161: Home Office!

After stripping all the spray foam out from between the logs, I washed the logs with Simple Green, put on a new coat of low-gloss but smooth and cleanly reflective darker stain to cover any streaks and discoloration, and painted the inside if the chinking brown, along with any foam residue.  Also ripped out the too-small loft to open up the space.

The COVID-19 pandemic has us at home together, and shopping for materials would be frivolous right now, but eventually the next steps will be fashion some shelves along the edge of the old loft, frame in windows, fill in the gutter-like cavity between walls and floor with smooth, brown-or-adobe-stained concrete, and coat the floors with high-gloss marine polyurethane.  

Then, I'll add enough electricity for lights and internet (no appliances), and a small propane heater for the wintertime.

Now, it's clean and set for off-line work projects like authoring group emails, working on PowerPoints, or analyzing data during what could be an otherwise long, lonely springtime.  The good news is that it's anything but bleak in Coldholler, and we have each other!

160: The Coldholler Trail, completes and celebrated in October 2018

The Coldholler Trail makes the Coldholler Log Cabin its central point where two 180 degree turns almost touch either side of it, and it’s a whole kilometer of benched, well-groomed, rideable singletrack with climbs, switchbacks, log bridges, a cambered wooden curve, rock gardens, creeks, views, and descents.  With the aid of SORBA, ACE, several friends, and an incredible college student who helped me see it through with a strong back and bright enthusiasm, I finished it just in time to turn 50.  Here are some videos that illustrate that endeavor!

https://youtu.be/wWFKUSifj9I

https://youtu.be/wWFKUSifj9I
https://youtu.be/ROw_XDF-btE
https://youtu.be/2g55KozAXHQ
https://youtu.be/j8h4bvQfGPs

159: transformation initiated - interior renovation

It’s a long story I’ll tell later, but after such a focused effort to build it and so much enjoyment for several years, we neglected the cabin in 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019 while logging acreage and building pastures, barns, and fences, while stocking and fishing trout ponds, while raising and tending goats and sheep, while planting and cultivating a large blueberry field, and while building a groomed and benched 1K mountain bike trail.  During this time, an unchecked mouse infestation made it uninhabitable and gross.  It was my fault for creating a habitat for them between the hard chinking on the exterior and the pretty pine slats I covered it with on the inside.

After consulting with a friend with a PhD in Environmental Health, I was able to safely remove the pine as well as existing mouse nests and other residue, and with the help of another friend who performs a variety of skilled labor I was able to get most of the insulating foam removed as well.  Next steps will be to restore the logs on the inside to a clean warm finish, frame real windows, caulk the interior with a synthetic product that is attractive and leaves no cavity between or behind, fill the gaps between the floor and the walls with leveler or concrete mortar, and refinish the floor with high gloss marine poly.  Then, rustic office furniture, electricity and lights, and high speed internet.

Look for posts, photos, and ruminations in 2020!