Alone in the wilderness – on a snow free three day weekend!

Up to this point, we have encountered snow on every venture into our property.  Don’t get me wrong, we’ve been enjoying ourselves, but it’s a bit like unwrapping a gift.  We’ve never seen the land snow free and in full bloom.  As the snow recedes, each time we walk the trails, the scenery has changed, showing us new and fascinating secrets that the weather has concealed.  It’s also shown us things that we would prefer not to deal with, such as the debris and remnants of an abandoned homestead left to decay, the husk of a VW Bug, and the occasional half buried tin pot or bucket seemingly deposited where no human activity would have taken place. At any rate, we’ll take it all as a gift.

This last week, Katie was to make an annual trip to a local resort with a friend for a wine and food event, that meant that the dog and I were left to fend for ourselves.  On Friday morning, Katie and I loaded the truck and made the trek to Two Harbors, where we met up with her friend Jill.  I had made arrangements on a previous trip to store the ATV and trailer at a neighbors home near our land, and it was absolutely awesome not having to load and haul all the gear we had on past trips.  We enjoyed a beverage at Carmody’s 61 with Jill, and then the dog and I said our goodbye’s and left the girls to enjoy their weekend.

After collecting the ATV, I made short work of packing our gear into the cabin site.  On the previous trip, Katie and I had decided to purchase an 8’x12′ shed kit from a big box store in Duluth.  I had been able to get the shell up, and roof waterproofed with ice and water barrier.  This left my tasks for the weekend involving hanging the doors, installing the wood stove, sleeping platform, shelving, and the metal roof.  My work schedule had been crazy the last couple of weeks… giving me sore bones, raw hands, and 40 hours of overtime… so I was hoping to also be able to relax a little.  I knew the bast way to ensure time to relax, was to get the work done first, and that’s what I did.  When I started, it was mid afternoon, and a cool 50 degrees, so my priorities were stove 1st, doors 2nd, and sleeping platform 3rd… all before bedtime if possible.

Over the last ten days, I had used the few remaining hours of each day, and part of Sunday to construct a wood stove for the shed.  I documented the build HERE.  Installing the stove was going to be a simple straight forward task… and it pretty much was.  Since I had constructed the stove out of a 20lb. propane tank, it was rather small, still, special care needed to be taken in deciding where it would go.  Put it too close to the wall, and you risk burning the cabin down, too far from the wall, and it becomes an obstruction to using the space efficiently.  I opted for the front corner opposite from the door.  That location would mean a shorter trip with wood, and the rest of the space free for our use.  I took a close measurement of the roof, and the layout of the metal roofing, because flashing the chimney would be more difficult if I didn’t land in the center of a valley on the roofing.  The roofing panels were 3′ wide, with (correction: FIVE) ribs standing about an inch high and running the length.  This meant that the center of the chimney had to fall roughly in the center of the sheet, or about (correction: 13.5″) from the gable end of the roof.  The placement of the chimney opening on the stove favored the rear, so I could get the maximum distance between the back of the stove and the wall, still, it left little more than a 6′ gap….  I would have to put a non-flammable barrier between the stove and the wall… a good idea for any stove installation.  Once the location of the stove was determined, I marked the center of the chimney hole on the underside of the roof.  I ran a long screw up through the roof to mark the location visible from the outside.  I then tied a plum bob to the screw, and centered the opening of the chimney port on the stove directly under it.  Using a marker, I marked the holes in the base of the stove, onto the floor, and moved the stove out of the way.  After drilling holes through the floor for the bolts, I replaced the stove, and secured it with carriage bolts to the floor.  This was awesome!!! Everything was working the way I planned!  The next step was grabbing my ladder and cutting the roof for the chimney.  This was about the time I scratched my head and asked “Where did I put my ladder?”

It’s a funny thing, the effect that this land has had on me in such a short time…  Well, maybe it’s the land, more likely it’s my wife, but I don’t seem to get bent out of shape over silly things as often.  I remembered where I left my ladder… in the garage back home.  I’m sure I could have hopped on the ATV and borrowed one from my neighbor Randy, but I was making great progress and didn’t want to stop.  I grabbed a couple of 8′ 2×4’s, screws, and scrap… 10 minutes later I was cutting the hole for the chimney.  Where there’s a will, there’s a way.

Once I had the chimney up, I decided to stuff the stove full of wood and fire it up.  Two immediate lessons learned: 1. Using a little birch bark to start a fire is awesome…  filling half the stove with birch bark is tantamount to starting a grease fire.  I will not do this again. 2. If I build another stove, or even repaint one, the first fire in the stove will take place outdoors.  Apparently, the paint off gasses during the first burn.  Even the dog had that “You’re an idiot” look on her face as she went out into the cold.  I built the bed platform while coughing and constantly checking the stove to make sure I wasn’t going to die in an idiots pyre.

After the fumes cleared, the shack was warm, dinner was made, and the dog returned.  I spent the remainder of the evening in contemplation, dreaming about what was to come.

Saturday morning, I awoke to a chilly cabin at 0500 hours.  At 0515, the fire was started, as well as the warming of the cabin.  A little bacon and eggs had the dogs tail wagging and me ready for the day.  I took out my trusty new ladder and ascended to measure the roof once again.  Back down again, to grab my metal shears and get to work.  It wasn’t long before I had both sides installed and it was time for the ridge cap.  A steel ridge is meant to follow the angles of the roof.  Mine is more of a gentle “butt shaped” curve.  The steel roof proved too slippery for me to gain traction, so with a herculean effort, I propelled myself to the ridge, and straddled it for safety’s sake.  I did the best to line it up and then screwed it in place… looks be damned, sometimes a job done safely is the best you can do.

With the roof done, I turned my efforts to creature comforts… shelving, organizing the kitchen, and separating things left behind and things that would come home with me.  After a bowl of Katie’s home made spicy chicken tortilla soup for lunch, I walked up the trail and found a good sized pine and fallen recently, blocking my path.  The perfect opportunity to start stockpiling wood for the stove.  I will admit, I felt a little silly cutting 8″-10″ logs.  I loaded up the ATV trailer and headed back to the shack, broke out the ax, and thanked God an oak hadn’t fallen.

It was roughly 1PM… sun still high in the sky, work done for the weekend.  I grabbed my GPS and asked the dog if she wanted to go for a walk; she was up the trail one hundred feet before my third step.  I had not yet been to either the northeast, nor the northwest corners of our land, so the goal was set… and off we went.  We traveled over some hills, along a ridge and around the tamarack grove before reaching the lowland that is our NE corner.  It was there that I discovered several trees that I think are in the cedar family.  They have needles like the juniper, but height like a cedar – 40′ to 50′ feet.  The shape is typical of a conifer, but a little wider at the base.  The trunks looked twisted, with the bark in a tight spiral.  Midway to the NW corner, we passed through an area I’ll call the black forest.  A massive grove of 10′ to 30′ pines, so thick they block out the sun.  After making our way through the thick pines, we reached the NW corner, located near a good sized pond that I didn’t see on any maps.  I hope it holds it’s water all summer!.

Sunday was spent packing up (and maybe a short nap in the hammock I hung near the shed).  Katie and Jill showed up at the land a little earlier than planned, so we got an early start back home, where I spent the last hours of my weekend mowing the lawn. ugh!

Next up on our list of things to do is build a screen porch on the shed, and maybe more urgently, replace our “honey bucket” with an outhouse fit for a king (more importantly a queen).  Like the bucket ironically and proudly proclaims: “Let’s do this!”

Until next time, keep your woman happy and your powder dry…

-j