Glenn's Underground Cabin Update

[ben2go]

That's the way I see it, John.   It's not my fault......

I think I have it under control at this point.......

I have 2 students coming from the University in Reno - one from Japan, one from Tiawan.  Actually it is the one I was discussing US/Japan History with.  When I say come anytime - even if not with the group, I mean it.  They wanted to see Yosemite with snow as when they were here earlier it was just before the snow.  I sent them links to Amtrak bus/train (way cheaper than Greyhound) and Yarts bus (comes to Mariposa) connections so they could plan the most reasonable time effective trip they could.  Travel around here is not so easy as we are way out in the boonies. 

Back to preparation for their visit for me.  It is fun having guests from all over the world.

They did not get stay here last time as they were guests at other hosts, so the Underground Command Center will be a first for them too.

Outstanding!I hope the visit turns out well.


While the rest of us are dealing with roof leaks,you are dealing with floor leaks.To bad it isn't as easy as patching a pipe and floor.

[Ernest T. Bass]

I'm anxious to find out if you make any interesting EM observations! Sorry about the leakage.. That's a lot of rain. In some ways it's easier to deal with when it's all nice and crystallized. We do have our own floor problems too, though. The cob just isn't waterproof enough to handle the constant parade of wet boots. We really have to find a different floor solution for certain areas. I've been eying up your thin slab on piers for a while. I really like the look of stone though, especially in contrast to the earthen floor (like where they meet).

[glenn kangiser]

At least I have no fears about taking a jack hammer to my floor Ben.   Looks like things are going good for the Visit.  Sassy is rearranging her schedule to be here as much as possible to help after her work.  The students have the travel schedules for the buses here in town set up very well, so we will get a good 2 plus days to have fun.

I can tell you that the EM has made the dog smell much better, Andrew.  Maybe I should shower with it too.... oh yeah - it's in the soap.  The room now has a rather nice slight EM smell rather than a bit musty.

The thin slab is even easier with a solid floor under it, Andrew.  Just forget the piers - put down the jute netting, smear a 1/4 inch of mortar mix type concrete just cover the rope- , 1 cement to about 3 sand -  let it set overnight with a slightly rough surface - wood float will do that, then do another 1/4 inch the next day adding splotchy color to the top and don't overtrowel - overmix the colors - it looks more like natural rock.  It is better without the grooves as for flagstones, and just a good color scheme as grooves are harder to clean -- use some fibermesh in the concrete mix to prevent cracking - it just needs a 1/2 inch or so right over your other floor.  Don't be afraid to splotch some intense areas of color - it will lighten when dry.

[Ernest T. Bass]

Thanks for those details... We have a ton of that polymesh erosion control netting left, but it just doesn't seem to have enough texture for the mud to grab it.

Putting the slab right down over the existing floor would sure make things easy, but we don't have any clearance to spare under the front door... Perhaps we could swing it with a little digging and grading. How important would you say it is to use sharp sand? We have to buy it in bags as you can only get beach sand delivered inexpensively around here (it's like $6/yard including delivery..).

[glenn kangiser]

I'm not sure how the polymesh is but I think it would work.  I use the jute an the mud seems to grip it good.  It softens as it gets wet and lays down then shrinks as it dries keeping things tight.  Chicken wire did not work as well - stuck up through the mud.

I think any kind of sand will work fine - it is a pretty rich mix of cement to sand.  Fibermesh is available at most concrete plants - add a handful to each bucket of mix as you make it.  I use river sand - nothing special.

Could you cut the bottom of the door for more clearance?

$6 a yard - send me some.  Cheapest here is $25 or so delivered from a friend,  then from the concrete co. its $45 a yard in truckload quantities - 10 yards.

[Ernest T. Bass]

$6 a yard - send me some.  Cheapest here is $25 or so delivered from a friend,  then from the concrete co. its $45 a yard in truckload quantities - 10 yards.

Wow... I think our big lake is the reason for the cheap sand. If you live within a mile or so of the shore, odds are there's a lot of sand nearby..

Yeah, we could always cut the door... 'Just rather kinda not.. The threshold would need a boost too. We should have some time this winter to make "floor plans".. I'll bring the thin slab idea to the table. We also need a wood cook stove to replace our propane oven. Either a modified rocket stove or a prefab hunk of steel. First we might need an addition.. Sorry--back on topic!

[glenn kangiser]

I forgot what the topic was now, Andrew.  I don't think it is possible to get off topic on my thread.....

New uses for EM - that was one of the topics.....

I just read earlier today that it will take skunk smell right off of dogs.  Almost immediately and completely.  My dogs love skunks and have been sprayed at least 30 times I think.  I am pretty sure I will get to check that claim out... except they have already got rid of most of them.... [ouch]

Oh yeah... drank a little more of it today... maybe it will do something for me... I read about that lady that cured her horse with it when nothing else would, so maybe it will do something for me.... make me hear better, get rid of my heartburn.... get rid of my worms.... you never know till you try...

[glenn kangiser]

OK - got most of the water problems handled at least for now, anyway.  Hey - it quit raining for a bit didn't it.  [ouch]

I have been running the old Round Oak at between 80 and 90 degrees with 3 fans running to get the dampness out of here.  Water is now sitting at about 12 inches down so things should get better.

The EM works as claimed as far as I can tell.  Smells of dampness are pretty well gone, and replaced with the slightly sweet smell of the AEM.  I sprayed all the areas that got damp and rugs were dried, vacuumed and sprayed both sides with a 1 to 20 dilution of AEM, then dried again in the HOT room over chairs with the fans blowing on them. 

A repaired area of floor - where I took a tree root out, is wicking up a bit of moisture yet so I put a poly vapor barrier under it like Mike's earth carpet floor.  Mike mentioned that with a poly vapor barrier under the carpet, moisture will always be near 100 percent under the poly.  Moisture will not pass through it so it will get wet.

I put in a closet wall where it was supposed to go eight years ago.  Don't want to rush things - might change the design.  The wood had been outside for a long time - air dried and rain wet.  I put it tight together 2 days ago.  Now there are 3/8 gaps.  I guess that is what battens are for.  It did it so fast I think it was just at the point where the cells were ready to give up their moisture.  That is when the shrinkage starts -after the moisture is gone from between the cells.  Cells lose moisture - they get smaller -   I think I may have read that in Charlie Wing's book.

[glenn kangiser]

It rained hard and as I checked things out I could see water coming into my drain trenches in multiple places.  I grabbed a headlight and a shovel and went around the appropriate areas jamming the shovel handle into the ground.  Not just one gopher hole - maybe a dozen.  The clay here will seal them right off if I find them all - some may be a bit deeper though so looks like another round tomorrow.  When it is wet and raining the shovel handle will go right in.  In the summer it takes a pick.

Now what was that I said about French drains? 

Do them - save yourself some trouble when the underground engineers arrive.

[glenn kangiser]

Working away trying to get ready as the arrival of our esteemed International guests draws closer. 

I put a temporary pump in for the French drain until I get time to drill a hole 16 feet horizontally for an energy free passive solution. 

Couldn't have open sumps in the meantime, so I made the shelves for the closet, that were supposed to be made along with the closet, 8 years ago.  Can't rush these things....might decide to do them different in the future....



Note the nice neat pump hose going up to the ground surface....

Here is a shot of the front of the closet, still allowing sunlight to enter from the east first thing in the morning.  It is kind of California framed attaching to the floor divider and the roof joist log.  No need for more than a simple single wall here.



Currently I am forced to type this from another chair as our ancient one tooth cat has decided that if I don't make too much noise, she will sit in my chair and accompany me while Sassy is off to work..... [ouch]




A deceptively nice looking cat, but under that facade lurks the meanness of a Tasmanian Devil.....Nearly died a few months ago.. I think she had an infection from a bad tooth and didn't eat for several weeks.  Vet thought she had cancer of the jaw and may not be with us long.  During the examination she came unglued and tore up the vet and the nurse assisting him and lost the third tooth of 4 canines....  Blood was flowing from them both...his arm looked like a barber pole.... "Well, she's still got plenty of spunk," he said.

He prescribed antibiotics for a month just in case... she fully recovered and I don't know how much longer she might live....

[glenn kangiser]

Putting things back together after the construction frenzy.  Sassy is back and I can't make her nervous by having things all torn up.....

She has given me suggestions for more improvements on the new closet area... a shelf, some old mine metal as a heat shield and to add character.  If I get off of the computer and get to work I might even get it done.

It is unanimous, that the EM has removed all smells of dampness in the cabin.  Looks like it lives up to it's claims.  We had company last night and they agreed. Per info I have studied I used it 1:20 in the wet areas.  We have replaced our vinegar and soap cleaner with it - at about 1:64 but for general cleaning they recommend even as high as 1:500.  As Andrew says...good little buggies.

[glenn kangiser]

Biggest rainstorm we have had in a long time - or continuing of the same big one...

I put a float switch controlled pump in the bathroom sump.  Hope to get the front one behind the Round Oak done tomorrow.

Hope our guests don't have trouble on the way here.... bad snow in the pass.

What's up with all of this weather modification anyway?

I think you East Coast members are in for a bad one.... G/L

[mtman]

 If its true pets look like their owners, that cat sorta, kinda, maybe looks like Glenn?
Sorry to hear of all the water causing problems, always something.We lucked out here in sw corner of pa on the last storm, went below us then turned up. They sure got the snow out of it! I just ordered some of the em soap to try myself.

[glenn kangiser]

AKKKKkkkkkk!!!!!!  I don't claim that miserable cat..... She claims me.... She is really Sassy's cat, but she has this gigantic crush on me.  I petted her last night...she was sleeping --- growled and hissed at me and offered to bite me with her one rotten tooth....it would be more like an injection and I hate shots....

I look more like Spike....  but  I smell better.... If I use the EM Soap..... maybe..... [ouch]



(Spike is on the floor)

Check out Andrew's (Ernest T Bass's) thread and Sisters blog so you know where it's coming from........we really like the soap....it's very .....well..... soapy.....check out their movies too.... Little Bro Indiana John is a force to be reckoned with....

http://countryplans.com/smf/index.php?topic=2410

http://home-n-stead.com/about/blogs.html

http://jamadots.com/~lundfam/movies.html

Andrew has been the family building foreman since he was a little boy.... Andrew is supposed to come in here shortly and tell me to quit bragging on him.... [ouch]   I can't help it....

The water problem is improving - got a float switch on the sump pump last night - one more to do then a few more drain extensions and later some drain holes to drill, after our visitors are gone as well as some drainage re-working.  It is getting to the point it is just a big nuisance now.  Working to make it a small nuisance... We have never had this amount of rain in this short amount of time since I have been here.  Looks like we are headed for 15 inches in 2 weeks.

If I would take my own advice I would have installed French drains at first construction, but then... I didn't have any advice back then and it was all experimental... and I was wondering if it would even work at all.  I guess a bit of remodeling in 9 years is not that bad


Hey the gophers have to do it annually....

[ben2go]

This weather is wicked.You guys are drowning and we were snowed in and freezing.We got 4 inches of snow in just a few hours Christmas day.1st white Christmas since 1963.

[glenn kangiser]

It's a good thing we are at the top of the ridge rather than the bottom. 

I just got the other pump float switch installed.  I think we will live now.... 

[Ernest T. Bass]

Andrew is supposed to come in here shortly and tell me to quit bragging on him.... [ouch]   I can't help it....

Wow.. I was seriously going to until I got to that prophetic line. Kinda... creepy.. Now I don't know what to say.  

Oh, btw.. I don't know what you guys are complaining about, weather and all... Today was nearly 50 in the brightly shining sun of da' U.P.. You just have to watch out for those steel roofs with 3' of snow on them...

[glenn kangiser]

Andrew, send our sun back this way....

[glenn kangiser]

So - got the cabin decently back together.... our guests arrived last night... We had a great time talking and getting ready for the trip to Yosemite.

Loaded up, headed up the Canyon, and stopped to look at old No. 6 - The engine from the Yosemite Valley Railway.



After we checked out the tourist train ..(it stopped in the 1940's after the automobile made it unprofitable to run) we headed on up the canyon to go into Yosemite.  Ran into a line of traffic and one of the cars coming out reported a major rock-slide happened minutes before we got there.  [ouch]


Maybe it was a good thing that we stopped to see the Steam Engine. 



Soooo... we turned around and decided to make the most of our time by going hiking and to the museum today before the local friends arrived for the potluck dinner at the cabin.

We conquered the mountain and at the top went to explore the old gold mine....

We hoped the bear would not be home because we were coming in...




of course we had to pause for a picture while inside  10,9, 8.....smile...







... then back down the mountain and home to check out a couple of frozen water hose valves - nothing serious, so dinner went on as planned



.......full house with at least 28 people that we can remember.  All brought great food... grub was fine and I'm full as a tick...





So... tomorrow we will go around to the south entrance of the park and take our guests on the snowy hike they came down here for...

[ben2go]

Glenn looks like he is in his element in this pic.

[glenn kangiser]

Thanks Ben.  

Note the pick marks right behind me in the picture... this mine was mostly excavated by hand with picks - the white marks are where the picks chipped away the side about 150 years ago.  We know the work was done here with black powder as we found two cleaning and powder spoons.  Drilling would have been done by hand with a manual star drill and sledge hammer.  

We took our guests down to the bus stop today for their trip back to Reno University.  We had a great action packed time, and we were constantly telling them they did not have to do all of the dishes and clean up, but they always insisted and said they were appreciative of our hospitality.  We will miss them a lot as we consider them a part of our extended family.  They actually chose to be with us to spend their New Years day. [ouch]


I told the kids it was fitting that I taught Cherry to shoot on New Years eve as the Rednecks and Hillbillies would be out shooting at midnight.  I asked her if she had shot a gun before as it is the Hillbilly thing to be able to do.  She said, No, because guns were not allowed in Taiwan.  I asked her if she would like to try it and she said yes, so  I chose the .22 revolver and instructed her on safety as well as going to a safe place to shoot.  We set up at about 10 yards for starting out.

I explained aiming and demonstrated once.

She aimed and fired....



She missed the first one, but I could see I needed to explain aiming a bit more clearly.  A bit more instruction and it was a hole in the target every time with about a 4 inch maximum spread.  Great for never having shot a gun in her life I thought. 



My demonstration shot was the one on the lower left....  

I told her she was a regular Annie Oakley and likely that was why guns were not allowed in Taiwan... she was just too good.  

[glenn kangiser]

Cool that we just turned 300,000 views on New Years day at the close of Kyan and Cherry's visit. 

[glenn kangiser]

Most of the Chinese or Taiwanese students have an American name.  Kyan said it is because their real name is difficult for Americans to pronounce.  

I wanted Cherry to explain how she got her American name and she obliged me with a great answer.  Click the pix below for short videos.



As I mentioned before, nearly all of our guests invite us to come to their country.  Cherry invited us all...  



With all of the snow we wanted to get the most out of the trip so we decided to check in with my Native American friend, Ben who I have mentioned here several times before.  He was doing interpreting of the Native American Culture in the museum on Friday.  He put on a special show for our guests showing them many string games as well as playing nearly all of his collection of flutes from around the world.




We were privileged to have him and his family come to our house several years ago and play for my grandsons.

After we left the museum we went off to hike to Mirror Lake, about a 4.5 mile round trip.

[glenn kangiser]

We received a very special gift from our guest, Abdoul from Burkina Faso, over the holidays.

He sent us a very nice fabric from his country suitable for framing.  I hope to get it framed soon.  Looking for a framing method that will do it justice.



I wanted to know more about the story of the fabric so emailed him and received this reply.

Dear friends'
I am glad to hear from you. The cloth is basic organic cotton. The red color used is obtained from local dye producing trees bark and the dark-brown from special kind of mud. Everything is natural and handmade and not a single chemical. European tourist like this too much. In principle, the fabric should be framed with wood, but unfortunately I couldn't carry the frame with me in the plane. The drawing on the cloth is a woman grinding sorghum grains to get a flour. This flour will be used to make a special bread (the main food in Burkina) we use to eat this bread with a sauce cook with vegetables. Women usually cook in rural area using a stove and firewood. To sum up, the picture shows a part of how women do  hardly their housework. Happy Xmas and happy new year. May the Lord carry out your dearest wishes. A Xmas card for U (attached)

Dr Abdoulaye SEREME
UC Davis Extension
Continuing And Professional Education
CALIFORNIA - USA

Such a privilege to be a part of this program, to meet and become friends with these world scholars simply for sharing our humble cabin with them.  

Hopefully they will return in the spring also.  In the meantime, I want to learn of the bread being made in the picture and possibly gather materials together and try it myself..... [idea]

[glenn kangiser]

Gotta tell this so I don't forget it.... [ouch]

The other night - Thursday, we had the potluck dinner at the Underground Complex.  One of the talented young ladies was cranking out tunes on my fiddle in the loft.



The two year old daughter of one of our friends needed to use the restroom but the front one was in use.  Her dad took her to Sassy's restroom off of the master bedroom.  Sassy had mistakenly purchased the elongated bowl toilet which takes up a bit more of the restroom than I wanted it to but,  rather than take it back, I installed it anyway.... oh, well....  

Her dad came up to me later... had to tell me something.  His daughter looked at the toilet and then asked, "Is that BIG Glenn's toilet?"....... her dad replied, "Well yes, I guess it is..."

She looked back at him and said, "That Glenn's a big, Big man.... ."

Can't make this stuff up.... now I'm famous to a two year old for the size of my toilet......