Our Tiny (10 x 12) Cabin

[MountainDon]

Yeah, the root system. Always a worry for me there. I think you have the same (pumice) soil as we do, if I recall correctly.

We are sitting on a big pile of 1.4 million year old Ignimbrite. Our volcano is called extinct by some but dormant by many other scientists. Front row seat is what we are sitting on.     There are hot springs and areas where the sulfur smell is very strong.

[Gary O]

We're 15 mi due east of Crater Lake (Mt Mazama).
It's just a pup at approx. 8000 yrs old.
Lotza geothermal in our area...at least that's what I tell my wife and distant neighbors (damn sriracha anyway)

[rick91351]

We are sitting on a big pile of 1.4 million year old Ignimbrite. Our volcano is called extinct by some but dormant by many other scientists. Front row seat is what we are sitting on.     There are hot springs and areas where the sulfur smell is very strong.

The bright side of it MD you don't have to go very far for pumice to scour the pots and pans.....

We're 15 mi due east of Crater Lake (Mt Mazama).
It's just a pup at approx. 8000 yrs old.
Lotza geothermal in our area...at least that's what I tell my wife and distant neighbors (damn sriracha anyway)

15 miles due east     WOW it is a good thing you were not sitting there 8500 years ago.  Mazama is actually a series of volcanoes and most likely a long way from being dormant.  I hate to bring this up Gary but if it blows like it could again it most likely would mess up your .... retirement villa     

[Gary O]

Well now, that'd sure beat the inevitable long walk and bap over the head when I finally lose that lone marble rattling around my skull.
Thanks for giving me something to look forward to.
Hope it's on the 4th of July

[rick91351]

Well now, that'd sure beat the inevitable long walk and bap over the head when I finally lose that lone marble rattling around my skull.
Thanks for giving me something to look forward to.
Hope it's on the 4th of July

WOW what a neat 4th of July party......  Dad there is going to be fireworks like never seen before......  Here mom and dad sit right here.  We well be back... Were going to run to the store, should not be long.....

We live on a shield volcano.  We have quite a drift that comes down through here.  Suspect a large lava tube as well.  Places you can feel a breeze blowing out of a couple outcroppings when you climb up on them.  There are a couple of ferns that grow on them that take advantage of humid cool breeze.   They are just small insignificant outcroppings.  However there are no hot springs or thermal features.  Being a closet geologist or is that armchair geologist?     That can mean a couple things.      One there is no venting of thermal energy so pressure is building.   Or it is really DOA - done finished.  Coughed up its last hairball.  Doubt it very much.... more likely building pressure....

When we get the house done I will do a batch of baby backs, potato salad, coleslaw,  jalapeno poppers, cream peas and new potatoes.  Maybe a huge jambalaya.    I will have both big grills going.  We will invite everyone that was involved in the house and the neighbors and friends.  Most likely this is when this decides to spew.  Being so this is a shield volcano it will most likely give a great shaking, then huge boom then flow lava down the creek.  Sort of like a molasses flow.  If any of us has survived the great shaking and the poison gas from the huge boom... should be safe.  Pass the potato salad - more ribs - jambalaya.....  What was that?  OH nothing.... How about a soothing Creme Brulee    You know its a wonderful time and opportunity for a nature walk.  This evening we will give the kids hot dogs and marshmallows and tell tales of the curses the Indians put on this ground and the curses the people before the Indians the ones the Indians took it away from..... The lava flow should be still very hot this evening.  Oh that little rumble could not been much over a 6.5 just an after shock.  More beet pickles dear?"   

           

[Gary O]

perfect

[OlJarhead]

I love that crater

I had the same kind of thing happen here this year.  Started a burn next to a larger burn pile because I didn't want to have it all burn at once.  Figured I'd been fine where I was....started it with drier lint, flint and steel and pine kindling...went up nicely, maybe too nice.

Turn around to do stuff.....turn back and the whole pile was going!!!!  Guess it was just so dry from the cold we were having...didn't have to do the snow/water dance though   Just fired up the big Red Mahindra Beast and controlled the burn with the big loader bucket

[Gary O]

Note to self: big loader bucket......and tractor on the back end of that.

I AM shopping........

[Gary O]

Back from the cabin.
Got the floor down.
Tired
Sore
Hurt
Old
I hurt myself in so many places, I got no more places that don't.

But.....my juices are gacked.

Can't wait to get back there.

Man, when we got done leveling, truing, layin' down timbers, and I stepped back; a rush of design ideas went berserk in my head.

I really can't wait to get back there.

I'll tell ya'll one thing.
My woman is either as much of a man as I, or I'm as much of a woman as she, 'cause she worked just as hard...maybe harder...OK..OK...she worked harder.
But
She couldn't match me in the bitch and moan dept.

It snowed a bit one night.

Heh, around midnight a bobcat jumped onto our front room roof from a tree, and musta had a peek or two thru the big window.
Heard it plop on the ground outside the door and scamper off.
Asked my woman if she'd just come back from the poophaus....no.
In the dim of the early morn I took a bleary gander out the kitchen window, and there it was....just slowly walkin' away.
Purdy in the snow.
Wish I'd had the camera handy just then.
Wunner if it watched me from the roof at least one of the three times I stumbled out in my undies to pee that night.
If so, I prolly gave it indigestion.

Our '93 Jimmy 1500 pickup overheated, according to the gauge, goin' over the pass.
It shouldn't have, load or no load, no matter the grade.
Coulda been one or two of several things.
So when we got back I took it to our trusted shop.
Turns out it was just the sender. It didn't overheat at all.

Saw five mighty nice deer when we were drivin' in.
And on the way home, 'bout 2-3 miles from the cabin, we watched a badger scurry across the road. My first badger sighting, ever.

I really can't wait to get back there.


Here's some pix;

our little floor of the bedroom is down...and tarped



scattered darkness



shop site (one day)



bobcat perch with human viewing accoutrement


morn (sigh)



I really can't wait to get back there.

[MountainDon]

     Would have been a cool picture catching the bobcat looking in. need more luck than I have.

[rick91351]

Felines do have a curiosity about homes.  Couple years ago on neighbor had a cougar watching TV through the patio door window.  Connie girly screamed, that  liked to scared the poor cat to death.  It headed for the creek.  Never showed back up to see the next episode. 

Badgers like to be petted and scratched behind the ears.     Actually young ones can be domesticated.  Don't think I would ever trust one nor a raccoon..... 

[Gary O]

    neighbor had a cougar watching TV through the patio door window.  Connie girly screamed, that  liked to scared the poor cat to death.  It headed for the creek.  Never showed back up to see the next episode.

Now that's funny

[Gary O]

Badgers like to be petted and scratched behind the ears.     Actually young ones can be domesticated.

r-i-i-i-i-i-i-ght

I'd rather keep the fingers I still have........... (note to self; Rick, cruel humor, be careful of him....log his advice in the satan file)

[OlJarhead]

Ahhh yes I so know the feeling (s) -- all of them actually

Our old neighbor had an A Frame that a local cougar thought was just nifty and used it as a perch.  They were always changing out damaged shingles.  One day in plopped down on the porch roof which  like yours had a 'human viewing area' on it....it looked in, she looked out, it ran like hell after her screams! lol

[Gary O]

Well, seems more common than not.

Heh, curiosity.....B-I-I-I-G curiosity

[Gary O]

Headin' to the cabin in 6 hrs.

Man, I could hardly sleep last night.
Rebirth is rather rare when yer aged.

Wonderful rediscovery;

Aleve

I was zippin' around all night, packin', loadin', even did a quick PM on the truck.
Still, at 10p, no pain.

Funny thing, drugs.
A year or so ago we were adding on to the cabin.
Back started seizing up, spasming.
I popped a couple Vicodin.
I could....not....stop.....working.
Heh, I couldn't stop talking either.
Usually all that comes outta my mouth while building is cuss words.
Man, I jabbered away at what I was gonna do next, and after that, and all the options...waaaay into the night. Even woke up around 1a....'you know what else we can do?'

My woman kept givin' me a crazed quizzical look (that 'why are you so phreeeking nutty' look).
I'd just say, 'whut?.....hey, you know what else we can do? We can put the next cabin beside this one just a few feet over there, but at an angle, and lay down a deck between 'em, then put in an old fashioned hot tub, right in the middle, and you know what else?'....
My lady was ready to slip the clip into my Sig Sauer and end my misery when she discovered the empty Vicodin bottle.

Cannot wait till I get the walls up on the new cabin.
Gotta remember to take it slow. Savor it all a bit.
..............yeah riiiight.

Sure hope to heck I calculated the bird's mouths on the roof joists correctly (shudder).

Oh well, I'll just cut more, and then I'll lay out the walls on the new floor, nail the crap outta them, stand 'em up, true 'em, square 'em, brace 'em, and put up the joists.
And you know what else?.............

[Gary O]

The cabin is taking shape.

I so love 4x4 construction.
It's very forgiving.

Unfortunately, it's very heavy.


The Wall

As our custom with all our cabin builds, we struggle in places.
The most memorable event this time was raising the wall.

Built it on the floor.
Simple.
Kinda fun.

'OK, we'll just tilt this wall up and while you balance it I'll scurry around and nail the sole plate then level and brace it.'

Heh

Something happens at the in between place, the pulling something up as far as you can go, then somehow magically converting to pushing it up.
There's a little squat/jump-clean/jerk maneuver of which I've never had much command.
I used to just power thru it.
Anymore, if I squat, the sit move comes directly after.

First attempt we couldn't get it above our bellybuttons.
S-o-o-o-o, we just stood there and watched each other quiver while considering our next move.
Seems the only thing on me that wanted to move was my sphincter.

I may have pooped a little.

.......don't tell anybody.

Can't say we panicked.
To panic, one must actually do something.
We mainly just watched each other's eyeballs extend past their sockets as our arms slowly but convincingly conceded the wall to gravity.
I may have lost around a quarter inch in height as my tibia and fibula ground into my right heel, due to the brilliant idea of bracing the wall with the place where my knee used to be.
(Hope the dragging one leg thing will eventually disappear.......)

My mind raced in place on a mental treadmill.
I hadn't given much forethought to the possibility of failure.
We came to a mutual conclusion;

'WE'RE SCREWED!!'

'DROP IT!!!!'


We circled the wall.

We pondered the wall.

'OK, now we know it's heavy.'

Second attempt we managed to slide it right off the floor....standing it up....on the ground.

'Well.....I'll just pick up my end and put it on the floor, then sidle over and help you with your end.'
Why is it that one reacts favorably to the really stupid bonehead ideas right away?

Eventually, we laid (plopped) it back on the floor, and nailed a long 2x4 to the other end of the floor to stop the sucker.
'Maybe we should get a run at it.'
(insert crazed, maniacal laughter here).

Finally, we steeled ourselves, and with gritted resolve and determination.....and the knowledge that, win or lose, this was going to be our laaaast attempt while on this earth...or at least today, we reached deep into our psyche.

An old man and a sweet not as old woman was able to get that wall up that evening.

There's normal laughter, then (immediately after accomplishing something arduous), there's subdued, higher pitched, relieved laughter.
It goes like this; eheh....eheh.....eheh.

[OlJarhead]

I must have missed it somewhere (because I was laughing too hard)...what is this cabin for?  A spare?  Guest room?

[Gary O]

Gonna be our bedroom

[_JT]

Speaking as someone who's still young and strong enough to lift a wall into place on his own: don't. There's a reason why man discovered all these force multipliers thousands of years ago. Pulleys, levers, counterweights, etc. Nothing ends cabin construction like an unanticipated knee surgery.

[Gary O]

 
'tis a truth
But then.....what would I write about?
The time factor pressed us a bit.
The 4x4 studs were uncommonly heavy (wet).
Next big wall will raise by the pull of a winch, a stop on the floor, and a cable on each end.

Here's what we did yesterday (time....sheeesh);

Looks like a shed now, but with shakes and a homemade french door it'll begin to get that gnomelike motif I'm always after.
In a couple weeks we'll be back down there putting on the roof.


TYVEK upside down and backwards spells break time...or beerthirty




OSB hell

[rick91351]

Interesting..................

Just read an article gentleman in Littleton Co. just got fined $200 for flying a Betsy Ross flag by his home owner association.  He is quite a troublemaker he apparently received a warning in April when he decided to fly the Gadsden, the yellow, pre-revolutionary flag reading "Don't Tread On Me." Recently he was fined $100 for flying a Co. state flag.

With that said what would house wrap upside down and backwards net the home owners assn?       

[Gary O]

It do make some kinda statement.
Like, hey Dupont, I like yer spinners, but this wrap crap needs an adhesive backing for windy days.

I s'pose there's fancy handled despoolers, but found it much more entertaining to unwrap the little woman from time to time.

[Gary O]

So, I been whittlin' on some 2x2 cedar.
Thought I'd make French doors for the new shack.
I always draw up specs before I attempt a project that involves more than one piece of wood (see detailed plans)

Detailed plans;


Making the French doors.

Subtle suggestion; DO NOT MAKE FRENCH DOORS!!!!

Seemed like a simple enough project.......hehh hehh.

For, oh, say 60 of the 65 years I've been in existence, I've whittled/butchered/cobbled/hewn/chopped/gouged/disfigured and outright mutilated wood.

I tend to turn most my projects into timed weekend warrior events.
These races typically start when I pull in the drive Friday afternoon and end late Sunday evening...prone, weeping, cutting myself.
I figger that's why there are five week days.
Convalescence.
On any given Saturday morning, at 3AM, I can be found stumbling around, holding a 17th cup of coffee in my quavering hand, looking for.....something....oh, yeah, my try square......oh well, I'll jus zip a shade off the ol' edge.
......well, crap.
Oh, heeeeere's my try square.
No worries, Home Dopey opens in three hours.
Think I'll make another pot of coffee.

Note to readers; if one maintains hurry mode, one can gain much experience in repair mode, which comes directly after scurry mode, but only after the WTF!!? (discovery) and wailing modes.
But I do love French doors, and my imagination puts me and my woman waking up every morning to a glorious forested vista, with shards of sun rays beaming into the cabin.

So I slog away.


Roughed in;


11pm was 2 hrs ago, busy creating le French FUBAR;

.......so don't #%!&%#!! bother me with details like 'you need more hinges', and 'double panes will immediately morph into a no see thru shower door motif if you don't seal them'

K?!!!


I've added four more hinges and removed the double panes since taking this pick;



The weekend is pretty much over.



I'll be horizontal in my lazy boy


.....cutting myself.

[Adam Roby]

I don't know what I like better... the doors or the description of how they were made.  Both are works of art, so I will say job well done on both.