Blog Cabin Adventure

Memorial Day Weekend, A Yard Sale, Relaxation & Wood Stacking 101

2011-06-06T08:02:00.000-07:00

Memorial day weekend - P and I packed up the car and hit the road for an extra long weekend at the Blog Cabin! It was a weekend of retail, relaxation and a really fun campfire!

Saturday morning the fun began - I woke up at 5:45AM, grabbed a coffee and made my way over to my sisters house to help out with our yearly family yard sale. There was a ton of stuff to sort through and organize - Furniture, tools, clothing, toys, thingy-ma-bobs and whatcha-ma-call-its. The yard sale began at 8AM and our first customer arrived at 7AM! Wha??? We weren't even set up yet! lol. By 9:30 our sale was packed with buyers and we where wheeling and dealing with sales!

Some people would pay for the item as marked (sticker price) and other people would barter which made it more fun and it made whatever they were buying that much more enticing for them once we yelled "SOLD!" We met a lot of interesting people and our overall total was $1,489.00 - my personal total was a whopping $44.00! lol I guess I should have brought more stuff to sell! haha

After the yard sale had ended, the rest of the remaining items were packed up and dropped off at the local salvation army. Overall our sale was a SUCCESS!

After the sale was over, it was time for Blog Cabin fun and relaxation! P and I took a ride to the Quabbin Resevoir and might I say, "WOW!" It was the first time I have ever seen it and it's amazing! Here is some history for those of you who don't know about it:
Quabbin Reservoir is one of the largest man-made public water supplies in the United States. Created in the 1930s by the construction of two huge earthen dams, the reservoir is fed by the three branches of the Swift River, and seasonally by the Ware River. Quabbin's water covers 39 square miles, is 18 miles long and has 181 miles of shoreline. When full, Quabbin holds 412 billion gallons of water.

Here is a sample:

Sunday night was super fun. We had some Blog Cabin visitors who came bearing blog cabin gifts!!! My soon to be brother-in-law and sister-in-law Kathy & Darryl... and a truckload full of dry campfire wood!

According to the wood expert Darryl it was 8 year old dry wood to be exact! YAY - it's time for a fire and family fun! We unloaded the wood in a chain like formation - Kathy, Patti, and I would grab the wood off the truck bed and hand it to Darryl who would then use his professional wood stacking expertise to make the most perfect wood pile I have ever seen! Check it out!

I had no idea there was a system for stacking wood, but look at each end of the pile - perfectly flush - amazing! Also, a little wood stacking 101 provided by the wood expert Darryl - keep your wood pile elevated off the ground to avoid moisture. Also, hickory is the most dense wood. Our pile has a mixture of hickory and maple. The more dense the wood is, the longer it will burn. Darryl can tell what kind of wood it is by the bark on each piece - very cool.

Once the truck was unloaded, we made a quick trip down to Anne's Dairy Bar for dinner and a ice cream. Then, back to the camp to light up the wood and enjoy a nice relaxing fire!

Here is a handsome shot of the wood expert himself! Thanks Darryl! :)

Monday - P and I said goodbye to the cabin and headed home. It was a great weekend and we are looking forward to the next one!

See you then!

J & P

BLOG CABIN SEASON 3 PREMIER!

2011-05-09T13:46:00.000-07:00

Welcome back Blog Cabin fans! It's been a long cold Winter and it's time to get started again! Grab your hammer & tool belt and follow P and I on this years Blog Cabin Adventure! This past weekend was opening day at the cabin. Early Saturday morning P and I arrived. We pulled into the dirt driveway and opened our car doors. Damp earth and pine filled the air. The brook was roaring, swollen over the banks with this winters melted snow. We grabbed our bags and headed for the door. It took P a minute or two to figure out which key it was since it's been some time since our last visit. When she finally located the right key, it slid into the lock, turned and clicked opened. The door creaked as it slowly swung inward and the smell of fresh cut wood and sawdust hit us - the familiar smell of our little Blog Cabin - we are back and ready for the adventure to begin yet again.
We quickly unpacked our bags and began to settle in. We swept up some of the loose sawdust leftover from last year and straightened up a bit. We lit our little red stove to take the chill out of the air and began to list our renovation agenda for this Summer.

THE OFFICIAL BLOG CABIN AGENDA:
First - finish the electrical.
Second - finish plumbing the bathroom.
Third - Insulate the bathroom.
Fourth - Drywall the bathroom.
Fifth - Tile the bathroom.
sixth - Insulate the rest of the cabin.

Once we had discussed our plans we heard the sound of a car door shut. I peaked out the window and we saw 2 gentlemen making their way towards our door. Their was an older gentleman with a full white beard and a younger one. They carried fishing poles, fishing baskets and wore black rubbery boots that went clear up to their hips! - unexpected Blog Cabin visitors! Fishermen! They introduced themselves and asked if they could fish in our brook. P and I granted our permission and wished them "GOOD LUCK" :) About an hour later they came back and showed us the fish they had caught - very cool. I had a better picture that showed our fisher friends, but it was accidentally deleted from my phone - Blog Cabin Bummer :(

Other pictures from opening day - check out our new electrical panel & new bed:

Real Estate Listing Picture...

2010-12-28T19:46:00.001-08:00

I found the original picture that was posted with the real estate listing back in 2007. We sure have come a looooooong way! :)

-J

Closed For The Season...

2010-12-06T17:09:00.001-08:00

Another season came and went and the Blog Cabin is now officially closed for the season. P and I will stop in every now and then and post pictures of the snowy brook and cute cabin covered with snow. Maybe we will build a snowman on the front lawn to keep our little cabin company while we are away :) Season 4 is right around the corner, so stop in every once and a while for a visit and some off season surprise posts. Happy Holidays! J & P

Some Soffits and Rough Wiring...

2010-11-27T17:14:00.000-08:00

The soffits on the top front peak of the cabin have been built and hung! With every new addition our little cabin is getting closer and closer to looking like an actual home! In addition to the soffits on the top peak, the soffits in the back have also been completed. The ones on the side are scheduled for the spring and there will be no soffits on the lower peak because we are putting a farmers porch with an over-hang there. Ahhhh - a farmers porch with a couple of rockin' chairs has country charm written all over it :)

ELECTRICAL:

We have also started the electrical! The first floor has already been "rough wired." Rough wiring means that all those little blue electrical boxes have been mapped out and installed but, the wire has not been run and the boxes have no components (or guts) inside them yet. Even though we have no juice running through them, it's pretty cool to be able to see where all our switches, plugs and recessed lights are gonna go.

Blue electrical boxes:
Real cheap - only a couple of bucks a pop!

Recessed lighting:
Not so cheap - about 20 bucks a pop, but the ambiance will be worth it :)

Stay tuned for more...

-J

Johnson's Farm & Sugarhouse in the Fall!

2010-10-29T08:10:00.000-07:00

Breakfast at Johnson's Farm & Sugarhouse in the Fall **sigh**...really, I ask… is there anything better? Seriously, I have been craving it all day and I am counting the days until we are back at the Blog Cabin so that I can stuff my face with all their yummy treats! This place has got to have the best, I repeat, - THE BEST - pancakes, omelets and French toast that I have ever eaten. I am personally in love & going steady with the maple walnut pancakes! YUMMY! They come with a dollop of butter and an adorable warmed up mini-jug of their homemade maple syrup made right on site in the sugarhouse ** which is open for tours upon request!** It is country cozy and when you walk in you are overwhelmed with the delectable smell of fresh brewed coffee and home cooked deliciousness! They have a giant specials board loaded up with seasonal favorites like the pumpkin pancakes – SO GOOD – don’t tell the Maple walnut pancakes but, I had an affair with the pumpkin pancakes a few weeks ago - Shhhhhh! Did I mention their homemade cider donuts yet??? Your mouth will begin to water as soon as you start sinking your teeth into the cake like delight – Mmmmmmm! I think I just went up an entire pants size thinking about them! Hahaha lol. They serve yummy dinners as well – stuffed chicken breast and mashed potatoes, smoked ribs that literally fall off the bone and a Yankee pot roast that can bring tears of joy to your eyes. The wait staff is always amazing and the owners, Steve and Dee treat you like you are a guest in their own home. Johnson's is a Blog Cabin staple and P and I have been going there from the very Blog Cabin beginning. We make it a point to visit as often as possible and you should too! For realzzzz...if you are ever in town, take my word for it and pay them a visit – you won’t regret it! If you can't get there in person, pop by online! http://johnsonsfarm.net/welcome

Farewell to the Pile –O- Tools…

2010-10-25T08:51:00.000-07:00

Yes…it is time. According to “Our Wayne” now that the foundation is complete and the structure has been framed and the sheathing has been hung, there is really no need for the giant pile-o-tools that has accumulated in our Blog Cabin kitchen to stick around.

It has taken it 3 years for our pile to grow into the fine young pile he is today. Yes… I am giving our pile-o-tools a gender and congratulations…it’s a boy! Throughout his infancy and childhood we had some growing pains with our little pile, like when I stubbed my toe on a rogue brick hammer in the middle of the night and when P poked her finger on a retractable knife that refused to re-tract. After that, for safety purposes, we tried relocating our growing boy. He started his journey as a little guy growing up in the left front corner of the Blog Cabin behind the front door. As we took on more projects we started feeding him more tools adding screw drivers, power tools, a few tape measures and some nails here and there. We were constantly feeding the little guy and then, and then one day he started to grow. He grew so much and got so big that he started to block the front door from opening! At that point we knew he needed more room for out little guy because he and we could barely move! So, we moved our not so little pile from behind the front door to in front of the sliding glass door. We thought for sure he and we would be more comfortable with him there… but, the pile continued to be fed and the pile continued to grow and then, we ripped out the sliding door to put in our new French doors! The pile was so big he was getting in our way again. At that point we had to move our growing boy to the kitchen and this is where he has lived for the past year. He continued to grow so we continued to organize and reorganize hoping to make more room and keep everything consolidated. We tried grouping like items together, a small bucket of tape measures, a large bucket of nails, crow bars and levels leaned vertically & neatly in the corner by the cabinets, screw drivers in a coffee can, but no such luck the pile grew and spread where ever he wanted when ever he wanted. It was getting overwhelming and the pile looked a bit neglected. AND THEN…AND THEN…this past Saturday Our Wayne was passing by our pile–o-tools and said, “Ya know…we can probably go through all this and take a bunch of these tools back to my garage.” P and I were like, “What??” Our Wayne said, “Well, we really don’t need a lot of this stuff anymore and it’s taking up a lot of space.”
P and I weren’t really sure if we were ready to let our pile move out and go off into the world on his own. Was he really ready? After thinking about it for some time, we realized that we must set the tools free…we mustn’t keep him around for our own selfish reasons. We must let him go off into the world and continue to build and not sit in the kitchen and collect dust. So, today on the twenty-fifth of October in the year two-thousand and ten we bid farewell to our pile-o-tools. Farewell.

Lol - ok seriously...we are not sad to see this pile go... AT ALL! We have both stubbed our toes waaaay too many times! hahaha GOOD RIDDANCE! :)

Hey…here is something interesting I just realized…I can look at this picture and look at each item and tell you exactly what it was used for . Go ahead try me... pick a tool any tool comment me the question and I will tell you exactly what it was used for in our Blog Cabin Journey. Awwww...it's like looking back at a remembrance album :)

Fall Is Here…

2010-10-24T19:25:00.001-07:00

Fall is definitely here at the Blog Cabin. The smell of dry leaves and wood burning is thick in the air. You can hear the dry leaves skipping across the road as the chill in the air makes itself known in the Autumn wind - CHILLY! There is a pumpkin stand and corn stalks for sale on almost every corner and big buckets of mums on every farmer porch we pass. Saturday morning was 29 degrees! Burrrrrrrr! P and I used 3 blankets and had the propane stove running all night – with no insulation we were still able to keep the Blog Cabin between 65-68 degrees at night. Not too bad. During the day we were nice and cozy - once the sun came up and hit the cabin it took the chill out and warmed us right up.

We got a lot accomplished this weekend. Our Wayne has been busy while we have been away. He finished the last portion of the foundation connecting all four sides. We now have foundation under the entire cabin – a huge Blog Cabin milestone! I finished tarring the last portion of block on Sunday and when we head back in a couple weeks, we will back fill the front of the house an call it complete! P and I are happy to be finishing the foundation – it was backbreaking and we are sooo tired of digging! Our Wayne also covered the entire exterior with house wrap which helped a bit with keeping the heat in – next step for the exterior…siding. P and I have decided to go with the traditional Log Cabin siding…after all, it is called the Blog Cabin and we can’t very well continue to call it that if we don’t have the traditional log siding.

Oh, and in other Blog Cabin news, P and I are in the process of buying a small parcel of land right next to the Blog Cabin! This will give us a nice side yard for the cabin and maybe someday a nice space for a driveway or a relaxing picnic area. We won’t be building on this property because one of the agreements we made is that we would not take down any trees and out of respect for the trees and the beauty of the land we will honor our word. The property is 30 feet of road frontage and 85 feet of water frontage – 2550 square feet overall. Right now the Blog Cabin sits on a 1 acre lot and once the purchase & sales goes through it will bring it well over an acre – not too shabby for our little camp.

It’s been a productive season at the Blog Cabin. We knocked down and burned the original cabin, we built and raised the walls of the new blog cabin, we built a new roof and tar papered it, we started and completed the new septic system, put in the new shower, put up the bathroom wall and door, put in the spiral stairs, moved the propane tank, put up a temporary railing in the loft, hooked up the propane stove, house wrapped the exterior, completed the entire foundation, back filled 2 sides of the camp and re-routed the water lines. Coming soon - ELECTRICAL :)
Stay tuned...

Here are some pictures taken from the new property we are purchasing...

Back side of the cabin:

View of the brook from the new property:

Who Needs Marshmallows?... & Welcome Clever Cat!!!

2010-10-04T18:07:00.000-07:00

Hello Blog Cabin Fans!!! I would like to make a very IMPORTANT announcement! This past weekend P and I had a very special visit from a VIP Blog Cabin fan! It was just like when Scooby Doo started featuring special guest stars like Tim Conway & Phyllis Diller - only this was Blog Cabin style...
AHEM...
Ladies and gentlemen, today's Blog Cabin Blog features special guest star - THE CLEVER CAT!...and for the few of you who aren't familiar with the Cat herself, you can check out her blog at: http://theclevercat.blogspot.com/ ...if you visit soon, you can check out her latest post all about her amazing visit to yep, you guessed it - THE BLOG CABIN! If you mention her Blog Cabin visit, she will mail you a tasty homemade cider donut just like the one she enjoyed at the Blog Cabin this past weekend! Ok that was a Blog Cabin white lie - there will be no donut, but nonetheless, visit her blog and become a fan - you won't regret it! Here are some Clever Cat highlights from her blog cabin adventure:

Fun with chips and fire...

When asked what her favorite Blog Cabin moments were, the Clever Cat replied, "tending the fire because I felt like I was contributing...even though I almost let it go out once and I had to have J rescue it." :)

Other Clever Cat favorites were falling asleep to the sounds of the brook, cider donuts and taking detailed notes & tips on construction from Our Wayne:

Overall our Blog Cabin VIP guest visit was a 10 out of 10! Here are some other pics from our weekend!

Buddy in awe of The Clever Cat!

The Clever Cat by the babbling brook...

The babbling brook without the Clever Cat...

The 3rd portion of the foundation THAT IS NOW COMPLETE!!!...

Me eating Chips...AGAIN!!

A lady with some funny pants!

3 of the 17 frogs we rescued from the giant hole we dug - no frogs were harmed in the making of the Blog Cabin!

The Clever Cat tending a MEAN fire!

...and P's poor little hand that I smashed with a shovel :( Sorry P!

And that wraps up our weekend!

See you soon for more BLOG CABIN ADVENTURE!!!!

-J

A Very Productive Weekend...

2010-09-07T19:01:00.000-07:00

Happy Labor Day Blog Cabin Fans! P and I had a very productive weekend! Our Wayne really cracked the whip on us this weekend and our muscles are still super sore -ouchie! We completed multiple projects - check us out...
We went from this...

To this...

And then we dug out the other side of the cabin to prep it for the footings we are planning to pour this coming weekend!

We also put up our bathroom wall and door...

We built the platform for our hearth and placed our stove...

Then we hung up some Christmas lights in the loft to make it more festive :)

And then once everything was complete, we gave Our Wayne a camp chair and a bag of overstuffed Campfire marshmallows for some Blog Cabin R & R :)

Stay tuned :)

Just a Pic Post : )

2010-09-03T13:21:00.000-07:00

Here it a picture from the top of our stairs looking down. You have to use some imagination and envision them with nice solid oak treads - Ooooooo. Hey...I just noticed that my tobies and pajammer bottoms got in the shot! hahaa lol
-J

Take 2! Cabin Video

2010-08-30T09:55:00.000-07:00

My apologies Blog Cabin Fans! This video uploading isn't easy! I decided to take a quick video so that you can take a virtual tour of the place, but for some reason my first attampt was a bust and my second attempt is only allowing me to upload half my video :( Boooooooo! Well...at least half of it is working...maybe one day I can figure out how to upload the full file and it will give us all something to look forward to :) Please excuse the following in the video: 1. The large pile of tools that we have accumulated in our "soon to be" kitchen area - it is still a construction zone after all :) , 2. the lack of bathroom wall that is still on the list of "things to build" - the curtain works ok for now, but a wall with a door is coming soon to a theater near you :),3. the camera shake - as soon as I started filming the "low battery" icon began flashing red so I kinda' rushed through it a bit. Oh Yeah...also take notice of our new shower stall complete with hot water and our new spiral stairs! The stair treads are temporary, but we are planning on making them oak! Enjoy and I will cross my fingers that you don't get too motion sick ;)

Another Footing Down!

2010-08-23T13:45:00.001-07:00

Yesterday, despite the weather, we were able to start and finish the footing for the entire right side of the Blog Cabin! Here is a refresher course just in case anyone forgot… it has been a while since we did foundation work: “The bottom part of a foundation is called a footing (or footer). The footing is generally wider than the foundation wall and is located about 12 inches below the frost line (the average depth at which soil freezes year after year). The footing distributes the house’s weight to prevent settling or movement.” For New England, the frost line is 4 feet down from ground level and the footing needs to extend 4 inches past the cinder block on either side. So, without going into detail, P and I had to dig one, giant a$$ ditch in the ground ;) We have been working on the one giant a$$ ditch for a couple of weekends now and it was completed this past Saturday! Hooray for us! 8 O’clock Sunday morning, P and I woke up ready to work! Our Wayne met us with coffee and shovel in hand. The three of us were all geared up to start mixing cement and all of a sudden,…it started to pour. We were like "WHAT??? - it hasn't rained in like a year and it has to start now???" :( We waited inside the Blog Cabin for a while, played a couple of games of checkers - I won of course ;)ate some snacks and then, when we realized the rain was not going to stop, we all agreed to suck it up, get soaked and git er’ done! We braved the weather, shoveled the gravel, mixed the cement, carried it over to the giant a$$ ditch 5 gallon bucket by bucket, dealt with the mud, soaked our clothes completely through and in 2.5 hours and about 40 buckets later we had completed the footing! YEAH! Now we can start stackin’ the cinder block! Once we complete that side only two more sides to go and the entire foundation will be complete! Hip Hip Hooray!

Here are some more pictures!

-J

Help Us Pick Out Our Siding!

2010-08-23T06:43:00.001-07:00

This past weekend we began wrapping the outside of the Blog Cabin with Tyvek. “Tyvek” or house wrap is a material that is made out of polyethylene fibers, it is very thin, strong and it creates a water barrier. Once we wrap the entire Blog Cabin in it, we can then choose our siding and shutters to finish the outside of the Blog Cabin! P and I are having some trouble agreeing on what kind of siding we want and what color. We know we want a country cottage look and we want low maintenance so an imitation or vinyl siding is necessary. We have to choose a style such as barn board, cedar shingles, clapboard etc. Once we chose the style, we have to choose a color, a trim color, a shutter color and a color for our front door. Any suggestions Blog Cabin fans?

Here are some examples...

MOOSE!

2010-07-26T13:06:00.000-07:00

Yes and actual Blog Cabin moose sighting! We spotted this friendly little guy a few miles down the street from the Blog Cabin! We were driving along on a peaceful Saturday afternoon and then all of a sudden I looked out the passenger window and yelled, "MOOSE!" P quickly stopped the car and we jumped out for a closer look. We were able to get pretty close, about 25 yards and we decided that since this woodland creature was about 4 times our size, we were close enough :) Enjoy the pics!
-J

Here are some fun and interesting moose facts courtesy of: http://www.moosefoundation.org/moose_facts.htm

DID YOU KNOW???

The word "moose" comes from the Algonquin Indians. These were native people who lived throughout the northern regions of Canada. The Algonquins called this strange looking creature mooswa. It means "twig-eater" or "the animal that strips bark off of trees." Early explorers heard this work and through the years, it eventually changed into "moose."

For the Algonquins, the moose was an important animal. It supplied them with food and other things for their survival. Moose meat was a source of nourishment during the long winters. The hide was used to make clothing and provide shelter. And moose bones and antlers were shaped into useful tools. (Information from "Our Wild World" Series on Moose by Anthony D. Fredericks, published by NorthWord Press, Chanhassen, Minnesota)

The moose is the world's largest deer. The moose can run 35 miles per hour and can easily swim 10 miles.

Moose eat willow, birch and aspen twigs, horsetail, sedges, roots, pond weeds and grasses. Moose eat leaves, twigs, buds and the bark of some woody plants, as well as lichens, aquatic plants and some of the taller herbaceous land plants. Can actually feed under water.

Moose are found in northern forests in North America, Europe, and Russia. In Europe and Asia, moose are called elk. (Information from the Wildlife Heritage Foundation of Wyoming, Educational " Wildlife Flash Cards" Series. The Foundations' e-mail: wildlifeheritage@wyoming.com

Hooves are the first line of defense!

While a male may use its antlers to hold off a predator, a moose's sharp hooves are its first line of defense. Moose are able to kick out in all directions, but generally use their front feet.

They're faster than they look!

A moose's long legs allow it to move easily over rough terrain and through deep snow. A moose can run almost as fast as a horse, or about 30 miles per hour for a short time period. (Information from "Living in Harmony with Moose" page 5, Nancy Lord, Editor)

Moose live for a long time.

Cow moose have been known to live for as long as 20 years. Bull moose may reach 15 years of age. ("Living in Harmony with Moose")

How are antlers different than horns?

Antlers, seen on male mule deer, elk and moose, are solid bone. While the antlers are growing, they are soft and tender and covered with a thin skin, called velvet, which contains thousands of blood vessels. The velvet supplies the antlers with calcium and other minerals for building strong bones. Once the bone inside the velvet is hard, the velvet is shed from the antlers and members of the deer family are ready for their fall breeding season. Later in the winter, the antlers are shed, and the growing process starts again.

Horns, in contrast, are never shed. They have no blood supply and are made of keratin-- a hard protein which is also in fingernails and hair. This keratin forms a tough outer layer over a bone which is permanently attached to the skull. In Utah, horns are seen on both males and females of bighorn sheep, bison, and mountain goats. (Information from Project Wild, Utah, USA)

Old Bucket Nose

The moose is the largest member of the deer family currently roaming the planet. The moose seems as if it should belong to a different, larger scale of animal because it dwarfs its commonly seen cousin the deer. They are different from any of their equally proportionate relatives the deer and elk. Moose are top heavy bearing most of their body weight high in the air perched on four long legs.

The upper lip of the moose is oddly larger than the rest of its face rounding off at the end, resembles a bucket. Therefore earning the nickname Old Bucket Nose. Moose also have a beard like a flap under their chin called a dewlap or bell, male moose have large antlers that are shaped like scoops that can measure 60” or better tip to tip and can weigh in excess of 70 pounds. A full grown moose can weigh up to 1,800 pounds and stand 7 feet tall at the shoulder, making moose one of the northern hemispheres largest land dwelling mammals.

2 Windows, French Doors, a Front Door & a Bear!

2010-06-21T16:34:00.000-07:00

We have been Blog Cabin busy bodies these past few weekends! We put in the downstairs windows, french doors & front door! P and I even stayed overnight at the Blog Cabin this past weekend and for the first time since we bought the place, we slept like babies! The Blog Cabin is put back together and OPEN FOR BUSINESS! Sleeping in the "all new" structure was delightful! No more smelly old weathered cabin wood and creepy crawlies creeping around us! All new fresh smelling, fresh cut lumber is the rage at the Blog Cabin these days! The new high ceilings and the loft really open the place up and it was nice to be able to sleep and not worry about any mice trying to share my bed! Lol - Now that the mice are gone and the spiders are at bay we have a new Blog Cabin visitor! WE HAVE OUR VERY FIRST BLOG CABIN BLACK BEAR! Grrrrr! Now hold on, before you get all excited, this is not a picture P & I took - it's compliments of google images, BUT...if we do get a good shot of our new friend I will be sure to post it! P & I have not seen this Blog Cabin crasher yet, but we have been on the lookout for him safely through the windows of our little cabin. According to our neighbor, our less than little visitor was caught in the act taking a little drink from the brook in our backyard! Our neighbor gave us some safety tips as well. P and I don't want to have any unexpected run-ins with this furry friend. We have seen the movie the Great Outdoors a million times and since we don't have a shotgun lamp to save ourselves, we paid close attention! She said not to hang any bird feeders and to always make sure trash is kept indoors. P and I did a little research of our own online and found out that black bears are pretty common in the area and they usually keep to themselves and back away once they realize your presence. We read that if we do come upon our Blog Cabin visitor that we are supposed to calmly stand our ground, not make any sudden moves and slowly back away. Hmmmm... I wonder...is this before or after I pee my pants??? lol. We are always hospitable to our Blog Cabin fans and visitors, but this is one visitor we don't want to make feel at home. We are keeping an eye out for our new fan and will keep you all posted if he stops over for anymore quick drinks. In the mean time, here are a few more pics of some of the things we have done. Enjoy!
French Doors:
Interior View of the Front of the House:
Exterior View:
See you soon!
-J

...AND CLOSER....

2010-06-08T19:09:00.000-07:00

Getting Closer...

2010-06-04T14:31:00.000-07:00

Today "Our Wayne" was Blog Cabin bustin' his hump! It's almost a cabin again! We are almost there - YAY!!! Stay tuned...

Kickin' It Old School

2010-05-31T18:49:00.000-07:00

This weekend we were "Kickin' It Old School" at the Blog Cabin! By this, I mean we set the air compressor and nail gun aside and went back to the old hammer and nail. With the modern technology of a nail gun, you can frame a wall in about 20 minutes once all your cuts are made, it all comes together quite quickly. With a hammer, nail and little bit of umph, you can frame a wall in about an hour which is why our fast pace society has taken to the ol' gun in the first place. Even though modern technology has made it easy for us to build bigger structures faster & cheaper, there is something to be said about going back to the basics of hammer and nail. There is something there that you miss out on when using a nail gun. You miss the primitive sensation that occurs when the swing of the hammer gains momentum and quickly connects with a direct hit to the head of a nail. In that instance You become connected to whatever it is you are building. You can literally feel the nail being driven deeper and deeper, sinking itself into the dense piece of wood. Whap! Whap! Whap! Even the sounds the older tools make are much richer than the modern tools. A hammer connecting with a nail has much more flavor than the quick sharp pop of a nail gun.
Growing up, my dad and grandfather were always renovating, building and constructing. To this day the smell of sawdust can take me back 25 years in 3 seconds flat. I can remember the sounds of each tool so vividly. I remember exactly how many strikes of the hammer it took for my father to drive an 8d nail into a 2 x 6(six). I can remember the silly, awkward, wobbly noise the handsaw blade made when it's tooth hit against something hard. The handsaw is another tool that made an interesting sound - a light, slow tearing sound as my grandfather held the teeth to a board and slowly pulled back getting the teeth to bite the board and sink in a bit. Once the teeth were sunken in, it turned into a faster motion to continue the momentum and the cut. When he was almost to the end of the cut is when the strokes would be the fastest until the blade all of a sudden ripped through the other side of the board sending the excess chunk of wood to the ground with a hard THUD.
Building is an art and I sometimes feel that the modern tools are taking the romance out of the build. There is a connection and a passion that is missing between the carpenter and the structure today that existed way back when it took 3 times the amount of time to build a structure or a home. They are right when they say, "Rome wasn't built in a day", but I wonder why those structures able to stand the test of time and the office building that I work in that was constructed 5 years ago falling apart already? Maybe when things are hard, people take pride in them a bit more. Maybe the hard is what makes them great and the great is what creates passion for people. The handsaws and hammers are the canvas and brush for a carpenter. We can replace the canvas and brush with photoshop, but we can't expect the Mona Lisa right? So, today the Blog Cabin paid homage to the tools of the past. We took ourselves back to the grassroots of building and even with kickin' it old school we were able to put up the 2 remaining walls! YEAH! The journey of the day may have taken a bit more time and a bit more umph, but today we built a little bit more love into our little Blog Cabin and we even built memories to go along with it:)
Check it out:

A.P.B. ALERT!! WHO STOLE THE BLOG CABIN???

2010-05-19T13:56:00.000-07:00

After a long hard day at work, P & I came home, popped open our email and found this Blog Cabin surprise waiting in our inbox! At first I thought it was photo-shopped, but it's not...IT IS REAL! I am not going to write a whole lot because in this case, the picture really is worth 1000 words! lol, Our Wayne was at it again - he knocked down the remaining portion of the Blog Cabin and this Saturday P & I will be assisting him in building 3 brand new walls and a roof! The only remaining portion of the original Blog Cabin is the floor and that is in excellent condition so, it's a keeper! P & I are a little sad to say goodbye to the original Blog Cabin, but saying goodbye means, the NEW and IMPROVED Blog Cabin is on it's way - YEAH! We will be Blog Cabin Blogging about our Blog Cabin Building Adventure this Saturday...

Stay tuned...
-J

The System of the Septic...

2010-05-12T12:50:00.000-07:00

WARNING!! DO NOT EAT WHILE READING! lol Here are a few shots I took of the Septic System install...at least we won't have to mow the lawn anytime soon:) The awesome thing I just found out is that once everything is done, the septic people (1 man by the name of Eddie)will bring in a load of dirt and grass seed to top things off! How exciting! We will have our very own Blog Cabin lawn! Very posh for a cabin if I do say so myself! A lovely green lawn compared to the crab grass and pine needles **sigh** Though...there is something to be said about crab grass and pine needles around a camp. They definitely add to the "campy" feel of the Blog Cabin, but when it rains...dirt, crab grass and pine needles are no so fun - no...not so much:( so, I say, "BRING ON THE GRASS SEED!" :)Here is a cute one of P digging a trench for Our Wayne to complete and bury the electrical for the septic. There is so much I have learned that I never knew about a septic system - mostly because I am not really interested in the behind the scenes of what happens after I flushie, flushie, but because my blog is not only fun, but also educational a little lesson is in order. Here we go...All conventional septic systems have a septic tank, which is usually a large buried rectangular or cylindrical container made of concrete, fiberglass or polyethylene - I dunno what ours is made of, but it's green. Waste water from all plumbing fixtures drains into the septic tank. Heavy solids settle to the bottom (gross) where bacterial action produces digested sludge and gases (double gross). Lighter solids that float such as grease, oils and fats, rise to the top and form a scum layer (triple gross). Systems constructed before 1975 in King County (where ever that is lol) usually have single compartment tanks. Those built from 1975 and on are usually two compartment tanks. OK, enough about the dates and history of the septic - now about the pump tank! Because the Blog Cabin sits on a hill, our septic needs a pump tank. I opened the lid of this pump tank this past weekend and peeked in to see a bunch of different gadgets - fancy! So complex! This pump tank contains a sewage effluent pump, control floats, and a high water alarm (hence the electrical work done by Our Wayne:) The control floats are set so that a specific volume of effluent is sent to the drain field. When the effluent in the pump tank rises to the level of the "on" float the pump is activated and pumps the level of the effluent down until it reaches the "off" float setting. Should the "on" float fail to activate the pump or should the pump itself fail the level of effluent in the pump tank will continue to rise in the pump chamber. When this level reaches the alarm float an audible and visual signal will be activated - LOTS OF NOISE AND SIRENS AND STUFF! next, on to the drain field! The drain field is where liquid from the septic tank flows through pipes in your yard for final treatment by organisms in the soil. Grass and/or shallow-rooted plants are the best covers for your drain field. Ok we got the grass covered...Hmmm...note to self - buy some plants.
So - next time you flusie, flushie, you now have the behind the scenes and have the inside poop scoop on the system of the septic :)

-J

The Meditation Stone

2010-05-12T07:42:00.000-07:00

With spring in the air and the newly thawed earth, we brought in the backhoes, broke ground and started the process for installing our brand new septic system! YAY!...and then we hit a GIANT rock! Booooo! This rock was no ordinary rock...oh no...this rock was huge. It was a solid mass of problem that stood in the way of us and our brand new system of septic! This rock meant business, but unfortunately...this rock had to go! Before we could banish this rock from Blog Cabin road block existence, we had to put some thought into this giant rock surprise - for instance, How do we get around this rock? Can we get around this rock? Can we pipe over, under or perhaps around the rock? If not, we have to move the rock...can we move the rock? How would one lift such a large rock? Could it be lifted and if not, do we have use explosives to get it out of the ground? How much does moving or exploding a rock cost? If we move it, where do we move it to? Is it a good looking rock that I would want in the blog cabin yard? If it's not a good looking rock, does the company that moves or explodes the rock take it with them? Does that cost extra? Who can answer all these questions that need answers? Who???
Who you ask...
Ahem... ladies and gentlemen...making his blog cabin season 2 premier: OUR WAYNE!!! YAY! **insert claps, cheering and accolades here**
That's right everyone - Our Wayne is back and he is picking up right where he left off on last years Blog Cabin Adventure! A rock? A rock is no match for Our Wayne! Our Wayne will crush that rock with his bare hands! He will roll that rock right out of our Blog Cabin way because nothing stands in the way of our Blog Cabin Adventure! NOTHING!
So, after 2 days, a few phone calls, a really large machine and $1,100.00, we have a very unique Blog Cabin lawn ornament! Or as my mother likes to call it "An $1,100.00 rock that we can't even wear" - funny right? So, for no extra charge we had our very expensive rock moved and nooked into the edge of the yard overlooking the babbling brook. It's actually a very peaceful place to sit and watch the brook. P & I have named it the Meditation Stone. We have grown to love our pet rock and it has now become a permanent piece of Blog Cabin history.
-J

A New Look...

2010-05-01T22:00:00.000-07:00

The Blog Cabin is currently trying on some trendy new Spring templates! Privacy please & no peeking!Hahaha :) Please don't mind the sporadic & multiple page changes that may occur in the near future :)
Thanks bunches!
-J

At Last - A Loft ... Blog Cabin Season 2 Premier!!!

2010-04-26T06:39:00.000-07:00

Welcome Back loyal Blog Cabin followers!!! This is the official Blog Cabin Season 2 Premier! To catch you up on last season, here is a quick recap...
In season one we introduced you to our Wayne who by the way has developed quite the following, dug a ditch for the foundation, showed off our stumpy little cement mixer, discussed the local turtle crossings, posted video of P & my brave encounter with a big bad wolf spider, demonstrated how to build & apply cement forms, showed my gory finger injury - I could have died! I still have a scar :( - learned about cement block & how to stack it, posted the caloric content of a Whachamacallit - Chocolate Mmmmmm, modeled our sassy Blog Cabin wear on the Blog Cabin runway to fame, discovered that if the donkey outside the bakery door has a hat on then the bakery is in fact open, the river that is a brook, P falling in the river that is a brook, demolition - Grrrrrr, the candy apple catastrophe, raising walls, our new bathroom and bidding a sad farewell to the bitchenette, our new mailbox & our very first Blog Cabin letter!
Ok - now that we have that squared away, for our season 2 premier...CHECK OUT OUR NEW LOFT!!! Our new loft is approximately 6 feet tall on the outer edges - wow!...and it has an 8 foot peek - double wow! The ceiling height is important for loft classification because being able to stand up along the full length of the loft upgrades it from a "loft" to a "MASTER LOFT" :) P & I are so excited about the loft because the pull out couch that we currently sleep on has a giant bar that sticks up into our backs and springy springs that poky poke us during the night - booo! Soon we will have a nice, soft, comfy bed to drift off to sleep in while listening to the crickets babbling brook just outside our new loft window **sigh**
So, the new loft is a little taste of the big changes we will be making in season 2!
Next week we are having a brand new septic system put in! Hooray! It's so painful putting so much money into something we are going to bury and never ever see :( - but a septic system is important so we must get er' done! lol
Other Season 2 teasers: 3 new walls to replace the existing front portion of the Blog Cabin, new "used" windows, a new "used" front door, a new roof and the other 3 sides of the foundation!

Stay tuned & thanks for reading!
-J

wait...one more picture - BAM!

We've Got Mail!!!...

2009-09-22T10:39:00.000-07:00

Yes Blog Cabin fans we have finally received mail! Our very first letter or let-ters I should say! There were 6 pieces total. We received a post card from "Our Wayne" & mom from Savannah GA and Florida and also 4 letters in different color envelopes!!...a green envelope an orange a yellow and a blue! The post cards were pretty...a picture of the streets of Savannah and a pretty cottage on the beaches of Gulf Bay Florida! According to the post cards Savannah is beautiful, especially the old historic plantation homes. Florida is quite warm these days...in the 90's and humid, but the ocean is like bath water ((ooooooh)) and the sunny beaches are gorgeous. There were even dolphins at the beach that swam about 5 feet away! Good Stuff! The cards I received in the blog cabin mailbox were cute too. We received a "thinking of you at the blog cabin" card that had a cute wrinkly Bull dog on the front...a pre-season Halloween card which got me excited for pumpkin pie and the mini individually wrapped candies that they sometimes change to orange and black to suite the season! Candy Yummmm!!! I LOVE HALLOWEEN...and all the treats that come with it! we received another cute card with a cat on it who was dressed mighty dapper for a cat if you ask me ;)...And last but not least I also received an envelope full of stickers!! There were all kinds...puppy stickers, duck stickers and some really cool 3D stickers with the googlie eyes! I love my blog cabin fans! THANK YOU ALL FOR THE FAN MAIL and Keep the blog cabin mail coming! I love checking to see what little surprises I may get next! Oh! ...and I will post the stickers, post cards, and the rest of the fan mail for you to view and enjoy as well:)

Be back later!
-J

Blog Cabin R & R...

2009-09-21T08:36:00.001-07:00

This weekend while the construction is on hold P & I decided to enjoy a little blog cabin R & R! First, we did my most favorite thing in the whole wide world...we slept in! :) We woke up the natural way to the most peaceful sounds of nature. Around 9:30 the sun peeked in between the window shades and lit up the room. We laid in bed for a while and listened to the peaceful sound of the cool fall water trickling over the stones in the brook...so much better than my annoying alarm clock that I would love to smash! lol... Then, we lounged around in our jams for a bit and drank fresh brewed tea and coffee, ate some cookies, and chatted until about 10am. At this time we decided to start a puzzle!!! YAY! We broke out a new puzzle from our game trunk and sat down at the designated puzzle table and began! I poked through the shrink wrap with a fork and ripped the cellophane right off the box! What joy! We completed the border and a few chunks of the middle...no great achievement, but a good start at that:) After that we got a blog cabin phone call on our black rotary dial phone! ((RING RING!!))It was my sister inviting us over to watch the game and to do some relaxing kayaking! We took her up on her offer and off we went! I chose the kayaking and P chose to watch the game with my brother-in-law Jon....although I did stick around long enough to grab some yummy game snacks before we paddled off! lol. It was the most perfect kayaking day ever...Sunny...about 73 degrees and a slight breeze! It was a wonderful day! Here is a video and some pictures!
Enjoy...

And Now Introducing...

2009-09-16T08:37:00.001-07:00

OUR NEW BATHROOM!!!! Hip Hip Hooray! Hip Hip Hooray!

Yes my friends...it is finally here...our new bathroom! How exciting! The shower is not quite finished yet, but it's going to be a corner shower and it will save us space which is important for a little cabin. It will be floor to ceiling and be surrounded by 3 panels of shiny new glass! ((Oooooo)). In addition to it's stylish geometric shape, it will also have a built in soap dish, razor, and shampoo shelf on the back wall! Everything will have its place and everything will stay nice, neat, and blog cabin organized...just how I like it :)**sigh** Next, we will need to decide on some tile, light fixtures and yep...you guessed it...a brand new medicine cabinet :)There are so many syles, how will we choose??...AND WHEN WE DO, DON'T GO SNOOPIN' AROUND IN IT WHEN YOU COME OVER FOR A BLOG CABIN VISIT EITHER!!!...hmpffffff! lol...JK...you can snoopy if you want, JUST DON'T TAKE ANYTHING FOR CRYIN' OUT LOUD!!! lol..JK ...we trust you... kinda' :)~

This is a cute picture of P and I with Gracie in our kitchen! Aren't we a cute family??? Awwwwee.

See ya soon with more updates!
Don't forget to send blog cabin fan mail! We would love to hear from you and post your thoughts~!

J & P :)

Fan Mail Welcome!...

2009-09-15T14:06:00.000-07:00

Well..I have just received word that "Our Wayne" and mom are relaxing and livin' it up in sunny Florida! It must be nice to have a month to drive around to where ever the breeze may blow:) I hope they are having a wonderful time because they totally deserve the much needed R & R to break up all the hard work they are doing at the Blog Cabin.
During a very interesting phone conversation with them I gathered all the fun filled details of their trip so far. They first drove to Georgia, and then to Florida and on the way back they will be stopping in North Carolina!...Hmmmm...maybe I wasn't listening that well??? Maybe I got those states outta' order?? Hmmm...I dunno...Anyhoo... They also mentioned that they had mailed P & I a beautiful post card from Savannah GA and they mailed it to the Blog Cabin! OMG! THIS WILL BE OUR VERY FIRST PIECE OF MAIL!!! HOW INCREDIBLY EXCITING!!! Then I thought to myself...OMG! WE DON'T HAVE A BLOG CABIN MAILBOX!!!! I thought to myself..."self"???...What to do???
So, P & I busted our humps and put up a mailbox lickity split! Ain't she a beauty???
I did all the fancy cuttin'on the post lol...that is why it's really short and the slant cuts are uneven! ;) lol
So...now that we have a mailbox, we are ready for FAN MAIL!!! Send us you Blog Cabin fan mail and we will post it on our blog! Sorry ya'll ...the address for fan mail must be obtained through friends and family only...this way nobody creepy will show up on my door step! :)

-J

TAH DAHHHHH!!!.....

2009-09-14T07:03:00.000-07:00

The blog cabin addition is up and we are on a roll!!! Sorry for the brief hiatus on the Blog Cabin Adventure, but as you can see we were busy, busy, and oh yeah...BUSY!!! :)
As you can see, our walls are up, sheathing is on, the decking for the 2nd floor is complete and our windows are in! ((YEAH!!))It looks pretty spiffy if you ask me!

We have our new addition all buttoned up for the next few weeks as "Our Wayne" and mom are on a brief hiatus themselves! They are taking a few weeks off for some R & R in Georgia, then Florida, then North Carolina **sigh**
Once they return we will start constructing our master loft above the new kitchen and bath! This is soooo very exciting to P and I because we thought we were going to have to wait until Spring to put the master loft on, but fortunately we won $500.00 on a Patriots scratch ticket this past Friday which gave us the rest of the money needed to complete the 2nd story! Hip Hip Hooray!!! THANKS DAN! :)
This is some pretty exciting stuff ladies and gentlemen - yes sir it is!

Take a look below...for the before and after pics! As you can see there are a few reference points to compare and contrast the pictures. There are the sliding doors and the cabinets. You can see where the cabinets are in the "before" shot and then see how we blew through that wall into our new kitchen in the "after" shot. GOOD STUFF! :) In the "before" shot, there was a tree trunk holding up part of our ceiling! In the "after" shot...no trunk! YAY!

BEFORE & AFTER...

New bathroom pictures coming soon!
-J

All Kindsa' Piles...

2009-09-02T07:44:00.000-07:00

Ever since we started blog cabin construction we seem to be accruing various piles of...well...construction stuff. lol.

We have a very unattractive pile of broken concrete & broken brick from an old wall we tore down:

A beautiful pile of blog cabin field stone that we found while digging the foundation:

Many small piles of tools:

Two GINORMOUS piles of lumber from the DEMOLITION GRRRRR:

A pile of sticks from some tree trimming P likes to do with her trusty bow saw:

A normal pile that every cabin should have..a "wood pile" for camp fires:

A pile that not every blog cabin should have..a pile of gravel left over from mixing the cement for the foundation footings:

And...a small pile of left over cinder block from the foundation:

So...do to to overwhelming amount of "piles" we have accrued in our little blog cabin yard, this Saturday will be dedicated to blog cabin clean up! P & I will be borrowing "Our Wayne's" truck ((GRRRRRR)) - purchasing our very first dump sicker & hauling a bunch of this crap to the dump!

It is time to say goodbye to some very large piles!

-J

Getting Closer & Closer...

2009-08-28T07:30:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I was sent a Blog Cabin Surprise via picture message! My little blue cell phone vibrated against the hard plastic cup holder I had it in inside my jeep and I was like...wha...what was that?? I then realized it was my phone and that I had just received a picture message! I quickly picked it up, flipped the flip and my phone then asked me... "Do you want to receive your picture message?" I thought to myself.. DO I??? OF COURSE I DO!!! Without hesitation I accepted my message and saw this!

OMG! When P & I were hard at work all week "Our Wayne" and my brother-in-law Jon were blog cabin busting their humps putting up our walls!!! What a great Blog Cabin Surprise! THANKS GUYS!

This Sunday we will be working on the ceiling and the decking to the 2nd story loft which we are adding above the new kitchen & Bath!

Stay tuned...
-J

Building Walls, Raising Walls & Bracing Walls...

2009-08-25T06:35:00.000-07:00

This past weekend we started raising our blog cabin walls! Friday night P & I arrived at the blog cabin and found a big blog cabin surprise! It was dark when we got there so we ran inside, grabbed a flash light and made our way around the back of the cabin to take a peek. I took the flash light, clicked it on and pointed away! Gadzooks!!! To our surprise, the blog cabin decking for the kitchen and bathroom floor was already done! What a grand surprise! THANKS DAD!! :) With the decking already all set by "Our Wayne", we dedicated both Saturday and Sunday to building, Raising and Bracing our very first wall! We started by making a lumber list. I love lists **sigh** Once the list was made, off to the lumber yard we went! "Our Wayne" hand picked every 2x8 we bought to make sure each board was perfectly straight. I watched him carefully as he did this. He would carefully look at the pile of 2x8's for a nice clean board. He would then select the 2x8 he thought looked best and pull it out of the lumber pile. Then, leaving the end that was farthest away from him tilted on the ground on the 2" side, he would lift the end closest to him up to his eye. Next he would close his left eye and look down the 2" side of the board with his right eye. He explained to P & I, if the board was warped you could see the curve in the board and know it's no good. I tried this technique and he was exactly right! You could see the warped wood vs. the perfect wood. All the warped pieces he discarded and the nice straight pieces we purchased for the blog cabin addition.
We loaded the truck and took all the lumber back to the cabin and began to frame out our wall. We learned about studs, jacks, headers and window openings and in about 3 hours we built our very first 8' section of blog cabin wall!
We then raised the wall, braced the wall, and added sheathing to the outside.

Here are more pics we took this past weekend...ENJOY!
-J

Official Announcement...

2009-08-21T07:21:00.001-07:00

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls of all ages - gather round'...I have a very, very important announcement to make! - AHEM - Today, on the twenty-first of August in the year two thousand and nine, I proudly announce that our Blog Cabin foundation is officially COMPLETE!!!
Ain't she purdy?

Demolition: The Process of Wrecking or Destroying...

2009-08-20T06:46:00.000-07:00

WARNING: For safety purposes and most importantly to avoid getting me butt sued...DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME :)

Sometimes it just feels soooo good to hit or smash something! GRRRRRRR! We finally did it! We tore the existing bathroom right off the back of our little blog cabin and I must say...HOW EXHILARATING!!! I may or may not have mentioned this in my previous blog cabin blogs, but our little bathroom was no ordinary bathroom...oh no...it was a very special bathroom. Our good friend Micheal said it best as he use to refer to it as...our "bitchenette" - that is half bathroom/half kitchenette! Can you believe it??? The kitchen was in our bathroom and the bathroom was in our kitchen! It was all one room! Who does this??? No word of a lie, whoever owned our little cabin before us built a bathroom where right next to our toilet, shower and bathroom sink, nestled in the corner was a kitchen sink and microwave! IN THE SAME ROOM! lol So...as you can clearly see...it had to go and it felt good to finally say goodbye to our little blog cabin bitchenette adventure. It's time to welcome and focus on our new SEPARATE bathroom/kitchen floor plan;)

It took one full day of work to rip the back end of the cabin off. There were wood fragments, pink insulation, nails, screws and paneling flying everywhere! We even hit a nest of mice -((yummy))! It was so beautiful that I almost shed a tear! At one point in the video (see below) I thought "Our Wayne" might have gotten a little sentimental having to say goodbye to our bitchenette, but it turns out he just caught a piece of debris in the eye. Poor dad:( That my dear blog cabin friends is why you should always be wearing protective eye gear during construction :)

Anyways...without further ado....ENJOY THE SHOW!
-J

The Candy Apple Catastrophe...

2009-08-17T10:05:00.000-07:00

Forsaken Again!! Hmpffffff!!!....

Ok…before I get into all the guts and glory of the blog cabin demolition this past weekend and yes, there were guts and uh huh, it was glorious;) – but, before I can even begin to summarize all of that, first I must blog in on what I now refer to as…The Candy Apple Catastrophe!!!
The Candy Apple is a cute country restaurant located about 40 minutes yonder of the blog cabin. This adorable restaurant is located amongst some of the most beautiful country farm lands and stunning green mountain scenery I have ever seen. We have been trying to pay this little hidden jewel a visit for some time now, but it was just about a week ago when we were finally able to set this plan into motion. P & I have been planning to take my mom, “Our Wayne,” and our long time blog cabin friend Gloria to The Candy Apple for a delectable country breakfast. We have been dreaming of fluffy buttermilk pancakes, syrup drenched French toast and crispy bacon for too long. Everything about this place sounded heavenly right down to its name… "The Candy Apple” Yummmm…my very own carnival treat of choice! If you name a restaurant after something that delicious then you must be delivering something magnificent right?? I mean, if I personally place this amusement park treat into my very own junk food treasure chest of choice and deem it to be one of the greatest junk food inventions of all time – that is HUGE people! And…that’s not even mentioning that low and behold its main ingredient is of all things…an apple hello?? Talk about tricky! You think you are eating something crazy like a strawberry frosted donut. Ahhh those happy tiny rainbow sprinkles having a party on top of that scrumptious pink frosting **sigh** - But with the candy apple, you are really being tricked into eating something healthy!! What a wonderful trick it is! Natures own candy if you will… the apple!!! Not to mention the original candy apples first cousin, yep…you got it - the caramel apple and I must give a special shout out to the chocolate covered walnut coated apple. Yummmmm! All of these juicy sweet treats get a whole cluster of extra points for being served on a stick which adds a whole other element of fun, but don’t even get me started on delicious foods served on a stick! That could take all day to run through! lol.
Anyways, back to the journey…Hmmm…I seem to have lost my place again…ummmm…ok let’s see, apple, caramel, chocolate, walnuts and …ok yeah…setting the date!
So, it was hard to schedule a Saturday morning that all of us were free to meet up and make the trek to this jewel of a place located in the middle of nowhere, but finally we all synced up and we were on our way. ROAD TRIP - YEAH!!! For the first 20 minutes of the ride we all talked about what we would be getting…I had my mind set on blueberry buttermilk pancakes swimming in a shallow pool of warm and buttery syrup!…There was also some chatter about homes fries and biscuits and eggs served over medium with a side of honey glazed ham. We drove, and drove, and drove some more…and then there it was!!!! THE CANDY APPLE! WE MADE IT! We all piled outta’ the car and rushed to the door to beat the crowd. We perused the specials posted outside the door. Our mouths were watering just from reading the chalk on the board! I thought we better head in because it’s 10am and I certainly don’t want to miss breakfast! I couldn’t wait any longer so, without hesitation, almost militant like, I swiftly snapped to my left and placed my little hand upon the door handle and gave a quick strong pull. The door did not budge! I thought to myself, “Self, this door is wood and must be really swollen from the humid summer heat you must pull harder!” I then gave a second yank more forceful than the first, but NOPE... Hmppppfffff #!*$!!! CLOSED!!! How can that be??? I then looked up at the door and saw the giant “CLOSED” sign. It was your generic black sign with the giant orange letters that spelled out that God awful word “CLOSED” And here is the country kicker in the pants!!!…this horrible closed sign was hanging right next to a bright yellow sign that read...AHEM...AND I QUOTE:
“NEW SUMMER HOURS – WE ARE OPEN 6:30AM – 2:30 PM”
- It was now Saturday morning @ 10am and the doors were locked, lights were off and nuttin' was cookin'! P & I & gang were FORSAKEN AGAIN!!!!

Moral of the story…if you are driving far, far, away to the middle of the country to have breakfast…even if they are supposed to be open, don’t count on it and most importantly...pack a snack - You could literally starve before you find a place to eat…((good grief)) lol haha.
-J

Just a Bit of Country Charm...

2009-08-12T07:41:00.000-07:00

Blog Cabin Blast From The Past!

I was just thinking that the weather today reminds me of Fall. 70 degrees and sunny with a slight breeze **sigh** There is nothing better than a Fall day at the blog cabin. Here are some pictures from last Fall. This was a random day where P & I grabbed the dogs and took a drive around the country! Enjoy...

It all began as we crammed ourselves into my 2000 Jeep Cherokee. It was a little tight, but we all managed to fit :)

It was Gracie on the left, Koda (my sisters dog) in the middle, I was squeezed in the corner in the passenger seat (lower right,) Buddy...P and my other little dog was sooo smooshed that he didn't make it in the shot:( and P was behind the camera in the drivers seat.

We drove for about and hour and saw a bull and a donkey...

An old country wagon...

A beautiful sky...

A rolling pasture...

A gorgeous country road...

A really famous cabin featured on the hit blog: Blog Cabin Adventure :)

And the babbling brook it sits on :)

We hope you enjoyed our Fall adventure Blog Cabin Blast from the Past!

More to come... J & P :)

This Just In...

2009-08-12T07:11:00.000-07:00

BLOG CABIN BREAKING NEWS!!!

Now that the other side of the cement slab has been poured, the cinder block foundation is almost complete and all the columns supports have been set, we are just about ready for DEMOLITION GRRRR! According to "Our Wayne," demolition will begin this Saturday 08/15/09 bright and early!!! He instructed us as follows: "Go to bed early, get plenty of sleep and be ready!" Those were his exact words along with, "Now, don't just be rollin' outta bed when I show up...be dressed and ready to work! Have your coffee and have your breakfast because we gotta' lota' work to get done this weekend." Little does he know I will have a yummy Dunkin' Donuts coffee and strawberry pop tart in hand when he arrives!...oh no...wait...that's wrong...I mean...I mean that I will have just finished eating & drinking a yummy Dunkin' Donuts coffee and strawberry pop tart when he arrives;) Phew...that was a close one! I don't wanna upset the boss man...especially when he's holding a giant sledge hammer ((yikes!))

So, ladies and gentlemen...boys and girls, with that being said... grab yer' sledge hammers and yer' hard hats...this Saturday we will be BRINGING DOWN THE HOUSE!!! Well...at least a small portion of it :)

-J

Journey to the Other Side...

2009-08-10T14:26:00.000-07:00

I did it! Yes ladies and gentlemen...after 2 years I have finally conjured up enough courage to cross the brook! This past weekend the brook was lower than usual so, I seized the opportunity, braved the whitewater and across I went!...Not alone of course... I took P with me;) I mentioned I was feeling brave, but I was certainly not going at this alone! Seriously, if I were to go solo, who would fish me out if were to fall in? I needed some back up and after some coaxing P agreed to make the trip with me and off we went on another blog cabin adventure! First we were afraid to cross, fearful that we may fall in and get swept away by the current but, then valiantly, like 2 knights on a mission to storm a castle, we bull dozed through our fear and began our journey across the brook. We almost turned back once or twice, but we thought "how would we ever be taken seriously as blog cabin bloggers if we let this brook get the best of us?" So, thanks to the support of our devoted fans we persevered - after all, we need to keep you all informed of all blog cabin news and views no matter how dangerous it may be for us. This isn't the first time we have put ourselves in harms way for the good of the blog cabin and it certainly won't be the last! We needed to take new pictures for you all from a different angle and a new perspective so really, it wasn't a choice...we had to cross. we thought to ourselves - "selves...we can't let our readers down." And we didn't! We made it to the the other side with our little blog cabin camera and snapped up a storm for all to enjoy!

Even though I made it across with no issues... I repeat...I made it across with no issues;) It was a little tricky to maneuver and balance on the stone. There were some stones covered with a thick green moss, some that were all wet and real slippery and some that were a bit too shaky to step on. We did have 1 casualty which I will get to in a bit, but luckily for me, I was not involved...phew! close one J! :) The picture above is the back of the blog cabin. If you look real close you can see the top of our cinder block foundation peeking out just above the black silt fence we put up to abide by conservation law. Above the foundation you can see all the columns we added for support in order to dig out underneath the camp. Above the columns is the portion of our little blog cabin that we will be ripping off to add our new addition! DEMOLITION!! GRRRRR!

Back to our journey to the other side! Okay... where was I...oh yes...on the rocks! Like I said I made it across with no issues and I managed to stay dry which was a bonus! P on the other hand was not so lucky:( Now don't go getting all scared and worried - there is no need to send any cards or flowers - although, we appreciate the thought:) P was able to cross with no injuries as well; however, in the category of staying dry...she was not as lucky as I. Remember how I mentioned that some rocks were covered with moss, some were wet and real slippery and some were a bit too shaky to step upon?...Well, P found a real shaky one that sent her for a swim in our very own blog cabin brook! The picture to the right shows P on a fabulous contraption I thought of :) I called it "The Extender." There were a few areas on the brook where the rocks were too far apart to reach...so, I took one of the planks we used for the cement forms and used it bridge the gap between those rocks for us to cross. P clearly demonstrates this in the picture to the right. What you do not see in the picture to the right is 3 seconds after that wonderful pose, P looses her balance on that little rock next to the one "The Extender" is on and takes a short yet relaxing swim in the ice cold mountain water - Ahhh...refreshing! One good thing that came from her little dip in the brook was this beautiful picture below that she snapped just before our blog cabin camera died. Cause of death...water damage:( So, P's fall wasn't in vain - YAY! She took one for the team and produced some very beautiful photography for us as well. We thank you P for your commitment to this project :)

-J

You say Tomato…

2009-08-06T09:30:00.000-07:00

So tell me...what is the difference between a river, a brook, a stream, or a creek? Is it a case of the old Tomāto Tomäto or is there a sincere difference between them all? At first I thought perhaps it's determined by the swiftness of the flow - maybe if it was just a trickle after heavy rain then it would be a creek...but what would differentiate a creek from a stream?? They both sound a lot like little tricklers to me. Then I thought, maybe it's not about the flow at all, but instead, maybe it's about the sound...If it roars it's a river, if it babbles it's a brook? Hmmm...I dunno. It seems confusing to me. Why are there so many variations? Then I thought, perhaps it's not about sound or flow at all, but instead about structure and dimension - if it's more than 15 feet across from bank to bank then it's a river - anything smaller than 15 feet is a brook, anything smaller than 10 feet is a stream and anything smaller than that...a creek?

Ever since we bought the blog cabin, we have always wondered what to call our river,brook,stream,creek in our back yard. The picture above was taken from the new cement floor that was poured last weekend and it will be our view from our new breakfast nook in our brand new kitchen!! The river,brook,stream,creek is beautiful and creates an all natural 24 hour relaxation/meditation CD for us to unwind our week to. In addition to the wonderful sound and sight, there are the birds chirping throughout the day and from evening on we hear the crickets and bull frogs chatting it up until sunrise. Our river,brook,stream,creek is also great to soak your feet in after a hard days work **sigh**
Baffled by the whole river,brook,stream,creek definition I turned to Webster for some clarity. Webster reads...ahem..."A river is a large natural stream of water emptying into an ocean, lake, or other body of water and usually fed along its course by converging tributaries." Ok great! Our river,brook,stream,creek is really a river! It's both large and natural - check! - fed by mountain water - check! - empties into a lake - check! - and is fed along it's course - check! - Our river,brook,stream,creek must be a River!! - BUT - because I am who I am and I need all the facts, I had to be sure so, I consulted Webster again to research a brook - and Webster read...ahem..."A Brook is a natural fresh water stream" - Hmmmm that sounds like our river,brook,stream,creek too:( Now finding myself in another state of confusion I consulted Webster yet again..."A Stream is a steady current of fluid"...hmmmm...not any more lucid on the subject and figuring I may as well go all in at this point, I looked up a creek - "A creek is a small stream, often a shallow or intermittent tributary to a river." hmpffff :(
After all of that I felt both confused and defeated:( and then I thought... Eureka!! - what about a map?? I quickly jumped onto google maps and yep...I totally did it...I found it! Yes sir I found the answer we were looking for all along! It was right there before my little eyes! WEST BROOK! The name of our river,brook,stream,creek is WEST BROOK ladies and gentlemen!:)

Congratulations P & J... IT'S A BROOK :)
-J

All Jacked Up!

2009-08-05T11:33:00.000-07:00

This past Saturday and Sunday we were all jacked up!! ...the blog cabin that is:) We literally jacked up the back left corner of the blog cabin using 1 hydraulic jack, 1 bottle jack and a few pieces of scrap wood for some extra support. I have to admit there was a very large part of me that was concerned that our little blog cabin may give way and roll off the cliff into the river behind it, but much to my surprise, that did not happen and it was a huge success! Once the cabin was all jacked up, we removed the old crumbling cinder block that was supporting it and dug out the back corner. We needed to dig out that corner so that we could pour a nice level cement floor. We decided to add a floor to the interior to our foundation so that we can keep our water heater under our house rather than keeping it inside the cabin in a closet or taking up unnecessary space in our bathroom. So, we spent a little extra time for a little extra space:) We hand dug the corner with pick axes and shovels, leveled the ground, built a form, mixed the cement and poured half the floor (the other half will be dug, mixed, and poured next weekend.) It doesn't look like much, but if you take a look at the before and after pictures below, you can see it's quite a difference for 2 days work. Once we build the block up we will add an access door to enter and exit the crawl space to service our pipes & water heater when needed. If we are lucky we will have a little extra space for bike and kayak storage. Our last project on Sunday before packing up and returning to the city was replacing the support and removing the jacks. For this we borrowed and old column from my sisters house that was no longer in use and cut it to the current height of the blog cabin floor. once it was placed, we sloooowly released the jacks to lower the house onto the much more solid post. In about 2 more weeks we will have the other half of our floor poured and the rest of the cinder block stacked!.... And then...DEMOLITION BEGINS Grrrrr! Time to rip the entire back end off the blog cabin!

Stay Tuned for more pictures and video footage of the blog cabin adventure!

-J

BEFORE

AFTER

WHAT THE HELL ARE YOUR HOURS DONKEY???

2009-07-30T08:28:00.001-07:00

In the middle of nowhere, on the way to everywhere...
That is The Copper Angel Bakery & Pizzeria's slogan ...yes...you read right...I wrote "Bakery & Pizzeria"...but really...we don't care that they chose to combine a bakery with a pizza parlor - actually it's a pretty ingenious idea as they are both delicious foods so why shouldn't they be sold together? Also, it's way better than the daycare liquor store that's also down the street from the blog cabin (yes...it really exists) - But, as always, I digress... no matter what business you decide to run, just please tell me... WHAT THE HELL ARE YOUR HOURS???

Ok...I must admit that P & I have to chill out a bit and start getting used to the laid back lifestyle of the country. Around here there are really no set store hours. Just because a restaurant or store was open last Wednesday from 9-5, that doesn't mean they will be open next Wednesday from 9-5 and from our past experiences, the probability that it will be open, is slim to none. We have seen that ole' "Shop Closed" "Gone Fishin' " & "Restaurant closed this month" sign on more than one occasion, but this time, the story is totally blog worthy...
My mother informed me that she was driving by The Copper Angel Bakery & Pizzeria the other day on the way to the blog cabin. The bakery doors were wide open so she thought it would be nice to buy a box of sticky buns to bring over - sitcky buns yummmmmm:) She pulled into the bakery and walked in, but there was no one there. She looked for a little service bell, but no such luck. After a couple of minutes she popped her head outside the door to look for the store hours, but...no sign. She waited for a few more minutes and then yelled out a in her pure, raw city girl born and raised, attitude filled voice - "HELLOOOO???" In about a minute a woman appeared and said "Sorry, we're closed." My mother in her now puzzled with a dash of confusion voice said, "but what are your hours?.. They are not posted." The bakery lady replied, "The hat's not on the donkey." My mother now in a more confused state than before..."excuse me? ...What about your donkey?" The woman then leads my mother outside the bakery, away from the delicious sticky buns that were dripping with goo and points to a stone statue of a donkey just outside the bakery door. "The hat's not on the donkey. ...When the hat's on the donkey, we are open - when the hat's not on the donkey we are closed."

Can you imagine that? What kind of a system is this? lol.
If that is the way you tell when the bakery is open, I fear to find out how we tell when the daycare liquor store is ready for business! lol
-J

Baby Mama...

2009-07-28T06:53:00.000-07:00

Soon we will be hearing the pitter patter of little feet around our cozy blog cabin! 800 little feet to be exact! While moving some cinder block P & I ran into this female wolf spider and yep...you guessed it...she is expecting! You can't really see it in the photo, but she is carrying around a giant white egg sac under her belly and inside of that egg is up to 100 babies! Once the egg hatches she will carry all of those babies around on her back until they are old enough to go off on their own. The miracle of life **sigh**

To be completely honest being around her creeps me out big time. I really want to tell her, "Ahem... I am very sorry, but there is no room at the inn", but I would feel awful putting her out in her condition or killing her just because I feel she is ugly...not to mention the 100 babies she is carrying - I am certainly no baby killer...so, we must tolerate her sharing the blog cabin land to raise her small family of 100.

Surprisingly enough, P & I are starting to get used to the creepy crawlies that live around us in the woods, under the rocks and old rotted pieces of wood. I think it may even be some sort of exposure therapy for us or something...the more we are around it, the more it doesn't phase us. P was even brave enough to place a quarter next to our new friend to give the photo some scale.
Perhaps if our baby mama sticks around long enough we will even give her a name...any suggestions??? ;)
-J

Come On In! Let Me Show You Around...

2009-07-23T08:30:00.000-07:00

Some of you have been asking, with all the outdoor pictures P and I are taking, what does the inside of our famous little blog cabin look like? So, without further ado... come on in and take a look around! It is cute, cozy and comfy! It's great for a wonderful weekend away in the country! Right now it is 1 large room with a full bathroom off the back. We have a queen size pull out that we crash on for the weekends, a small TV and DVD so we can watch some movies on rainy days and an every cabin "must have"...a trunk full of board games and a pair of snow shoes! Once the foundation is done we will start our addition for our new bigger bathroom and a brand new kitchen! It will be so wonderful to have a kitchen with a large fridge, a stove, a sink and a small dishwasher **sigh**Out of everything, I am looking forward to the stove the most. Right now our only means of cooking is a microwave and over an open campfire. We use the campfire for cooking the most and the food tastes unbelievably delicious, but it take a lot of time and prep work to get the food and coals ready. Having a stove and some counter top for prep work will be an amazing treat.

In the picture to the left you can see my most prized blog cabin possession to date! Our new red propane stove! This baby runs off a thermostat! It's great for early spring and fall and I can't tell you how wonderful it is to walk in and push a button to turn on the heat. We used to have a wood stove and that got old really quick! When it's freezing inside and your teeth are chattering finding dry wood, kindling, paper and matches is a chore - the last thing I burned was A through M in our phonebook ;)...not to mention the 20 minutes it takes to get the fire started AND, once it is started, it's not over! Keeping a wood stove lit is a whole other ball game! The worst was getting up 4 or 5 times a night to feed the fire and that was interrupting my beauty sleep so it had to go. The one thing I do like about wood stoves is smell of wood burning in the fall, but our neighbor has a wood stove (sucker) so we get to enjoy all the perks of a wood stove without the hassle :)

Anyways, take a look around and when you're done you can show yourself out...don't forget to lock up :)

-J

Stackin' Block...

2009-07-22T07:36:00.000-07:00

As promised we started laying our block last Sunday. For this we didn't need to use our $25.00 cement mixer, all we needed were a few bags of ready mix cement, a garden hose for water, a cement mixing tray (at least I think that is what it's called) a hoe, a hand trowel, a 4' level and a 2' level, and some thin nylon rope to use as a guide.

First we took the mixing tray and added the ready mix and some water. With a hand trowel we mixed it all up like a huge vat of cake batter - just not as yummy. We then took our very first block coated or shall I say "iced" the bottom of it with our not so yummy batter and stuck it to our beautiful footing. We started at the corner and worked our way along the footing. I was told that you start at the corner so that the corner block locks together when it wraps around the house...this along with staggering the block adds strength to the foundation. If you look at the picture above you can see how the block is staggered. It sure is purdy!

We continued...or I should say "Our Wayne" continued to stack, stack, and stack some more. We had to make sure that the first row was completely level as this sets the tone for the entire foundation. We used the nylon rope and levels to guide us.

As my dad continued to mix the batter, ice the block and layer the cake...Ooooo cake:) - If we were making a foundation out of cake and icing I would totally make it chocolate batter, butter cream filling and vanilla icing **sigh** oh to dream~! Anyways...I digress...where was I again?? OK yeah...Cement, cinder block, and stacking! P sat and watched in amazement as the block went up, up, up (doesn't she look amazed???) lol. She assited my dad by handing him block or tools when he needed them.

We completed 3 rows of block in 3 hours! Not too bad! Stay tuned for more block!

TO BE CONTINUED.....

Blog Cabin Wear...

2009-07-14T06:46:00.000-07:00

Seriously, our blog cabin adventure could totally be the next TLC hit reality show - where are all the TV sponsors? Why are the top TV executives not beating down my door???
Well…due to lack of sponsorship from any major home improvement television network (for right now at least ;) we have to dig deep into our shallow pockets to create our own blog cabin wear. With no money to budget for wardrobe, for less than one dollar, my brother-in-law Jon has designed our very first official blog cabin hard hat. A must have in any construction zone especially when I am strollin’ around the site ;) It’s perfect and fits with our whole “small budget” “big dream” theme that we have going on! Not too shabby for a recycled hard hat, a piece of blue painting tape and a black Sharpie. Just like Martha, you can make your very own with these simple instructions:

1. Find an old used hard hat (the more beat up the better.)
2. Take a piece of blue painters tape about 4” long and cover the existing logo (more tape may be required depending on the size of the existing logo.)
3. Take a black Sharpie marker and write BLOG CABIN big and bold on the blue tape.
4. Place the hard hat on your head and wear with pride.
5. Lastly, using your very best Martha Stewart impression, take a look at you work, take a deep sigh and say, “It’s a good thing.”

Interesting fact:
**Blog Cabin Trivia** The Sharpie marker is the number one stolen office supply product.

Block Confirmation...

2009-07-13T12:35:00.000-07:00

The block must be 16" because the total fat in a Whatchamacallit is only 11.37 grams...not bad! Perhaps I shall enjoy another delicious bar tonight:)
-J

Time to Learn About Block...

2009-07-13T09:30:00.000-07:00

It's almost time to start laying the block - The very first block will be laid this Sunday 07/19/09. Some of you may be wondering, "what's the hold up?” “Why such a long hiatus between the footings and the block stacking?"- well...the truth of the matter is that my car needed to undergo a very major and very expensive surgery and well...you guessed it..."Our Wayne" is not only a master builder, but also a master mechanic and a master magician. He was able to take my $600.00 repair job and magically turn it into an $80.00 job with the only stipulation being that we use some blog cabin hours and put it toward my much needed car operation. So, without any hesitation on my end, that is just what we did and this past Sunday we fixed up my Jeep and it's as good as new! I have brakes again! Brakes are apparently a very important part of driving...well, maybe not so much for driving, but very important for "stopping" the driving;) Now that my car is all better the blog cabin is up and running again! So, I say...ladies and gentlemen...back to the block! (cute car repair pictures to be posted at a later date.)Ok - so, the concrete footings have been poured and are now set. The next step is to remove the wooden forms we built and start laying the block on top of our beautiful new footings. Before we get into the actual "laying of the block" we should have a quick overview on block terminology and block laying technique. For starters, we will be using two types of block. The first type is "Stretcher block" Please refer to the chart above. Stretcher block is what will make up the body (inner portion) of our foundation. We will be using 16" Stretcher block and for those of you who are like me and are looking at the chart thinking..."hmmm...is that the block with the 3 holes or the 2 holes"...I asked and I was informed we are using the 2 holed Stretcher block....hmmmm...on second thought...now that I think of it, I am not 100% sure if 16" is correct as I was eating a whatchamachallit while it was being explained to me and 16 may have been the number of fat grams my chocolate bar had in it
:( but 16" sounds right for cinder block too...hmmmm...I dunno, but for now lets just call it 16" cinder block:) The stretcher block will be laid out in a staggered pattern (much like bricks only larger) as this creates the strength in a foundation. The blocks will be bonded together with 1/2" of concrete mixed by yours truly:) When we get to the corners we will need to use our second type of block..."Half Corner block" Half Corner block will be used...yep...you guessed it, on all the corners. Half Corner block is flush on one side to create a nice sharp corner for when our foundation wraps around our blog cabin.So, now that you are all briefed on the "how to" and terminology of laying block we are ready to get to it.
Stay tuned!-J

Injury Alert!

2009-07-06T07:13:00.000-07:00

Ok - It is official. I have received my very first blog cabin
injury:( No injuries in the first two years is pretty good for me considering I am constantly tripping over my own two feet and I figured I would have at least broken something by now - BUT - anyways...I digress as I usually do...so, without further ado...on to the details of my injury.
Remember that wonderful "steal of a deal" cement mixer we purchased? Well...it works really, really, well - but that "little" sucker is very, very, heavy and I crushed my poor little finger with it:( Ouchie. **insert sad J here** There was nothing broken, but notice the size of the bruise! It started from the tippity top of my knuckle and grew all the way back toward the cut. Pretty bad ass huh? Grrrrrrrr ;)~

Building Forms, Placing Forms, Filling Forms...

2009-06-30T14:52:00.000-07:00

Ok...now that P and I finished digging out the giant hole, we had "our wayne" inspect it and low and behold it passed! Hip Hip Hooray! NO MORE DIGGING!!!!...at least for now that is.
This week it is all about forms. Forms are the very next step in building our foundation. We build forms to mold a solid concrete slab in order to stack our cinder block.
Here is how we did it...

First we built the forms...

Then we placed the forms in the ditch...

Then help arrived...

(My sister Tracey and my brother-in-law Jon - Thanks for the extra hands Guys!)

Then we filled the forms half way...

Next we added rebar to reinforce our work...

Then we finished filling and topping off the forms.

Then I took a cute picture of myself:)

And a cute picture of P...

And lastly we signed our work.

All in a single days work:)

Tomorrow we will take a day for some much needed R & R **sigh**

Thursday we will remove the forms and repeat the process for the other side of the boulder.

To be continued....

Huh? Turtle Crossing? What the *#@!?

2009-06-24T08:15:00.001-07:00

Ok...I have both seen and heard of the occasional "deer crossing" and the rare "moose crossing" and every so often I have even come across one of those adorable "duck crossing" signs, but never before in my life have I seen a turtle crossing! Exactly how long does it take a turtle to cross the road? Would it or could it cause a country turtle traffic Jam? Would they radio the town Sherriff to come and direct all the turtle traffic?
I find it so interesting how different things are around here and we are only 2 hours from Boston! I love the contrast between the city and the country. For instance, in the city, walking alone at night may not be wise because a creeper might mug you; however, in the country, walking alone at night may not be wise because a bear might eat you. In the city one may worry about making it to the mall before it closes; however, in the country, it's very simple...there is no mall!
Other than the turtle crossing, P & I have seen many, many, things in these parts that both baffle us along with putting a big smiles on our faces. From time to time throughout our blog cabin adventure I will throw one of these "interesting country sightings" in for you to ponder over as we do. All these little country quirks and differences are what made P and I fall in love with this area in the first place. Now, along with breaking for moose and for the deer and for the ducks, P & I can also say...we break for turtles;)

Cement Mixer Score!

2009-06-23T10:56:00.001-07:00

It used to be that P and I would get excited to buy a new flat screen TV, some new clothes, taking a ride to Starbucks for a Vanilla Latte or maybe even some new furniture to spiff up our house a bit. These days, our priorities have changed a little... hmmmm...on second thought, maybe they have changed a lot. What reeeeally gets us excited these days is anything that will save us some hard cash on our blog cabin renovations and our most recent purchase really has us jazzed! Congratulations J & P, you are now the proud owners of your very own new "used" CEMENT MIXER!!! YEAH!
“Our Wayne” comes through for us yet again and finds us this hidden jewel! Really…how does he do it? Great things are happening here! That's right, we just bought our very own new "used" cement mixer for $25.00 and here is why this is so amazing… In order for us to start and complete our block foundation, we would need to rent a cement mixer. Renting a cement mixer from our local hardware store would run us $40.00 per day. Now, follow along closely because I need to do some math and us “creative types” aren’t wizards with the following 3 things: grammar (as you have probably noticed ugggghhh!) domestics, and my personal nemesis….wait for it...lol...numbers:( Even though this is a personal weakness of mine, I must "go there" to keep you all informed so, without further hesitation, here we go! Ladies and gentlemen, please keep your hands and feet inside the vehicle at all times, sit back, relax, and enjoy the ride!…READY??? GO! Ok, we would need to rent a mixer for at least 5 days. $40.00 per day X 5 days would run us $200.00….are you still with me? Ok good, let’s continue…this $200.00 is just for one half of the foundation. Right now our plan is to build one half of the foundation for the back of the house and hold off on the rest. "Why?" you ask...because we are only completing this portion for now so that we can add an addition for our kitchen and bath. So, for us to then complete the other half of the foundation later, it would run us an additional $200.00 and let’s just tack on another 3 days to give us some cushion room for the occasional “whoops” that happens so very often in my world…$40.00 per day X 3 days is $120.00 for a grand total of $520.00 and that is not including tax.
So, in conclusion, from all the “concrete” information gathered above – pun intended, we spent $25.00 and saved $495.00! THANKS DAD!
Oh…and I didn’t even tell you the best part! Our new "used" cement mixer is ELECTRIC! Yeah...it spins on its own;)~ When P & I buy something new “used,” we go alllll out!

**FYI we will be doing blog cabin renovations all next week! Stay tuned for more posts!**

Dirty Pictures, a Boulder, & a Plan...

2009-06-22T11:05:00.000-07:00

This past weekend we got down and dirty...GRRRRRRR! Under the direct orders of "Our Wayne," We dug out the ditch where our new foundation will be going! There are many things we are learning along the way. We are learning about building permits, building codes, building inspectors - we will bake them brownies;)... Cinder block, the formula on how to mix concrete which by the way is 1:2:3 parts by dry volume....I know, I was like "I dunno what that means" either. That is: one part cement, two parts sand and three parts coarse aggregate....Aggre...what?? hahaha...Anywho, we are learning about all that and much, much, more...frost lines, snapping lines, tape measures, tree roots(which we have learned to saw through with our trusty bow saw!~Thanks Uncle Jim!), hatchets, pick axes, silt fence, conservation - we will bake them brownies;)...and the most important thing we have learned to date...ahem...wearing a good pair of work gloves will keep the dirt out from under your finger nails! We may work like construction men, but a girls got to draw the line somewhere! Work gloves are the way to go if you want to keep your hands soft and nails clean! We also learned that in construction, the plan is only as good as the current situation...In other words, things can change as you go along and they usually do."Our Wayne" instructed us to dig as follows: 5 feet from the back of the house to the front at 15 inches down, 2 feet across and dig the entire length of the back of the house 9 inches down.....then, it was dig 8 feet from the back of the house to the front at 21 inches down, 2 feet across and dig the entire length of the back of the house 27 inches down ....then it was...8 feet from the back of the house to the front at 4 feet down, 2 feet across and dig the entire length of the back of the house 27 inches dooow...hmmm...on 2nd thought...China...just dig and when you hit China, hop a plane back and let me know that you guys are done and that should be good. hahaha. It was not quite that dramatic, but when you are hot, dirty, smelly and exhausted, that is what it can feel like. We dug, and dug, and dug, and dug some more. We hit small rocks, medium rocks, rocks that were hugged tightly by big thick tree roots, rocks that were flat and rocks that were round and then,...then we hit the mother of all those rocks and found the rock that stepped up a class in the whole rock society...a rock that was in a category of it's own...we hit... a boulder! At first "P" and I thought, "What are we going to do???" Would we have to rent a jack hammer?? Would we need to get some dynamite?? We stopped and starred at it for a while like we just uncovered the findings in some archeological dig and then we waited and we spoke to "Our Wayne." Low and behold, this rock was a gift! According to "Our Wayne" we can use this rock as part of our foundation because...well let's face it, this rock ain't goin' nowhere! It will provide a good solid base for our foundation and on top of that, it saved us about 3 -4 hours of digging along with some supply cost for concrete and cinder block! Thank you big boulder...thank you!

Meet “Our Wayne”…

2009-06-22T09:40:00.001-07:00

Wayne is my dad and our ticket to achieving our country dream! Remember how I said that “P” and I have no skills or experience in building anything? Well, lucky for us we don’t have to because we have “a Wayne!” “Wayne’s” are very rare and skilled in all areas of fixing, altering, re-working, and re-building. Given enough time and enough epoxy, it is said that “a Wayne” can fix anything! Once, when my sister was little, she had a little toy bus that followed any line you could possibly think to draw with the magic crayon that came with it. One day, just for fun, my sister decided to take apart the entire bus ... we are talking about hundreds of teeny tiny pieces here ... down to miniscule springs and micro screws. Our mom looked at it and shook her head back and forth saying, “that's never getting put back together.”, but my sister knew she had a secret weapon…she had “a Wayne” and was totally confident "My dad will fix it!" Three hours, a set of miniature screwdrivers, a soldering iron, and 2 migraines later he totally did ... the whole thing… good as new!
"Our Wayne” is the best model on the market. Local legend has it that the well known character “the professor” on Gilligan’s Island was based on our very own “Wayne!” Though my dad denies this as he adamantly disputes the claim by saying, “IF THAT WERE ME, I WOULD'NT SPEND ALL THAT TIME FRIGGIN' AROUND WITH THAT GILLIGAN, I WOULD HAVE RE-BUILT THAT BOAT AND GOTTEN US OFF THE ISLAND!!!” we are honored that the entertainment industry recognized his genius and made millions off that show.
Though "our Wayne” receives no royalties from the re-runs, it works to our advantage because instead of touring Europe and traveling the world in his retirement, we get to spend time with "our Wayne” by making him the Captain of our blog cabin adventure!

"Our Wayne" learned everything he knows about building from my grandfather who was both a carpenter by profession and a craftsman by pride. Most people don’t know this, but there is a big difference between a carpenter and a craftsman. You can be a carpenter and have the knowledge and the “know how” to fix something, but it is rare to find a craftsman which is an artist in the way they complete their “finish work.” A craftsman really takes pride in their finish work. They understand that building is not only in the function of what they are fixing, but also the form. For instance if your average Joe were to build a coconut radio to signal an S.O.S., he would probably crack the coconut on a nearby rock and attach it to a rusty piece of wire from the engine of the S.S. Minnow and try to transmit a signal…now…if “our Wayne” were to build a coconut radio to signal an S.O.S., he would first build a grinder to run off of a foot pump to sharpen his machete and put a nice sharp edge on it. He would then locate a coconut that is a perfect sphere and exactly 10 inches in diameter. Next, using a ruler he made from a flat piece of drift wood he would mark the center of the coconut for a completely dimensional split. After cracking the coconut, he would then buff up the outer shell to a nice polished shine. He would then, remove the coconut meat for a better transmit. After that, taking the rusty engine wire, he would create a mixture of sea water and other Island elements and soak the wire in for exactly 30 minutes to electrolytically de-oxidize the rust and convert the rust back into iron. Lastly, he would take the coconut meat, season it, and slow roast it over an open fire to serve it to the rest of the castaways to enjoy while he begins to transmit.
Catch my drift???

**stay tuned for camp projects completed this past weekend under the orders and supervision of "Our Wayne!"**

J & P...a solid foundation

2009-06-19T09:39:00.000-07:00

We met in October of 1999, fell in love in 2000, bought a house in Boston in 2001, married in 2004 and have been having the time of our lives ever since. We are both dreamers that love adventure and truly believe that it's all about the journey and not the destination. We both grew up in the city, "P"(top left) on the outskirts of Boston and me, "J"(bottom right) in CT 40 minutes outside of NYC. We are both creative and love the arts...life without art is boring hello! We have dogs and not kids, art and not a Mercedes and we would choose a Sal's greasy cheese pizza over caviar any day of the week. Neither of us knows anything about building, but because we are creative, we can see this cute broken down little shack that is currently in worst shape then our garden shed and we can envision something great! A cozy little country house with a deck overlooking the river, pine walls, a loft and a wood burning stove. A weekend getaway from the city! Even though right now it has no ceiling and the windows are broken and the bathroom has no door and there are stacks of bricks on each corner preventing it from rolling into the river and oh yeah...the door knob continuously spins around and around and around in your hand without even opening the door....we know someday when the renovations are complete and we are old and retired there, we will look back on this crazy adventure and re-live the journey all over again. So, stay tuned as we renovate this little shack into the country dream we envision.

-J