3/11/2012

It is spring break, I left KC about 11:00 (since the time moved magically forward during the night) and after a few stops made it down by 1:30.  This is the sight that greeted me; the pergola down:

But it is actually okay-I wasn’t exactly happy with how it was going together and thought I was going to have to climb back on the ladder and take it down-this way mother nature did the work for me.

I moved the generator out of the cabin, as I think it is probably a bad idea to burn the stove with a generator full of gas inside, and immediately set about putting together the doors for the shed.  I assembled them in about an hour.  I put them on but found that they would not slide well on the track, especially the left one.  As it was pouring rain I decided to fight this battle tomorrow, when it is supposed to be 75 and sunny (before St. Pat’s-what is up with this crazy weather?!). 

I went inside, built a fire and started to move things out of the tool room.  I had purchased some linoleum flooring and really wanted to get it down, but-since all the tool moving was making Ursula VERY nervous, and I was about out of wood, I took a break to split some.  I do not have my brother’s splitter with me this time, so it was by hand in the rain.  Ursula refused to come inside and stayed under the trees, still getting pretty wet, so I went back to clearing out the back room.  I shop vac’ed the floor and cleaned it as well as I could.  Then I spread the glue-first on one half of the floor, laying down the linoleum then hopping over to do the other side.  It is a bit hard to handle sheet flooring by ones’ self but I managed (using a tub filled with hand-tools as my “roller.”  It is not perfect, but better and cleaner than OSB. 

I set the cot up on it, snuggled in and started reading the “Eragon” series, though after all the work, I fell asleep pretty quickly. and like the iris, garlic and wild cherries that have started popping up, I feel like I am sort of starting again.

This is Payton, he has nothing to do with this post, but was angry that I hadn’t mentioned him recently since he has started going down south with me almost every time now.  He is around 13, has no tail, and growls like a Balrog (or at least what I would imagine one sounding like) at other people.  However, he love, love, loves me and having someone like that around is always good for the self-esteem, so I thought I would give him a cameo. 

What this post IS about is the upcoming time that I get to spend at the property during spring break.  I keep waking up in the middle of the night trying to decide what I want to get done.  Fantasizing about finished floors and tool storage has made my mind wander from already over-neglected grading.  So I thought that maybe if I just sat down and made a list that would help.  I am feeling fairly energized (we’ll see how I feel when I get down there:)) after getting the shed mostly done, the floor structure had been mocking me for far too long.

So here goes:

* I obviously need to finish the door on the shed, that way I can store things in there and open up space in the cabin.  That makes it sound like I have a bunch of knick-knacks and such laying around, but most of it is construction supplies, or tools, or things to help finish a future project…if you don’t count the books.  This will help me make room to actually start getting those things done, and hopefully even a place to work.

*I did (as mentioned in the less than lyrical last post) leave in a hurry last time.  It was getting dark and cold and I had to be at work the next day, so I didn’t have time to do my normal cleaning.  Therefore, before I start on any big new projects it will be organizing the shed, and cleaning and organizing (oh and cleaning again) the cabin so that I can start to get at some of those things that need to be done. 

*I do need to figure out the mouse issue.  I thought I had found where they were coming in and dealt with it, but there was evidence again last time, therefore I want to do what I can to seal it up.  This leads to the next big project.  I want to put down vinyl flooring.  I will eventually cover this with something else (I already have a few ideas for alternative flooring materials) but I want to be able to mop, and sweep well.  Plus I think this will be a good way to cover any of the places that sheets of OSB meet.  I don’t really know that the mice can get in there as it is caulked, but for the now it will be better than walking on a floor made out of splinters and glue.

*I also want, once and for all, to finish the cork floor.

*I would like to start finishing some of the walls, starting with the backsplash in the kitchen.  I have been “weathering” (read: throwing around in the firepit and leaving out in the rain) some pieces of corrugated tin for the express purpose of covering them in a clear coat to bring out the colors in the metal and rust.  I plan to use this as my backsplash and I can’t wait to see how it will come out.

*If I seal inside, I also need to start working on the outside, so I am hoping to be able to bring down a few more sheets of siding and put it up.  I acquired some really good paint, in a totally non-offensive color even, for 5.00 per gallon (there were two) off of the “oops we messed up the match” shelf at the hardware store.  It is actually very close to another gallon I had purchased off the same rack a while ago.  I plan on putting up the siding, then mixing the three gallons together to get a standard color and finally covering up some of that lovely housewrap.

There are other little things and I will have almost 8 days to work, which will be WONDERFUL. Mostly, I am just ready to start finishing some things and for the cabin to begin turning into the kind of place that Josh and I envisioned.

I left in a hurry, everything is a mess

I am sure that the mice will have quite a fest

The shed got all built, well, except for the door

But when spring break rolls ’round I’ll have time to do more

I’ll start by assembling the door on its track

The rest was achieved thanks to dear Brother Jack

I’ll have room for the things, stored in tight bins

with hope little nibblers can’t quite get in

moving the tools, bedding, and more

my hope is to, finally, see all the floor

I’ll plug up the holes and foam all the glitches

hopefully that will get rid of these…witches

then I’ll break out the bleach and I’ll wipe, scrub and clean

until all of the surfaces shine, sparkle, and gleam

and with detrius gone, and the home bathed in sun

I finally might get the rest of this done

I have walls to put up, and floors to put down

and fixtures and ceilings and trim all around

If I can just finish the things off the list

I’ll be one closer step to countryside bliss

I spent Christmas with the fam, which was great, and then headed back down to the property.  I had received many gift certificates to the big box hardware store (I know, I know) and put them to use buying a shed kit to replace the one lost last summer.  I sometimes think that the fact my wish list consistantly displays the top two choices as : 1. Hardware store certificates and 2. Spa certificates, is just a little odd-but I guess that fits me. 

On the 27th, after acquiring said shed, and somehow getting it to fit in the back of an Explorer (seats down and a blanket on top for Ursula) I headed down to meet my lovely niece Diedre, who I had somehow convinced to help me build a shed.  She got there before me, and I drove up to the sight of her sitting on my porch playing her ukelele-seriously, my family is the most interesting bunch of people I have ever met.

Unfortunately, we did not get the shed built, what we did do was: use her phone’s night sky application to identify the constellations containing the gloriously bright stars around the cabin, read a lot of trivial pursuit cards to each other and try to guess the answers, finish fixing and sheathing the floor for the shed, discuss the musical merits of the ukelele, and consider whether she would ever want to build a cabin in my woods and help run a homestead.  Oh, and we did start to put together the grilling pergola, though my plan (as nearly aways at first) was flawed.  I think I will have to redo a portion of it, but sometimes I really just need to put a thing together to see how it is I should do it once I take it back apart again:).  Other than that we just did a lot of talking, singing, hiking in the woods and laughing.  All in all I would say it was time well spent.  I should probably mention to those of you who hear “niece” and think “toddler” or “tween,” that I am the youngest of 10, and many of my nieces and nephews are somewhere close to my own age (actually quite a few are closer than many of my siblings).  Here are some pictures of us almost hard at work:

I stayed at the property through the new year, Diedre had better offers.  However, I did not have to spend it alone, Josh’s dad came down on the 31st and hung out.  We burned a huge bonfire, reminisced a lot about Josh and listened to music.  We talked about my plans for the property and the fact that I can hardly wait until I am able to be down there full time. 

He left the next day to go to his own cabin at the in the Ozarks, and I headed back up to the city, thinking all the way about how ready I am to have a few chickens, a few goats, and a garden.

I have actually spent quite a bit of time (relatively speaking)  down at the cabin since the last time I posted.  The first of those visits was on the 22 of December, which was 2011’s winter solstice. 

I don’t know what your religious/spiritual beliefs are…heck half the time I would be hard pressed to fully explain my own, but I do feel like there are certain things we as a species should celebrate, or at least recognize.  Things like: first snowfalls, full moons, and other representations of the amazing complexity of nature and our world.  So I always try to make it down to the woods on the equinoxes and solstices.  The winter soltice has traditionally been a celebration of light over dark, from that point forward the days get longer and we get closer and closer to the rebirth of spring.   Some articles I have read say that this is where we got the idea of a yule log, because fires were lit to celebrate light and one log from the fire was brought into the house to represent the light of the renewing year filling the house.  That may just be a new age interpretation of lost traditions, but it seems like a good way to celebrate to me…I have always liked fire.

So, school ended for the semester on the 21st.  I packed up that night and left the next day for the property, packing a bottle of mead and plenty of kindling.  I started fires in each of the existing firepits and the woodstove, then I made a small new firepit in Josh’s bird garden, I figured he would like that.  I kept the fires going well into the night (though it got pretty chilly-I won’t even explain the get-up I was running around the woods in, I don’t want to embarrass my mother) and then Ursula and I headed to bed.  Of course that was not before I placed a log from one of the bonfires in the woodstove.  We got up and left the next day so I could finish my Christmas shopping-nothing like waiting until the last minute.  I went back down right after Christmas, and even had a couple of visitors, but I will save that until the next post.  One which will, hopefully, include pictures.

Best by 12 21 12

If you can’t read it, it says best by 12 21 12.  I came home and told my brother (the one who wants to make my apocolypse party invites for me) that even the quakers knew about the apocolypse.

This last weekend (Labor Day) I spent at Pomme de Terre lake where my family goes every Labor Day weekend.  Other than the normal lake stuff-we go to Decker cove, strap life jackets on in a sort of seat/diaper position and float while we imbibe potant potables, I don’t know what to write about. Though my older nieces and I did ride the “big Mabel” which is essentially an inflatable couch with handgrips which is hauled at high speeds behind a boat-and is beyond fabulous.  While I rode with my nieces they both made fun of my screaming mixed with diabolical laughter. 

Labor day is always fun because the family all gets together.  Though in the past we all camped, there are several folks who feel that their age is beyond such craziness.   

I suppose this is the point at which I could talk about the property, because it is so much like camping.   My ideas for the property, or the fun that my brother and I have planning a 2012 apocalypse party (though neither of us believes it will actually happen).

My bro, who is a printer suggsests that I send out invitations next year that say something like, “you are invited to the apocolyspse party, no apocolyspse, no problem, stay for Christmas” and I love it.  I hope by the time it comes around that I have a bit more room for people to stay.  That is about it for now.  Good night !

The best thing was that some of the pieces were already 24 inches wide, which is where the studs are set in the front room (instead of the standard 16 inches on center) so the larger size made it so much less work.  I don’t know why I didn’t get a picture of both sides of the room but…

The next time I was down, after the week of the day that hit 108, was Monday, August 8th.  I spent seven full days at the cabin and the weather was wonderful so I could get lots of stuff done, so I…read 5 books in seven days:).  Yeah, I know, lazy, but it was the last week of vacation (I’m justifying and am well aware of it).  I finished re-reading Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, read all three of the Girl With the Dragon Tattoo books, and read the latest of the Janet Evanovich “Stephanie Plum” novels.  The last is total fluff andthe whole series is pretty formulaic, but they are fun to read. 

Ursula and I also took a few walks, though I forgot to bring my camera along, and spent some time reflecting/communing(?) in Josh’s bird garden.  I filled the feeders three times during the week.  It has to be squirrels, or else I have some mutant form of nuthatch running loose on my property.  Josh and I did use to joke that there was a velociraptor deep in the woods (there was this crazy shrieking call we heard every now and then) but I think I have since then identified that call as belonging to a bald eagle…and I can’t see them perched on my little bird feeders. 

By the end of the week I was finally feeling a bit restless, so I managed to get my tookis into gear.  The first thing I did was break out the spray foam…the inept builder’s duct tape.  When I got to the cabin on Monday, I had noticed that the countertop and floor beneath the sink were wet.  I knew there had been a small leak in the roof at the very back edge, but since eventually I plan on putting in a new roof to tie into the last addition, and because there has been a paucity of rain round these parts this year, I hadn’t dealt with it.  However, part of the reason the weather finally became livable was that we finally did get rain, and lots of it, so…

I peeled back the insulation around the back window, hmmm, mold, yuk.  I ended up taking out 3 whole sections, not the new stuff, and eventually this wall will go away, but still.  Then I used an entire extra large size can of spray foam on any spot that seemed remotely likely to let in rain.  Not a permanent solution I know but for now it will do-hopefully.  I also cranked up the generator and set the fan on the whole mess to dry it out.

Next it was time to work on that never ending cork floor.  I felt like I was actually going to get it finished.  I had gotten more trim nails and even had the grout mix ready. 

I got especially excited when I finally joined up the two sections.

It wasn’t until after I had set over 700 trim nails that I realized that I was still WAY short of corks.  But because I am terribly impatient, I decided to go ahead and grout what I had done, leaving an edge that I could tie into later.  It was a good thing I did too, because even though according to the package I should have had more than enough grout, I ran out (I guess the manufacturer was not planning on a seam every 3/4 of an inch or so). 

I wiped it down with a wet sponge, 2X then polished with a dry cloth.

These last show where the wood meets the cork.  Eventually, once all the corks are down (I estimate another 600 or so-eek) I will lightly sand the floor and put down a couple of coats of poly over the whole thing.  As it was, I let it sit for the required 24 hours, (though on these longer trips I have been bringing the big cat down, and there was no keeping him off of it) then moved things back into the kitchen area. 

It was glorious to be able to spend that many days in a row down at the property, and I am a little bit sad that for the next several months that will be impossible, but hopefully I will feel a bit more motivated on the next few trips. 

By the way, I mentioned last time that one of my friends had started a blog and shamed me into posting more often.  It is not a homesteading or construction blog, more like the wanderings of a 20 something midwestern teacher, but she is a funny lady, so I thought I would share the address, it is www.lameladyadventures.blogspot.com she has just started out, so it is easy to catch up.

I think that is about it for now, but I will be posting again by next Tuesday.

I will write the blog showing this past week tomorrow (I’m too tired to mess with the pictures and such right now) but as I went in to look at the blog tonight it occurred to me, Josh or I have only written 42 posts total (well 43 with this one).  We started this blog around 2 years ago, that means I really only average about 2 posts a month.  That seems pretty sparse.  I had been reading one of my friend’s blogs and she is posting almost everyday.  I know I will never be able to keep that up, especially since during the school year I only make it down on the weekends, and not all of those.  However, in the interest of keeping up some sort of regularity-I have decided to strive to post at least once a week.  It may not always be about what is going on at the cabin, but I figure I can include things that I am reading about or looking up in preparation for that wonderful day when I get to go into the woods and stay. 

Also, that covers it if, like a large portion of this last week, I am feeling lazy, I mean unable to complete a project for reasons out of my control-ahem.  Tomorrow’s will be about the cabin though, and will have pictures .

The little window unit worked much better running on the bigger generator, but even then it was struggling hard to keep up with the hotter temperatures.  By Sunday I couldn’t take it and I decided I was going to have to break down and do the thing that I hate more than just about anything-more than bad poetry and no fat cream cheese-I was going to have to insulate.

My brother-in-law Jim had insulated a garage not to long ago and he ad some leftover pre-cut pieces, many of them 24 inches wide, which would cut down on a lot of the work.  So I ran over to his house and loaded up.  I brought them home, and, after running to get a new staple gun, as mine was somehow missing a piece, I got started.

I know that you should wear long pants and a long sleeve shirt when insulating-but that was not going to happen, so of course I got covered in little scratchy bits, but hey I needed a shower anyway.  I was able to finish all but one stud gap in the front room-other than the ceiling, and it really seemed to help.  I do have pictures, but I have misplaced my memory card, so I will get them on here as soon as I find it.

After that it was a tepid shower with the solar shower hung above my big rubber-maid container and a bit of relaxing.  Monday morning was good, the insulation seemed to be helping, but by the middle of the day it just kept getting hotter and hotter.  The inside thermometer read 95 when I finally decded I should take Ursula and Payton out in the car to cool them off.  I got in and the thermometer read 109 from sitting in the sun.  Problem was that even after driving for a bit, it never got down to lower than 105.  I called my sister and she said Tuesday was supposed to be even hotter-so I went back and hastily packed up the cabin, hoping for a break in the heat before school starts so that I can get a few more things totally finished.