In my last post I
began by talking about how fall and winter are generally slow times
out here. Normally that would be true, but I'd just decided to
undertake a huge project this winter, building myself a new cabin. I
love life on Shaw, I'd like to stick around and it was finally time
to put something down that is more permanent. Although I've helped
with a few projects here and there, my actual experience with
construction is fairly limited and I had a LOT to figure out and a
lot to do. That said, I'd been thinking a great deal about it, and
bolstered with a little extra building confidence from my recent trip
to Alaska, I was ready to give it a try.
Not that it was the only thing on my plate in December, I still had
work to do, both at my actual job and helping my friends, plus it was
about to be Christmas meaning another trip to Seattle. My slow
winter had suddenly turned into the biggest project I've ever taken
on but I was excited to get started.
Ready for the day.
The pager on the left is my fire department pager which I keep around
24/7, as well as the Leatherman tool which I find myself using
probably 20+ times a day. Because I have some building to do, I'm
always measuring things right now so the tape is also important to
keep close by.
There aren't a lot
of big events or shows out here in the islands, but on this
particular evening there was a burlesque show taking place in
Eastsound so naturally a group of our friends got together to attend.
It was a nice excuse to dress up a bit (or at least wear something
other than our farm clothes!), go out for drinks, see a fun show and
meet some new people at house parties and a bar.
Breakfast the next
morning in town. Again, living on Shaw there isn't anywhere to go
out and eat, so once in a while it is awfully nice to have someone
else cook for you!
Nick playing with
the new tractor, using the backhoe to dig out a rotten stump in the
lawn.
At this point, plans
to build my new cabin had been roughed out and while I had some
sketches, I sat down to make some actual scale drawings of the
building I had in mind and the floor plan. With my previous tiny
house I never even did this much, it just sort of came together
organically, but I figured this time I'd better make some more
serious plans since it is a much bigger and more involved
undertaking. I have to say, from my first sketch to what I am
planning on and building for now a few months later, other than the
location of the wood stove, it has stayed almost exactly the same
which is pretty pleasing.
A beautiful day on
Old Copper.
So this picture
doesn't really do it justice, but this morning was a 'king tide'
which in addition to a full moon resulted in the highest tides I'd
ever seen up here. This is the road around crescent bay on the edge
of Eastsound, and at one point the waves were starting to come over
the road the water was so high.
Back on Copper it
was time to do some site prep where my cabin was going to be built.
It sits at the far end of the meadow from the main house, along the
treeline facing southwest, a lovely location overlooking the meadow,
plenty of beautiful trees and some old farm buildings. We started
out by removing brush, mostly ocean spray, and a bit of fir and
maple. With those out of the way it was time to remove the soft top
soil so we could get down to the solid clay layre below and give the
building a strong footing.
Here is the site
roughly laid out. Another great use for the new tractor!
With the go-ahead to
start building and the site laid out it was time to start collecting
more building supplies. For this I returned to Seattle again where I
did a lot of planning and shopping with my dad who has been an
invaluable help during the entire process. I wanted to build a
fairly simple building, but not a box. As such it has one angled
wall that faces the meadow where the door will be and I wanted to put
a more interesting window on that wall than a simple rectangle. I
guess I got lucky, because I found this cool octagonal window at one
of the second hand building supply stores for $25!
Buying lumber with
my dad. The first of many
trips.
To get started, my
dad took a few days off work to come up to the island and help build.
We mad a few more stops for materials and tools, then boarded the
ferry to Shaw.
It wasn't all work
though. Because it was just before Christmas, one of the annual
island events is the Christmas ship that goes around visiting the
various islands. It was the first year I'd attended it and I have to
say it was fun to see. It's not like a bit city where you can drive
to the local shopping mall to see Santa, instead Santa comes to you
via boat!
Always on the
look-out for cool materials to build with, there was a stack of beams
in the Shaw fire station that had previously been part of the old
station house and had been sitting, in the way, for years and years.
In an effort to clean out the station house the fire chief asked if
I'd like to use them for my building projects and naturally I said
yes! They were huge beams, the longest being 4x8s over 16 feet long
and the others being 6x8s over 8 feet in length. These would become
a floor support, a window frame, the door frame, the beams supporting
the loft and more. Talk about a score, and one with some great
island history behind it.
With my dad and a
few other friends up on the property we had a fire around the pond to
hang out and share stories in the evening.
Doing final layout
on the site, marking where posts will be placed and the final
decision on which direction it will face.
With layout done, we
dug down until we were well into solid ground, filled the holes back
with crushed rock and then placed pier blocks.
My boss Austen came
to help for a day which was both fun and a lot of help. He'd hoped
to get to do some framing (because framing is fun!) but we weren't
that far along quite yet, but we got the rim up and that was some
critical work that felt great to accomplish. Here you can see the
final shape of the building, 12x16 feet minus the small corner cut
off.
Installing the
plywood that would make up the floor and with that it is starting to
actually look like something.
First wall up! This
is the back wall where the kitchen will sit and the large window has
a great view into the moss covered forest behind.
This part of the
framing was going fast (straight walls with no or only one window are
easy) especially with Brendan’s help and in very little time we had
a third wall in place. This is the front wall where the wood stove
and my desk will reside, with a huge window overlooking the meadow.
Of course I wasn't
the only one getting work done these days, my friend Jon was having
our other buddy Luke hang the well pump in his well to get their
water system online.
Back on my cabin
progress was happening fast (working from before sunrise to sundown
will do that!) and in five days had gone from bare dirt to having the
main level walls up and starting on the loft above.
Although my dad and
I were working hard (as always) there was still some time to play.
That evening was Carol and Bruds annual Christmas party at their
house, a great time to see most of the islands residents in one
place!
Back to work. With
the main level done my dad and I got some work done on the loft
level, which again has a huge window overlooking the meadow liket he
wall below. The roof will be a simple shed roof and in essence, it's
really just a scaled up version of my 8x12 tiny house.
Because my mom
hadn't been up for a visit for quite some time she came out to see
the new cabin and what the farm was looking like. During her visit I
had to remove a broken branch from above the playground at the tiny
Shaw school, so this is what it looks like from about 60 feet up a
tree.
While waiting for my
boss a few days later in Westsound, I got to watch the sun rise over
the marina and my island in the distance. Lovely.
After we met up in
Westsound we headed to the job site. Here my boss doing a tricky
removal, a tall, skinny madrone that was leaning towards a house and
over a garden. Because of that we had to lower everything out on
ropes, meaning he was in the tree and I was on the ground trying to
lower branches and logs with the minimum amount of force and pull on
the tree he is tied into.
Christmas time was
upon us and naturally I headed back to Seattle to celebrate with my
family. All of my siblings were away in their respective home states
however (Alaska, California and Montana) so I did my best
representing for everyone. Yah, I didn't get a very good photo of it
did I....
The next day I
picked up my grandmother and headed to another Christmas dinner, this
time over in west Seattle. I don't go over to that part of town
often, but when I do I often stop off at this view of the city. I
think it's about time someone do some tree work to maintain the view!
Another delicious
family dinner.
I wasn't in Seattle
only to see family though, as
one of my favorite Christmas traditions is one with my friends at a
bar. After everyone finishes up with family dinners we meet up at a
bar in the U-District and have a 'white elephant' gift exchange.
It's a great event that we have been doing for something like 7 years
now and I always get to catch up with a few people who I don't see
often.
The
annual group photo.
With
festivities over it was time to return home to Shaw. Of course I had
a lot of supplies to get on the way out of town so I loaded up the
van nearly full to the roof with lumber, plywood, insulation and much
more. I gotta say, I'm so glad I got this van over a pickup truck.
For hauling this kind of materials it has been wonderful and the rack
an invaluable part of it all.
I
had returned home but Nick and Ellen were away in Germany, so I took
care of their animals until they returned. Of course this meant
taking care of the 19 chickens, many who seemed to prefer laying
their eggs on the floor of the coop rather than in the boxes for some
reason.
A
short while later my friend Luke called me and told me he'd flown his
new RC helicopter he had just gotten for Christmas into a tree. It
was about 60 feet or so up a cedar but was easy to get to and a fun
little change of pace from what I'm usually doing up trees!
Every
afternoon this same group of deer walk through the far side of the
meadow. There are usually between six and eight of them, and
although deer on Shaw are as common as pigons in the city it seems, I
honestly never get tired of seeing them wandering around the meadow.
Taking
a break from working on my place for a bit I decided to do some weed
whacking
in an overgrown area on the edge of the meadow. On 18 acres there is
a LOT to do and even areas near the house like this are still being
'uncovered' for the first time. As I did it I picked up all the
sticks and rocks that were on the ground to make it quick and easy to
maintain in the future, and once I was done the chickens came right
over to peck and scratch around the newly disturbed area.
The
garlic just beginning to sprout. It's the winter so there are no
fresh veggies in the garden, and although it will be a long time yet
until the garlic is ready to eat, it's nice to have something growing
that we can watch.
Bruster
the rooster. Handsome, but he can be pretty mean.
New
Years was upon us (and it's been quite an interesting year to be
sure) and with that meant the annual part at the Community Center. I
got dressed up (which for me means just about anything other than my
farm clothes!) and spent the evening with fellow islanders. For
midnight, I ended up joining Carol and Brud at their annual midnight
bonfire, but most of my friends were off island and I was pretty
tired so shortly after midnight I went home and went to bed.
It
was that morning what myself and the rest of the Volunteer Fire
Department had trained for, a house fire. It started very early in
the morning in the floor and despite a great deal of effort was
unable to be stopped. Because
our department is so small we were lucky to have help with containing
the fire from departments on other islands which was wonderful. In a
small community it was a big and sad event, but no one was hurt and
that is the most important part. I wasn't there the entire time
myself, but even so it's serious subject for me and one that I'm not
going to go into detail discussing here for various reasons.
Back
on the farm it was time to do a top-dress of compost to the garlic.
Nick and Ellen got a load in their pickup truck on the mainland the
day before so with wheel barrows and shovels in hand, we got it done.
It sure seems to be working, because the garlic is looking great!
A
cake for Amy's birthday.
Being
winter, rain is a frequent occurrence. This year hasn't been as wet
as last, but it's enough to create large areas of standing water on
the property.
The
(temporary) solution to this is to get out and dig drainage ditches.
I love ditch digging because it's fun to direct water. When I was a
kid, I remember spending hours with my brother making dams on the
seasonal creek by my family cabin, then breaking it to create a mini
flood. This actually had a purpose though, because we didn't want
pooling water in the meadow near where we were going to be growing
veggies.
So
my good friends Kelty and Sophie had been living on Orcas Island for
a good while (Kelty originally lived in a tent when I later built my
tiny home) and were moving to travel for a while. Once again, it was
time to put my new van into action. I'm a fan of this kind of
organization and work, so when they asked me to help them move I was
happy to oblige. We packed up their apartment into my van and a
Uhaul rental, then took it all to a storage unit on the mainland.
Everything
went off without a hitch and we hung out in the back of my van as we
rode the ferry boat back to the San Juans from Anacortes.
This
is going to be the view from my bedroom. Nice.
Hanging
out with the dogs, Polly and Marshall.
I'm
very fortunate to have people who are willing to help me on my
endeavors, and once again it was my dad up to help with construction,
and my uncle Eric as well. This is at a lunch break, but during this
time we got the final framing done and even the roof. Exciting
progress I couldn't do without such wonderful help and support.
Jon
running his mill.
The
walls of the second level up.
I’m
not the only one in my family that likes to climb, I obviously got it
from my dad! (free climbing 2x4 framing in his mid 60-s!)
Measuring
the diagonals to ensure the roof is square.
With
the bulk of the roof done, the framing of the entire place was
essentially complete. My dad suggested we take a 'selfie' and while
I wondered how long he'd been using that word I thought it was great
idea and this was the result. My dad has fond memories of building
our family cabin together with his dad, so to have him and I working
together on this place has meant a lot to me and been a wonderful
experience. I still have a long ways to go before I can move into
it, but it felt amazing to get all this done, from breaking ground to
having the framing done in a month. Things are looking good.
========================================================================
The
upcoming post is a pretty good one, covering a big time period of
time (because I'm finally trying to catch up before spring hits in
full force). You can look forward to more progress on the cabin and
property, farm preparation, as always some beautiful scenery and with
the fire department we even got to do a controlled burn of a whole
house!
