Shed Erected

The Grey's Woodworks guys came to erect our shed, the first structure to go up on our property. It's made in a similiar manner to the way the house will be built- They constructed panels at their shop and put them together onsite. Now we have a place for our tools and can free up our campsite a bit.

The shed, completed, from across the pond. We will paint it red next weekend.

First Camping Weekend!

Early Morning Sun

Camp Breakfast

How To Make A Hearty Camp Breakfast

-open can of corned beef hash with personalized swiss army knife brought back from Switzerland by Sibylle
-spread in pan while not paying much mind to slight dogfood smell
-cook for awhile til a bit crispy, then crack two eggs on top and cook til done
-put on plate and eat- Yummy!*


*truth be told: it was a little nasty. It stuck to the pan and burned instead of getting crispy. The eggs took too long to cook while the hash was burning away. Next time will use non stick pan. But really, it wasn't too too bad- we ate it with gusto.

Ben Does Dishes

Dead Herbs

I killed my fledgling herb garden by not going up for 2 weeks during the worst heatwave of the summer. I was holding onto a bit of hope that they would make it but as you can see, they ended up crispy little wisps of nothing. I had left them in a tray of water which they probably went through in just a couple days. This weekend I planted a small mint plant because mint grows like a weed and is very hearty. If the mint makes it, at least we'll be able to make mojitos.

Outdoor Shower

We created an outdoor shower spot this weekend. It was a challenge to find a secluded spot because our property is very open to the road and neighbors, but this spot proved to be perfect. We have a solar shower that we filled up in the city and warmed in the sun, then rigged it up into the trees. We layed out flat stones and filled the gaps with sand, and Ben built a bench. It was wonderful after sweating all day to shower outside in the speckled sunlight and get clean before dinner.

First Fire

We had a delicious meal and ate it by the fire. We wrapped potatoes in foil and put them in the coals and had porkchops marinated in herbs and mustard and grilled peppers and carrots. At dusk we noticed what we thought were sparrows going crazy over the pond- flying around eachother in a swarming manic mass- then we realized they were actually BATS, flying around like atoms in a volatile gaseous state snapping up insects for their dinner. That was a thrilling sight.

House Plans

We are using a pre-fab'ed garage structure for the shell of the house. Grey's Woodworks is a company near us that makes sheds and garages in panels in their shop and then assembles them on the property. They are really flexible, and will add windows and doors per our spec's, leaving out the garage doors, of course. We took their general plan for a 20" x 28" classic style garage and then ben and I did a million scale drawings to figure out the best way to organize a house so small. Then we had Victor Kask, an architect-in-training, draw the official set of plans as a residence. The shell will then get outfitted by the plumber and the electrician, and then it's up to us to do the rest. Here are the official drawings. Click on them to enlarge.