Bunkhouse Progress

Lord knows what she just ate. She spits out the toads,
but chomps the blue-striped lizards.

Solidly into our eighth year here on Flat Top Mountain, weeks fly by once again without anything that seems worthy of reporting.

The day Mason killed three copperheads within a matter of hours? Ho hum. (We haven’t seen any since, though the tally for the season is at eight.)

About 36"-40" deep so far. Jackhammer possibly to come.

The days I spent hours digging the hole for a new septic tank? (Didn’t we do that already? Yes, but this one’s for the bunkhouse.)

There are all of the adorable moments with Layla the Wonder Dog, but seriously, cute dog stories? Is that what this blog has come down to?

Layla the Wonder Dog.

You can see how Flat Top seems a bit mundane after so much time living in the backwoods.

But Wednesday? Wednesday is going to be pretty sweet, because Mason is on schedule to finish siding the new bunkhouse — the cedar shake siding that he started so long ago. But we’ll just brush over that fact. Let’s talk, instead, about how cute it is!

Mason: up and down, and up and down.

As I type this, I’m watching Mason climb down the ladder for about the 50th time today. There will be leg cramps tonight. He’s been on the porch roof all day, nailing those shingles up one at a time. He was the one who insisted on cedar shakes, thank goodness, because otherwise I’d be getting an earful.

We’ve been hitting it pretty hard for what feels like months now, working up until 7 p.m., when we finally call it quits with an ice-cold beer enjoyed on the porch of the bunkhouse. We rock in a pair of rocking chairs we scored from my sister, who scored them from my mother years earlier. We rock, and drink and watch the setting sun filter through all our trees and stretch across the back yard. When the last rays finally hit the farthest woodpile, we know we’ve lingered too long and that dinner will be late. But with summer in full sizzle, there’s really no hurry to return inside to the Big House. Without air conditioning or a decent breeze, it can still be over 80 degrees inside by 8 p.m., sometimes 9. 

As soon as those shingles are done, we should take a break. But we won’t. It’s time to start working on the inside of the bunkhouse. First up: Build the wall that sections off the bathroom from the main room. The shower will have a giant window that looks out onto the forest; you’re gonna love it! But it will be a while before we get around to building that part. After the wall comes more digging; this time it’s a long narrow trench from the wellhouse through my vegetable garden and out to the bunkhouse.  As we dig, we will bury propane and electrical lines to bring power and hot water to our future guests. 

See? Who wants to hear about all this digging in 90-degree heat and 90-percent humidity? B-O-R-I-N-G!

We do have one more bit of news, but I better save that for now, so I have something to write about again soon. 

Check out the floating air compressor!
It got elevated so the hose would reach the peak,
 which I can just now officially report is DONE!!