Sunday, September 03, 2006

Stung


tiny cabin progress
Originally uploaded by bouteloua.

When Tarr and I arrived, first thing he did was stir up a ground nest of yellow-jackets which stung us repeatedly. Tarr shot me a wounded look and sped back to the pickup truck, from which he refused to leave without being coerced. Tarr is a city dog. I will admit that as I later sat, swelling, reddened and suffering from burning stings that I wished I could be home in my comfortable old house. Don't believe that I'm eligible to be a buddhist because I squirted those suckers with bee and hornet killer and don't feel bad about it at all.

This didn't delay the latest project idea to use water from the cave spring instead of drilling a well. It flows all year-round. Enter the Huntsville Hardware water guys who showed up to give me a price on developing the spring for water. I wanted to make sure that we didn't disturb the beauty of the cave with pumps and tanks.

I estimated the distance from the cabin to the cave mouth at about 100 yards. Rick H. the Huntsville hardware guy, paced it off at 250 yards. Huey the backhoe guy said it was 300. Granted we wandered all over the lower pasture as we made our way back. This makes me afraid of how expensive the work will be: Pipes, water, pumps, containers, electrical line, conduit, backhoe work. I'll find out tomorrow.

I made a little progress on the next part (see photo). I am insulating the walls with blue styrofoam - like a cozy foam cup. I tried to frame in the windows in the uppermost levels but didn't get too far because attempting to balance on a ladder, manage a drill and hold boards in place caused me to tremble with exhaustion. Next time, I must bring some helpers.

2 comments:

John said...

It's been a while since I was here last. You definately have a beautiful spot for your cabin. Love the cave & creek. Glad to see you're making progress.

- John

The Knights Notes said...

Hi! Just found your blog site. I'm planning on building a cabin on our farm in South Carolina and was wondering the size of your cabin. Also, was it expensive to buy the frame from the company in North Carolina? Do they sell the student built frames on a regular basis?

Looking forward to seeing the completion!

Henry Knight
Columbia, South Carolina