Up on the roof

As it turns out, putting tar paper on a roof when the sun is out is not the best way to spend an afternoon if you really like being super warm.

More Pictures

On occasion, my little brother came up to visit and took a few pictures of me during various stages of the process. Obviously, the photos that I'm in, were taken by him.


This was an exciting day for me because it was after I got the first wall in place.



In this one, I am trying to fit the last roof board into place. I've found that for tongue and groove 2x6's, using a hammer to beat them into place is the best option.



If you look closely in this one, you can see me laying on the roof.



And now for the interior. In this pic, you are looking at the front right corner.



This is the back wall. If you look at the 4x4's in all of these, you'll notice that you don't see any hardware. Like I mentioned in a previous post, it's because they're all held together with wooden pegs.



Here's me standing out front after getting the door put up. I've never built a door before, but believe me when I say that it is not easy. This one ended up being about three inches thick of solid wood.

It's almost time to move!

Well everything has been coming along nicely and by my calculations I have one more solid weekend left to finish things up.

-I have my wood stove, and have found plenty of standing dead trees that will make good firewood. I've already cut down and started work on two of them, because if I hadn't taken them out, they could have fallen on my cabin if a strong wind blew through.

-Unfortunately water is still a minor issue. There is a pump nearby that draws from a spring, but the pump is old and I had to order a few parts. As soon as they arrive then everything should be fine.

-Security wise, I did put a chain across the small road leading up the hill to my place, just to keep people from poking around at least until I get a lock on my door.

-My plan this weekend is to finish up the roof and get the door installed. After that I'll finally have a glorified shed to call my own.

More Book Ideas.

I mentioned before that after a few interviews about reading material I would compile a list of books that I plan to take with me. Here is a solid part of that list.

Damian by Herman Hesse - A sort of coming of age tale that takes place in the years leading up to and after WWI

Narcissus and Goldmund by Herman Hesse - The story of a young German man named Goldmund wondering throughout medieval Germany searching for the meaning of life.

Apparently these first two books are practically required reading in many other countries around the world, but for whatever reason, never really caught on in the United States.


The Hero with a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell - writings on the comparative mythology of the journey taken by the archetypal hero. On a side note, someone game me this book when I became an Eagle Scout my junior year of high school. I never read it and had totally forgotten about it until it came up in this conversation. After a little searching, I was able to find it buried in a box out at my parents house, and now am very much looking forward to reading it.

Moby Dick by Herman Melville - This is considered to be one of the greatest novels in the English language. Yet another example of something that I've always wanted to read, but just never got around to actually doing it.

Call of the Wild by Jack London - I can remember reading this when I was younger, but I think it would definitely be worth revisiting. FYI - the first movie adaptation of this book, starring Clark Gable, was filmed up at Mount Baker. Yes, that Mt. Baker.

Runaway Horses by Yuko Mishima - According to wikipedia, this book explores the boundary between atheism and religious belief by presenting Honda (one of the main characters) with seeming evidence of reincarnation and exploring his emotional responses. The religions of Buddhism and Shinto are contrasted.

The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco - From what I've heard about this book, it sounds kind of like The Divinci Code, only set in the year 1327.


I'm looking forward to these, as they should keep me busy for a little bit.

Book Report 1

This book ended up in my hands in kind of a roundabout way. I had a class last quarter taught by WWU professor Charles Sylvester and one day a student brought this in to his office to show him. I had already talked with Charlie about this cabin that I wanted to build and he suggested that the student contact me and show me the book instead.

Great idea.

This book, published in 2005 by Running Press Book Publishers, is filled with snippets, trials, tribulations and thoughts compiled by a man named Dan Price during his ongoing fourteen year journey to eliminating the clutter from his life.

I found some of them to be applicable to what I plan on doing out in the woods, the biggest of them being the idea of not cooking. Dan says that "dirty dishes suck," and I have to agree with him. It would be one thing if I had running water in my cabin, but without it cleaning dishes just means hauling more water in and then hauling waste water out again. He said he was able to achieve this by spending a few months out of the year making lots of jerky, tending to a garden, and dehydrating lots and lots of food.

I'm not against cooking, but keeping it to a minimum does seem like it would be a much more efficient option for me.

Picture Time!

My camera has a mind of it's own and sometimes I can't get it to turn on. A few weeks ago I thought it was the battery, which has since been replaced, but I'm realizing more and more that it's probably just the camera. That being said, here are some pictures.



This was taken after I finished the subfloor. I laid out the side walls on a pattern that I drew on the floor so that I knew that both walls would match up.

I guess this would be a good time to mention that the plans have changed a bit. Originally I was going to go with standard 2x4 studs framed up every 24 inches over center, but changed it to 4x4's which are going to be held together with wooden pegs, timber-frame style. The flooring material was an absolute pain in the ass to get nailed down, but the siding for the walls has been going a lot smoother.

The hardest part of the entire thing has been making sure all of my angles are square and that all of my my lines are level where they need to be.



Here's what the finished floor looks like. It's 2x6 tongue and groove fir. It's not vertical grain, so it's still kind soft for a floor material, but that will just help to add some eventual character to the place. Plus it looks a lot better then plywood.