Building, Building, and More BUILDING!

It has been awhile since I have made an update on the cabin......it is coming along so nicely and I hope that it will be finished very soon!

We finally got concrete!



We decided on stained concrete floors.  So William had to go through and cut the concrete to give it a "tiled" look.  I had to follow him around and make sure he didn't get tangled in his cords!

We also had the framing done......it took about two weeks and we had a building!

We (I) decided to stain the outside green.  William wasn't too sure about it, but we have gotten lots of compliments and I really like it too!

Progress or Destruction?

    This week is Spring Break for me! And luckily, William was able to be off too.  We decided that we would spend the week at the lake, on the houseboat, and work on getting the land ready for concrete.  A while back, we hired a guy to come in and cut down a few trees - about 7!  We went through several people who thought that it would be an easy job and then found it to be a lot more work than they expected.  Finally, we had a guy agree to do it.  The plan was he would cut the trees, sell the pine, and take all the firewood he wanted.  He came, pushed over the trees, took a little firewood and left! Needless to say, the job was far from the finished product that he promised!  

Day 1

This is what it looked like when we drove up!  Where to start? 

This tree left a huge hole!

He is actually scratching his head in this picture- I guess he isn't really sure where to start either!

This is the view towards the other end of the river.

   

    The first step was to pile up everything that we could carry and start burning it.  We wanted to make sure that the fire would start.  We also didn't want it to be so big that we couldn't add to it.

       
    We finally got the fire going.  William started the chainsaw and I went behind him and picked up all the pieces that I could carry.  It doesn't look like I did much work.....but I did!  I just took a few more breaks to take a few pictures.  Sluggo was with us and he was just happy to be there!   

    Unfortunately, he found the only mud hole on the place and decided that would be a good place to "cool off."  (William had to take a stick down to the river and make him fetch it so that we could rinse him off to take him home!)

Day 2

      The next morning, William met David Bass to get a track hoe.  This tree was a problem because it left a huge hole in the ground and was stretched from the top of the hill to the river.  He was able to use the track hoe to move those huge root balls and move this tree up the hill a little at a time to cut it up. 



It was a great help because it kept him from having to haul huge logs up the hill to the fire.

I think that he really just likes to drive big equipment......















I think that our friends who were there to "help" liked to play with the equipment too.  Dickie made a chair out of a log using the chain saw!







 

                                                                     




Stuart wanted to make sure that I got a picture of him "helping."  I think that this was the only log he threw on the fire!

We finally got the fire going!

This picture is not an adequate description of my help!  I really did help

a lot more than this one, little stick!

We finally got this tree top to the top of the hill. 



    And we finally got the fire going good enough to burn this giant ball of roots.  Our work for the weekend was done!  We sat around the fire until it got dark and decided we were hungry.  We got a lot done in two days, but this is only the beginning!!!



Getting Started

We had to get rid of some brush and trees that were in the way.  William and a friend spent all day using a bulldozer to work on the road and make a pile of limbs and trees.  The road was washing away and on one side there was a huge ditch from water running down the hill.  They got most of that fixed and we still may have to do something to help divert some of the water. 
While our friend was on the dozer, William was busy piling brush and cutting the firewood.  He came back telling that he was cutting on log that was hollow when all of a sudden red started pouring out.  He realized that he had cut through a log that a snake was hiding in and he had cut it into at the same time.  He thought it was pretty gross and a little scary too!

After this brush pile had been there a few weeks, William and I went back to burn it.  Luckily, we have some close neighbors who didn't mind if we used their water.  They were especially willing when we told them what we were going to do.  So we took several, hooked them together, and connected it to their facet.  William was working the water hose!  It turned out to be a pretty big fire.  He had to constantly go from one side to the other because it was a little windy that day. 

We were also able to keep some firewood, which will be handy.  William worked very hard to cut up the trees, stack the limbs, and chop the firewood.  I will be honest, I didn't do too much.  Thanks to a stack of "Reader's Digest" I was a little preoccupied.  Besides, the fire was so hot you couldn't even get close to it. The fire finally fizzled out and we came home.  We still have three more trees to cut down because the bulldozer just couldn't do it.  We really hate it because they are huge tress that would give lots of shade to the cabin.  But they are right in the spot where we want to put the cabin.  Hopefully we can find someone to do that soon!

Finding Land

Last year, we decided to build a cabin on the Little Missouri River.  We have a houseboat on the lake which is on the other side of the dam.  We have been enjoying the lake for the last few years, and decided that we wanted a little piece of the river.  We found this land, which is right on the river in April of last year.  We knew it would be a lot of hard work.  But my husband loves a new project and we know it will be worth it in the end. 

There is a beautiful view of the river and lots of trees for shade in the hot summer months.  We are planning to put the cabin in the middle of the land.  We want it to have a large back porch that has a walkway all the way to the river.  There is plenty of good trout fishing and we would love to build a dock to do just that.  

This is a narrow view of what you should be able to see from the back porch.  We have already picked out a cabin plan.  It is very open with a porch that will wrap around the entire cabin.  We are so excited and hope to start the building process very soon!