Yesterday was my birthday. Hooray for completing another trip around the sun! I spent my day getting groceries and refilling our gas and water jugs. I did make a couple of other stops. Clay got a shiny new ID tag for if he goes exploring. And he also got a new toy that he won’t share with the other dogs. It’s a lot like when Clay came to live with us and Bruno wouldn’t share. What goes around comes around I guess. I also treated myself to a coffee drink, commenting that it was my birthday treat. The barista was disappointed that grocery shopping was the extent of my plans for the day. But honestly, that’s enough for now. I’m happy to be up here. It’s enough that I’m doing things for me. New job, new cabin (eventually), new way of life. That’s plenty of excitement for me.
Another stop I made was at the local sawmill to ask for a quote on plywood and roofing. When the sawmill is up and running I will have plenty of lumber of whatever size we choose, but plywood for the walls, roof, and floor is not something we can make. It’s in line with what I expected. I just don’t want a pile of materials to be delivered only to wait in the rain for the sawmill to be up. Believe me, when this all starts moving for real I will be so excited.
Until the cabin is up this is where I’m staying. When it was just me it worked for me to stay in my friends cabin. But there wasn’t really room for my son. My friend had opportunity and reason to buy this trailer from a coworker and we get to benefit. It’s over 30′ and has a shower stall. There’s no hookup so water for cooking and drinking has to be brought in from town. Water for washing either dishes or people comes from the creek by 5 gallon bucket. Electricity comes from the generator.
Every morning starts the same. I wake up and get up because I need to. On my way back from the outhouse I fill and restart the generator so we can have coffee. Then breakfast and figure out what is happening for the day. Sometimes I also fill the bucket from the creek to wash dishes. As long as we’re beside the running water I might as well take advantage.
Like I said, it was raining again this morning. I woke up with the thought that I understand reluctant dogs a little better. That sounds odd and perhaps a little crude. But listening to fat, heavy raindrops on the roof really makes you ponder how bad you need to go out to the outhouse. Can I hold out until the rain stops? It would help if the outhouse had a roof. It’s really unpleasant to get soaked while you’re trying to do your business. I don’t blame dogs for not wanting to go out in the rain.
So what’s next? There’s a few more parts that need to be swapped out on the sawmill. A few more places where rust needs to be persuaded to let go. It had a full maintenance checkup a couple of years ago and was in great condition, but sitting in the weather for two or three winters did it no favors. Still, I think this is the week. At some point the rain will quit holding us back. We’ll have to get to it because we can already see the shift in the weather towards winter. I’d rather work in rain than snow.