Recent News of the work on rebuilding the Bar B :
Updated 4/25/09
Well so much for all the best laid plans, although here is what did get done. In late May the local high school FFA (Future Farmers of America) and their two faculty sponsors came up to the Bar B and spent two weekends first cutting out the fallen burnt logs from the areas of the old burnt water pipe line which had melted. That was a big job. Then the next weekend, they came up, hauled the rolls of plastic water pipe in and un-rolled each one and staked them to the side of the canyon so the water would come out by gravity flow. They also hooked the pipe up to the head-gate in the creek and made sure that it came through the pipe in a full head (1 ¼ inch) before they hooked up the next 150 ft. length of pipe. Tedious and hard work but they got the water coming out and down to the still remaining (fire untouched) large water storage tanks. This was about a mile in length. There are no photographs of that process as I was trying to work and help.
The next process was cutting all the burnt timber/trees around where the Bar B structures had been and bulldozing the remains of the buildings into the basement hole of the old lodge which had burned to the ground.. Most of the metal was hauled off beforehand but there were concrete foundations and small stuff. By that time my caretaker from last year, Andy, and the two sons (Doug and Jake) of a long time old friend, Lisa Buck Di Candia, had arrived and were hard at work. The photographs here are dated and will give you an idea of the progress of the work this summer.
The early work with the cut tree stumps out there was depressing. But then Tony Carroccia, my nephew and contractor, began to remove the stumps and smooth over the ground and it looked much better.
We had problems with logs for the structures as a logger we had contracted with dropped out to go fight fires in southern California without letting us know in a timely fashion. So we lost about six weeks. But Doug and Andy were building the two lean-tos and the “outhouse” in the meantime. Then Tony began cutting logs on private property way behind mine but the logs weren’t really dry. And it took a long time for him to cut them and haul them down himself to the sawmill he had set up behind the remains of my barn. Plus each time he dragged a bunch of logs out very often the branches would destroy that section of the water pipeline and he would then have to repair the line. So I found a new logger and bought logs that he delivered.
Then Doug left to go back home August 3 and Andy left August 24 ( about three weeks early). So then the work crew was down to Tony and Grayson , a young man he hired. Grayson had to leave after a month.
I think the photographs will illustrate the progress. Note also that they are dated. As the weather warms up at the Bar B this spring Tony will continue stacking logs for the kitchen, store room and dining room area. A new load of logs will be delivered to rebuild the barn. Hopefully most of that will be done by June, but we will see. So far the weather has been very snowy this spring. We got a 1 ½ feet at the Home Ranch and probably 2 feet at the Bar B two days ago so it will be some time before it is dry enough after the snow melts to get up there to work. When a person is in a hurry it seems like there is always something to slow you down.
Thank you for your interest and for your support. I continue to be grateful.
Andy, Doug and Jake. The Crew, 6/23/08
Burned lodge complex seen from my babin, 6/23/08
Clearing burnt trees, 6/23/08
Old shop room concrete pad, tin and junk at the dining room, 6/23/08
Stumps. Bath house debris in foreground, 6/23/08
Lodge basement remains, 6/23/08
Lodge basement, same view - different angle, 6/23/08
Continuing stump removal, 6/25/08
First Lean-to, 6/28/08
Tony removes stump, 6/29/08
Bathhouse footings, 7/23/08
Kitchen and dining room foundation, 7/23/08
First Lean-to and outhouse, 7/23/08
Second lean-to starts, 7/24/08
First lean-to and outhouse, 8/17/08
Bathhouse, Lit.-DR, Lean-to outhouse, 9/28/08
Kitchen, storeroom and dining room, 9/28/08
Bath house and second lean-to, 9/28/08
Outhouse fixed, 9/28/08
Outhouse porch, 9/28/08
Stacking logs, 10/1/08
Bathhouse roof rafters, 10/8/08
Bathhouse progress, 11/1/08
Bathhouse porch, 11/15/08
Bathhouse and Laundry, 12/1/08
Bathhouse laundry porch, 12/1/08
Almost finished, 12/1/08
Promise of the seasons, 8/17/08
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