Camp Crafting

It's been a rainy week here and I have been inside a lot. I've also been trying to avoid the insanely high pollen count. I swear the air is so thick you have to chew it! Ray drove up to camp last weekend with a good buddy. It was pouring rain, but they were able to haul up the walkway pieces and dump them into place. Huge success! Ray claims they are sturdy and very stable. I'm excited to check it out soon. We are getting ready to have our first guests out later this month and we're trying to get everything all set up and ready. Because of my compulsive need to decorate and accessorize, I have been working on a few craft projects lately. I am making wooden signs to mark all the different sites at Camp Freedom. I got a dremel tool attachment that allows you to cut into wood so I'm using that along with a letter stencil to make my signs. It's a pretty tedious process, but fun. Guthrie got in on it too and made this cute sign. His media was dremel and sharpie. I also made our official guest book and a little sign stating the rules of the outhouse. I don't want things to be too cutsey, but I'm having a good time making some cool stuff to take out there. Just because there isn't a house there yet is no reason it can't be homey!

Thoughts on the Walkway

We were able to get our hands on some oversized shipping pallets which I think will work great for the wetland walkway. Ray deconstructed one and filled in the gaps on another to make a small deck. The wood is pretty rough and you definitely can't walk on them with bare feet, but that's ok. The wetlands are funny - because they are always changing, it is hard to determine what kind of materials and design will work for the walkway. I have a feeling there will be a lot of trial and error in this particular project but this feels like a solid first try.

It's Official.

I called the privy inspector on Monday to schedule an inspection of the outhouse in order to close the permit. Ray and I were a little nervous about this process because when we took out the permit, they sent us a list of regulations that we were supposed to follow. Unfortunately, we received the regulations after we had the pit dug and after we had begun construction on the building, so there are a few rules that were bent. One stated that the privy cannot be on a slope greater than 20 degrees. Our privy is located on a slight hill. We leveled out the spot as much as possible and I don't believe the location will negatively affect the privy in any way but we were concerned that the inspector might raise an issue with the location. The last thing we wanted to do was move the outhouse. Luckily, we had no reason to be concerned. At first, the man at the Barron Country Zoning office kept asking me who my plumber was. I explained I didn't have a plumber, just an excavator who dug the hole and submitted the soil test. Luckily, the zoning guy recognized his name. After he located my information, he just asked me if the privy we built met all the specifications listed. I wholeheartedly assured him that it did. He signed off on it and told me we were all set. I was thrilled. Looking back, I guess I am not at all surprised that guy didn't want to get in his truck, drive out to my place, shine a flashlight down my privy hole and make sure I followed all the rules. This bodes well for any permits we have to pull in the future. It seems like as long as we fill out the proper paper work and pay the fee, the zoning office is not terribly concerned with poking their noses in our business.

Highs and Lows

We finished the outhouse this weekend! I can't believe we actually have a bathroom! We're all really proud of the accomplishment. Ok, so it's not 100% finished, we still need to put some kind of siding on the outside. Right now it's officially a tar-paper shack. We decided to wait on the siding until we had made some more decisions about the actual cabin because ideally, we would side them both in the same material. I am leaning towards cedar shakes. They are a bit pricey, but I love the rustic look and they are less cliche than log siding. The tar-paper will protect the outside for right now and we can delay that decision. I have to call the privy inspector on Monday and have him come out to close the permit. I am a little nervous about that. If he says we need to make any changes, it will be a big set back. This has been a bigger job than we had expected and I really hope he just ok's it. It was a really pretty spring weekend and we had planned on staying for 2 nights. But after lows in the 20's, we decided to go home a night early. It was colder than I had expected and that was too bad because the daytime temperatures were in the 60's and sunny - perfect weather by my standards. Other than the outhouse, we installed the first hammock in "hammock grove," and did a few repairs on the army tent. It was a lot of work and now that we have the essentials (place to sleep and a place to do our #2's) we are vowing to slow the pace and enjoy ourselves. I think it's time to bring up some friends!!