barns and mills and trucks and...

here's a few from where i think i actually belong on planet earth (but will have to wait until the kids have flown the coop to get there):

vaughan, nm

ghost ranch

el rito, nm

Ok here is a random few

Just South of Alpine, on the Kokernot 06 ranch.

The tree house a client let us use to stay in while surveying their ranch in the hill country of Texas

The gatepost to the owners little beach on the Canadian River in the Texas Panhandle

This old house was located South of Alpine, TX, and was home to a Texas Ranger in the 1910's. He owned the first automobile in that end of the world, the story goes.

a lone windmill on the prairie in the Canadian River Basin, Panhandle of Texas

And, last, the B&B at Canadian, TX, which was in the opening and closing scenes of the movie "Castaway"

[USER=11913]@Monte[/USER]
In the windmill pic is that a "spa" or a very fancy "waterin' hole? The stonework is beautiful. 😎

The treehouse is awesome!

In the windmill photo there appears to be an object near the far wall of the tank fairly close to the left side of it. Directly above that, on the horizon, is something. Maybe it's a tower of some sort. Whatever it is, it is a long distance from the windmill. I try to imagine the persistence that the early travelers had to have to keep themselves going forward across what seemed to be an endless sea. It may have taken several days for a wagon train to move from the site of the windmill to the site where that thing on the horizon is located today.

The treehouse is particularly interesting. That rock chimney is placing a tremendous load on those spindly timbers beneath it.

I'm reminded of the Farmers Insurance commercial with the "truckcicle" story. That's the one with the guy who drives out onto the ice with his truck to do some ice fishing.

Great photos.

Holy Cow, post: 413593, member: 50 wrote: The treehouse is particularly interesting. That rock chimney is placing a tremendous load on those spindly timbers beneath it.

I'm reminded of the Farmers Insurance commercial with the "truckcicle" story. That's the one with the guy who drives out onto the ice with his truck to do some ice fishing.

If you look real close it looks like there is some channel iron used for support of the cantilever deck and the chimney.

Holy Cow, post: 413593, member: 50 wrote: The treehouse is particularly interesting. That rock chimney is placing a tremendous load on those spindly timbers beneath it.

I'm reminded of the Farmers Insurance commercial with the "truckcicle" story. That's the one with the guy who drives out onto the ice with his truck to do some ice fishing.

I bet that the fireplace is what we call stick-on stone. It's a light weight, thin, stone veneer that builders like because it doesn't require the support of brick or real stone.

Thanks for the comments on the pics.The stonework around the tank on the windmill well, the rancher is kinda well known, and this windmill is on the main road from the highway, so he wanted it to look nice. The object in the background is a drilling rig, oilfield work everywhere on that place. The treehouse was indeed supported by large channel iron crossmembers under the wooden floor, but the fireplace was real rock, all collected from the ranch.

[USER=11913]@Monte[/USER]

I'm still amazed with the tree house. Along the right side of the house I see three vertical pillars made of timber but there is probably a fourth one. I can only see the front one of the three or four along the left side of the house. There appear to be four pillars supporting the stonework. I see the ends of the channel irons providing horizontal members for the house/deck but I do not see any steel going vertically into the ground. So, I see only six or eight pillars supporting the house/deck plus four pillars supporting the stonework.

Loxahatchee, FL. I will admit I turned it black and white, but standing there this is what it looked like in my head. Old Goat House

"Old Goat House"

And all this time I thought he lived in Altamonte Springs. Learn something new every day around this place.

Monte, post: 413486, member: 11913 wrote: This old house was located South of Alpine, TX, and was home to a Texas Ranger in the 1910's. He owned the first automobile in that end of the world, the story goes.

I assume that was on the Nevill Ranch near Elephant Mountain aka the Chalk Valley Ranch?

I like to photograph county courthouses. Some of them are more difficult subjects than others, but most depend upon the light and the time of day. Probably the most inconsequential courthouse, as buildings go, is the Edwards County Courthouse in Rocksprings:

Yes, I'm sure that painting that American flag on the propane tank was cheaper than actually repairing the structure itself, but that's Edwards County.

And there's the old Blanco County Courthouse in Blanco that's the twin of that for Concho County in Paint Rock, both designed and built by the Ruffini brothers using plans (that they boosted from someone else).

Just as a reminder, this is the Concho County Courthouse:

Here are a few more Texas county courthouses, starting with Eastland County's great edifice in WPA Neo-Federal style:

I thought that the Mills County Courthouse was a tough choice between the old honcho mesquite that had obviously been there before the courthouse was built and the somewhat generic building behind it.

I was just driving through on my way to another county, but at least I shot both versions:

just saw the edwards county courthouse for the first time a couple months ago. that has to be the sleepiest town square i've ever seen (which includes a good bit of the midwest).

Holy Cow, post: 413890, member: 50 wrote: [USER=11913]@Monte[/USER]

I'm still amazed with the tree house. Along the right side of the house I see three vertical pillars made of timber but there is probably a fourth one. I can only see the front one of the three or four along the left side of the house. There appear to be four pillars supporting the stonework. I see the ends of the channel irons providing horizontal members for the house/deck but I do not see any steel going vertically into the ground. So, I see only six or eight pillars supporting the house/deck plus four pillars supporting the stonework.

I will search the files, and see if we have some more pics, and ask the guy who was with me, I was more impressed with sleeping under a roof, above the critters, and so I did not look all that carefully at the supports for the building. I also recall there was no electricity, the refrigerator and lights all ran off of propane.

Kent McMillan, post: 413935, member: 3 wrote: I assume that was on the Nevill Ranch near Elephant Mountain aka the Chalk Valley Ranch?

The ranch was in the process of changing owners when I was there, and as for what it was called, I was not told, but yes, it is just west of Elephant Mountain. Or, it was, Google Earth shows this old place to have been torn down. The house was in the head of a draw, sort of, along the bottom of Tres Mesas, with a nice water well, and a large shade tree. It had a nice view of the valley to the southeast.