm a woodworker, and will probably rebuild the barn myself with the help of some hired hands. I built the original barn - it was made entirely out of 12" wide cypress boards. I got lucky and was able to get about 40 commericial type metal sheets all 20 feet long (the kind used for businesses) dirt cheap at $200. It's used, but I can fill in the holes with larger sheet metal screws. I'll have to buy 10 or so telephone poles and start over. It won't happen overnight, but I have all winter to work on it. Also found some metal c channels to work with as well. Much of the cypress from the original barn is salvagable, so I'll use that as well. I just don't have the money to spend to "buy" a nice barn, but since god gave me some woodworking skills, I'm going use some good 'ol sweat equity with the new barn.

Thanks to everyone for their well wishes. I didn't post to get sympathy. As bad as we had it, the people in Galveston and the gulf coast of southeast Texas had it worse. There is always something to be thankful for. And no, I would never move. We live a couple hours drive inland from the coast, so I consider us relatively safe. Why leave paradise?

 

[Angus Cowman]

hey heres an idea you might find helpful on those holes and cheaper than screws put the metal up and get inside on a bright day and take a tube of good silicone and squirt it in the holes I did this about 5 yrs ago and no leaks yet

sorry for your loss I have been thru 2 tornadoes like you the house wasn't damaged to bad

 

[BeefmasterB]

hey heres an idea you might find helpful on those holes and cheaper than screws put the metal up and get inside on a bright day and take a tube of good silicone and squirt it in the holes I did this about 5 yrs ago and no leaks yet

sorry for your loss I have been thru 2 tornadoes like you the house wasn't damaged to bad

Beefy - I agree with A.C. Repair it all. You still have a lot of structure standing. It's a nice place and you have put a lot of work into it. I've been looking for a new place too and the cost of land with structures built is astronomical! You might come out ahead by just paying for more insurance. I have been through some hurricanes too - it's best to evacuate.

 

[Workinonit Farm]

:shock: Wow! Sorry to see/hear that Cypress. Those dang winds can be rough. Now I know why you hadn't posted much.

We had a 'microburst' experience a couple of years ago. Sounded like a small freight-train. Had no idea what was happening. Barn lost part of the roof, one side of the weatherboarding, 10 trees, half the roof off the corn-crib, some siding from the house and some fence boards. I'd hate to see waht a mega-burst would do :lol: .

Good luck with the re-build. I too thought the spots in the house were holes from hail.

Katherine

 

[bigbull338]

yes you got hitt real hard by the storm.just dont work yourself to death doing all the repairs an rebuilding things.

 

[Horticattleman]

My deepest condolences. I feel very bad for you. That is sincere! If you rebuild where you currently are, do not expect the same from me again. I repeat, I really do empathize with you, but this is your one chance, do not rebuild and expect me to feel it again. MOVE!!!!

So lets say there is a little twister up in ole Minnesooooota. Your house gets leveled. You gonna pick-up and move? Probably not. What if you lose power in an ice storm you gonna say the heck with it and haul tail to somewhere else. Everywhere has there problems, but only one place is home.

He lives a considerable distance from the coast, as do I. We never see this much damage except this was a different storm. He wasn't asking you for any sympathy or looking to cry on your shoulder.

p.s. You're an idiot!

 

[cypressfarms]

My deepest condolences. I feel very bad for you. That is sincere! If you rebuild where you currently are, do not expect the same from me again. I repeat, I really do empathize with you, but this is your one chance, do not rebuild and expect me to feel it again. MOVE!!!!

So lets say there is a little twister up in ole Minnesooooota. Your house gets leveled. You gonna pick-up and move? Probably not. What if you lose power in an ice storm you gonna say the heck with it and haul tail to somewhere else. Everywhere has there problems, but only one place is home.

He lives a considerable distance from the coast, as do I. We never see this much damage except this was a different storm. He wasn't asking you for any sympathy or looking to cry on your shoulder.

p.s. You're an idiot!

Horti,

I don't think that smallrancher had any malice in his/her comments. I guess it's easy for someone to say pack up, but would I ever? Nope. If you mapquest New Roads Louisiana (actually I'm on the Ventress side of False River) you'll see that we're a good ways from the coast. Now living in New Orleans is one thing - hey it's a bowl for pete's sake, but we're well away from the coast. I'm northwest of BatonRouge, I guess the whole state capital should move. Also north of Houston, guess they should all move to somewhere farther north. Same with most gulf coast large cities. Truth is where we live is pretty free of natural disasters. No earthquakes, not tornado alley, no noreasters, it doesn't get too cold, we get plenty of rain from the gulf moisture - I really like it. To each their own. I 've had the pleasure to visit most of this great country (even Minnesota), and each place has something good about it.

No, I wasn't asking for sympathy - I really did feel bad for not visiting in so long, and beefy called me out on it - which he should have!

Just don't ask me to say that any other part of the country has better food than we do - I'm cajun and proud of it. There is no better cuisine.

 

[kenny thomas]

I worked with a hurricane response team (not FEMA)in boumount tx after Hurricane Ike, and have worked a few others. I saw heavy damage many places with some others nearby with minimal damage or none at all. I traveled through Lousiana and saw areas destroyed and some untouched so who knows where to go. I have seen heavy damage in the mountains of Virginia 200 miles from the coast. You just have to do the best with what you have and seems you are doing that well. Good luck with the repairs.
I thought that was love bugs on the house. For anyone who doesn't know what Love bugs are, it is a southern thing and a topic for another post.

 

[jedstivers]

[
I thought that was love bugs on the house. For anyone who doesn't know what Love bugs are, it is a southern thing and a topic for another post.[/quote]
I thought love bugs had 8 legs and came from real close contact?