Six Days at the Cabin.

Tuesday 5/05.

I arrived at the cabin around 11:30.

The first thing I noticed was a pile of lawn chairs on my front porch. I couldn’t even get to the fridge so the first thing I had to do was to take all those chairs over to the dining hall. That is a better place to store the chairs.
While I was in the dining hall I noticed my small pasta cooker and the lid for the big pot were there. At first I couldn’t find the big pot but later in the day I found it. I don’t know what they were cooking in it but it looks ruined to me

Another of my pots was apparently used to collect creosote from the wood stove.

This pot is definitely ruined. We are down to one useful pot in the cabin.

Once I finely got moved in, I had lunch.
After lunch I took the new shower down to the wash house to install it. I worked on that for quite a while and even though I used copious amounts of Teflon Tape, it still leaked at the connections.
I decided to let it be for the rest of the day.
I’ll look around and see if I can find some pipe compound. I think I have some around here someplace.
Spent the rest of the day enjoying just being here.

Wednesday 5/06

I had to scrub all my cast iron skillets with a metal scrubby to get the crud that the last users left.
It looked like instead of cleaning the skillets when they were done with them, they just hung them up and grabbed another one.
When I leave for the winter I am going to take all my cooking stuff home. They don’t deserve to use them.

In the afternoon I walked up to the spring tanks to try and install a filter on the main line. As it turned out I need a couple of connectors that I don’t have up here.  I’ll have to wait until the next trip to do that job.

Spent the rest of the day reading and enjoying the passage of time.

Thursday 05/07

Lumber shopping.

I wanted to build a new work bench to replace the one that fell apart.
The original bench was crudely made out of inferior material. Even so it lasted many years in the elements under heavy use.

The first thing to do was go shopping for some lumber.
I drove the van up to the lumber pile at the slag heap.

This is mostly Redwood lumber so it will stand up to the wet weather here in the temperate rain forest.
I found enough pieces to build the work bench and went back to the cabin.

Starting the Workbench

I set up my work area in the dining hall as there are several tables there I can work on.
When I started, I tried to do the cutting with a skill saw.
The generator was in use charging a battery. I plugged the saw into the second outlet and tried to cut a 2X4 with the saw and almost stalled the generator.
I guess I can’t do that.
I decided to just use my hand saw to do the cutting. I cut all the 2X4 legs to length and started to cut the boards for the perimeter of the bench. Here I realized that I didn’t have enough wood for the sides and ends. I decided to take a break and think about it for  while.
The break turned out to take the rest of the day.

Friday 05/07

Finishing the Workbench

Once I got going today I drove back to the lumber pile and found a piece of 1X4 that would be good for the sides and end of the work bench.

Back at the dining hall, I cut the 1X4‘s to length., With a slight angle to them so I could splay out the legs a bit for stability.

Once all the parts were cut, I screwed them together temporarily to see if it was going to work.

Once I was satisfied, I took it apart and moved everything to the spot by the cabin where the workbench will live.

I dug a couple holes for the feet to fit into to give the bench more stability. Since the legs are redwood they will last a long time.

The next thing was to put the top on the bench and add some bracing.

Here is the workbench completed with the vice mounted on the end.

Took the rest of the day off.

Saturday 05/09

Drizzly Morning

It rained during the night. When I got up in the morning it was still cloudy with a light drizzle falling. I hung out in the cabin enjoying the fire in the woodstove.

The Woodstove.

The flu pipe for the stove has burned out. I had to make  a collar out of aluminum foil so the pipe would stay on the stove. It leaks creosote onto the top of the stove when I have the stove turned down over night but it gets the smoke out.

I will be taking the pipe home with me as I don’t want anyone to burn the cabin down. I will bring new flue pipe when I come back in a week or so.

Good Time For a Hike.

In the afternoon the sun came out between fluffy white clouds.
I decided to take a walk on the cabin loop trail. I grabbed a rake and headed up the Bear Spring Road to the trail.
The trail goes through some really nice forest.

I did a little trail work, as much as I could with just a rake.

I’ll have to come back with the Polauski and do some more work on the trail. Maybe I’ll do that tomorrow.

Sunday 5/10

Cold Morning

It was a bright clear morning with no clouds visible but there was a very cold breeze blowing. I mostly hung out in the cabin by the fire until after lunch, when it finally warmed up a little.

Trail Work.

After lunch, I took the Polauski up the trail from the cabin to see if I could get some work done on the tail. I should have also taken a rake.

I climbed the switchbacks that go up the hill from the cabin. Most of the trail is in good shape until you get past the last switchback. Here the trail kind if blends in with the hill side.

I decided that I would work on this stretch of the trail.
After about an hour I had chopped out a descent trail.
The ground is drying out rapidly and is getting very hard to dig.

By now I was pooped so I headed back to the cabin for a break.
I spent the rest of the day hanging out at the cabin and gathering up tools and such I as I am going home tomorrow.

Monday 5/11

After breakfast I started getting stuff packed up.
Once I had everything packed, I cleaned and swept the cabin.

This is how I left the place. I wonder what I will come back to.

I took the bottom section of the stove pipe home. The next time I go up there, I’ll bring up new pipes.

Okay That was my time at the cabin. I’ll be back in a week or two.