Today was a good, productive day—though it started earlier than planned. The loggers fired up their operation at 5:00 a.m., and now that they’re working right up to our property line, the noise made sleeping in impossible. I always wondered why the Old School Family Restaurant opened at 5:00 a.m.—turns out, it’s to serve the early-starting logger crowd.
Since I was up, I got moving quickly. I loaded up the scrap lumber from the old bunk room—both the bunks and the walls—to haul to the dump. There was a lotof lumber. But it’s Tuesday, and that means it’s Dump Day! I rowed over to the truck, loaded it up, tossed in my laundry, and headed to Princeton.
First order of business was calling back the lumber guy who had tried to reach me yesterday. He said he could deliver the 6×6 timbers today and would be leaving soon. He’d call when he hit the road—great news.
In town, I got smaller bills and change from the Old School Family Restaurant, then started my laundry and treated myself to another excellent breakfast. Just as I was wrapping up my meal, the lumber guy called to say he was en route. It’s about an hour drive from his place, so I kicked things into high gear.
I moved the laundry to the dryer, then zipped down to the dump in Baileyville—about 20 minutes away—to unload all the scrap lumber and trash. I got back to Princeton just as the dryer finished, scooped up the clean clothes, and made it back to the cabin just before the lumber truck pulled in. Perfect timing—everything done before 10:00 a.m.
The lumber guy dropped the 6x6x10 timbers at the end of the road, which was ideal. These are the beams I’ll use to build the marsh walkway. Once that was squared away, I called the roofer to check on the status of the roofing material. Turns out, it’s been ready for days—they just never called. I considered going to pick it up today but decided to wait until tomorrow and focus on tasks here.
Back at the cabin, I cut up a few downed and dead trees on the island to clear a path to the marsh. I then crossed the marsh and tried hauling timbers out there. According to the lumber guy, they weigh about 125 pounds each. I like to think I slung one onto each shoulder and jogged them out to the marsh—but no, I dragged them one at a time. I managed to get five out there, which is solid progress (though those were the closest ones… it’s only going to get harder from here).
Unfortunately, placing them directly on the marsh isn’t working well—the terrain is too uneven, and the timbers aren’t stable to walk on. I’ll need to rethink the design and approach.
The most exciting thing that happened today was the I got a warm shower and I didn’t even have to go to the truck stop. Laura and Nick, my daughter and son-in-law had given me a solar shower bag for Christmas. I had been meaning to try it out and today was the day. You fill a vinyl bag with water and lay it in the sun. It has a built-in thermometer and when I checked the water was 124 degrees. Too hot for me so I added a gallon of room temperature water and it was perfect. I hung the bag on a tree and opened to hose that has a little spray nozzle. It worked great. Hair washed and everything. I will be using that more often going forward.
Tomorrow will be another full day. I plan to head out early to pick up the roofing and maybe stop at Home Depot for some more supplies for the bathroom project. Things are definitely hopping.
Hope you had a good day, too.