Little Cabin in the Woods - Part II

Friends, I'm back!

I know I've promised you grand posts about my new apartment and my new classroom, and they're coming! Just not today.  Today is all about the Little Cabin.

Last weekend, I finally made it up to Mountain Man's territory.  He desperately wanted to work on the cabin, and even though that wasn't what I had in mind for the weekend, I made a promise to him to help, and help I did!

Before we get into the picture part of this post, Mountain Man asked that I include some sort of disclaimer about the state of the inside of the cabin.  He's a little embarrassed, but seeing as it's not his fault, I don't think he has any reason to be.  DISCLAIMER: WHAT YOU WILL SEE BELOW IS THE DIRECT RESULT OF WILD CRITTERS, VANDALS, AND A RESTORATION/REMODEL IN PROGRESS AND SHOULD NOT BE CONSIDERED INDICATIVE OF MOUNTAIN MAN'S PREFERRED LIVING CONDITIONS.

Now, ya'll settle in, because I've got lots to tell.


After we got up far too early for a Saturday morning, Mountain Man cooked me breakfast (aw . . .), I raided my Benson Survival Kit (more on that later) for some suitable cabin-working clothes, and then we loaded up the van and headed out to the cabin.  But wait! I needed gloves and a dust mask since the task for the day was removing torn up insulation.  The last time I helped Mountain Man tear out insulation, my allergies made me absolutely miserable, so we detoured to Kmart and also made a pit stop at Walgreen's for a beauty need.  Hey, I was told we weren't going back to town that day, and a girl's gotta have her dry shampoo! Don't judge.

When we finally made it out to the cabin, the first order of business was trying to get a piece of heavy machinery (yeah, I forgot the name) running in order to clear out the driveway and dig out the basement.  Here's how that went:

If you guessed it wasn't very productive, you were right!  However, Mountain Man and his dad spent a loooong time trying to get this sucker cranked up.  What did I do in the interim?  Well, I did a little sightseeing through the eye of my camera lens.  Take a look:

Remember the shed for the hogs that I told you about?  Here it is, in all it's hog-filled glory!

Some of the hogs came to say hello.  I think they were hoping I had some food for them, but sorry, hoggies, I did not.

Here's a view of some of the land that the cabin and the hog pen sit on.  It's very wild.

The pond! It was a cloudy day, but I think this is a pretty nice picture.

At this point, I wandered up to the cabin.  I thought about going inside to get started working, but it was locked, and I didn't know the secret location of the key yet.  I knew Mountain Man said there was a creek on the property, so I hiked down behind the cabin to find it.  It was kind of puny, and there wasn't a clear area for me to get a picture of it.  Instead, I have a picture for you of some vibrant, mossy rocks nearby!

On my way back to check on the guys, I stopped for a photo op on the porch.  Remember how I told you about stopping to get a dust mask and gloves for me? Here's me modeling my protective wear:

I am an incredibly attractive demolition crew member.

I spotted this guy on the fence post near the front gate.  I've missed him somehow the last few times I've gone out to the cabin, but I love him!  Mountain Man says some of the people who live on the surrounding properties threw him over the fence one day, and his dad or somebody stuck him on the fence post.  I've adopted him.  I just need to figure out a name . . .

So by the time I got finished wandering around and meandered back up to the entrance, Mountain Man and his dad were still tinkering with the tractor.  They were determined to get it started and decided that we needed to go back to the house to get a generator and a battery charger.  And if you haven't been too distracted by my exploring, you probably realize that this means we were leaving before we'd even done anything!

Meanwhile, back at the house . . .

Meet Charlie and Simon, two lazy brothers.

Eventually, we made it back to the cabin and got everything hooked up to the tractor (but I already spoiled the ending for you - it doesn't work).  When Mountain Man's dad got back from watering the cows, Mountain Man and I walked down to the cabin so he could show me how to get started.  On our way, we (no exaggeration) nearly stepped on a rat snake.  I saw it before he did, and I said, "Whoa!" and grabbed his arm to keep him from stepping on it (and they say not to look at the ground when you walk!).  Anyway, this sucker was a pretty good size and was stretched all the way across the drive.  I thought about getting a picture, but I decided to just let Mountain Man scare him off the path and be done with it.  I probably should have tried to get at least one snap though, because snakes became a pretty big part of our day after that.

Here's a picture of a rat snake I Googled.  These are what we kept seeing.

I spent the rest of the day pulling out tattered insulation from the walls and ceiling, picking up already torn insulation off the floor, bagging it up to be disposed of, hauling it outside, and sweeping.  Mountain Man and his dad worked on getting some light wired back in (remember, vandals cut all of the wiring) and cutting down trees outside to clear the area for the addition.

I came across a snake twice again while I was pulling insulation.  The first time, Mountain Man was with me, but he never saw it, and it got away before we could kill it or get rid of it.  The second time, the guys were outside, and I was in a corner of the cabin between the wall and a couch I had pulled away from the wall.  As I pulled insulation, it separated near the floor, and there was (probably) the same snake just chilling.  I backed away and hollered, "I found the snake!" and the guys came running in to take care of it, but it still got away.  I also had to deal with lots of other yucky critters - all kinds of spiders, and some yucky looking crickets that Mountain Man called camel crickets. Google 'em.  They're all legs and weird curved bodies.  Yuck.

So with that summary, let me stop yabbering for a minute, and give you some more pictures to look at.  First, the pictures I took of the inside.  These are the pictures to which the disclaimer at the beginning of this post applies.

This is the view from the entryway.  You can see the heating stove and the backdoor straight ahead, the framing to the room Mountain Man wants to make into an office to the right, and the front door in the right foreground.  Mountain Man currently plans to knock out the entire wall on the left for the addition, but the plans are pretty fluid right now.  Also, this is after I had pulled basically all of the insulation.  Guys, I am a workhorse. ;)

Below, is the aforementioned soon-to-be office area.  Right now, it's full of junk and teenage-Mountain Man memories. ;)  I didn't pull the insulation out of this room because Mountain Man said he would clear it out first, and also because I thought the snake might have gone into the insulation in this room after the first time I saw it. Turns out I was wrong.

This picture gives you a better view of the living area.  The heating stove is in the left foreground, and the furniture you see is a chair and sofa that Mountain Man's dad made.  They're supposed to have cushions, but Mountain Man said he had to get rid of them because they were so well-loved by wild critters.  Over underneath the Camel sign is where I found the snake for the second time.  And no, the Camel sign will not be staying.

I forgot to take a picture of the stairs, but here is the loft area.  This was the main hangout for the wild critters and had a lot of insulation and evidence, if you will, in the floor.  My understanding is that the cot and mattress you see in the left foreground will be thrown out, but I think the sofa might be salvaged if we can replace the foam in the cushions and wash the covers.

This, my friends, is the infamous name wall, which I heard about through the Bradley whose name (and high school football jersey number) you see, long before I met Mountain Man.  But that's a story for another time.  As you can see, visitors to the cabin signed the wall with charcoal from the stove.  I signed my name for good measure, but it was after I took this picture.

Here's what the back porch looks like right now.  It apparently was intended (and still is?) to be screened in, which explains the framing.

And now for the good stuff!  Pictures of Mountain Man and his dad being lumberjacks.  Cue the Monty Python . . .

Mountain Man's dad starting the wedge.

Mountain Man getting in the truck to keep the line taut.

Tree #1 just starting to fall . . .

TIIIIIIMMMMBEEEEERRRR!

So if a tree falls in the woods . . .

Tree #2, which you can see right next to the cabin above, was a little more tricky and had Mountain Man and his dad, and thus me, somewhat worried as to which direction it would fall.  However, the Benson men have many skills, and everything went just fine.  No downed power lines, no smushed cabin.  The proof is in the pictures:

gif animator picasion

You guys, I made you a gif!  Are you proud of me?

After taking these photos, I went back inside to clean up a little more, and Mountain Man and his dad cut down a few smaller trees with little fanfare.

All in all, we had a very productive cabin visit.  Mountain Man and his dad cleared the area for the addition and rewired a bit in the cabin, and I cleared out 95% of the remaining insulation while battling all manner of critters.  Here's my evidence of a job well done:

I told Mountain Man to count those when they hauled them out to be thrown away, but I doubt he did. I estimate that's probably somewhere between 10 and 15 Hefty bags crammed full of insulation right there.  Can you tell I'm a little proud of myself?  I gotta admit, you guys, as much as I like being a girly girl, I like proving I can work alongside the boys too.  ;)

Mountain Man has been working on the cabin this week, and he says he has some pictures for me, so you may have another post here fairly quickly.  They've been digging out the basement for the addition, and he just called and told me that he found my snake in the remaining insulation in the office.

But he still didn't kill it.

So on that note, I leave you until next time.  Sweet dreams! ;)