Waiting is the Hardest Part

It’s the end of the holiday weekend here and you know what that means? It means that all the Seattle people heading back home this afternoon are sucking up all the cell tower bandwidth as they drive through. I can’t procrastinate my how-to-build a cabin research  by falling down the hoof trimming and ear cleaning youtube videos rabbit hole. I might as well type this out really quickly.

And it definitely won’t take much time. I haven’t done much since I got back except spend money.

I waited to buy the stove pipe for the stove I bought last summer until I had a better idea on where it was going and how far to the roof I needed to run the pipe. As it is, the pipe cost twice as much as the stove. I needed to get it right. It cost so much that it was cheaper to drive all the way to tax free Portland and get a room for the night than pay Washington state sales tax. By a lot! It’s a nice drive too. Along the Columbia River and along the waterfall trail. Portland isn’t so good though. I am not exaggerating when I say the streets are lined with tents and dilapidated RVs. Seattle is like a gated community with a strict HOA board compared to Portland. And Seattle is nowhere near like a gated community with a crazy HOA board.

It has been a cold wet spring. Too cold to take showers so I was happy to burn some Expedia points to get a room and a hot shower finally. All the cheap hotels down there are now “transitional” housing so I had to burn a lot of points for this shower. 

I must say it was nice and hot but the shower head was attached with electrical tape. It took about a second to fall off leaving only a a high pressure stream of hot water aimed at the shower door. I would have to open the door to turn off the water but flood the bathroom and hallway in the effort. Being resourceful as well as stupid. I got the idiotic idea to stand on the toilet an lean precariously over the shower door and stretch to turn off the water. I did put on my clothes so as to not traumatize the cleaning lady if she found me crumpled on the floor in the morning. Not that she would have noticed judging by the fact that she didn’t notice the shower head was taped on when she cleaned last. I was surprised how slippery porcelain gets when it’s wet. But I am nothing if not committed. I curled my toes around the bowl and stretched for the handle. I ended up having to use the plastic hotel binder that no one reads to get a couple more inches of reach before I was finally successful. I tried again, this time from within the shower but scrunched up to avoid a scalding while I tried to adjust the temperature.

It took a while to get the hot water tempered a bit but I finally got a scrub. It was like standing under a hose that has been sitting out in the summer sun all day but it was still one of the best showers I have ever had. At least judging by the attitudes of people that got within 3 feet of me the next day.

The weather has since warmed up a little. It is still in the 30’s at night but warms up enough that taking a shower in the trailer doesn’t suck. At least that is my expectation. When I went to take a shower the other night, I realized that I missed a step when I winterized the trailer last fall. I filled all the lines with antifreeze and emptied the water tanks. I forgot all about the water that is stored in the hot water tank. It’s surprising the force that 6 gallons of water can exert on the seams of an aluminum tank. There was water pouring out of it when I turned on the pump. I ordered a new tankless water heater but I guess Prime’s 2 day delivery is no longer a thing. I am just waiting for it to arrive some day next week and with my luck, will take longer to install than it should. In the meantime, I am thinking about adjusting the fireman’s “stay back 500 feet” t-shirt.

The cabin build has been slow to get some oomph behind it. I am waiting for an estimate on cabin siding to get really started. I submitted my measurements to the local lumber store a few weeks ago. I was checking in every couple of days but have been repeatedly put off because bigger jobs keep rolling in. I have gone further afield in my search for a supplier that isn’t so busy (or incompetent). The siding is going to require I rent a really expensive lift to put it on plus finish the windows, get the stovepipe installed and plumbing vent pipe put in. Instead of it sitting idle while I wait for the various bits and bobs to show up. So may has been a big waiting game.

In the meantime, I am doing as much ground stuff as I can. I have mixed and poured 3000 pounds of concrete (60 pound bags) for the water tank pad. My mixer broke after the 3rd bag and once you start you cant stop. I had to mix the remaining 50 bags by hand. Ugh. 

I built a retaining wall so I could flatten out the ground around the foundation for when I finally get a lift.

I finally waterproofed the last of my foundation Styrofoam walls. Of course I ran our of the waterproofing with one last 8 foot section to do. And of course they only sell 450 ft rolls at an outrageous price. So I am sitting here waiting on a brilliant idea to work around that

I did get two second floor windows in but 2 windows is all it will be until I get the lift. There is too much gravity up there for my taste.

I am hoping to order the siding in a few days. By this time next month, there should be obvious progress. Or not.

I did dip my toe into farming. My little pinky toe. I got a head of garlic at the grocery store and planted a few cloves from it. I was thinking that the store bought stuff would be GMO’d to not let people grow their own. Not true. They have weathered the cold nights and a couple late season snow squalls and the stalks are stretching for the sky. I am not sure what’s going on under the dirt but I am pleasantly surprised with what I can see. So much so that I have planted carrots, onions and spinach and some Costco tomato plants. Will be waiting around a bit before I can have a salad for sure.

I have avoided planting up until now because of the lack of water, time and not wanting to attract any wildlife looking for some salad fixings. Like I said; just a pinky toe to see how it goes.

I have been sleeping in the wintershed loft because it stays warmer at night up there than the uninsulated metal box of a trailer I usually sleep in. That is probably going to switch when summer weather finally gets here and the loft turns into an easy bake oven by the time it’s bed time.

As did many of you, we got a good showing of the Northern Lights a couple weeks ago. I hurried back from my Portland trip to see them. Not to much of a hurry because it stays light until 9pm here already. I took my time enough that I was able to stop at an unlit ridge top viewing spot with a wide unobstructed view of the Sky just as the sun was setting. There is never anyone there because there are no services and there is a strip of fast food and coffee shops 5 miles further. But never seems to always sooner than you would expect. The entire parking lot was full and people were settled in for the evening. I pulled into the last parking spot before I would have had to park on the highway and waited.

I have seen the Northern Lights a few times. They have never been like the ones you see in videos from icy Scandinavian countries. Very faint and not something you would notice if you weren’t looking for them. Adding all the late arriving lifted pickup trucks with bright LED headlights at eye level and I knew this was not going to be the great spot I had hoped. Before I left, I spread the word that the Northern Lights were already visible in the East. Not the North where everyone was staring. With that good deed, I hopped back in the car and headed to my place.

I have a lot of trees surrounding the property but a really good Northern view just a couple hundred yards up to the ridge. I have been relying on my phone for my camera for a long long time. I wasn’t too surprised that the batteries were too far dead to use that night. I was able to find my tripod and headed into the bear and tick infested woods to see what I could see. The pictures are ok but I will keep my real camera charged from now on. Here is a link to the better ones….https://photos.app.goo.gl/ZmP3fHQHRB8hz5Qn7

I didn’t see any bears but did bring back a couple ticks. I guess they just sit on a bush and wait for a deer to walk by (or anything with blood) and they hop on and dig in. It seems like a pretty poor evolutionary path where you could sit on a bush for your life hoping for a deer that may never come by. But what do I know, they seem to be doing alright for themselves. Ticks have some sort of anesthetic so you cant feel them drilling into you skin. They may be a bit itchy but it isn’t until you find them, freak out and grab the sharpest instrument nearby and start digging them out that they become a painful bloody mess. So far, no lyme disease symptoms but stay tuned.

That was pretty much a long whiny missive. Sorry. Hopefully the next installment will show some more progress. Sorry for the wait.