In the light of day

Himself is painting the untreated boards of the shade room. We have to paint untreated lumber so that next spring and summer the carpenter bees won't make a beeline for it. Treated lumber is supposed to deter the creatures but I'm not sure it does. The carpenter bees can drill right into a 2X4 or 4X4. Himself sits on the porch many a day and stands guard, armed with a can of superduper, projectile wasp spray. He can take out a carpenter bee at 40 paces and is the fastest gun in the west.

Meanwhile, the shade room is taking shape. It would have been screened in this past weekend but our favorite local lumberyard didn't have enough screen in stock. The wall to the left in the photo is open and now the insects fly in freely and sit on the screen and try to get out. Himself, the old softie, because we opted to use 4X4 treated lumber at the corners instead of cedar posts that I had planned, volunteered to erect a cedar post in the screen room for ambiance and support -- then embellished that with cross braces like in an old western movie. Now what more could a gal ask for . . . the other side

We have light!

Thanks, to Cousin Clint, we now have light at III. He kindly gifted us with a DC to AC converter and the first thing Himself did today upon arriving was to run an electrical wire and hook up an electrical outlet. We plugged a lamp in, turned on the converter and "Presto!" we have light.

Himself asked me what I thought about the light and I said, I don't know.

An electrical light is change. I guess I wonder what the next advancement will be here at III. Starting with Coleman lantern and stove, we have stepped up to cook on propane. We have a sink with a drain that runs outside (even if it is into a pail, which I carry to the garden to recycle the "gray" water) -- and now electricity! I have enjoyed roughing it here this summer, playing pioneer and, as I have said a time or two, practicing for the Second Great Depression which I was sure was inevitable when gas went up to $3.00 gallon; I thought that would squelch the economy and cause the market to crash. I was ** Prepared **!

I have learned things this summer, roughing it at III and coping with the drought at home. I have learned how much water I have wasted in the past. I have learned that I can use much less water and I have figured out ways to recycle the water. At home where I am catching the water off the roof (when it will rain) and here at III, I carry the gray water from the kitchen to the evergreen trees and the garden. Of course, I knew these things; learned as a child watching my folks and my grandparents, traits left over from the droughts of the 30s and habits of the Great Depression. Vegetable and fruit scraps always went to the chickens or to the garden and I remember dry times when the dishwater went to a flower or tree.

I also learned that I like to reuse, recycle, find a new use for an old object. For instance I want to use the cedar trunks that I have kept and cleaned up, removing the bark. At home, I like watering my flowers and vegetables, dipping the pail in the rain barrel. I do not always like carrying the peelings, the egg shells and the watermelon rinds to the garden, here or at home, but find that I do it much more often now and am glad that I am reducing the amount that has to go in the garbage bag and then to the landfill. I like finding just the thing at a flea market or garage sale, something I have needed or can use at III.

I have had fun roughing it with Himself out here at Shag III. We can do with much less than we have in Creston or even Shagbark Too. We are hardy, independent, can improvise and problem solve and we have fun while we do. So an electric bulb burning in our uninsulated hunting cabin? What do I think? I like it. It makes life easier. But even more, I like having fun and "making do" with Himself at III . . . the other side

Shaderoom, too

This is a shaderoom of a different nature. It used to be full of 1st year growth trees, tall grass and scrub. Now the sun streams in, dancing on the ground and twirling among the branches. Between me cutting the small trees, dead limbs out of bigger trees and all manner of other growing things and Himself mowing in there, we are creating a shady place for children to play. I envision the trees growing taller and sturdier with hand holds and branches to climb so that in a few years bairns will be able to play house and cowboys, climb trees, ride rocket ships, be washed up on desert islands and all sorts of imaginative pretend. . . . the other side

Nourishment

For months I planned the shade room. I sketched it out a dozen times, listed materials and calculated cost. I planned the shaderoom with an old-fashioned tin roof, cedar-trunk corner posts and a dirt floor. I planned on screening it in for a cool place to sit with my morning coffee, a shady place to serve breakfast or supper -- away from the heat of the day and the buzz of the bugs.

Himself, on the advice of those that know, talked me out of the cedar posts. They will rot and not last long. We should use treated 4 X 4 posts. Okay, I agree, but still planned the tin roof and the three, screened walls.

The day came to order the material and standing at the counter of the local lumberyard, (not a home center, mind you. a lumberyard) I am told, "You have to special order the galvanized tin; the tin is not stock material". Himself says, we may as well shingle it. "Shall we shingle it?" So, in the heat of the moment with the lumberman frazzled, tired and overworked and Himself just wanting to get the job started and done, in a matter of minutes we figure the shingles and the sheathing for the roof and idea of the tin roof ripples away.

Standing at the counter, I showed Himself the sketch I quickly drew, figuring three sheets of plywood to cover the 12 X 12 roof. It looked too good to be true; no cutting, just lay three sheets of plywood, alternate directions, up on the rafters. Look at this, I said, does this look right? Ok, he said and we recited the order, wrote the checkand hightailed it to III before the lumberman could change his mind about the delivery.

After an afternoon of hard and rewarding work setting the corner posts, it came time to sit and reflect on the afternoon's accomplishments, to admire our handiwork created from 4 X 4 posts, cement premix and pond water. You are going to be short plywood, he said, and I got my sketchpad and studied and pondered and reluctantly agreed that in those moments at the counter of the lumberyard, that while calculating our needs I did, indeed, short us on the sheathing for the roof.

So it was planned that I would pull the trailer to town the next morning, brave the wrath of the frazzled, tired and overworked lumberman and ask him to cut two sheets of plywood and "while you are at it, toss in another (60#) bundle of shingles" and, and "yes, I know you want to be out of here by noon." Himself would stay behind; he would cut and hang rafters so that upon my return we could, at full speed, prepare the roof and start to shingle.

And it was done. I pulled the trailer. I braved the wrath. I bought the material that would finish the roof of the shaderoom.

Himself executed nicely. He labored and sawed and drilled and corrected my architectural mistakes and because, in my calculations, I was south one foot there is a special corner in the shaderoom called "Nancy's corner". Because I believe that good comes of difficult situations, Nancy's corner will be commemorated. Perhaps it will be stained glass. Maybe there will be a child-sized door, a secret egress. Maybe it will just be painted differently than the rest of the cabin.

I enjoyed the planning of the shaderoom. I enjoyed the adventure of the "doing" and solving the problems and correcting the errors. I can rejoice in Nancy's corner because I dared to dream it and Himself and I dared to do it. . . . the other side

People need dreams, there's as much nourishment in 'em as food.

Dorothy Gilman

LABOR DAY LABOR - Sept 3,4, and 5 - 2005

Wow, I didn't think a Labor Day Holiday would be so busy. We stopped at II Thurs nite. Got up Friday and went to Princeton to place an order for the screen room. Can you deliver, we asked. Well, maybe, very busy, need to get done early, don't know, it would be late. Finally he said yes but late, maybe 2 or 3 in the PM. So placed our order and went on to III. I went to the neighbors and told him that the lumber yard would be delivering and where to place the materials. About 2:30 i decided to go up to the driveway and start mowing. No more than started up the lane and here comes a pickup with a big trailer loaded with our materials. Not only did he deliver right to the cabin, but he helped unload.
So we immediately started in on the screen room. We set the corner 4x4 pressure treated posts in concrete and made sure all were plum and true. Let them set overnite. Next morning, I started setting the roof trusses while, of course, "herself" went to town. There had been a slight mis-calculation on the amount of roof sheathing we would need so of course Nance went after the needed materials. Now, I am wondering, she had been planning this screen room ever since we started going down there. Spent hours measuring, planning, etc and still she came up 1 and 1/2 sheets of 4x8 plywood short. Was this planned to get her to town, as if she needed such a plan? Pretty suspicious to me. Anyway by the time she got back, all the roof trusses were installed. next step was to get the plywood up and tacked down. all went well till we got to the pieces Nance went to pick up. We had to have them cut in half so they could be hauled in the trailer. Anyway, it looked like the cuts were made in the design of a half moon. As we have no electricity i couldn't straigten out the cuts, so just slapped them on as is. Left a pretty good gap as i had to adjust for the circular cut. So, got the sheathing up, roof felt down, and shingled, in 2 days work. Not bad as the only power tool we had was a battery powered drill. Any cuts were done by hand. Now all thats left is to brace the roof and screen it in. After the screen room is done, i have a few more stumps to clear, then it will be onto the trails. It was truly a Labor Day Weekend.
And the screen room has a special corner, called "Nance's Corner". She will have to tell you about that, as I have been forbidden to even mention it. Ha . . . himself