One of my first jobs I gave my hired man, Sparky was to nail the floor boards down on a loft we were putting in the old barn. The joist were already in place, so thinking it was impossible to mess up, I left Sparky to the task as I went on to other chores. An hour later, I came back to check on Sparky and noticed nails sticking down through the boards every where not even hitting the joist. I asked how can you miss them when you can see them. Frustrated I left again scratching my head. Later I returned and to my surprise not another nail had missed the joist. I asked what happened. To this Sparky replies; I figured out that if the nail drives in hard all the way then it hit the joist. (Important tip for all you contractors)
Even a simple task such as having Sparky digging a post hole can turn into a disaster. How can anyone mess up digging a hole you may ask! For Sparky it comes natural. The post hole was to be dug to replace a post into the corral. I had already cut the length of the boards which was shortened to accommodate the wider gate in the fence. I even started digging the post hole so nothing could go wrong. All Sparky had to do was dig a hole 10” diameter straight down to 3 feet deep. To this task, I now left Sparky unattended. An hour later I returned to find Sparky still not done digging. How deep is the hole I asked? Looking at me like my bubble was slightly off center, he replays; All the way to the bottom. I had left the chain saw setting close by and the ends of the fence boards were bothering him so he cut about 8” off the boards. Now the boards couldn’t reach the post. We couldn’t move the post as it had to accommodate the gate. I ended up finishing the hole, setting the post, and then I had to nail 2X6 boards on the side of the post to nail the corral boards to. Sparky claimed that this would make the fence much stronger. (Important tip for all you engineers)
Big Valley Longhorn Ranch 