No, the eagle wasn't wearing my pants. I was milling logs with Sid and Constable Bob this afternoon and Bob pointed out a bald eagle circling low overhead. My, what a beautiful creature! I just stared at it for a few moments. I was so mesmerized, it never even occurred to me to dash to Sid's outhouse and realize the dream I just shared yesterday.
I had a really nice time milling logs with Sid and Bob today. I took a bunch of pictures but I don't have my camera cord with me to transfer files, plus I'm on a borrowed computer. I'll post some soon though.
Joel just walked by and told me I smell like red pine. He is correct, that was the last species I worked with today. We moved a bunch of red pine logs and the bark was wet and sloughing off, as the logs had been sitting a while. I noticed today while we were milling some Norway pine that the smell immediately brought back memories of my first job when I was 15 years old peeling the bark off of Norway pine logs with my cousins in northern Minnesota.
The sun shined hot today, the pace was mellow, and watching Bob run the mill was really fun. Now it's past 10 PM and I'm scheduled to have a breakfast of bacon with Sid in the morning from a locally raised pig which he slaughtered himself. Eggs and potatoes are on the menu as well. For that, I'm perfectly pleased to lay off my daily peanut butter-banana smoothie breakfast tradition for one day. He told me today as we dined on a roast he barbecued, "We pretty much live off the land around here, Jon." I had just commented on a jar of canned smoked fish he had sitting on his shelf made from a board milled from a log harvested from Cousin Paul's land.
So off to bed I go, though there is much to tell. So much happens in one day here. A simple conversation with any number of friendly locals tends to be an adventure in itself! OK, one anecdote before bed: Sid told me today, "Be careful if ya go over to Ernie's. If the gate is closed, ya never wanna enter. Heck, I've had him fire gunshots over my head several times!" And Sid is pals with Ernie; they go to church together! All I could say was, "I'm pretty sure I'd stop going over there after the first time."
Friday, July 9, 2010
Thursday, July 8, 2010
A Word on Toilets
Many of you may have a burning curiosity about how people in the Northwoods go to the bathroom. Most of them use toilets. I however, have a dream of relaxing in the woods on top of a bucket with the ever-present possibility of an eagle flying into view mid-business. There is a book called the Humanure Handbook (http://humanurehandbook.com/store/LOVEABLE-LOO-Eco-Toilet.html) which tells all about how to create a composting toilet using a very simple Do It Yourself system made of items easily found at any hardware store. If I were the only one to ever use my toilet, that's just what I'd have. But my better sensibility (and Minnesota state law) tells me my guests and future potential buyers of my house might prefer something that makes poop disappear. So my immediate plan is to build a traditional bathroom linked to traditional septic system, and somewhere down the line to have my dream outhouse built in the woods beyond sniffin' distance of the cabin. In the meantime, I'll bird-watch with my pants on.
Here's an artist's rendition of me in five years with age progression projected proportionally to the severity of Minnesota winters:
Here's an artist's rendition of me in five years with age progression projected proportionally to the severity of Minnesota winters:
Plant a Post, Grow a Cabin??
Today was a really nice mix of leisure and productivity; I got stuff done, and really enjoyed myself too! Paul cooked pancakes and bacon for breakfast before we headed up to Bemidji to run errands. On our way out, we grabbed a couple fans to ventilate beneath Paul's house where there is still a bit of moisture.
In Bemidji, we went to Home Depot and I tried to buy some really thick wires to connect my meter base to my breaker sub-panel. I wasn't able to purchase the wire because the guy who helped me decided to give it to me for free! Score! I saved five bucks. I've heard you can't save money by spending money, but today I might have...
We headed over to the electricity co-op and I turned in a form, paid a $41 fee, and was told I'd have electricity connected and functioning within 2 weeks! Awesome, that will really facilitate construction. In the meantime, Paul has offered to lend me a little generator he has.
We grabbed a quick lunch before we headed out to my lot. It was a good thing Paul was with me today because I tried to miss every single turn on the way there! My brain really just wanted to drive in a straight line today. Despite frequent jamming of the brake pedal, we soon enough arrived. We unloaded tools and materials and got ready to dig a post-hole for my electrical panel. I took the digging tool and poked at the dirt for a while, thinking about how this was seeming a whole lot like work and feeling much warmer out than anticipated. For some unknowable reason, I thought I could do this job without even changing into work clothes. Pshhhh, as if. While I was wondering how long this job was going to take, Paul confiscated the post-hole digger, slammed in, and had me a more-than-sufficient hole dug in about 90 seconds. I was like, "Oh, that was easier than I was going to make it."
We stuck the post in the hole and I threw some dirt in around it as Paul used the sledge hammer handle to tamp the soil. Then I took an 8 foot copper rod and beat it into the ground using a T-post driver. Once it was in, I clamped the ground wire from my meter right to it, thus providing the actual ground connection, in case you've ever wondered why it's called a ground wire.
Here I am ready to drive the grounding rod while standing upon what may look like an upended common five gallon bucket, but which I have re-purposed as a "redneck ladder". I swiped it from the barn this morning and plan to keep it on the lot because real ladders are kind of expensive. Do you think I'll be able to reach the rafters?
Installing the grounding rod.
Paul finishing the grounding rod job with the sledge.
While Paul hooked up my free main wires, I went down in the pit and removed the form boards from the outside of the footing. That was so much more work than I had imagined it would be. I definitely dirtied up my Brothers of the Third Wheel formal T-shirt. Paul helped me get the last of the boards and then we dropped off the fans at the lab so Joel could throw them under the house later.
Back in Backus (my new favorite phrase), Curt, Marion, and Sid were over for a dinner visit. Tonight Curt agreed to take Lynea and I fishing during her visit! Paul fired the grill while I got in a raucous tumble on the trampoline with the kids. We took turns three at a time and had chasing, bouncing while hand holding, dog piles, and some tickle fights in which I did not participate. The meal was amazing; Melanie made a chunky, juicy avocado salsa which I ate over her rice and Paul's chicken. Plus we had fresh blueberries.
Most of the grown-ups ate in the dining room, but I accepted an invitation to eat with the little ones outside. They were definitely on their parents-aren't-looking behavior and we had lots of fun and laughter. After the eating portion of events, more grown-ups joined us out on the patio and I got to visit with Sid and Curt. I really admired Sid when Caleb's frustration with siblings drove him to wailing tears and Sid had him laughing out loud within ten seconds.
Tomorrow I get to make good on my work trade with Sid by helping him mill some lumber. Sid felled a bunch of pine trees that were on Paul's lot near mine, and tomorrow he's renting a band sawmill for cutting lumber. I'm really looking forward to helping out with that because I've always wanted to see how a mill turns trees into boards. I come from a family of many sawmill workers and don't know a thing about it.
We made our way inside and all the adults gathered in the living room. We chatted away as 5 year-old Malachi slipped bendy straws into our hands while the young ladies prepared treats in the kitchen. Everyone had a root beer float delivered by Rachel and I even got a special non-dairy one with soy ice cream in it. Yum yum!
In Bemidji, we went to Home Depot and I tried to buy some really thick wires to connect my meter base to my breaker sub-panel. I wasn't able to purchase the wire because the guy who helped me decided to give it to me for free! Score! I saved five bucks. I've heard you can't save money by spending money, but today I might have...
We headed over to the electricity co-op and I turned in a form, paid a $41 fee, and was told I'd have electricity connected and functioning within 2 weeks! Awesome, that will really facilitate construction. In the meantime, Paul has offered to lend me a little generator he has.
We grabbed a quick lunch before we headed out to my lot. It was a good thing Paul was with me today because I tried to miss every single turn on the way there! My brain really just wanted to drive in a straight line today. Despite frequent jamming of the brake pedal, we soon enough arrived. We unloaded tools and materials and got ready to dig a post-hole for my electrical panel. I took the digging tool and poked at the dirt for a while, thinking about how this was seeming a whole lot like work and feeling much warmer out than anticipated. For some unknowable reason, I thought I could do this job without even changing into work clothes. Pshhhh, as if. While I was wondering how long this job was going to take, Paul confiscated the post-hole digger, slammed in, and had me a more-than-sufficient hole dug in about 90 seconds. I was like, "Oh, that was easier than I was going to make it."
We stuck the post in the hole and I threw some dirt in around it as Paul used the sledge hammer handle to tamp the soil. Then I took an 8 foot copper rod and beat it into the ground using a T-post driver. Once it was in, I clamped the ground wire from my meter right to it, thus providing the actual ground connection, in case you've ever wondered why it's called a ground wire.
Here I am ready to drive the grounding rod while standing upon what may look like an upended common five gallon bucket, but which I have re-purposed as a "redneck ladder". I swiped it from the barn this morning and plan to keep it on the lot because real ladders are kind of expensive. Do you think I'll be able to reach the rafters?
Installing the grounding rod.
Paul finishing the grounding rod job with the sledge.
While Paul hooked up my free main wires, I went down in the pit and removed the form boards from the outside of the footing. That was so much more work than I had imagined it would be. I definitely dirtied up my Brothers of the Third Wheel formal T-shirt. Paul helped me get the last of the boards and then we dropped off the fans at the lab so Joel could throw them under the house later.
Back in Backus (my new favorite phrase), Curt, Marion, and Sid were over for a dinner visit. Tonight Curt agreed to take Lynea and I fishing during her visit! Paul fired the grill while I got in a raucous tumble on the trampoline with the kids. We took turns three at a time and had chasing, bouncing while hand holding, dog piles, and some tickle fights in which I did not participate. The meal was amazing; Melanie made a chunky, juicy avocado salsa which I ate over her rice and Paul's chicken. Plus we had fresh blueberries.
Most of the grown-ups ate in the dining room, but I accepted an invitation to eat with the little ones outside. They were definitely on their parents-aren't-looking behavior and we had lots of fun and laughter. After the eating portion of events, more grown-ups joined us out on the patio and I got to visit with Sid and Curt. I really admired Sid when Caleb's frustration with siblings drove him to wailing tears and Sid had him laughing out loud within ten seconds.
Tomorrow I get to make good on my work trade with Sid by helping him mill some lumber. Sid felled a bunch of pine trees that were on Paul's lot near mine, and tomorrow he's renting a band sawmill for cutting lumber. I'm really looking forward to helping out with that because I've always wanted to see how a mill turns trees into boards. I come from a family of many sawmill workers and don't know a thing about it.
We made our way inside and all the adults gathered in the living room. We chatted away as 5 year-old Malachi slipped bendy straws into our hands while the young ladies prepared treats in the kitchen. Everyone had a root beer float delivered by Rachel and I even got a special non-dairy one with soy ice cream in it. Yum yum!
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
Lots of Good News
Note to readers: In case you haven't figured it out, if you click on my pictures below, they get bigger. Once you're viewing them in an expanded view, you have the option to click once again to zoom in even further! They are loaded as really large images which is excellent for viewing details in what may appear to be my small pictures.
Again the last couple days have been super fun with very exciting progress! The weather DID cooperate and my concrete footing has been poured successfully. I was so happy Joel was able to come over and help me get the concrete done correctly; he has lots of experience. And Joel was so happy too! Not because he was privileged to do heavy manual labor with me, but because he was hired yesterday as an intern in Walker Minnesota working in Geographic Information Systems which is his college major. Way to go Joel, I hope you enjoy your new career!
I got so much done yesterday, it's hard to believe I had a late start. I just wasn't feeling like having an early morning, so I took it easy and didn't arrive at my lot till 10:45. That was cutting it a bit close because I had an 11 o'clock appointment with an engineer to have my electrical line location staked out. On my way up, the engineer called wondering if I'd be early, as he was, and he had all the work done by the time I arrived. He staked the proposed wire routing according to a drawing I had submitted with my application. When I climbed down from my truck, Kevin the engineer looked from my license plate up to me and said, "Jon, I hope you didn't drive all the way from California to meet me here this morning!" My laughter was a great way to start work for the day! Especially because I was a bit freaked out to commit to where my power source will be located when I still haven't figured out exactly how my cabin will be laid out. Kevin helped me make a decision and even explained to me how to cheat the system a bit. If I put my electrical meter on a post now, he says I can locate it several feet beyond where I'll put it on the house after the pit gets filled in and the extra wire they install will be enough to reach my house. So it's going where it's going, and I'll make it work with my floor plan (or I'll make my floor plan work with it, not sure which, ha!).
So Kevin took off pretty quickly, but not before Randy showed up again with a dump truck full of dirt and gravel for my driveway. Seeing Randy work got me thinking about how it's part of the common way here for families to work together their whole lives. Randy learned the business from his father and when I watch him work the dirt, it shows that he's been at it his whole life. Now Randy is trying to pass Vojak Excavation, Becida, MN along to his son who is really good at it too, but apparently reluctant. I find it to be a bit of a shame that he doesn't embrace the good fortune of having a business handed to him, but then, you couldn't pay me enough to be a tractor operator. And also, I could never be a salesman, sorry Dad!
On his second dirt delivery, I told Randy I had a concrete truck scheduled to arrive in the afternoon. He replied, "Yeeah, I know that, that's why I'm here! We'll getcha a couple more loads of dirt, and then bring in the Bobcat to get 'er all buffed out before your truck arrives." I forgot I had mentioned in passing last week that this was the day I'd be pouring my footing. I forgot, but Randy didn't. He made sure the concrete truck would have a driveway that was good enough to not only get into my cabin site, but to also get out!
This is a very exciting photo for me as yesterday marked the first time I was able to drive onto my lot!
While Randy and his son made 45 yards of dirt look pretty over the next couple hours, I finished preparing the footing. I added three boards to complete the form, and then dug out the inside of the footing with a shovel to make sure it was level. The amount of concrete ordered is calculated by the width, depth, and length of the forms so if I dug down too much or not enough, we would end up with the wrong amount of concrete. I was very careful and got everything as level as I could with crude implements. It required at least an hour of digging to get it right and I felt so grateful that my body had been broken-in working in masonry the past couple weeks. If that had been my first shoveling project of the summer, I may have died. Then I employed my newly learned skill of bending and installing re-bar and again I felt gratitude. It was the first day I spent time working on my house alone and I felt so proud and empowered to be actively pursuing a dream.
Here is the finished form with my re-bar in place:
I finished the preparation with about fifteen minutes to spare for a nice little rest in the shade before the concrete truck arrived. In that short time-window, I planted the stake where my address sign post will go. Pretty soon I'll have a shiny blue sign with my very own number on it :-) Joel showed up, gave me his good news, and before we knew it, concrete was a-flowin'! The plan was to have the truck back in and use a chute to get concrete as far in as possible. Then we would fill the wheelbarrow as many times as needed to get concrete to the far reaches of my 20 by 24 ft. footing. The driver informed us we needn't work so hard and could put that shovel down unless we really badly wanted to work. He was amazing; he pulled his hulking concrete truck into three corners I wouldn't have wanted to drive a bulldozer (but then, I already admitted I wouldn't want to drive a tractor at all...) and we were able to avoid the back-breaking wheelbarrow plan entirely!
Here I am looking happy about the big progress, but spent from the hard work of it.
Here are some basement foundation pictures, concrete evidence for Dad :-)
Joel passed on a dinner invitation to me from Curt before I scrambled off to Bemidji to run some errands. As he was parting, I noticed a piece of his car hanging low trying to take some of my driveway with it. I flagged him down and his problem resulted in this grand opportunity to record my first neighbor working on their car in my driveway. I told Joel, "May you be the first of many!"
I got a bunch of stuff taken care of before joining Curt, Marion, Joel, Dustin and kids for dinner. Curt and Marion had spent three hours fishing Lake Hattie earlier in the day. In that time, they brought in their limit of twenty bluegills apiece, not counting all the little ones they threw back! Curt fried 'em up right with french fries, salad, and beans on the side. What a treat, I've never had better fish! Marion showed me her polymer clay sculpting and we talked crafts for a while. We had a nice visit, albeit short, before I headed back to Backus for the night. Now Curt and Marion will be joining Paul and Melanie for dinner tomorrow where I've been staying, so I'll get to see them again.
These next two shots are a fun pair of pics because they are both the same place at different stages of development.
In this "before" picture of my driveway, the marking stake is visible in the center and if you look closely, you can see the top of the metal culvert lying in the ditch.
The "after" shot, taken yesterday before dinner, looks like a different place, but is the same except for being a bit farther back when I took the picture.
In Bemidji yesterday, I did a bit of shopping and bought a post upon which to install my electric meter. Today I spent a good part of the morning planning my floor layout so I could decide the exact location for the meter accordingly. Though I still don't have it all figured out, bright and early Paul and I are heading up to put the post in the ground so I can hurry up and get electricity to make construction easier.
Caleb is a diligent helper and ever talkative. I'm not always sure what he's saying, but I can tell he really means it. I do understand and feel so welcome whenever I come home to his house and he shouts, "Hey, it's Jon! Jon's here, hi Jon! MOM, Jon's here! Hey Jon, hi Jon!" That's lots of fun.
Here's the meter panel once I got it all assembled. The top box is the receptacle where the electrical co-op will install my meter. The box below it is a sub panel with breakers in it so I can safely use power tools during construction. The little box on the lower right has two outlets in it with Ground Fault Circuit Interrupters on them. The sub panel and power outlets will remain as an exterior power source after construction is completed in case I ever need to have electricity outdoors. I can think of a thousand uses for that!
If all goes well, and since I've been here it pretty much has, this post will look much shorter planted three feet in the dirt at my lot tomorrow! Upon ploofreading that last sentence, I must clarify: I'm referring to the wooden post pictured above, not this blog post!
Again the last couple days have been super fun with very exciting progress! The weather DID cooperate and my concrete footing has been poured successfully. I was so happy Joel was able to come over and help me get the concrete done correctly; he has lots of experience. And Joel was so happy too! Not because he was privileged to do heavy manual labor with me, but because he was hired yesterday as an intern in Walker Minnesota working in Geographic Information Systems which is his college major. Way to go Joel, I hope you enjoy your new career!
I got so much done yesterday, it's hard to believe I had a late start. I just wasn't feeling like having an early morning, so I took it easy and didn't arrive at my lot till 10:45. That was cutting it a bit close because I had an 11 o'clock appointment with an engineer to have my electrical line location staked out. On my way up, the engineer called wondering if I'd be early, as he was, and he had all the work done by the time I arrived. He staked the proposed wire routing according to a drawing I had submitted with my application. When I climbed down from my truck, Kevin the engineer looked from my license plate up to me and said, "Jon, I hope you didn't drive all the way from California to meet me here this morning!" My laughter was a great way to start work for the day! Especially because I was a bit freaked out to commit to where my power source will be located when I still haven't figured out exactly how my cabin will be laid out. Kevin helped me make a decision and even explained to me how to cheat the system a bit. If I put my electrical meter on a post now, he says I can locate it several feet beyond where I'll put it on the house after the pit gets filled in and the extra wire they install will be enough to reach my house. So it's going where it's going, and I'll make it work with my floor plan (or I'll make my floor plan work with it, not sure which, ha!).
So Kevin took off pretty quickly, but not before Randy showed up again with a dump truck full of dirt and gravel for my driveway. Seeing Randy work got me thinking about how it's part of the common way here for families to work together their whole lives. Randy learned the business from his father and when I watch him work the dirt, it shows that he's been at it his whole life. Now Randy is trying to pass Vojak Excavation, Becida, MN along to his son who is really good at it too, but apparently reluctant. I find it to be a bit of a shame that he doesn't embrace the good fortune of having a business handed to him, but then, you couldn't pay me enough to be a tractor operator. And also, I could never be a salesman, sorry Dad!
On his second dirt delivery, I told Randy I had a concrete truck scheduled to arrive in the afternoon. He replied, "Yeeah, I know that, that's why I'm here! We'll getcha a couple more loads of dirt, and then bring in the Bobcat to get 'er all buffed out before your truck arrives." I forgot I had mentioned in passing last week that this was the day I'd be pouring my footing. I forgot, but Randy didn't. He made sure the concrete truck would have a driveway that was good enough to not only get into my cabin site, but to also get out!
This is a very exciting photo for me as yesterday marked the first time I was able to drive onto my lot!
While Randy and his son made 45 yards of dirt look pretty over the next couple hours, I finished preparing the footing. I added three boards to complete the form, and then dug out the inside of the footing with a shovel to make sure it was level. The amount of concrete ordered is calculated by the width, depth, and length of the forms so if I dug down too much or not enough, we would end up with the wrong amount of concrete. I was very careful and got everything as level as I could with crude implements. It required at least an hour of digging to get it right and I felt so grateful that my body had been broken-in working in masonry the past couple weeks. If that had been my first shoveling project of the summer, I may have died. Then I employed my newly learned skill of bending and installing re-bar and again I felt gratitude. It was the first day I spent time working on my house alone and I felt so proud and empowered to be actively pursuing a dream.
Here is the finished form with my re-bar in place:
I finished the preparation with about fifteen minutes to spare for a nice little rest in the shade before the concrete truck arrived. In that short time-window, I planted the stake where my address sign post will go. Pretty soon I'll have a shiny blue sign with my very own number on it :-) Joel showed up, gave me his good news, and before we knew it, concrete was a-flowin'! The plan was to have the truck back in and use a chute to get concrete as far in as possible. Then we would fill the wheelbarrow as many times as needed to get concrete to the far reaches of my 20 by 24 ft. footing. The driver informed us we needn't work so hard and could put that shovel down unless we really badly wanted to work. He was amazing; he pulled his hulking concrete truck into three corners I wouldn't have wanted to drive a bulldozer (but then, I already admitted I wouldn't want to drive a tractor at all...) and we were able to avoid the back-breaking wheelbarrow plan entirely!
Here I am looking happy about the big progress, but spent from the hard work of it.
Here are some basement foundation pictures, concrete evidence for Dad :-)
Joel passed on a dinner invitation to me from Curt before I scrambled off to Bemidji to run some errands. As he was parting, I noticed a piece of his car hanging low trying to take some of my driveway with it. I flagged him down and his problem resulted in this grand opportunity to record my first neighbor working on their car in my driveway. I told Joel, "May you be the first of many!"
I got a bunch of stuff taken care of before joining Curt, Marion, Joel, Dustin and kids for dinner. Curt and Marion had spent three hours fishing Lake Hattie earlier in the day. In that time, they brought in their limit of twenty bluegills apiece, not counting all the little ones they threw back! Curt fried 'em up right with french fries, salad, and beans on the side. What a treat, I've never had better fish! Marion showed me her polymer clay sculpting and we talked crafts for a while. We had a nice visit, albeit short, before I headed back to Backus for the night. Now Curt and Marion will be joining Paul and Melanie for dinner tomorrow where I've been staying, so I'll get to see them again.
These next two shots are a fun pair of pics because they are both the same place at different stages of development.
In this "before" picture of my driveway, the marking stake is visible in the center and if you look closely, you can see the top of the metal culvert lying in the ditch.
The "after" shot, taken yesterday before dinner, looks like a different place, but is the same except for being a bit farther back when I took the picture.
In Bemidji yesterday, I did a bit of shopping and bought a post upon which to install my electric meter. Today I spent a good part of the morning planning my floor layout so I could decide the exact location for the meter accordingly. Though I still don't have it all figured out, bright and early Paul and I are heading up to put the post in the ground so I can hurry up and get electricity to make construction easier.
Caleb is a diligent helper and ever talkative. I'm not always sure what he's saying, but I can tell he really means it. I do understand and feel so welcome whenever I come home to his house and he shouts, "Hey, it's Jon! Jon's here, hi Jon! MOM, Jon's here! Hey Jon, hi Jon!" That's lots of fun.
Here's the meter panel once I got it all assembled. The top box is the receptacle where the electrical co-op will install my meter. The box below it is a sub panel with breakers in it so I can safely use power tools during construction. The little box on the lower right has two outlets in it with Ground Fault Circuit Interrupters on them. The sub panel and power outlets will remain as an exterior power source after construction is completed in case I ever need to have electricity outdoors. I can think of a thousand uses for that!
If all goes well, and since I've been here it pretty much has, this post will look much shorter planted three feet in the dirt at my lot tomorrow! Upon ploofreading that last sentence, I must clarify: I'm referring to the wooden post pictured above, not this blog post!
Monday, July 5, 2010
Construction Has Begun
The last few days have been very exciting! So much is going on, I can hardly keep up. I love it! I have much to do for my cabin, and at the same time, things were stalled for a few days while my mud-pit of a lot dried out. In the meantime, Burns Brothers Masonry has been seeing to it that I never commit the sin of idleness... It almost seems like work is a religion for Nathan, except that he's much more diligent than most parishioners. So I've been working hard helping out the cousins and I'm starting to get a tiny bit stronger. It's such great experience to get my body and mind conditioned for the hard work of constructing my cabin!
In the spirit of family helping family, Nathan drove me up to my lot on Saturday and constructed forms for my foundation footing. I got to showcase my skills as well; I must have brought Nathan a hammer five or six times AND I dug a ditch with a shovel. Man all that digging I learned to do as a firefighter is finally paying off... It went really well, except it was like a thousand degrees outside and humid too. We were able to complete all the things which required professional skill while Nathan was there, and there is (are? Aly, help me out?)a couple hours of manual labor I'll take care of in the morning tomorrow before the concrete truck arrives in the afternoon. With a little cooperation from the weather, I'll have my foundation footing complete tomorrow!
Below you can see a picture of my cabin site and some of the yard. To keep this G-rated, I will refrain from repeating any of the jokes perfectly respectable people have been making about my hole. Engaging verbal/written filter...
Randy the excavator was just leaving as Nathan and I arrived, but then he stayed to chat for a while. As Randy was trying to leave again, I asked Nathan if he wanted me to put a board down to the pit so we would have a ramp to get back out. Hearing this, Randy offered to dig us a ramp and it took him about 4 or 5 seconds with the excavator. It was really amazing seeing how much dirt he could move in such a short time! Now we have great access for getting equipment in and out during construction of the basement. In the picture below, you can see Randy digging the ramp as Nathan drives a stake which was used to level the form we built. The pit itself is six and a half feet deep on the high side, and a bit less on the other.
My new neighbor Dave came by to introduce himself while we were working. He's an older guy (older than what? no one knows, his age is secret), seemed as friendly as he was toothless, and told me all about his 9 mile hike in Itasca State Park the previous day. Everyone tells me he's kind of weird, so I assume we'll get along famously since they all say the same about me.
After I saw the excavation, I had a very paranoid moment where I thought I might have accidentally decided to put my house partially on the adjacent property. Surely the heat was getting to me. So Randy loaned me a 300 foot tape measure (I didn't even know such a thing existed) and Nathan was patient enough to measure out the 660 feet comprising my property boundary. He was slightly less patient when, during this task, someone stopped in the middle of the highway to inform me about the graveyard on my property. I of course loved it because I got to hear yet another different version of the legend. This time, there were two babies buried, and one 18 year old boy who, "lived on a different farm down the road thattaway." The number of arms each of them had was not specified. Pretty soon Nathan started tugging on the tape saying in Morse code, "Tell that guy to shut up." It was pretty easy to disregard the message from 300 feet away. We eventually got the lot measured, and thank goodness my cabin site is about 60 feet from any neighboring property.
Sunday was finally time for a day off to relax. I began by forgetting about church and sleeping in. Since he forgot how to take days off before he was born, Nathan worked the barbecue at his party while the rest of us visited with family. I felt tired all day, but stayed for a couple hours. Much of that time was spent discussing with Nathan how to build a gable dormer. This was a mystery that had stymied me for months and finally, with the aid of a search on Google Image for "gable dormer frame," Nathan was able to demystify the issue. It was a major design breakthrough for me, so I went back to Paul's house and worked on my floor plan for hours. I've really been stuck on where to put the stairs and how to fit them without ruining the layout of everything else. Much harder than I would imagine!
I worked on house plans all afternoon, and even took my drawings to the fireworks display as we had an hour or so to wait for the show. Isaac, Nathan, Uncle Ronnie, Aunt Lee, Grandma Henry (my cousins' grandma), Missy's folks, Joel, and I all went to celebrate the holiday in Hackensack, just one town north of all of us in Backus. The show was fantastic and it was fun to see everyone out enjoying themselves. By the time darkness fell, I still hadn't solved my stair problem.
Missy and Autumn watching fireworks
Aunt Lee and Uncle Ronnie enjoying the show
After the grand finale, we all headed home and everyone who wasn't going crazy trying to solve a stair layout problem presumably went to bed. With more determination than pragmatism, I stayed up till one AM drawing. Even though I rose 5 hours later to work all day, it was SO worth it. I totally found the solution I was after and work was hard, but the 13 hours we put in only felt like 11 and a half. I'm hoping I can post my floor plan once I complete it. Better hurry though, the floor will be in soon!
After work today, I caught the Burns bug and continued puttering in the yard for an hour before calling it a day. I was putting together all the things I'll need for tomorrow: boards, nails, wheelbarrow, hammer, re-bar, etc. While gathering supplies, I called Sid (neighbor in Becida with the half-built log cabin) to talk windows since he installs them for a living. I'm planning to put an egress window in the basement which makes it legal to have a bedroom down below if I choose. Sid offered to install my window for me and sell it to me at his cost on a work trade! I'm so excited about that, I love work trading. I'll peel some logs for him, he'll do a pro job on my window, everyone wins. I really love how helpful everyone is around here; it does my heart much good.
Now I'm off to bed, though I'd rather draw my floor some more. Among so many other tasks planned for tomorrow, I've got a morning appointment to mark out the route for my underground power lines...
In the spirit of family helping family, Nathan drove me up to my lot on Saturday and constructed forms for my foundation footing. I got to showcase my skills as well; I must have brought Nathan a hammer five or six times AND I dug a ditch with a shovel. Man all that digging I learned to do as a firefighter is finally paying off... It went really well, except it was like a thousand degrees outside and humid too. We were able to complete all the things which required professional skill while Nathan was there, and there is (are? Aly, help me out?)a couple hours of manual labor I'll take care of in the morning tomorrow before the concrete truck arrives in the afternoon. With a little cooperation from the weather, I'll have my foundation footing complete tomorrow!
Below you can see a picture of my cabin site and some of the yard. To keep this G-rated, I will refrain from repeating any of the jokes perfectly respectable people have been making about my hole. Engaging verbal/written filter...
Randy the excavator was just leaving as Nathan and I arrived, but then he stayed to chat for a while. As Randy was trying to leave again, I asked Nathan if he wanted me to put a board down to the pit so we would have a ramp to get back out. Hearing this, Randy offered to dig us a ramp and it took him about 4 or 5 seconds with the excavator. It was really amazing seeing how much dirt he could move in such a short time! Now we have great access for getting equipment in and out during construction of the basement. In the picture below, you can see Randy digging the ramp as Nathan drives a stake which was used to level the form we built. The pit itself is six and a half feet deep on the high side, and a bit less on the other.
My new neighbor Dave came by to introduce himself while we were working. He's an older guy (older than what? no one knows, his age is secret), seemed as friendly as he was toothless, and told me all about his 9 mile hike in Itasca State Park the previous day. Everyone tells me he's kind of weird, so I assume we'll get along famously since they all say the same about me.
After I saw the excavation, I had a very paranoid moment where I thought I might have accidentally decided to put my house partially on the adjacent property. Surely the heat was getting to me. So Randy loaned me a 300 foot tape measure (I didn't even know such a thing existed) and Nathan was patient enough to measure out the 660 feet comprising my property boundary. He was slightly less patient when, during this task, someone stopped in the middle of the highway to inform me about the graveyard on my property. I of course loved it because I got to hear yet another different version of the legend. This time, there were two babies buried, and one 18 year old boy who, "lived on a different farm down the road thattaway." The number of arms each of them had was not specified. Pretty soon Nathan started tugging on the tape saying in Morse code, "Tell that guy to shut up." It was pretty easy to disregard the message from 300 feet away. We eventually got the lot measured, and thank goodness my cabin site is about 60 feet from any neighboring property.
Sunday was finally time for a day off to relax. I began by forgetting about church and sleeping in. Since he forgot how to take days off before he was born, Nathan worked the barbecue at his party while the rest of us visited with family. I felt tired all day, but stayed for a couple hours. Much of that time was spent discussing with Nathan how to build a gable dormer. This was a mystery that had stymied me for months and finally, with the aid of a search on Google Image for "gable dormer frame," Nathan was able to demystify the issue. It was a major design breakthrough for me, so I went back to Paul's house and worked on my floor plan for hours. I've really been stuck on where to put the stairs and how to fit them without ruining the layout of everything else. Much harder than I would imagine!
I worked on house plans all afternoon, and even took my drawings to the fireworks display as we had an hour or so to wait for the show. Isaac, Nathan, Uncle Ronnie, Aunt Lee, Grandma Henry (my cousins' grandma), Missy's folks, Joel, and I all went to celebrate the holiday in Hackensack, just one town north of all of us in Backus. The show was fantastic and it was fun to see everyone out enjoying themselves. By the time darkness fell, I still hadn't solved my stair problem.
Missy and Autumn watching fireworks
Aunt Lee and Uncle Ronnie enjoying the show
After the grand finale, we all headed home and everyone who wasn't going crazy trying to solve a stair layout problem presumably went to bed. With more determination than pragmatism, I stayed up till one AM drawing. Even though I rose 5 hours later to work all day, it was SO worth it. I totally found the solution I was after and work was hard, but the 13 hours we put in only felt like 11 and a half. I'm hoping I can post my floor plan once I complete it. Better hurry though, the floor will be in soon!
After work today, I caught the Burns bug and continued puttering in the yard for an hour before calling it a day. I was putting together all the things I'll need for tomorrow: boards, nails, wheelbarrow, hammer, re-bar, etc. While gathering supplies, I called Sid (neighbor in Becida with the half-built log cabin) to talk windows since he installs them for a living. I'm planning to put an egress window in the basement which makes it legal to have a bedroom down below if I choose. Sid offered to install my window for me and sell it to me at his cost on a work trade! I'm so excited about that, I love work trading. I'll peel some logs for him, he'll do a pro job on my window, everyone wins. I really love how helpful everyone is around here; it does my heart much good.
Now I'm off to bed, though I'd rather draw my floor some more. Among so many other tasks planned for tomorrow, I've got a morning appointment to mark out the route for my underground power lines...
Saturday, July 3, 2010
Photos, As Promised!
Today Nathan and I are heading up to my lot from Backus to build forms for the footing of my foundation. I spoke to the excavator on the phone this morning and he was just unloading the machine to dig out where my basement will go. My body is feeling awfully tired from all the masonry work I've been pitching-in on, so I'm really looking forward to taking a day off tomorrow for Independence Day. I'll work Monday again and Tuesday I have an appointment with the electric company to do some work toward getting me power at the property.
Paul highly focused on trying out his new mower. He said the steering works just like in a Bobcat, so he was really good at it right off the bat. It drives and mows really quickly so this machine will save him countless hours and a whole lot of fuel.
Here is Paul, under his house, putting in a sump pump to get the water out. I told him he probably should have built an ark instead! A small brass hose barb fitting broke and leaked water for somewhere around forty days and forty nights while he was away running his business in Backus. The house is about 32 feet by 100 feet and the water was ten inches deep, so we figure there were thousands of gallons of water under there. We didn't see two of every animal down there, just one tic on Paul that he probably brought in from the forest.
I'm looking happy in the flood, but it might have been closer to delirium. I had worked from 7 AM to about 6PM helping with masonry (dig my solid farmer tan), and this picture was taken around 11 PM the same day. We got a pump going and were finally in bed around 1 AM. I was tuckered, but got up at 6:30 for more masonry the next day anyhow. I was glad to give Paul a hand, and it was kind of fun to go play in the water in the middle of the night. Paul couldn't help laughing at my outfit.
I present the light fixture I scored at the ReStore for 11 bucks! I'm super excited to go back as I need more fixtures in the future. I'm still tempted to go pick up the bath tub shower deal I saw. I think they'll have good stuff in the future because the lady at the counter told me they have high turn over of products.
Paul highly focused on trying out his new mower. He said the steering works just like in a Bobcat, so he was really good at it right off the bat. It drives and mows really quickly so this machine will save him countless hours and a whole lot of fuel.
Here is Paul, under his house, putting in a sump pump to get the water out. I told him he probably should have built an ark instead! A small brass hose barb fitting broke and leaked water for somewhere around forty days and forty nights while he was away running his business in Backus. The house is about 32 feet by 100 feet and the water was ten inches deep, so we figure there were thousands of gallons of water under there. We didn't see two of every animal down there, just one tic on Paul that he probably brought in from the forest.
I'm looking happy in the flood, but it might have been closer to delirium. I had worked from 7 AM to about 6PM helping with masonry (dig my solid farmer tan), and this picture was taken around 11 PM the same day. We got a pump going and were finally in bed around 1 AM. I was tuckered, but got up at 6:30 for more masonry the next day anyhow. I was glad to give Paul a hand, and it was kind of fun to go play in the water in the middle of the night. Paul couldn't help laughing at my outfit.
I present the light fixture I scored at the ReStore for 11 bucks! I'm super excited to go back as I need more fixtures in the future. I'm still tempted to go pick up the bath tub shower deal I saw. I think they'll have good stuff in the future because the lady at the counter told me they have high turn over of products.
Friday, July 2, 2010
Quick Update
I've been so busy all the time! Having lots of fun though. I worked for Nathan and Isaac on Thursday and Friday and played games at Uncle Ronnie and Aunt Lee's on Friday night. Tomorrow, if my lot is excavated, Nathan and I will go up to build concrete forms for the foundation footing.
Sunday I'm going to a barbecue at Nathan and Missy's and hopefully to see some fireworks in Hackensack with a bunch of family.
Late Thursday night, Paul and I worked on his flooded crawl space under his home in Becida...
Stories and pictures to follow as soon as I have a few moments and enough energy to write :-)
Sunday I'm going to a barbecue at Nathan and Missy's and hopefully to see some fireworks in Hackensack with a bunch of family.
Late Thursday night, Paul and I worked on his flooded crawl space under his home in Becida...
Stories and pictures to follow as soon as I have a few moments and enough energy to write :-)
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