So over the fall we had some spare time, so what did I decide to do? Yep, complete a project or two! The first one was upgrading our shooting range area. We have an area on the lower pasture that we shoot handguns, there is a nice backstop and it is easy to walk down to when the road is muddy and you cant drive down. But, it was time to upgrade the target stands and make it a little more fun.

I sank two pressure treated 6×6 posts into the ground, then lag bolted 2×6 pressure treated boards horizontally across the top of each post. I drilled 5/8″ holes every 12″ through both 2×6’s, and slipped a 12″ piece of rebar through both boards in each hole. This is where I hang the targets, and can easily add or remove targets, or move them left or right. Currently we have a 12″ and 8″ steel target, and square backer board for attaching paper targets to. Over time we will add more steel targets, cause they are just FUN to shoot.

The second project was a small project, but coming off the heels of some bad weather and the risk of losing power, we decided to add some additional water storage in case of extended power outage. We took some food-grade 55 gallon plastic barrels, installed some brass water spigots in the bottom and sealed them with silicone sealant. I placed them on cinder blocks so I could easily place 5 gallon buckets under the spigots to fill them hands-free.

I have wanted to add some water collection barrels to our gutter downspouts for quite some time. Maybe that will be a project we get to next summer. But for now, we are pretty happy with these, and have plenty of water stored up if we ever lose power for more than a few hours.

Later from the farm!

Michael