Look What We Made!

A year ago we gutted the guest room and took down a bunch of uneven, mismatched wood planks from the walls. Mason was just going to burn 'em in the firepit, but Little Ol' Me?  I had other plans. And this past week, I finally got around to them.

First I downloaded some Adirondack chair instructions from the Internet. The hardest part was belt-sanding the wood, which, ladies, is one hell of a glute and lateral workout. Mason ripped and crosscut all the boards down to the right specs, and assembled everything once I had it all sanded and stained.

We plan to build a mate to this one. Mason's already got plans to "improve" the design, but I'm happy as a clam with this one.  

Tunnel Rat Warms My Heart

Y'all know Mason has managed to maintain his boyish figure despite his penchant for beer, burgers and sweets. The rat bastard! But after the latest home improvement project, I'm forced to withhold my grudge.

That's Mason, above, crawling under the house, leaf blower in tow. The project? Cleaning out the crawlspace, laying down a plastic moisture barrier and then sealing up the crawlspace to keep out cold air and the "no shoulders" -- that's Tennesseean for snakes.

We started this project last winter, but once spring was on the horizon and it got warmer, we put it off ... and off and off ... because, as you can see, there isn't much room under the house. And it's filthy. And these photos were taken at the end where it's downright roomy.

So while Mason was working under there, I'd pop my head under and check on him from now and then. At one point, after belly-crawling under the tightest spots, he yelled out: "Good thing I never got sent to Vietnam. They would have made me a tunnel rat for sure." He does have a talent for wriggling into tight spaces.

(Interesting side note: Mason was a Marine and was about to be shipped to Vietnam in 1971 when President Nixon decided to stop sending troops. Also, if Mason had not taken an extended leave -- UA, Unauthorized Absence, as the Marines call it -- soon after boot camp, he WOULD have gone to Vietnam with his original unit. But while he was home on that first leave -- six months in the making, by the way -- partying with his friends seemed like much more fun than life in the Marines. But he went back, eventually. OK, one last interesting side note: When Mason enlisted, the Marines decided to make him a truck driver. Why? He had racked up 62 traffic tickets in 3.5 years of driving, so clearly he had a knack. Luckily he didn't think to tell them that he was just a check ride away from his private pilot's license. Those helicopter pilots in Vietnam didn't have it too good, either.)

OK, back to the home improvement project. So here's how the crawlspace looks now (we still need to install corner pieces and do some paint touch-up):

We sealed off the crawlspace completely on Monday,  just in time for that arctic blast that brought brutal negative temps to our friends/fools in Minnesota and dipped our temps down to the 20s for the first time this winter. The good news is the house is now several degrees warmer and holds the heat better. Mark it down as another successful project on Flat Top! Beers for everyone, especially Mason.

6 Inches and Still Falling

The creek, flowing up and over our road

Today is Day Five of the Rain That Wouldn't Stop. Since Saturday, we've been holed up inside the cabin, venturing out only for Nick's walks. And sometimes, we won't lie, we screwed him on that second walk and just stayed by the fire.  Stuck inside, we whitewashed more walls, played cards, cooked and ate, and ate some more. And tomorrow? It's supposed to rain all day. Thursday? A brief clearing before ... wait for it ...  MORE rain.  We're told we might see the sun on Saturday.

Above, that's the little creek that runs under our road just below our property gate, except that today, it was pouring over the road -- only about 3 inches was sweeping over about 15 feet of the road, but if you've seen this little creek in its usual state, you'd be impressed.

Flowing off the road

On Mark and Lisa's property

3 inches flowing over our road (and my cute boots)

Befores and Afters

First, our wood-planked cabin walls (the planks were cut and milled from poplar trees on the property, we're pretty certain: They're all sorts of thicknesses and widths -- none of which you'll find at the Home Depot -- and far from square). 

Before, they were rustic, but filthy, dark and dust-producing:

Before

And now? Clean, bright and shabby chic. The whitewash helps the cabin feel a bit bigger. Sorry, wood purists, but I promise, you can still see the wood's grain and knots and such:

After

After

And second, the driveway. For the past few weeks, when we drove to town, we hauled our trailer with us and got a couple of tractor scoops full of crushed rock from Floyd's, the local hardware store. And lemme tell ya, raking out seven trailer-loads of crushed rock is a Flat Top kind of workout. (Not to mention the 30 push-ups we have to do for each homebrew.)

Before

After

After

Next up on the blog: The cabin "skirt," and tales of Mason's oh-so-close tunnel rat days in Vietnam. (Had he ever gone, of course.) 

Will We Make It to Midnight? (Short Answer: No)

Ladies and gentlemen, you are looking at genuine moonshine, aka Soddy-Daisy Kool-Aid! Can you believe it? Some neighbors -- the ones we met while they were Lady Slipper-huntin' last summer, with Miller Lites in hand well before noon -- they brought these mini-Mason jars over to us tonight. That's a peach slice in one, a blueberry in the other. I started with an itty-bitty baby shot, and I gotta say, it was frighteningly smooth -- and tasty!! My new favorite neighbors, indeed! (Helping myself to a second baby shot while writing this.... Come on, folks, it's New Year's!)

These neighbors hadn't seen anything we'd done to the cabin since we moved in. They said they'd kinda been feeling bad for us, roughing it full-time up up here on the mountain (they have a home in town, and don't yet have running water here on the mountain). But after they came into the cabin tonight, umm, I think all sympathies flew out the window.  OK, we MAY have over-improved the place. At least by Tennessee standards.

Before we broke into the booze, we spent New Year's Eve day splitting firewood, reorganizing the shed for a new project, doing some painting, and I also baked some kick-ass Black-Pepper Cheddar Shortbread snacks.  Oh, and of course, Nick got his walks.

Dinner? Soooo not mountain-like. We got a little batch of king crab legs, which is what I used to eat when I was young, had money and spent New Year's with my close group of Minneapolis friends.  As the butter melted, I called those friends. So bittersweet to talk to them all and not know when I'll see them again.  It's hard, you know? You make some hard choices in life. Leaving my closest friends has been one of the harder ones.

But I also love life on Flat Top. ...  Choices, you know?

A Very Merry Christmas

Nothing says Christmas like shoveling rock on the driveway and brewing five gallons of lager. Sounds like just another day on the mountain, right? But don't worry, we also found time for some culinary indulgences and there was an embarrassing abundance of presents from our families and friends! Nick the Dog even scored his first new toy in two years (from my mom), as well as two disgusting lambs' ears that he ingested with startling speed (also from Mom).

We skipped the whole tree mess and just decorated the wood post in the middle of the cabin that holds up the loft. And that's my new hat, from my sister. And check out all these goodies we scored! All of Mom's gifts were wrapped in quilted fabric bags that she made. Talk about DYI!

Mason's ex, Karen, always sends him his favorite snacks: summer sausage, cheese, peppers and such, as well as pralines and sinfully sweet divinity. I scored some gourmet goodies from her, too! She cushioned the presents with some editions of the Arlington newspaper, which Mason promptly uncrumpled and began reading -- kinda like a kid who's more intrigued with the cardboard box than the gift itself ...

In non-holiday news, we've been busy with a big indoor redecorating project -- before and after photos to come soon! And we've been slowly working on rocking the driveway, which had become mostly dirt. It's really classed up the front yard, not to mention cut down on the amount of dirt and mud that gets dragged into the house.

Hope y'all had a wonderful holiday! And stay away from those stores and sales. No better place than the mountain to escape all that madness!

My OLD Man

After spending a week on the mountain (usually we go to town every four or five days, but holiday madness gave us new incentive to NOT go to town), today we celebrated Mason's birthday with a trip to the bowling alley. The local high school team ( Go, Soddy Daisy Trojans!) had the alley booked at 3:30 p.m., so we went into town "early" -- 11 a.m. -- for breakfast, then ran a few errands before hitting the lanes.

Some serious bowlers were a few lanes down from us and must have had a fine laugh watching us, but we had a good time. Just don't ask about our scores. And don't ask how we enjoyed the Budweiser (NOT Bud Light, by the way!), which was the only non-light beer they had. I think if you zoom in that photo, you'll see the little orange wristbands we had to wear to prove we were over 21 years old. Seriously. Like the cottonheads full of gray hair weren't evidence enough.

So, if the world does end on the 21st, we can say that we lived life to the fullest right up to the end! Bowling rules! Rock on! Happy Holiday Kwanzaa Season to everyone!)