This week seems to be flying by already. An artic cold front has blown into Georgia making record lows for this time of year. It's been down to 22 degrees- before Thankgiving! I know it doesn't sound like much to my Northern friends, but it's rough on us off-grid savages! I did go to the Sports Academy job interview on Monday. It was very ( Read more... )

I am now back in Atlanta, for the night, and tomorrow, I have to take Al back to the hospital. Then, I'll head back home if the storm isn't too bad. (Supposed to pour the next two days here.)

Last Friday morning, my weather cleared up finally, and I had three days of gorgeous sunshine to get my rough plumbing completed. I did manage to get 90% done ( Read more... )

Over the weekend, I got a number of good things finished on the cabin. Dad came Saturday and helped a bit. He's 70 years old, so we did what we could. Friday, I'd already gotten my friend Vern to help me. We got most of the flooring insulation installed, and then Dad and I finished up, and got many of the OSB sheets moved back to the house site. ( Read more... )

I found a good home for two of the kittens today. My mom's neighbor's an elder couple who are raising their two grandchildren, boy and girl, and they wanted a kitten each. I spent time with them this evening, explaining some basic cat-training to them, and watching their reactions with the two cats. I think they'll be fine with them. The kids are ( Read more... )

Busy, busy, busy... between several trips back and forth to Atlanta over the weekend, and various other tasks for other people, I have finally managed to get something done for myself! I have a load of lumber from the sawmill ready to unload at my house. It's enough to finish the floor frame of my cabin. I'm excited ( Read more... )

I love Photoshop, even though I'm still using 6.0 (I also have 3.0 on my old machine). Playing around with it, I created a cover for my Cabin Construction notebook. If I ever finish the cabin, these notes may very well form the basis for a non-fictional book about the process. Astute readers will note the use of a certain word in the title... that ( Read more... )

The latest news is this: I have finally finished the foundation piers, and have one third of a floor frame constructed! Yes, I know it doesn't sound like much, but Dad and I built it in about 5 hours Saturday. Just before the rains came at long last... it poured all day and into the night. I think this was the same storm that devastated Oklahoma, ( Read more... )

This is a brief update for those who are interested- I am still working on getting my foundation piers completed. I keep running out of concrete. I estimate I need maybe four more bags. (Yeah, I know- I've said that three times now! But this time I just might be right.) Once I complete the piers, they will be very accurately aligned and "level" to ( Read more... )

For the last week or so, I've been working daily on the cabin's footings and concrete block piers. Last night, I discovered a serious flaw in my lay-out. I now have to re-string all my lines and level them- to concrete block-sized increments. This wouldn't be much of a problem, but I have a motley collection of very old blocks, some of which are ( Read more... )

I had a rather uneventful birthday-  I had to drive to Mom's first thing and then straight back home, because my check was up there, and I needed to pay my license plate fee which is due on everyone's birthday here in Georgia. And Al asked to come back with me, so he could spend a few days down here. I planned to drive back Friday, because my mom ( Read more... )