Our Tiny (10 x 12) Cabin

[Gary O]

A moment of reflection;

I've been struggling of late in being able to put my finger on how I feel these days.

We've been out here 50 days.

We've accomplished more than I thought we would by now.

My wife amazes me...daily.

I even amaze myself.

There's been a flow of activity as we both have our daily chores and our projects, some done alone, some together, but both of us resting (plopping into our camp chairs) together.

We talk of us never being so happy, so fulfilled, so purposeful.

Sure, like most, we both carry the scars of living, similar to the gnarled tree in this photo I took a few days ago;

But like this tree, there's a renewal.

It's so very hard to continue to come up with a regeneration when living in the hectic stream of town.
One thinks a good rest will do it, but I'll tell you now, I've kidded myself.
I've just maintained my sanity, and even that is questionable.

This place

This place..has given me a greater perspective of my wellbeing than I could ever muster within a dense society.

I'm not an outwardly religious guy, but if there is a heaven...I'd like to think it's like our little place...
Not some ethereal cloudy place, but a hands on, git dirty abode, a tangibly real place where you can see, feel, taste, smell the beauty of nature.....of God.

Yet, I have this niggling, this feeling of angst (?) that somehow, some way this prize will be taken from me.

A feeling that 'why do I get this?'...I certainly don't deserve it any more than the next bloke.

Surely God is giving me (us) a glimpse of what things could be like... should be like...


Maybe tomorrow I'll fall on a jagged tree spike and lie there bleeding my guts out while my woman is gleefully tending her garden.

Maybe today.

But

Right now

This moment

I have

Contentment

Like I've never known

Or even dreamt of

And it can never be taken from me



Thank you for reading this, fellow country folk

Thank you for the years of encouragement

[UK4X4]

I feel your sentiment and thanks for sharing

some of my best times in recent years has been sitting arround the fire with crackling sparks and smoke
holding a cool long drink
sat with my wife
while my daughter who's 7 hoolahoops arround the fire pit
and the smoky hot wings are on the griddle

the tears run as we drive down the mountain from our private lair
to return to the life that pays for those moments of bliss

Some day I'd like to just stay too and forget this "civilisation "

[Gary O]

  Some day I'd like to just stay too

I don't believe you'd ever regret it...

[rick91351]

Thanks for post Gary and the window into and indeed unto life and the photo...

[Adam Roby]

Thanks for that update.  This rat race of a life often feels like it is going to kill me.  We don't have much, so my only saving grace is hoping to get this house in the city paid off by retirement.  Plan is to sell, buy something in the country on some land, a nice retirement property for 1/4 - 1/2 of what our house will be worth and keep the balance to live off of.  Not the retirement for everyone, but I think many of us here see that as a nice way to spend our free time post this craziness.  You just confirmed that indeed it is possible to be happy with just the basics.

[Gary O]

'the basics' off grid, will keep you busy for the rest of yer days....

never knew squirrels hopped....just an observance from this morning's travels (not mine, theirs)
they are on a definite route, and schedule

[Gary O]

Droppin' weight like no tomorrow.
Was in the low 260s, now in the high 220s.
Folks have weight machines, go to gyms, tread on a treadmill.
Seems the ol' chopping maul, and the occasional sledge hammer is doin' the trick...aaand a bit more productive.
We demo'd the crushed camper on our property adjacent to our original parcel.
Got real tired of looking at it.
Hate eyesores.

Not done yet, but today most the metal and goofy things s/be loaded up for recycle.


Some of you may recall these pics from a few years back;



Much more recent;


Airy alteration (room with a view);


Goin' down?;



Bottom floor (finally);


Tada dump;


OK, using a sledge hammer is the hard way...

but

it got done

Swingin' for the wall;


yeah, I learned not to swing with my hands initially together, but let the top one slide on the down swing...but only after missing everything and commencing to do a pirouette a couple times...made me dizzy

cheers

[pmichelsen]

I was lucky and found a scrapper within a few hours of my property a few years ago. Now I give him a call when I find a bunch of cra....er metal, drag it out to the main road and he swoops in and picks it up. I think he also runs an ad on the local Craigslist to make the trip worth his while, but he sure has made cleaning up a lot easier.

[Adam Roby]

I suppose the key to this retirement thing is being in good enough shape to do all the things you want to do in order to be able to enjoy them.
I am on week 2 of my 7 week convalescence from surgery.  I am not allowed to ride in a car for the first 2 weeks, not allowed to drive for 4 weeks, and can't lift anything more than 5 pounds for at least 6 weeks.  Let me tell you, that severely limits how much you can do in a day, and I am already bored out of my skull.  Tried walking on grass today for the first time, felt like I was crossing a desert and a 50 lb backpack on.  I really hope I can correct all of these problems before I retire, or else the plan of being in the woods full time will never come to fruition.  I can't imagine being sentenced to city life until I die... the thought alone may kill me.

[Gary O]

Tried walking on grass today for the first time,

tried that once

ended up not walking at all, just sitting, eating munchies


Wait


I may have misunderstood............

OK, serious, you sir need to convalesce.
Follow Dr's orders, take yer meds, take it s-l-o-w
I found out slow progress is quicker
I also found out the mind actually does have healing powers.



hook up with a little Pink Floyd


You get well, sir Roby.....hear?

stay outside (the air is better...aaaand it'll bolster yer desire)

I look forward to reading of yer progress...right here

[Gary O]

Oh, also got an inverter/Jenny
I'll change out the oil after an hour or so of running.
Not totally happy with the design, but glad it runs quiet. 

Little genny Update;
Well, it's been 60 days of steady running (approx. 6 hrs daily).
This little girl just keep chuggin' along.
Used the big fan on some hot nights along with two PCs, phone charging, drill battery charging and four lights; not a hiccup.
Used her to power the newly installed well pump.
It labored at the max end, so switched to the 3500 watt HFT behemoth.
The only event lately has been the little rubber weather flap fell off.

I wondered when that would happen since the one they had on display at Home Dopey was already torn off.

That weak spot and the busy little area at the oil plug are the only things I have found to be design flaws...aside from those goofy little wheels that catch on pebbles and twigs when pulling it (dragging it flopped on its side) across the property.

[Gary O]

notes from a couple days ago;

Water

Is in


It was a bit of a struggle

Had to rely on the tiny town 25 mi south for a fitting and another length of 1 ¼.

But

After gluing the wrong end a couple times, and a failed attempt at putting all 30 ft together and trying to slide all that in...

We got 'er hooked up.

But

Before all that, I woke to my lady hollering in my ear that she heard a cougar.
They've been seen in the area the last couple days, two of 'em.

Love to get a pic of one...or a rug...



So, knowing it was gonna be a hot one, I trudged around in my slippers getting tools ready while she made breakfast.
It was a good one
And a big one

Giving me a cotton mouth most the morning.
(I'm a good boy, I cleaned my plate )


The moment of truth was priming.

Took about 10-15 minutes.

Then voila




The little woman watered her garden, and watered, and watered, then watered some more...

Then

The water quit coming

Twice

Both times I was 50 yds from the pump.

I haven't ran for, oh, say, 20 years

Up until today.

My gait in acceleration is akin to the final struggle of a diseased yak...after wolves ate half it's hindquarters.

But I ran anyway..sorta

And shut 'er down

Our little 2K genny was at max, and she put forth a valiant effort.

I was hoping it was the little genny and not some other unforeseen horrible thing.

It was

I watched my lady water even the wild currants, as I wanted to make sure it was just the tiny genny.

I'm gonna say we ran it steady for 30-40 minutes.


That water,
that water is the coldest, purest liquid I've tasted in some time, maybe ever.

We are a notch up today.
However, not long after we did happy dances, the sky darkened and God started moving furniture around upstairs.

It rained

It hailed, hail the size of...large hail.

And it come down hard.

Then the wind picked up

And up

Trees snapped, big ones, and trees blew over, big ones.

Just missing the new pump, the big genny, the container, and the Wrangler.
It's good to have a prayerful mate.

It's also a humbling thing to watch large trees go over when in a tiny cabin.





So, tomorrow I was gonna make a platform and build a tiny room.

Now?

Now I'm gonna chainsaw some trees to get to the pump and the large genny.







Maybe the day after that I'll start my jogging program.......riiiiiiight.


Thing is, we can see a big blow comin' from the east, southeast and northeast.
Anything from the west is a bit of a surprise, as Mt Scott and the Cascades shadow our little paradise.

I scurried around to cover everything, and just in time.
This one built up and kept buildin'...sheesh.

Then

It was gone

This morn was gorgeous.
I woke to coffee by the bed, layin' there all rotten spoiled.

For decades my lady would have breakfast ready by 3:45 am.
Now? I just slumber, and awake to a hot cuppa...wipe the sleep boogers and beard drool, then lay there considering what we've come to know as 'the second sleep'.

However, of late, I'm the one to trudge over to the main cabin to retrieve 'the second cup'...warming the camp pot, lookin' out the kitchen window.

This morning, as I looked out, a flittering moth caught my eye.
Thought I'd kilt it with one swat.
But no.
Those durn things don't die easy...floppin' around spreadin' it's insidious moth makeup powder all over the counter.

Smat smat smat!

flutter

SMAT!

twitch

SMAT! SMAT! SMAT! SMAT!

ooze

Carefully lay placemat over moth guts


....don't tell the little woman.

[Adam Roby]

Scary storm... happy you came out of it unscathed.

How deep is your well?  What kind of well is it, hand dug? 

[Gary O]

Scary storm... happy you came out of it unscathed.

How deep is your well?  What kind of well is it, hand dug?

only 40' deep
pretty much the norm here (huge underground lake)
static level is 18'
what I've been told is it was pounded in with a sand point

sadly, the casing is only 2" so couldn't use a submersible or deep well jet

one thing I didn't install was a pressure tank, so we must shut it off at the genny
we're comfy with that for now
the pump shuts off automatically when pressure gets to 65 psi, so might fiddle with that with a nozzle....might

down the line we'll put in a real well...once we determine where we're puttin' the main cabin

[Adam Roby]

Ah, there is another cabin in the works?  Was the initial 10x12 (now with extensions) just a temporary housing until you worked on a larger cabin, or is the other one just an extension to what you have now?

I was wondering about the same thing on my land.  I believe 200 sqft and under requires no permits, I thought of making a few different buildings all within proximity, one for just sleeping, one for cooking, etc...  could be a neat idea.

[Gary O]

That's the plan

our 2nd cabin is where we sleep

the next project w/be a pump house

then add 80 sf to the 2nd cabin

then the shop

then the main cabin...a sprawling 400 sf (I think)

[Adam Roby]

Do your taxes go up much with each new structure?

In my neck of the woods (upper NY state), if you have a trailer with 3 sides showing then you are taxed on a trailer.  There are many people who have essentially built a house around the trailer, making it be the foyer or entry way, to beat the tax man.  One of our neighbors had a car port for years, and one day decided to add a garage door.  His taxes went up by a fair amount because it changed what is was, so he removed the door and put up a tarp the following year.

[Gary O]

if you build it, will they come?

fact #1
If you make a noise in the woods, will yer taxes go up?
no

fact #2
If you make a noise on the phone and the county is on the other end, will yer taxes go up?
yes

and that's the way it is here....

[Gary O]

We finally got busy with the addition to the second cabin.
Moved the wood stove from the container to the new floor.
Boy, that Earth stove is huge...and heavy.
We're pushin' ourselves purty hard for retired folk, but both of us have a desire for a warm winter, and a bit of elbow room for when the snow sets in.

Here's some pics of our frame up;






Oh, and threw together a picnic table from scraps. Got a mess of folks comin' in a few weeks.



Guess I better clean out the barbeque...or maybe not (save the secret flavor)

[MikeOnBike]

Wow!  Gary, your place is looking great!  You and the missus have been very busy.

Nature turned my hand this year.  The  drought conditions in southern Idaho have finally killed our drinking water spring.  I'm headed up the mtn. Mon. to meet with the driller and get a well put in.  The witcher says we are at about 140ft so won't be cheap.  Glad your existing well is working but yeah, too bad you can put down a pump.

Michael...

[Gary O]

Hey Mike

Glad to know yer alive and kickin'!
140' ain't too bad for being up in the hills.

I'm putting in the wood stove now. Going out the wall. Never done that...

Will post pics of after (during is just too ugly)

Here's some pics from last week;








cheers

[Gary O]

Since our move, back on April 27 (five months today);
Cleared (pick axed) land for a garden spot
(this ain't no easy feat, tearing out root systems by hand)

Planted the garden, including Seaberry trees with mesh fencing
Cleared land for the container
Cleared an acre or so into a 'park like setting'
Then cleared it again after the big storm
Bucked, split and piled five cord of wood
Blazed a Jeep trail to the meadow
Gathered, hauled and piled a half dozen rather large slash piles in the meadow

Tore down a camper by hand and hauled that stuff to the dump
Built a tool crib
Put the well pump in
Built a pump house
Took out the french doors and extended the kitchen
Added home built pantry doors and a partition
Built table/benches for the breakfast nook
Built a rather large picnic table
Built a little hazmat shed
Enhanced the outdoor shower a bit
Set up a somewhat meager Jenny powered light/elect system for both cabins
Oh, and framed, sub sided, sub roofed and finished the interior of the addition to the second cabin
Including building the custom windows
(this also included installing the wood stove, hauling that 500 lbs of steel and brick from the container to the cabin via trailer and a sheet of stout ply atop small pipe rollers)
Assisted the two families in razing the old red hovel on our adjacent property
During respites we helped our octogenarian neighbors with things such as getting their brush muncher going...then said goodbyes to the old guy a few weeks later at his memorial

(all the while doing chores, such as scrubbing out clothes by hand and hanging out to dry...and baking things...like cake...aaaaand making granola...and meals from our garden..and hauling water before we got the well going)

Somewhere in the process we lost over 100 lbs (I think we left them somewhere back in town)
This retirement off grid stuff ain't for sissys

Come on winter! Got slash piles to burn and snow to show shovel.

[rick91351]

   I am jealous     But wait I have stayed pretty busy as well.     You know this retirement thing is still better than the grind......   

[Gary O]

  I am jealous     But wait I have stayed pretty busy as well.     You know this retirement thing is still better than the grind......   

Oh, I know yer busy.
Yer my inspiration.
But, me, I been sittin' at a desk for umpteen years.
And eating like someone was gonna take it away from me...
Yeah, there's nuthin' like this...nuthin'.
We eat maybe two meals a day, and they ain't much.
But it's enough.
Can't be all full and get any work done.
I'm actually getting a bit buff.
OK, actually I've developed some sorta turkey skin arm flaps.
I was doin' some chain sawing and caught sight of one in sag mode.
My mind went Geeezus! Gramma?
Heh, awhile back my brother dramatically dropped over 100 lbs, and got all post stretch droopy, all over.
Said, 'wanna see deputy dawg?'
Showed me his stomach.
Sheeeeesh.

Here's an exterior pipe pic (never done this before);



I've dressed the eaves up since the pic, with fascia and drip edge

[Redoverfarm]

Gary I am sure you have figured out this thing called life.  It is the journey not necessarily the destination.  Step back and take a look.  Gosh I did that.       I am sure that you have more motivation but maybe on a slower pace than your job ever had.