PREPPERSAURUS REX SURVIVAL BLOG: Cabin in the Woods - Build it up, Chop Them Down Trip Three

Cabin in the Woods

Build it up, Chop Them Down - Trip Three

The 'Build It Up' Part

The lights on the trailer still proved to be a problem so I went to the expert. My buddy Graham. I offered him some money if he could locate the source of our shorting out light problem. Denise and I had taken all the panels off the back of the trailer and rewired it hoping that would solve the problem. It didn't. Graham chose to work from the front and see how that would do.

Somehow he had acquired a tester for checking the lighting on trailers and found that everything seemed to be in order, but suspected a short in the electrical box for the breakaway system. He did his thing and we put a new fuse in the truck for the test. It worked. The lights were on. I asked if his work was guaranteed and he confirmed it was. So we were ready to start loading.

I don't know if I have mentioned this previously, but our driveway in Mission is STEEP!! I have measured it to be 30+ degrees incline. With that said, our trailer is very low to the ground and if there is any tongue weight, it will pull the truck's back end down and the landing gear on the trailer will drag on the driveway if I am either going down or up. If there is weight in the back of the trailer, the back end will scrape. The key is to empty the trailer, and stay mere inches from the retaining wall to our gardens. I had been playing with different trailer hitches, pintle hooks, etc to find the optimum system, but I would always scrape either the landing gear or the back end. This time was no different, I just touched the landing gear, but not enough to cause any damage. Even coming up the drive lane in Southbank, the landing gear dragged up some rocks. Time for some air bags me thinks.

The Trailer with the weight at the front

The Ferry dock north of Southbank

The tongue sitting low

On previous trips, I would take the trailer down the driveway, down the road and do a u-turn at the cul-de-sac at the end of our road, then park it on the road and haul all the stuff down the steep driveway to the trailer and load it on the street. This time was no different, with one exception. We didn't have big heavy items we could straddle the dual tires with. We had tons of smaller stuff, wood, drywall, more wood, building supplies and stuff we were starting to clear out.

As we were loading, I noticed the back of the truck was very close to the road. It was a serious concern. Should we hit a pothole, it could rip the landing gear off the trailer. The trailer was too tongue heavy, but all the heavy stuff was way at the front of it. We took the chance, and drove it that way anyway. Even after changing the positions of the different trailer hitches, it made no real difference. Ideally, the truck should have air bag suspension installed to level everything out, but it wouldn't happen before we would leave.

Since we were creatures of habit, we did the same routine as previously. (Without the cat crap, and vomit). I could feel the truck was definitely riding heavy in the ass end, and the headlights were proving to be a problem. Since we were sitting low in the back, on coming traffic would flash their highbeams on and leave them on, thinking we were doing the same. If we flashed our highbeams they would point into the trees. The good part was, if you keep your hand on the switch, when they flash them as they are going by, you can, (if your reflexes are cat-like), burn their retinas. So was the start of the trip. We also had continuous issues with idiots passing on curves, with double white lines. I told D that if on coming traffic forced the idiot to make a move, I was not braking to let him in. Cruel? Mean? They know the rules of the road. One white car repeatedly would pass us on curves and almost have a head on. Where are the cops when you need them eh?

Rain didn't help the matter much either. It made it difficult to see where the road was. Luckily, I had driven the Fraser Canyon about 500 times in a bus, so I did know where the curves were.

As we were getting close to Lytton, I looked back and sure enough, the running lights were off, AGAIN!!! I had D send Graham a text to let him know warranty work would be coming his way at the end of the weekend. We drove the rest of the trip with no running lights.

This trip, we were going to focus on chopping trees, and cutting it up for future firewood, cleaning out the culvert some more, work on the insulation in the gables, and finish the framing and drywall of the washroom and pantry. On the last trip, I had taken a cave reel, used in diving, and fastened a large brass clip to it to see how far down the water was in the well, also to see how deep the well actually was. Depth is a key factor as to which type of well pump we would need. Shallow pumps could cost a few hundred dollars, but a deep well pump, that could be into the thousands.

We ran the line down and found that water was at the 45 ft mark. This was a HUGE relief, after hearing stories about how the house sat vacant for 12 years because there wasn't any water in the well. So Myth Number One was proven false. The second thing was to let the line spool out to see how deep it actually would go. As it turned out, my 500 ft line reel, only had 300 ft on it. Not enough to hit bottom. I would have to make a note in my book, 'BRING A 1000 FT REEL' next trip. Well I did.

We did the same technique as before and found the water level was now at 41 ft, and the line was sent down to find the bottom. The line finally stopped at 352 ft. Quite a deep well, meaning it would be an expensive pump required to bring water up. Well, that would now give us enough information to start planning our water needs. Until we get that solved, we still had options: We could bring our own water in from Mission, We could buy water locally, We could pump it from the lake a kilometer away, or we could harvest it from the roof of the cabin. The last two would require boiling it to sanitize it. D and I were prepared for it either way. Until then we were bringing water up with us, and the last trip we had bought a water dispenser which was nice since it had cold and hot water. Great for having a quick sponge bath after a sweaty day.

Oh Well. Water at 41ft, Bottom at 352ft.

D started working on the hearth for the stove on this trip. We wanted to get the stove set up as quickly as possible. This far north, it is possible to get sub freezing weather even in August and September, however unlikely. This was Labor Day Weekend, almost the end of summer.

Following the guide that came with the stove, D designed a hearth that was basically a large square, with one corner cut off. This was to keep the stove away from any flammable materials. I started to build the frame and ran into some problems with the angles. After stopping, re-evaluating, and rebuilding the frame, D would continue to put the concrete boards on the top. We then discovered we didn't have enough tiles to finish the hearth. We originally planned to take the hearth home, to Mission, and finish it there. After hauling the frame out to the trailer, we simultaneously thought, HOW HEAVY WILL THIS THING BE WITH TILES!!!!???? D figured 400 lbs, I thought more like 5 or 6 hundred. One thing was for sure, we weren't going to lift that pig off the trailer once it had tiles on it.

The hearth layout. Some Assembly Required.

The final shape of the hearth

The hearth with the concrete board but not enough tiles.

One night, after visiting our friend, Brenda Lee, we came home and heard a cat meowing next to the house. D managed to coax him onto the deck while I sat on in a chair watching the starts. Much to our surprise, he didn't really want to have anything to do with Denise. Me on the other hand, was his bestest human buddy,..... at least for the time being. He sat on my lap, purred, head butted, rubbed his ass in my face, you know, the usual 'I Love You' stuff from a cat.

D gave him some kibble we had from the last trip with our cats, and he feasted. She gave him water, and he drank. This was the most affectionate cat I have ever met. And he didn't want to be near D. Mostly, he sat and slept on my lap on the deck. There were new neighbors who had moved in on the Saturday, and we assumed he might have just been lost. Whatever his history, we wanted to go to bed but he wouldn't leave. When we closed the door to keep him in, he would pace and look for an exit. Finally, D let him out and closed the door. Ever to be seen again.... well, maybe on the next trip.

A visitor in the night.

Filling his face with kibble Any port in a storm

We managed to put some of the insulation up on the gable, in the main room, but the ladder was not long enough or strong enough to safely get me to the top peak. We got as much done as we could and decided on the scaffold purchase. After all, we needed to get to the peak for the chimney, drywall and the insulation. The secret to getting the top of the insulation into the recesses between the studs? Beat it with a broom. Worked for me.

Bernd and Gerd, our neighbors across the street, gave us a valuable tip when doing insulation. Use a bread knife to cut it. Damned did it work nicely. Thanks guys. Oh, by the way, we did get to meet our neighbors. Twins from Ontario who bought the place across the street the November before us. They traveled across Canada with their parents to work on their place. They too needed electricity, septic, and insulation. We were more fortunate, since our roof was insulated. Theirs was not. They aren't looking forward to that expensive job. Great guys to talk to. We are going to look forward to living in the same neighborhood.

Main Room insulation as high as I could swing the broom.

D doing the last piece of insulation

Where the electrical panel will reside

After finishing the framing, and insulation, I focused on clearing some of the ground clutter (means trees that have fallen) in the Grove. I cut up some fallen trees, and stacked the wood near the driveway to be picked up and seasoned for next year. In total, we ended up with 20 - 25 trees down, about 15 ft of Grove cleaned up (you wouldn't know it), and 4 large piles of logs to be seasoned and split for firewood. I also took some of the limbs hanging off the huge debris pile on the flat and cut them up.

Widening the lane way to the house from the flat.

Another pile of wood for the fireplace

Ground debris is everywhere. These guys are going to get chopped up on the next trip.

My Nemesis: The Brush Pile. I'll burn it piece by pieces.

Another one of D's projects was to drywall the washroom, and pantry framing I had worked on. She set up a couple saw horses on the deck outside and cut the drywall there, then brought it in and screwed it in. She also installed the bathroom door using tongue depressors as spacers between the frame and the wall studs. Glad I married her.

D the drywall installer. She did it all.

Note the dinner bell made from a scuba tank. Gets me out of the bush quickly. Also note. the grate used to ward off bears.

D's kitchen is starting to take shape. This view is from the pantry,

with the washroom door to the right.

The first pieces of drywall. A milestone. Note the Sun Mar composting toilet in the washroom.

It may be tall, but, after all, it is a throne

Some clothes we brought up in mothballs. They needed to be aired out.

A little sanding and it will be ready for paint.

As much as we were attracted to the 'Alpine' decor, we chose to use the farm fence style railings. Sure opens up the place.

Insulation on the main room gable, as far as I could reach.

A visit from T. Rex

Mother Nature has been great to us up until now. This trip was no exception. We always had the same routine. Wake up, get to work, grab lunch, get back to work, grab dinner, then chill on the deck when it gets dark. For Four nights in a row we were blessed with the front row seats to the Northern Lights. The first night I pointed them out to D and she was convinced it was just twilight. Then, the lights really kicked in. For four nights we sat and drank wine, I took photos and we watched nature at its best, IN OUR FRONT YARD. I hope it makes up for the damned snow we are supposed to get every year.

The Northern Lights. Four nights in a row and they didn't disappoint.

So bright, Denise thought it was just the twilight.

Before we headed back to Mission, I took the time to chop a few trees and let them fall into t he Grove. I didn't want to chop any more into lengths we could use in the stove, but I did want them away from the edge of the lane way. All in all I think I chopped down 20 - 25 trees. With approximately 200 in the Grove alone, we will have firewood for a few years. Cutting trees is a great stress reliever for me. As long as I don't have any accidents.