Tiny Cabin in the Woods

This started quite a while ago

2009-07-20T17:13:00.000-07:00

Annoying feature of blogs is that they run backwords so click on this. Tiny Cabin in the Woods: This started awhile ago.

Fawn

2009-06-07T08:27:00.001-07:00

Walking in the lower pasture, I found this young fawn lying motionless. Even when I bent down to its level, it didn't move. After a little while, it got uneasy and bleated once then ran off. I flushed an adult deer near that location later. That could be its mom. There is a tick above its eye.

Accomplishments:

1. hung a clothesline between two cedar trees.
2. bathed twice in the kiddee pool with warm water
3. sprayed lots of sweetgum trees and multiflora rose with "Remedy" herbicide
4. met with the NRCS people. Don't think I'll sign my farm up for the WHIP program (Wildlife Habitat Incentive Program). While it is true that the federal government will assist me with expenses, I am not sure that I want the pressure of their oversight. I need to think more about this.
5. went birding with Joe Neal, Lance and Leslie Peacock, Becky Wheeler and others to learn about nesting forest birds in the area. Learned so much my head aches.
6. Still don't have my chimney or bathtub installed.
7. I think that lining the exterior door will make it look better.

Fawn , originally uploaded by bouteloua.

Burning the lower field

2009-03-08T14:42:00.001-07:00

Burning the lower field
Originally uploaded by bouteloua

This is in a tight little canyon with creeks on either side. After the fire, I walked the fields and threw native warm season grass and forb seed on the burned part. Then like a miracle, a sweet springtime rain fell.

The Horse: Diagnosis: Examining the Evidence (Parasite Primer Part 6)

2009-01-10T10:34:00.000-08:00

The Horse: Diagnosis: Examining the Evidence (Parasite Primer Part 6)

Cabin projects

2008-09-13T16:29:00.000-07:00

Just because we are in love with our yearling horse and have to see him daily, we have not worked on any cabin construction projects. This is about to change.

Here is the list:

1. Install heating wire on exposed water pipes so they don't freeze like last winter.

2. Haul the last gable window into place.

3. Assemble the chimney for the wood stove.

4. Cut trees in overgrown pasture.

5. Plant native grasses and forbs.

6. Complete installation of whirpool tick-pickin' tub.

7. Fix pex plumbing.

8. Repair leaky spray in sink.

9. Stack firewood.

10. Haul small refrigerator to cabin.

That is one day's projects. More later.

zwarte diamant

2008-06-05T04:46:00.001-07:00

zwerte diamant, originally uploaded by bouteloua.

The denizens of this old Tiny Cabin are excited about our newest member, Zwarte Diamant. He is a yearling friesian and it will be at least 2 years before we start training.

We have had a black horse before and have felt the loss of him intensely for 20 years.

He currently lives in eastern Tennessee and will be shipped to the Ozarks in a few weeks. So among the next projects will be a shed for the little feller.

Le Kidde Spa - a recipe in gloriousness

2008-06-03T06:14:00.001-07:00

Le Kidde Spa, originally uploaded by bouteloua.

Here at the Tiny Cabin we have been taking our sweet time getting things done. Even so, we do crave our creature comforts and an al fresco spa event is right up there with finding the inner happy creature.

Here's the recipe: Get a kiddie pool and fill it with the glorious hot water that we get from the well and the tankless heater! Yippee.

Lolling outside nekkid in warm water, listening to the birds, feeling the breeze and picking ticks is purely pleasure. (Since you asked, a white-eyed vireo, indigo bunting, red-eyed vireo, chuck will's widow, whippoorwill, hummingbird and others I don't know)

When the Buffalo Gnats are bad in the east Arkansas Delta.

2008-05-24T06:55:00.001-07:00

P1000489, originally uploaded by bouteloua.

This is what you do. After we finished our field work, we knocked over a bank. The tiny cabin is up in the Boston Mountains area of the Ozarks and Buffalo gnats are NOT a problem. I just like this picture.
I am the one on the back.

Home Depot's "Closet Fee"

2008-03-28T15:59:00.000-07:00

Tarr and I have drug off to work on another project. "How hard can it be?" fixing up this little jewel.

We bought it sort of on impulse because we have always really liked it. For decades.

Anyway, like any good houseblogger, we have been pulling out rotten wood, sneaking stuff to other people's dumpsters, dealing with tardy contractors, losing great wads of money and, in Tarr's case, chasing the heck out of feral cats.

We discovered today that if a person asks the Home Depot dude why it costs a total of $791 to install a bottom-of-the-line $289 water heater, he will tell you that there is a "closet fee." In other words, if you have your water heater out in the living room, that is a good thing and no extra charge. But if you have it tucked away out of sight in a closet, it is $40 more.

grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. just grrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

The good news is that I have lots of people lined up to rent it.

What a border collie can do if he puts his mind to it

2008-03-12T19:04:00.000-07:00

This is lovely. And yes, Tarr looks just like this. Music is Ludovico Einaudi's I Giorni.

More Fun.

COLLIE WOBBLE

And why not?

All Closed In!

2008-01-24T06:15:00.000-08:00

Once I get a chimney up, I can light a fire inside the wood stove.

Swans are back/gone/back at the Boxley Millpond!

2007-12-28T12:42:00.000-08:00

Happy, Happy. After 40 some years, the Trumpeter swans are returning to Arkansas.

These swans are gone. However, Arkansas Game and Fish and Buffalo National River biologists will be stocking some young ones this week. We'll see how that goes.

No work on the Tiny Cabin. Too dang cold, dark and windy.

They're back. Stocked this time by Buffalo National River, Arkansas Game and Fish and Iowa Dept. Natural Resources.

With a moan of anguished anticipation

2007-11-16T10:29:00.000-08:00

After building a little frame out of quarter-round, I put gobs of black caulking all around the perimeter, stuck the stained glass window in and stepped back to admire the look. It looked so great! Happy. Happy. Then it flopped forward and I could hear the glass breaking.

If you have ever read Nabokov's Pnin,** I felt Pnin's pain when he thought he had broken a cherished bowl while washing it. Only this really did break. After moping around a little bit, I decided to finish installing it anyway. You can't see the cracks in the glass but I think I'll cut some window glass to help support it.

Part of the lore.

**Pnin is washing up, after a party. Lovingly, he places an aquamarine bowl in the water. This bowl is a gift from his young son. It is Pnin's most precious object. It slips out of his hand and drops into the suds-filled sink.

He almost caught it--his fingertips actually came into contact with it in mid-air, but this only helped to propel it into the treasure-concealing foam of the sink, where an excruciating crack of broken glass followed upon the plunge.

Then something wonderful happens: "With a moan of anguished anticipation, he went back to the sink and, bracing himself, dipped his hand deep into the foam. A jagger of glass stung him. Gently he removed a broken goblet. The beautiful bowl was intact. He took a fresh dish towel and went on with his household work."

Spar varnish on door to tiny cabin

2007-11-16T09:47:00.001-08:00

Shiny thing alert. I really like marine spar varnish - because it reminds me of boats (durr), and Honduras. It doesn't smell as bad as polyurethane during application and it will last longer than I probably will. It will protect the wooden door despite what weather can throw at it. Eventually the wooden walls will turn a brown-gray and set off the door and the little red window nicely.

Hot and Cold running water

2007-10-28T17:53:00.000-07:00

An endless amount of hot and cold running water. And it only leaks a little bit. This is joy. There is a dial on the electric tankless water heater that makes it go hotter or not hotter.

I still can't recommend pex. One of the features I had hoped for was enough flexibility so that joints are minimized. As I found out, it doesn't bend very much at all. So after attaching all the joints, turning on the water and having it spew pretty much at every new joint, I went to bed, filthy, wet and demoralized.

The next morning, I fussed, tinkered and tightened and still have a small leak. But good enough for now.

A compassionate diversion

2007-10-14T07:20:00.000-07:00

Rose
Fynn
Like it or not, Tarr has two new companions: two border collies that were on the Uhaul of Misery. Though still young, I think they have spent their whole lives in a cage. They don't know how to walk very well, doors terrify them and they seem baffled by having space to roam. Click on the second picture to see some weird stripy eyes.

One was skeletal and the other not so much - so I think one was eating the other's food. I am free feeding them so they both look rolly polly with bones on top.

First things first: good food, clean water, head pats and exercise. They are in ptsd or the dog equivalent.

UPDATE: These dogs are coming along great! Wonderful border collies.

Woe

2007-10-10T05:28:00.001-07:00

Several members of the Rodentia order have taken up residence in TinyCabin imparting a bad smell and rodent droppings of different sizes. They skitter around loudly at night, chew rudely and party with the rat poison I've left out. One white-footed mouse was found feets up but the size of most of the droppings makes me think I've got flying squirrels or woodrats.

Tarr is indifferent to these potential prey items and will not get out of bed to deal with them. Because the exterior walls are not completed yet (but soon!) I am lucky I don't have bears inside.

Earlier I bragged too soon about the wonders of Pex Plumbing. I don't love Pex anymore because when I actually turned the water on water spewed from many of the fittings. Pex doesn't bend as readily as I had envisioned - so I had to use quite a few brass fittings and these are expensive and introduce the real possibility of leaks and multiple trips to the plumbing supply store.

So I'm on my back on the floor under the sink trying to fix things, leak by leak, ickily aware that I was lying in a murky soup of water, dust, filth and rat feces. Then the faucet broke.

That did it.

After swabbing the cabin floor with ammonia, I went home and took a shower. Then I took a bath. No pictures. I was just too bummed.

Boxley Baptist Church at dawn

2007-09-30T12:47:00.001-07:00

There are not only elk and swans in Boxley valley where I'm building the tinycabin but also this pretty church and graveyard. The moon was full a few days ago.

The former owners of my land are all in this graveyard now. Samuel, Seleta, Raford, Walsie...

Taken by Tim Ernst yesterday morning.

Le moderne tick picking equipment

2007-09-27T18:57:00.001-07:00

You may not think much about getting ticks or chiggers when you are out in nature but this is a reality in much of the tropical and temperate world. Definitely in the southern US.

Here we have embodied the ideal device - it even has a little built in seat - where a person can inspect hisorherownself before slipping blissfully into hot bubbling whirling tick- and chigger-defying water.

Rusticity has its limits.

This tub will be installed about 1.5 feet up from the floor so that I can contemplate nature while bathing.

Tarr gets all important with a deer leg

2007-09-22T13:21:00.001-07:00

Tarr gets a leg, originally uploaded by bouteloua.

Tarr got this special cocky prance when he was carrying around a dead deer leg. Like he thinks he has reclaimed his inner vicious beast.

We watched him futz around with this for a little while - he was feeling so, so self important. Then he dug a little hole with his paws, gently placed the leg in the hole, then used his nose to push dirt over it to completely cover it. It took him quite a while to do it to his own satisfaction. But he got it done.

We were fascinated: we had never seen a dog use his nose for a burial tool. But Tarr does things his own way.

Young of the year road-killed fawn

2007-09-22T13:05:00.001-07:00

Young of the year road kill fawn, originally uploaded by bouteloua.

Deer season doesn't open for several more weeks. However, vehicular smashing of deer happens all the time. We didn't see the crash, but this one was fresh - its mother was still hanging around waiting for the dead fawn to recover.

It was not going to recover - the good doctor determined that it had multiple broken bones and an exploded liver. And was already dead.

So he tossed the fawn in the bathtub he was hauling in the back of his pickup. Fortunately he had a state wildlife biologist along if an explanation to game wardens was called for.

He recovered what meat there was.

Pex Plumbing For Idiots

2007-09-22T12:15:00.001-07:00

Pex Plumbing For Idiots, originally uploaded by bouteloua.

This is so simple that I think that plumbers have been keeping big (and expensive) secrets from us. Here you can see the water entering the cabin (at left from the floor) being routed through a big blue household water filter.

Next it splits off to provide either cold water or is sent through the electric tankless water heater (Steibel Eltron silver colored box) for hot water.

I had to have a special tool and have not completed all of the crimps at each juncture, but how hard can it be?

Yes, I did this myself. Most plumbing projects require multiple trips to the store for supplies and this took two. It is over 100 miles round trip through very very windy roads in the remote hills to get pex supplies and back.

Not supposed to be scairt of this but

2007-09-05T04:30:00.001-07:00

This is a copperhead snake that is more afraid of me that I am of it and is rapidly leaving. There won't be any getting down on the ground and playing with it because its a SNAKE.

You people who get all cuddly with snakes? Good for you. There is something hardwired in me to not want to be friendly with venomous snakes.

The weather has started to moderate and more Tiny Cabin projects will commence in a couple of weeks. My friends would like to stay there while the elk bugle.

Tarr goes to work

2007-08-30T16:11:00.000-07:00

Tarr came along to the workplace today to the delight of many of us po' working schlubs. After work, I was walking out with my boss and told him that Tarr had made a lot of people happy today.

I read something in his look and said, "Yeah, I won't do it again. We're not here to be happy."

He laughed.

Lofty thoughts

2007-07-25T02:39:00.000-07:00

I plan to install the sleeping loft floor this weekend.

How hard could it be? Just laying massive boards (2.5 inches thick by 12 inches wide by 14 feet) side by side, then screwing them down.

This will mean one less pile of lumber to trip over.

One plumbing part shy of a warm shower

2007-07-05T06:46:00.001-07:00

Well pump installer has an interesting history as an aerospace engineer in the Air Force and is now installing pumps in wells in the wilds of the Boston Mountains (southern part of the Ozark Mountains). Click pictures to view.

Wellhead on left, pressure tank on right. It was thoughtful that they swapped out the well cap to match the blue of the well tank. Sundry pressure gizmos between the two.

Digger guy. Better him than me. I have learned to really dislike ditch digging in the heat. Once he covers up all the pipe, I get a road to the cabin as a free bonus. This means I no longer have to hike all my stuff in from the road. Good!

Since the electrician was already down in position to install the Steibel Eltron electric tankless water heater, Tarr takes advantage of the situation to sniff.

No matter. The tankless water heater worked great and I just showered under the pipe end that would have connected here if I'd a had the piece. The nearest plumbing supply store is over 2 hours away. This pvc plumbing is just temporary until I get a PEX system organized. The warm water out the pipe end was SHEER BLISS.
Photo: The economy outdoor shower is affixed to a cedar tree.

The rainbow family gathering

2007-06-28T17:04:00.002-07:00

For some reason, the Rainbow Family has decided to appear a few miles down the road. If all show up, then this will more than double the entire population of the county.

This has excited the local law enforcement officers (AKA LEOs) into a law enforcement frenzy. They are reportedly playing "What you gonna do, Bad Boys Bad Boys?" (the theme from Cops) in the morning outside the Rainbow Family campout.

LEOs. This is rude. Not that I want any of them (or anybody else) showing up unbidden at TinyCabin. But that is just not right.

Tuesday is a big day. The pump and tank guys will show up. And the electrician, too, if he can pry himself away from the more lucrative jobs involving setting up mobile command posts for the local, state and federal law dudes.

The apocalypse and well pumps

2007-06-23T06:01:00.000-07:00

I blame a childhood where we were within the smaller concentric rings of nearly assured destruction from nuclear holocaust. The optimistic ten percent among us could expect to be wandering around burnt for up to two weeks before succumbing.

So we were packed off to elementary school and junior high school with 2 weeks of canned food and survival stuff - the grimmest sort of camp. My dad bought us dog tags so that our remains could be identified.

Families filled shelves in their basements with food and blocked off window with newspapers. As if that would help against a nuclear bomb. As a 10-year-old kid, I desperately wanted to live somewhere in the country where people didn't live with fierce anxiety that all was going to pulverize in front of their eyes. Like the Ozarks.

And its true. People here in the Ozarks never did go through that violently fearful era that I remember. Perhaps it is no surprise that I wound up building a cabin in the remote hills once I could have a little control over my life.

Which is why I wanted to have a hand pump. Just in case the old bad scenerio happens. I have however, been talked into an electric pump and a pressure tank. This is what people do nowadays. If I don't have electricity, my options for getting water are greatly reduced.

**When I got to sit at Kennedy's desk in the Oval office when Bill Clinton was in office, the first thing I did was look for the "red telephone" but all I found was a regular office phone.

Giddy with the thought of water

2007-06-16T08:56:00.000-07:00

One thing that is lots of no fun is the feeling of dried sweaty bug spray on one's skin. So the thought of having a bath (installed eventually) perks me right up.
But not Tarr. Baths are a torment to Tarr.

Investigations into well pumps have yielded the following:
1. The good old country girls at work say to get an electric pump.
2. The cost of wiring to get to the pump would be prohibitive and digging a trench to bury it reminds me of the misery involved in trenching in the electric line.
3. I don't need that much water.
4. I've found only 4 makers of hand pumps (that can pump from 55 feet): Bison, Oasis, Simple Pump, and Baker Monitor. Of these, only Oasis at $279 plus shipping costs less than $1000.
5. I don't know if this can be used with a pressure tank. More research to follow.

Hooray. We are bored!!

2007-06-15T18:45:00.000-07:00

When I called to pester the well digger today as usual, his mom, or whatever female voice answered, said that he had hit water at 55 feet with 6 gallons per minute. Hoooray!

Of course I haven't gotten the bill yet but it can't be too bad.

Off to investigate well pumps. Hand pumps may be the way to go at first. Eventually I want to be able to either 1. swap my rustic cabin with someone's cabin in Tuscany for temporary experiential tourism or 2. survive the total annihilation of life as we know it. Real rusticity or lack of electricity amount to the same thing here.

I dream of a hot bath.

Hired He Man Helpers are such delicate flowers

2007-06-10T09:19:00.001-07:00

The well digger didn't drill Thursday because he needed some more well pipe and had to go get it. Fair enough.

Then the well digger didn't drill Friday because it might rain. A mud-covered well digger might get wet. So he stayed home in Ozone. That's a town in Arkansas. Really.

grrrrrrrr.

Spudding away with the cable tool

2007-06-07T09:58:00.000-07:00

A call to the well digger last night informed me that he had punched through the limestone and was back into creek gravel. His tone of voice sounded worried. Since I don't know any better, I haven't started fretting.

Down to 40 feet. More will happen today. A dry hole is an expensive possibility.

I find out, with a little research into spudding with cable tool drills, that this is a pretty archaic method. Slow but at least he showed up after a year.

The earth's surface is violated

2007-06-07T09:12:00.000-07:00

The well hole happens because that toothed looking thing is dropped repeatedly into a hole in the ground. The well digger guy pours water down the hole and a muddy slurry is produced and removed. The pounding thing pounds at a rate of at least once a second and gets anywhere from 2-3 feet to 1 foot per hour depending on whether it is trying to bite its way through dirt, gravel or solid limestone. Well drillers with actual drilling rigs would not come all the way out here - so we are doing the earth pounder.

At the beginning of the day, the slurry was brown mud with sand in it. Then came clay. Then came a gourgeous white limestone at the end of the day. In the second picture, you can see the well digger guy reflecting sunlight down the well hole with a mirror. He's looking for troublesome things and for information about the amount of water seeping into the hole. At the end of the first day, we have a hole about 18 feet down.

We are encouraged and leave for home.

This is from wikipedia: The oldest form of drilling machinery is the Cable Tool, still used today. Specifically designed to raise & lower a bit into the bore hole, the 'spudding' of the drill cause the bit to be raised & dropped onto the bottom of the hole, and the design of the cable causes the bit to twist at approximately 1/4 revolution per drop, thereby creating a drilling action. Unlike rotary drilling, cable tool drilling requires the drilling action to be stopped so that the bore hole can be bailed or emptied of drilled cuttings.

Boring a well in the field next to Tiny cabin

2007-06-07T08:52:00.000-07:00

The well digging guy hinted that he had witched the well spot before he set up here. He doesn't want to be too certain because it might not work out. But then my neighbor walked over and witched water right under where the well digging rig was set up. So that's good enough for me.

Gnomes emerge from cave to help out

2007-05-29T17:59:00.001-07:00

I was contemplating how I was going to drag the door and its frame into place by myself when I heard voices and quite literally, some gnome-like men emerged from the earth. They were wearing mud-encrusted overhauls that were cut off at the knee. One was wearing, this is true, what appeared to be rattlesnake tights underneath. The only other option was that he had actual rattlesnake scales on his legs. But I wasn't going to ask.

Well, hi. How youall doing? says I.

They were so nice and helped move the door and tie it up so it wouldn't bonk me on the head when I framed it in.
So Front Door is framed in. Little Red window installed. Yippee!

Homeward, I waved at The Devil Queen in Atkins. I hope they are doing ok.

Finding window bargains

2007-05-18T14:34:00.001-07:00

Sometimes you just don't need to be too picky about what size or type of window to put in a wall. Since this is a timber frame, there is loads of unobligated space.

I wanted a sturdy window that would be too small for bears or vandals. It needed to open and to have a screen. Otherwise? show me what you've got. This window didn't have to match the others in the cabin because it would be off by itself.

Many millwork shops have "bonepiles" of windows that are rejects because they turned out to be the wrong size, or someone changed his/her design or went bankrupt or something. Places like the local Pella store or the like have odd windows in dusty stacks somewhere.

This little jewel was special ordered in April 2005 and, judging from the amount of dust on it, had been stashed in a corner behind a bunch of other windows ever since.

I hate to think what I'd have paid for a red aluminum-clad crank out casement window with low e double glass but when I saw it, knew it was just what I wanted. I bargained with the guy and got it for cheap.

Tarr

There's a reason why stained glass is a lost art

2007-05-08T08:35:00.000-07:00

Tarr might have been the dog who did a little scent marking on the table at the sweatshop where I was working on this stained glass but I'm not sure. I thought the decent thing to do would be to wipe it up, no matter which dog did it, and when I was down at floor level, I found bloodstains all over the floor. Yikes.

I have bled for this project myself but not enough to leave large stains on the floor. But add to that getting burned by the soldering iron, possibly poisoned by flux, getting a sore neck and butt, spending many otherwise beautiful days indoors and many dollars, I declare I will never make stained glass again.

Even so, I am pleased with the way it turned out and hope it will fit in the place that it was created to fit. (See red oval).

Every backyard should have one.

2007-05-03T16:27:00.001-07:00

Tiny Cabin is located across the old field from a large and, presumably, old cave, second or third largest in the state. Every year, on the first Saturday of June, I open the cave so that cavers and their groupies can crawl, scoot, walk, duck-walk, push their prone bodies along with their toes and otherwise locomotate themselves through miles of muddy passages.

If this sounds like fun to you, have at it. I kind of get off on their having to ask me for permission. I do wonder how they have gotten this kink of a hobby. I tried it once and was put off by stopping to think about the millions of tons of rocks that loomed overhead.

I have heard that there is a room that you could fit a 10 story building in. I have seen the waterfall room. I do know that kindergartners make good cavers.

This year may have a little extry special weirdness if we get a cave diver to come and dive into a looong wet passage at the entrance.

Progress on Tiny Cabin is happening in the stained glass window front. More on that later.

Krack - kote

2007-04-25T09:23:00.000-07:00

Anybody use "Krack-Kote" or "Tuff kote?"

I have an 80 year old stucco house that needs a little attention, crack-wise. Here's their site:

TKO Waterproof Coatings, LLP

DIY Stained Glass

2007-04-24T17:58:00.000-07:00

It is hard to imagine the colors here: ruby red in the upper center, emerald green leaves, brown twining stems, amber border and dried bloodsmears on the bottom of the sheet of paper from an inept glass cutter. I expect it will look better once it is all done. This will go in the upper gable of Tiny Cabin.

I designed it and the guy at the stained glass place printed it out on a piece of paper. Then I spent a fortune on tools, broke a lot of glass learning how to cut with a glass cutter. This kind of focussed work requires sweating with your tongue stuck out. Maybe some light grunting. For those of you DIYers who may want to try this, those complex curves are more difficult to cut than are straight or single curve cuts.

Today I finished cutting all the pieces of glass and then ground the edges smooth with a diamond wheel.

Tarr gets to come next time because every time I turned around there was a different beagle underfoot. We hope there is not a dog fight in the glass shop.

Poor Tarr had a scary epileptic seizure last Saturday. This is his second, so I guess we have that to look forward to. He was just sniffing some Rounduptm Weed Killer and then suddenly he couldn't control any of his legs. I scooped him up and took him to the nice lady vet - the one who was willing to treat him out in the Animal Hospital parking lot when I got him as a sick puppy from the dog pound.

Tarr as a pitiful sick puppy at the dog pound. Approximately 70 percent of the dogs there are euthanized.

My squirrels laugh at your cabin: What a cabin isn't

2007-02-06T05:37:00.000-08:00

A cabin isn't just a smaller version of your McMansion. A cabin doesn't have granite countertops and stainless steel state of the art kitchen appliances. A cabin doesn't have water features that you install.

A cabin is a different style of life. You figure out how to get warm by finding combustibles on your land. You get water by saving it from the roof in a cistern or pumping it from the ground. A cabin has simpler and more difficult ways of meeting your needs because you are far away from the infrastructure that governments supply.

A cabin is a triumph in ingenuity; a creation of form that follows a function unique to that little place on the earth where it is built. Otherwise, you may as well haul in a FEMA trailer.

A Special Place - Sherfield Cave

2007-01-29T03:48:00.000-08:00

This is a painting of the cave near TinyCabin. Since it is too cold to be doing anything useful, we offer this for your enjoyment. It was painted by William McNamara. http://www.mcnamarawatercolors.com/

From his website: Close inspection of his work reveals the abstract qualities of layers of color, the play of light and shadow, and the subtle and intricate patterns of nature, which combine in paintings often described as "magical realism".

Sherfield Cave has about 6.6 miles mapped in it so far. At present, it is serving as the largest hiberaculum in the state for the endangered Indiana Bat. There are 3 other known species of conservation concern living in there.

We are grateful to The Nature Conservancy for purchasing 1200 acres of its recharge area in 2005 to protect the cave. And we are grateful that the the National Park Service bought 96,000 acres on the downstream side to protect the Buffalo National River back in the 1970s. This was something Richard Nixon (?) had a hand in.

Doesn't leave much room for neighbors, but that's ok.

Why we are not doing anything right now.

2007-01-21T16:39:00.000-08:00

Current weather: January, 21, 2007: fog, sleet & windy, 32 degrees,
The landscape has a layer of ice on top and coating tree limbs - light freezing rain most of yesterday, which turned to light sleet during the night. No snow.

Flashback to timberframe assembly day, part 2

2006-12-30T11:47:00.000-08:00

Nothing to it really. Assembled in one day. Just Lincoln Logs on a different scale.

The pieces had been cut during a training workshop held by Goshen Timber Frames in North Carolina.

It is made of pine and has since been sealed to protect it from the elements.

Many thanks to Rick, Jack, Dave and all the others. You can quit your day jobs anytime and do this instead.

Flashback to timberframe assembly day

2006-12-30T11:39:00.000-08:00

On a verrry cold day one Spring, a bunch of us got together and assembled the TinyCabin's timber frame. Here Marci makes new friends by pulling on the block and tackle, overbalancing and squashing them.

There are at least three legs that can be counted underneath her which should mean that 2 or 3 people are beneath her.

No Goats for Tarr

2006-12-27T08:28:00.001-08:00

The plastic area will be replaced with more horizontal oak boards. This is the back gable of the TinyCabin.

Tarr is sad because my sister sent us a pair of goats for Christmas from Heifer International. But it turns out that they were sent off to a dirt hut full of third worlders. He was looking forward to herding them.

We will try harder to be thirder world.

Elk in Boxley Valley

2006-12-26T09:05:00.001-08:00

They group up into herds in the winter. See if you can spot the big bull lolling around in the midst of these. Click on picture for hint.

The two trumpeter swans that were in the mill pond last year apparently returned December 24th, bringing a cygnet with them!

http://www.cloudland.net/currentjournal.html

tinycabininthewoods

2006-12-07T07:27:00.000-08:00

tinycabininthewoods

This looks bad but give it time.

2006-11-30T17:16:00.000-08:00

All these colors of oak will age into the darkish grayof the bottom right. The horizontal boards are clapboards that protect the integrity of the tarpaper. The tarpaper is actually doing all the work: keeping moisture and wind out.

The cool tool

2006-11-29T17:52:00.000-08:00

That little gizmo on the top of the ladder is a palm nailer. It took on the difficult task of nailing red oak to the timberframe. It made like a little woodpecker and pecked the nails in.

If you want to read the giddy reviews of happy handymen who have used these, look up "palm nailer" on Amazon.

I'll just say that my carpenter was so impressed with it that he said it would be his next tool purchase.

Don't most people build walls last ?

2006-11-24T12:11:00.000-08:00

This is one big stack of oak. Please note that Tarr is providing scale. This may be his most useful attribute. Each board is 8 inches wide by 9 feet long by 1 inch thick. And each board cost about $3.

On the Monday after Thanksgiving, I have plans to meet Eric the talkative carpenter to measure, cut and nail these suckers up. Board by board. I wish it were possible to see what it would look like in advance, but I can't. So I hope that nailing these horizontally looks ok.

We have windows and framing; we have a floor and roof. With walls in place, it will be possible to lock the door and warm the inside. What a luxury.

How big is TinyCabin?

2006-10-28T07:24:00.000-07:00

14 feet wide by 20 feet long. That equals 280 square feet inside on the main floor. Add a 14 x 10 loft for another 140 square feet.

This totals 420 square feet in the interior.

Add a porch that is 8 feet by 14 feet.

Photo: Unnecessary picture of Tarr lolling on leather

We've got wood!

2006-10-26T16:42:00.000-07:00

Unlike every single other provider of building services*, the lumber guy came through. He has it cut and stacked and is ready to deliver! So on the opening day of gun deer season, I plan to be in the woods at TinyCabin©, murdering any deer** who happen by and, with any luck, cutting and nailing big ol' planks of wood onto the exterior of the cabin. I am scheming how I might convince some young men that helping out is a very good thing. Usually, this means money. And the possibility of making big booms with guns. And burning stuff.

So thanks, Mom and Dad, some of your contribution to TinyCabin may well find itself passed through to your grandkids pretty quickly!

* Yeah. I'm lookin' at you, well digger guy.
**I am still mad at deer for the entire planting of blight-resistant chestnut trees they ate to the ground in 1991. This is a longterm grudge thing. On the other hand, since it is looking more and more likely that elk season will be opened up on my own land and I could lease my property for $$$, I am ok with elk.

Working with wood

2006-10-17T16:48:00.000-07:00

The wood that will cover the exterior walls is on order - because it currently is being a oak tree somewhere. The exterior wood will cost $250 for 500 square feet plus $50 delivery. Pretty inexpensive!

The wood will be 8 inch horizontal laps all the way around. I hope that looks ok.

For the future generations

2006-10-09T19:20:00.000-07:00

A stunningly pretty October day in the Ozarks. 3 dogs, 4 guys, one mom. Click on pictures to enlarge.

Weston concentrates on getting it right.

Dave and Henry concentrate on upper window installation. Henry balances on a ladder with a drill to install an upper window.

Ian and Weston work on installing tar paper and Weston gets amused by one of the dogs.

The way we are building the tiny cabin, it will be around for plenty of future generations. Today we treated the wood, installed 2 layers of tarpaper, sheet styrofoam insulation. Thanks to Weston, Ian, Dave, Henry and well, me.

WooHoo. Major Progress

2006-10-09T19:18:00.000-07:00

Young men are cutting sheet styrofoam to serve as insulation for the walls.

The Elk are bugling.

2006-10-03T06:24:00.000-07:00

Its time to get the folks ready for another barrage at home building. You didn't even know there were elk in the whole state of Arkansas? Well, come on down and lend a hand. This could be an exciting new adventure.

Do you believe in witching wells?

2006-09-23T06:32:00.000-07:00

So its back to a plan where a well digger will dig a shallow well. I have been told to get a well witcher to locate where the water well should be dug. Frankly, this sounds like so much geo-mental hoooey to me so I pressured a believer who is also a scientist to give me the scientific, geological underpinnings. But there aren't any. Apparently you are just supposed to believe. That brings out my skepticism.

So help me believe. I want to believe.

Today I'll be relentless in the pursuit of wood, water and helpers. Maybe set up a work weekend in 2 weeks. Doesn't October 7th sound nice to be up in the hills?

Chigger bites are what happens when you don't use bug spray and you get into a nest of them, Poor sonny.

Stung again

2006-09-06T15:58:00.000-07:00

$7000 to get water? Nope. We will think of some other way.

Stung

2006-09-03T18:45:00.000-07:00

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.

WeiRd

2006-08-25T11:45:00.001-07:00

The Highway Department thinks it can tell us when things are going to get weird. Good times.

WeiRd
Originally uploaded by bouteloua.

Talking to myself

2006-08-23T17:08:00.000-07:00

I got over to Tiny Cabin Saturday and spent the afternoon, night and next morning there. I made a list of comments to myself:

Q. What is your timeline?
A. I'd like to spend Thanksgiving and Christmas in the Tiny Cabin.

Q. Does the tub need extra inches for a wooden frame?
A. Yes. I may have to redraw your plans or let the tub stick out into the cooking area - largely because of the shape of the tub.

Q. How wide is the wash sink that you bought on ebay?
A. I'll go measure it. Wait for it. ok. 17 inches.

Q. Did you get stung by the face by a wasp in the outhouse?
A. Yes. That is why I have a potato hanging from my cheek.

Q. Make the partition wall strong enough to support cabinets.
A. Well, Ok. That is not a question. The partition needs to only be as high as the top of the cabinets - to keep that open feeling.

Q. Should you elevate the tub?
A. Yes!. So I can look out the windows. I can build steps.

Q. How wide is the area inside the cooking area?
A. 7.5 feet

Q. What's that sound?
A. A screech owl, a barred owl. a whippoorwill, a coyote. The elk will be bugling soon and the geese will be overhead. It is loud at night in nature.

Q. How high are the wide sills of the windows?
A. About 36 inches. more or less.

Q. Should you use a leftover kitchen cabinet?
A. If it doesn't look too funny.

Q. When will you order kitchen cabinets and appliances?
A. After most everything else is in. I am not that spatially adept.

Q. Work on stained glass.
A. Quit nagging.

Q. How about fans?
A. Maybe one ceiling fan and one standard fan. It was hot in the evening - but I was cold as dawn approached.

Q. Will attic steps work to get up to the loft?
A. No. There's no place to put them. I don't want to use a ship's ladder because I might fall off and hurt myself. So this is still undecided.

Q. How are you going to deal with the brightness of the boards that were accidently sealed before they turned a lovely gray?
A. I found some deck seal remover at Lowes. I'll squirt soma that on.

Q. What else do you need to do?
A. Call the Huntsville water system guy. Arrange to meet him.
A. Call Jack the lumber maker and give him my schedule. ha.
A. Frame and Install windows. Maybe weston or Henry can help.
A. Borrow Dave's pickup truck and haul some insulation and 2x4s up (to frame upper windows).

Diving in Little Cayman

2006-08-18T16:31:00.000-07:00

Diving at Pirate's Point Resort in Little Cayman
Originally uploaded by bouteloua.

What has this to do with building tiny cabins in the woods?
Um. Nothing. This is what I've been doing instead. And I like it.

Did Timmy fall down a well? Who cares?

2006-05-29T09:23:00.000-07:00

tarr3
Originally uploaded by bouteloua.

As owner of a tankless water heater and a whirlpool (check out ebay - there's some great deals right now), I would really like to have water to accompany these things. Every single one of my good advisors has told me to rig up some sort of garden hose and kiddy pool arrangement for water and suck water from the cave.

But gross. I want a well and dependable water and if it takes a well digger to do it, that's just ok. But, why (whiiiiiinnnnnnne) hasn't the well digger answered his phone in 2 weeks? Did Timmy fall down the well?

Spatial Education

2006-05-14T13:54:00.000-07:00

I made these window frames all myownself. Some boards I had to cut three times to get them right. But they are is solid and straight and mostly at right angles. It was a challenge because I was using used 2x4s that had warped and twisted. I am so awed by carpenters.

Note to self: Get a mitten idiot for my pencil.
Welcome new gizmo...the Hitachi mitre saw! I went to Lowes to buy a cheap circular saw and they sold me this for less than half price because it was a display model. I have cut butter that was more difficult than cutting wood with this thing. Amazing.

But its not all work. Following posts are about a short romp we took over to the cave and spring. We had been hearing the water all morning so off we went.
Also heard: Barred owls, Black & white warblers, indigo buntings, red-eyed vireo, bells vireo, pileated woodpecker, prairie warblers, phoebes, white-eyed vireos and lots of unidentified birds.

2006-05-14T13:32:00.000-07:00

A romp from the Tiny Cabin over to the cave and spring, through the meadow. Although elk hoofprints (picture 4) were abundant, I still have not ever seen an elk in this field. Also ticks were scarce too. I think that burning helps.

Cave mouth

2006-05-14T13:08:00.000-07:00

cave and tarr
Originally uploaded by bouteloua.

Just two hops and three skips away from the TinyCabin is the cave. It is large and has endangered species in it.

Several miles away from here is an opening where air comes in. Then miles of underground limestone cool the air and that eventually flows out of this cave mouth. Nearby is the site of a large Native American village. I've always imagined the women of the village coming to this cave mouth in the summer to enjoy the pleasantly cool air.

Spring water from cave

2006-05-14T13:07:00.000-07:00

spring water from cave
Originally uploaded by bouteloua.

Under this limestone overhang is the spring that forms the very beginning of the creek. The water flows into the Buffalo National River in the Arkansas Boston Mountains.

Tiny waterfall

2006-05-14T13:06:00.001-07:00

tiny waterfall
Originally uploaded by bouteloua.

There's just something exciting about pure water flowing. This picture is 25 feet or so from the origin of the springwater in the cave. Click to make it viewable.

Waterflow from cave

2006-05-14T13:06:00.000-07:00

waterflow from cave
Originally uploaded by bouteloua.

Just down from the cave, the water settles down into a sweet little creek. Look how verdant everything is!

Downstream

2006-05-14T13:05:00.000-07:00

downstream
Originally uploaded by bouteloua.

Downstream from the cave, the water settles into a clear little creek that flows all year long.

Firefun

2006-04-23T13:51:00.000-07:00

This was black and not burning. Check out five photos below.
And now? The heap of brush blazes. Look how green everything is. After the fire, the guys hiked up Smith Creek to a cave, crawled in, lost a camera, retrieved a camera, a brother saved a brother from disaster, everyone got muddy, irritated squeaking bats and had a grand old time.

fire finally
Originally uploaded by bouteloua.

Framing

2006-04-23T12:31:00.000-07:00

framing
Originally uploaded by bouteloua.

Tarr supervises framing of windows for Tiny Cabin in the Woods.

sliding windows

2006-04-23T12:09:00.000-07:00

sliding windows
Originally uploaded by bouteloua.

Finally, finally. The big gaps that were air are being filled with windows. Please don't notice that these windows look like the drive-up windows at McDonalds.
Can you say, "Your order comes to $4.63?"
These windows will keep bears and bad weather out and we can make them look gooooood.

Door

2006-04-23T12:06:00.000-07:00

door
Originally uploaded by bouteloua.

Someday we will walk through this to get to the inside of the cabin. Since "inside" is still just an idle concept, the door has not been framed in. Helpful and strong young'ns hauled this from the trailer to the cabin. Thanks, young men, you great.

Not Bob Vila

2006-03-30T08:40:00.000-08:00

Not Bob Vila .

None of us can stand Bob Vila.
Another delay on the window installation occurred when we figured out that, why yes indeedy, sills would be a good thing. Unfortunately, in the pile of lumber that has been languishing here, nothing approximated the shape of sills. So...Another 2 week delay to get that.
Because Not Bob is an artist and carpenter - old hippies abound in these parts - he's enjoying the lack of boundaries and planning in this project.
Meantime. 8! windows are on site. Another 6 windows are ordered! I am baroque!

Not so much Firefun

2006-03-11T14:34:00.000-08:00

firefun
Originally uploaded by bouteloua.

The lower pasture needed burning - too much multiflora rose, greenbriar and blackberry thorns. Unfortunately the flamethrower attached to the propane tank just was not up to the job. Dark muttering.

For that matter, the brush pile wouldn't burn either. So the guys took off for a hike up the creek while I crawled under thorn bushes with a chainsaw.

Whipped me.

Morso Owl

2006-02-11T14:02:00.000-08:00

Morso Owl
Originally uploaded by boxley7.

I bought this several years ago to heat the tiny cabin.
It waits patiently on my back porch. Seems prudent to put walls up before installation.

More about these at their website:

http://www.morsoe.com/us/

Windows

2006-02-11T13:45:00.000-08:00

windows
Originally uploaded by boxley7.

I have 6 windows. More will come as money permits.
I wanted something that would not need any work or paint (no wood) and that could be dark so that the cabin would be invisible in the woods (no white vinyl, eek). Need to be strong enough to dissuade bears and vandals.

So these slider windows will array along the back and sides. Three foot wide, four feet tall with screens. $133 each.
U-Factor .45
Solar Heat gain coefficient .34
Visible transmittance .56
Double panes, Low e, air filled

Door and Window

2006-02-11T13:38:00.000-08:00

door and window
Originally uploaded by boxley7.

A local bunch of immigrant Australians made redwood doors and window and did beautiful work. Unfortunately, they couldn't compete with the big box stores. So I bought these for cheap out of bankruptcy from the bank that took over their assets.
I think I should put something on the wood to preserve it.
These do look way too nice for a rustic cabin so think :rustic tiny cathedral:
These will go on the front of the cabin, sheltered on the front porch by an overhang.

Top of the south end of the cabin

2006-02-10T17:09:00.000-08:00

Top of the south end of the cabin
Originally uploaded by boxley7.

The triangle at the top will be filled with a stained glass window that I am making in a class.

Ow. I have bled several times on the glass and paper pattern. This is to be expected when amateurs break glass and try to make something out of it.

Roof wings added

2006-02-10T12:39:00.000-08:00

Cabin in the woods
Originally uploaded by boxley7.

Wings? Hips?
Eric the talkative carpenter added some hips to the roof so that rain would be channelled away from the walls. The back end gable is covered temporarily with plastic rated to last for 4 years. This should be enough time.

I assembled the steps and they seem very sturdy.
Those metal flaps on the foundation piers are to discourage insects.
The blue tarp covers some quikrete gone bad. This will be hauled by child labor to improve the road.

Timberframe Cabin in progress

2006-02-10T12:27:00.000-08:00

timberframe cabin in progress
Originally uploaded by boxley7.

The foundation is in. The plywood floor is installed. The timber frame is up and pegged together.

The Mennonites accidently installed the roof before I was ready. Somebody called them to do a job and they thought it was me but it was someone else...So there is no insulation under the metal roof. But I think I can stick some up there later.

Since this pix, the lower walls are completed using freshly cut oak from neighbor's sawmill and tarrpaper.

heh. I said tarrpaper. heh.

Tarr

2006-02-10T12:17:00.000-08:00

First day of the new year. Romping in nature.

Tarr scratching with his hind foot
Originally uploaded by boxley7.

This started awhile ago.

2006-02-10T12:08:00.000-08:00

The construction of the tiny cabin began in 1999. I purchased a frame that Goshen Timberframing out of North Carolina had used to demonstrate "how to" in a class for timberframing.
So it was already cut by the time I got it.

On a very cold April 1, piles of friends showed up to erect the frame and at the end of the day, it was all up.

I mean to chronicle the putting together of this cabin. Maybe keep track of effort and money spent.