Our Dream Fulfilled

I had a neighbor that was an old hermit when I was in the mountains. The old fart may have saved my life. See my story, "The Bear and the Buckskin Dress" in my thread, "Perils of Being a Widow.".

 

I hope this thread doesn't wander too much
Trying to keep it chronological
but
my mind wanders

Like now;

Had to hurry a bit to build the 2nd (livable) cabin before we actually moved there
Winter was coming on
Heh, it snowed quite a bit when I was roofing the first cabin


A strong hint

Planned to build half the 2nd cabin, just to be able to move in

A little story

The Wall

4x4 framing
As our custom with all our cabin builds, this one darn near killed us a couple times.
The most memorable event 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 in between pulling something up and pushing it up.
There's a little squat/jump (clean/jerk) maneuver of which I've never had much command.
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 quivered, looking at each other while we considered 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.

I 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 jellybelly arms slowly but convincingly conceded to gravity.
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;


'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 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 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, 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 laughter, then there's relieved laughter.

We were gleefully relieved.

 

I didn't realize how much I missed your stories, Gary. (And I hope the bar will open sometime. )

 

Tempting......verrrry tempting

 

The tarp ceiling notes

We arrived at the cabin around 9pm last Tuesday.
Usually we get out, walk the cabin area, looking for signs of break in, or wildlife events.
Usually we go; LOOK! What's this?!...discovering later that they are our own tracks from last time.
This time cabi made a beeline to the poophaus.
Considerable coffee intake on the way down was more than ready to outgo.

Note;
I built our loo in the strict style of the (I really don't know what to do here) ancient culture of early ignoramusism, religiously adhering to the 'I've gotta poop now' method.
One of the unique features is having to insert and outsert a board from the back of our facility in order to cover and uncover the 5 gal poopail.

In my lady's scurry to the back of our poophaus to remove the board, she suddenly got real quiet, trying, in the dark, to focus on and fathom what her mind was trying to explain to her.

'Gar, come here....quick!'

'What?'

'JUST....COME.....!......'NOWWWWW!'

My mind registered that my dear woman of 45 years, mother of my children, grandmother of my grandchildren, might be in trouble, and most definitely is facing down some sorta wild animal, most likely a hungry puma (of which, by the way, would make a really cool name of a rock band...'The Hungry Pumas').....

.....where was I......ah, yes....screaming woman.


I immediately went into rapid dawdle, tearing myself away from starring at the load in the pickup, breaking into a speedy saunter.
I mean since it's obviously a large heaving drooling ravenous wild mountain lion, why confuse everyone by rushing in and suddenly becoming the other white meat?
(this tactic learned from many years of astute survivalist training)



As I came around the cabin, here is what I saw, that she was trying to explain to me in great detail (in as few stunned, stupefied words as possible);

DSC_0337.JPG

 

However, the main event, the one that was our main purpose of this trip, the putting on of the roof, was somewhat of an adventure all by itself.



Wednesday morning clouds formed.

Ah.

Not gonna be so hot.

Nice.

Mosey.

Tear off sagging roof tarp.

Gaze, with frozen stupification, at waterfall from sagging tarp gush directly onto bed, camera, pistol, and other important things.... like me.
Haul tools and organize things while my lady swabs out bedroom cabin and hangs things out to dry.

Mosey.

Rest from mosey.

Work, grunt, work.

Rest.

Sip coffee.

Ponder next thing to do and how to do it.

Get the 2x6s three fourths on and suddenly realize my arm, hand and thumb are no longer functioning, deciding instead to compete with my back for spasm count.

Rest.

Sip coffee.

Ponder.

Watch strange birds.

Go 'Whazzat?' several times in repetition.

Consider nap.

Tell each other to slow down, 'we've got three days'.

Rain happens.

Rather suddenly.

Lots and lots of rain.

We discover 2x6s, tightly nailed, leak like sieves.
We gaze at the tarp shreds now on the ground.

We commence to mutually scream out pointed nouns and adjectives;

'THE (effing) BED!

'THE (effing) FLOOR!'

'EFF EFF EFF EFF!!!'

....all the while waving our arms in the air, running to and fro, banging into each other like berserk windup toys.

Eventually, I scurry up and down the ladder, with the agility of a wounded rhinoceros, throwing tarp shreds and OSB scraps onto the roof.
Ever see a wounded rhinoceros scurry up and down a ladder?

It's not pretty.

By the time I ran outta crap to throw on the roof, it's done raining.....for the week, it turns out.

It's now close to 8pm.
I have no idea it will never ever ever rain again.
I just want to sleep in a bed....a dry bed....from the dry bedding from the main cabin.

An old fat man pulled up his trousers and tore all the wood scraps and tarp rags back off and doggedly finished the subroof...including the tar paper.....then drove 20 miles for a new tarp.

Tired?

I hadn't known that kinda tired since....well....I don't know.

My back spasms had spasms.

Ever OD on naproxen?
I only took two, before bed.
Only I couldn't lie down.
Too much pressure in the chest.
I actually couldn't move.
Considered the possibility of having a heart attack, and death.
Started welcoming the possibility of death.
I could feel my lady's quiet concern, momentarily asking pertinent questions like, does your left arm hurt?
Why are you sweating?
After a lengthy Q&A, she handed me two Tums.

Bingo.
I'm ready to put on the roll roofing.

Thursday and Friday we did menial things and took lots of moments to enjoy our little patch of pumice.

Life is good.

Horrifically good.

 

Imagine framing with rough-sawn 2 X 4s. I finally got smart and lined up all the studs for a wall until they were matched close for width. It was less work than shimming or hand planed to size. On my cabin "lodge" I used 6.5' walls and 10' at the center ridge with an open beam (3 X 16) ceiling with 2 X 6s on top for 6" fiberglass insulation, then covered with more 1 X 13s tar papered and then metal roofed. If I ever did it again, it would be with dimensional lumber and plywood. Bear in mind that I build this all myself using a chainsaw, hand tools, gin poles, pulleys, block and tackles, come along, and my 4 WD drive pickup. It took over 10 years to complete.

 

Gary, forgive my old eyes... but what am I looking at here? Is the picture turned sideways or supposed to be like that?

 

Dan has the photo-oriented correctly judging by the trees in the background. I have it now! It is an uprooted tree. I am guessing from fungal root rot.

 

Great work!

Heh, that photo was past dusk
with a smart phone....being run by an idiot

Here's another pic (next day)

 

Whatever it is, the lodgepole pines up there get a certain size and they're comin' down
(wind or no wind)

 

I had that same problem with lodgepoles near my cabin. It was due to a high water table and caused a fungal rot on the root system. Some could be pushed over by hand.

I just researched and found such a problem with lodgepole in your area is partly because of the pumice in the soil and that accounts for the white-gray that had me puzzled. The rooting is very shallow. You must be considered the south-central plateau region. They list two main causes for that region, one fungal and the other pine beetle. Has that area been burned in the last 100 years?

 

Yup
We still have one leaner that's the largest tree on the parcel

I wish I could find more pics of the one that fell
It was quite near the cabin, and leaning the wrong direction
It was actually three trees with their root system intertwined with each other

I'd learned to 'measure a tree height with a plumb bob
Looked to clear the cabins, worst case

Found out our lodgepole are not native there
The ponderosa were all logged off several decades ago
I'm OK with that as the pondies are not good wood stove logs
They tend to fill yer pipes with creosote

 

Yeah, our 'soil' is more pumie than soil
I'll talk about gardens and such a bit later