Okanogan 14x24 by a lurker :)

OlJarhead · April 09, 2013, 04:55:08 PM

One thing that's become obvious to me over the last couple years is just how important a deck in front of the porch is! So many times it's been raining or snowing (or slushing) and we can't help but track in mud and water SO all the milling we are doing over the next couple trips (minus when we go to plant the new trees) is going to be for decking once we get enough paneling and flooring done.

At this point I have enough 2x stock to probably do a small deck in front of the porch but I'm hoping to get enough to also do an 8x10 section next to the porch. This is where I'll have to start my foundation work also. So that's the plan! A pine deck around the cabin

I'll have to roof it too but heck, it just sounds like a great idea and was always part of the plan anyway.

OlJarhead · April 10, 2013, 11:23:45 AM

Yikes! I think our trees are coming!!! and I'm not ready.

I wasn't thinking when I ordered and forgot to ask for a late shipment so the trees may be on their way and it's going to be touch and go I think! It's WARM (low 60's or even upper 60's) here where we live but up at the orchard it is still freezing at night often enough for the orchard to be dormant still.

Hopefully the trees will be ok and won't get too frost damaged when I race up to plant them and hopefully the deer don't find them before I get them fenced.

CjAl · April 10, 2013, 12:45:41 PM

Are they potted trees? You could always dig a trench to hold them temp. Dig a trench and lay them in it and fill the dirt over the top of the roots. You could hold them a few weeks like that, or pot them

OlJarhead · April 10, 2013, 03:29:05 PM

Quote from: CjAl on April 10, 2013, 12:45:41 PM
Are they potted trees? You could always dig a trench to hold them temp. Dig a trench and lay them in it and fill the dirt over the top of the roots. You could hold them a few weeks like that, or pot them

I saw something about that on the site they are coming from as a way to hold them over but wasn't sure how to actually do it and when to pull them up to transplant...

So I guess I ought to call them and discuss! lol

OlJarhead · April 14, 2013, 11:23:03 AM

Got a trip planned for next weekend now

We'll be dragging the mill back up to get as much milled as we can (probably do some 3x stuff for the deck stairs I want to build) and with luck if the trees come in next week it will be later in the week.

Meanwhile I'm planning a new set of stairs (two actually) that I'll make out of 3" pine. I figure that ought to ensure they are strong enough to last a long time!

April 15, 2013, 11:38:56 AM

Finally figured out how to make cylinders!

My plan for the stairs is to build them out of 3" lumber we'll mill this coming weekend.

OlJarhead · April 17, 2013, 09:14:57 AM

Getting our mill trailer inspected today and with luck we'll get it licensed tomorrow

(or later today).

Then we head to the cabin Friday afternoon and while we'll mill up as much lumber as we can we'll also meet with our first 'official' customer!

OlJarhead · April 22, 2013, 10:05:27 AM

My dad took a pic of me with the mill on our way up to the cabin. Was a great trip!

Milling 'Flitches' into useable lumber. Each log yields about 8 flitches (lumber with bark on still) when milling to the 'cant'. This is one way we get more out of a log than traditional mills.

My buddy rolling a log up onto the mill -- it's actually pretty easy.

All in all we milled 1200 board feet of pine for the cabin in about 11 hours of milling

astidham · April 22, 2013, 12:58:43 PM

That sawmill set-up is awesome!
I really want to get one.
we have lots of hickory and red oak on our property that I would like to turn into a pile of boards.

April 22, 2013, 02:47:21 PM

Quote from: astidham on April 22, 2013, 12:58:43 PM
That sawmill set-up is awesome!
I really want to get one.
we have lots of hickory and red oak on our property that I would like to turn into a pile of boards.

We LOVE it

If you get a small WM like ours be sure to get the 10hp motor for those hardwoods and also get some 7 or 4 degree blades for it -- then that hickory and oak will turn into furniture in no time! :d

OlJarhead · April 23, 2013, 08:34:38 AM

Our newest trees are on their way! So I'm back to the cabin when they arrive (well I'm hoping they arrive Friday so I can leave Friday to plant them).

Yonderosa · April 23, 2013, 10:22:45 AM

Inspiring and just plain awesome. Thanks for posting.

OlJarhead · April 23, 2013, 10:45:35 AM

Thanks Yonderosa

I'll have to get pics of the 2 5/8" lumber I plan to use for our stairs! I LOVE that stuff! It's all #2 or better and some is clear I believe (can't remember) but either way will make amazing stairs!

Redoverfarm · April 23, 2013, 06:49:09 PM

Eric I caught some post where you were planning to use your milled wood on a porch/deck and stairs. How are you going to preserve the lumber since it will be exposed to the elements. Generally "white wood" doesn't stand a chance exposed.

April 23, 2013, 08:26:54 PM

Quote from: Redoverfarm on April 23, 2013, 06:49:09 PM
Eric I caught some post where you were planning to use your milled wood on a porch/deck and stairs. How are you going to preserve the lumber since it will be exposed to the elements. Generally "white wood" doesn't stand a chance exposed.

Eventually the deck will be roofed though that might take a year or two.

I planned on coating it well with a good deck stain and hoping for the best. I'd prefer Redwood but don't have any of those. I figure the deck will look amazing for a few years and then with luck the roof will take over

OlJarhead · April 23, 2013, 08:30:41 PM

This pine has held up really quite well which made me think that treated on the deck/stairs it would hold up.

OlJarhead · April 24, 2013, 03:19:51 PM

OH CRAP! My trees just arrived and I have to wait TWO DAYS before driving them to the cabin!

I've asked the nursery for advice on keeping them during these two WARM days and hopefully they can survive!

OlJarhead · April 25, 2013, 09:22:01 AM

Soaked the trees overnight in a 'garden dirt tea' and am hoping they will be fine until Saturday.

I'll either heal them in today or just wrap them up well and keep the roots damp but one of the trees is awake and trying to grow!

It was over 70 yesterday and I'm afraid I can't keep them from coming fully away so I'm going to hope and pray that they have enough nutrients to stay alive before planting and that the weather turns warm at the property (where is Al Gore when I need him?).....

Luckily it's only 3 trees or I'd be headed there already!

suburbancowboy · April 25, 2013, 05:58:22 PM

One thing you can do with your trees is to get a 3+/- gallon planter pot. Put some kind of fabric/burlap in the bucket to line the bottom and outsides. Next fill it half full of loamy dirt. Put in the bare root tree. Finish filling with dirt. Water and relax. This will buy you a whole year if needed. When you get to your place because of the fabric it will just slip out. Put all the fabric, dirt and tree into the hole where it's new home will be. The fabric will break down in a few months and the tree will be happy.

OlJarhead · April 29, 2013, 10:04:05 AM

Oh how I long for a week or two straight at the cabin! So much to do and so little can be done in weekend trips but after nearly 4 years of driving 4 1/2 hours each way and only getting a day and a half to get stuff done I'm only MORE determined to do it more often and MORE motivated to keep going! For us it is truly a labor of love and we can't wait for the next trip (as always!).

Our primary focus this weekend was to get our 3 new trees planted in the orchard. We did that and more

There was a lot of debris in the orchard because the previous year we didn't have the tractor yet and were in a rush to get things done, so this year we drove the tractor in and worked on cleaning up the orchard before planting our 3 new trees. Once done we set the trees in the ground and gave them 5 gallons of water. We then set up the irrigation so the 3 new trees would get plenty of water and two of the weaker apples from last year would get watered too (there is enough rain for well established trees this time of year and while we want all 8 to get at least 5 gallons a week we forgot to bring all our funny pipe and fittings so had to mod up the original 5 locations to catch the three new ones plus two.

Made some mistakes planting these trees (like not watering after half filling the hole) but I'm hoping all will be fine and they will take in their new homes.

Our next mission was to disk up another acre for our cereal Rye fields. I brought up 50#'s of Rye seed just in case we could get the job done and we dragged out the old disks and began disking. It took me about 90 minutes to get the field to this point and then the next day I hit it for an our. Once done we hand broadcast and used a yard seed spreader to get the seed onto the ground. I hope it takes!

Last years attempt at planting cereal rye 'may' have been successful but we won't know until it grows a bit more since the natural grass we have is always taking off everywhere. I suspect there is a mix in this field and it will be interesting to see who wins out -- the rye is supposed to do just that. We'll see!

We also pumped over 200 gallons of water into the cistern so it should be nice and full now and was watering the orchard nicely before we left

Our solar panel pump setup works like a charm!

We also got some of the trash cleaned up and did some shooting (my soon to be son-in-law just got back from Afghanistan and wanted to do a little shooting with the old Jarhead

)...was a great weekend overall and I can't wait to get back!

May 02, 2013, 10:00:45 AM

Planning my next trip

Will be a 'clean up' trip with nothing more in mind then to try to sort out the mess we have and deal with minor things as well as perhaps getting the hot water system installed.

OlJarhead · May 05, 2013, 10:43:36 AM

Question:

I'm getting ready to install an instant on Hot Water Heater. It is different then the one I planned to use (an outdoor shower type) after seeing the price of the indoor kinds -- it's an actual indoor heater (instant on) but only cost me $200 instead of the $650 I was originally looking at.

So here is my question: what do you think of removing the sheeting and siding from the outside where the heater will be installed, then boxing in a 'bay window' style 'heater closet' on the outside of the cabin with access on the outside (insulated)? My thought is that if I remove the siding/sheeting and insulation but leave the interior drywall then the heater will be in a warm environment in the winter and protected from the elements. It will be accessible from the outside via an insulated (and locked) door and would not require me to run new piping.

In this pic you can see where I ran the piping for the hot water. My intent was to install the outdoor shower type instant on hot water heater mounted to the outside of the wall and used only in the warmer months. Now I'm thinking I could box it in like a bay window and give it a roof with a vent in it.

I'll draw something up

OlJarhead · May 13, 2013, 08:55:41 AM

Our 'water closet' worked out more or less like I envisioned and can be seen here closed up:

What I did is I placed it directly behind the bathroom where I already had a cut out in the wall for the copper sharkbite water headers I installed last year (cold was already installed, hot waiting). What we did is cut the sheeting and siding out from the opposite side (outside) to open that space up to the new water closet, then built two sides to the box, calked them heavily and screwed to the studs on the outside, then joined them top and bottom and installed some supports (which somehow ended up different sizes....I should ask Josh about that! lol

One thing I had to change was the depth of the box which went from 3 feet to 4 feet in order to put the black iron pipe and gas valve inside the box and protect the valve and gas line hose to the water heater from the elements. This provided extra room so I installed the RV pump into the bottom of the 'box' and ran the water inlet from the 55 gallon water drum into the box from the side. Then I split the water supply after the RV pump to the heater and cold water headers.

Only issue was that I had a gas line hose that was only 12" and I really needed 18" so next weekend we'll actually be able to use the system but didn't a chance this one

This is a pic of the 'cereal rye' field which I have no idea if it's really growing or not! Lots of natural grasses are growing as well as wild flowers but I can't tell if the Rye has taken yet...ah well, maybe later in the summer I'll know

Was a great, albeit short trip but we're back on Friday so that's ok

Can't wait to be back though!

Abbey · May 13, 2013, 11:30:12 AM

Are you going to raise the exhaust vent higher to get it farther away from the window?

OlJarhead · May 13, 2013, 11:33:13 AM

Quote from: Abbey on May 13, 2013, 11:30:12 AM
Are you going to raise the exhaust vent higher to get it farther away from the window?

I may. I figured I'd wait to see how obnoxious it was first

I still have to screw the exhaust vent down too so will be easy to add to -- had a VERY hard time finding venting though! Took three stores and the last only had this much. Seems not many people going this route but to me it seems the best route to go!