I’m easing into the summer season, hoping that by this winter Skookum will be not just habitable, but comfortable. At the moment, it’s off to a slow start. The old Toyota just barely made it to Skookum today, and I had to wait about 15 minutes at the base of the last climb to let […]
The snow has largely disappeared, although it will be another couple weeks before I can drive all the way to the cabin. Progress has been slow, but there are no serious deadlines to worry about. The tarped tractor has no snow around it (left photo), but there was still a big pile of snow on
Rats! I headed up to Skookum today to start on some chinking with Wylie and the pickup overheated so we didn’t make it. So I figured I’d put in updates from two previous trips that were the last of the “real winter” trips this year. Spring is in full swing and melting the snow rapidly!
I’ve made two trips up to Skookum and on each trip I put on a coat of Polyurethane on the ceiling, so the ceiling should be all but done. The first trip was in February when we had great snow, and then a big melt came that really knocked down the snow. The left photo
I didn’t get up to Skookum in January, but snow and reasonable temperatures have made February good so far. Below are updates from two February trips. We finally got a some snow and I could use my backcountry skis (right photo) to ski into the cabin. The left photo shows the first view of the
Last Post of 2024 This is the last post of the year, but unlike previous years, I expect (hope?) for more activity during the winter than in past years. Skookum is still very much a messy construction project, but it’s also enclosed, warm, and functional. This post includes work from a couple trips to Skookum.
The posts will be fewer with winter coming on, and progress is incremental as a rule. One HUGE development, however, is that Todd came up and got the solar hot water system running. This is important because it keeps the cellar warm where there are pipes that could freeze and batteries that need to be
Tom came over for a few days and we made great progress on the ceiling. Among other things, Tom can still work like crazy and he wore me out. Niko came up and had a frustrating time, but we do have electricity from the solar system and there was at least some advancement with the
There has been some progress since my last post, but it’s just short of success in a couple of key areas as discussed below. Niko (left image) has been working on the solar electrical system and the solar hot water system. The electrical system has charged up the batteries to full capacity, a significant success.
Bits and Pieces Work is in a relaxed mode, and thus progress is modest. Rather than continue with short posts, I will make infrequent posts unless something significant arises. One thing not documented in this post is that Niko made had his first visit to Skookum and we made some progress with the solar systems,
Buttoning up With it possible for snow to fly any time, recent work has been devoted to buttoning up. But unlike previous years, rather than figuring on leaving Skookum alone over the winter months, I have been preparing for visits to work and play during the cold and snowy months. Not a lot was done
The Roof! This was another pretty good week, even if it doesn’t look like much. The cabin has had a “temporary” ridge cap made from 2 by 6’s and flashing tape since last fall. This week, with help from Tim, we finally put up the remaining fascia and rake flashing plus the ridge cap, something
A Good Week! Much got done this week — all the solar panels are on the roof; most of the wainscoting is up; and the ugly, terrible, rotten job of sanding the logs is done! Photos of the work are shown below as usual. Meg and Wylie came up to help one day that was
After an enjoyable break with a kayak and backpacking trip, progress continues at Skookum. The usual summary follows. Mark, Nash, Logan, and Randi spent a day at Skookum and made some positive additions. A new broom, a new ax, and best of all, a new table with a chess board and cribbage board built in.
I will be taking a break from work on Skookum to spend some time kayaking and backpacking. Below is an update of the progress and getting the place buttoned up for my break. Meg helped me put up another 10 ft of wainscoting and I do like the way it looks! The left photo shows
Another week and more progress. Some time ago I made loose arrangements to put up the solar systems and install the wood stove in July… and now it looks like neither of those will happen. I can still get the cabin ready for winter, but it’s going to take work later on, probably September or
This is another summary of several days of effort. There’s nothing dramatic here, just slow and steady progress. The above photos show the South, East, and North windows (from left to right) before (top) and after (bottom) sawing them open to their actual size. With the logs cut out it really changes the character. The
This post includes a mish-mash of progress from several trips to Skookum. Progress has been good, with the completion of the underlayer of the floor the biggest milestone. Tim and I had a great day when we nearly finished the underfloor. Tim is working on the frame (left photo) and we had all but two
This post is from several trips to Skookum, all with the goal of getting the cabin winterized. Tim Fry has been helping with the wood floor, and Wylie did a great job helping pour concrete (but we didn’t get any pictures because he ran the batteries out on my phone), and I even spent a
As the weather has improved progress has begun on the cabin again. Work will be a bit haphazard and not nearly as intense as last year. As a result the posts will be random. This post covers three trips up to Skookum. Wylie and I took down the frames for the wall-tent floors and I
The season is starting MUCH earlier than last year. I drove all the way in with no problems, except a large tree has fallen across the road. Someone had cut enough of it out that I could sneak by. Wylie and I got a fair amount done and still got back in time for a
Winter is waning, so I thought I would share some pictures of Skookum as spring begins. I have hiked in 3 times this winter on snowshoes, each trip taking about an hour. The photo above shows the cabin on Feb 17, 2024. The left photo shows my snowshoe track on a beautiful day in February,
Last visit for the year? I made what might be the last visit to Skookum for the year, hiking in the mile and a half from the base of the jeep road with Phil Battle and his puppy Tilly. The snow from last week had mostly melted, making for a muddy trip. There were just
Buttoning up My posts have slowed down, and will slow down more as the winter months settle in. Since Logan left, I’ve been up to Skookum 3 times to tear down the camp and prepare for winter. I hope to get up there one more time, but overall things are pretty well set until the
The roof! Putting the roof up consisted of first, putting up the SIP panels, which are 4 ft by 16 ft panels that are 1 ft thick (OSB sheeting on each side with foam insulation in the middle). As with pretty much everything else, we had never used these before. Then, based on some skimpy
A pretty good week The Alaskan mill is put away. The scribe is put away. The chainsaw work is almost done. All the logs are up. This week was all about getting the roof support system up. The purlins in particular were challenging, as they had some awkward bows that were hard to accommodate. Also,
Roof and Rain A major rain storm came in and cut this week short at Thursday. Mark and Logan worked on Tuesday, and then I went up on Wednesday, so we only got two days of work in. However, we’re working on the roof and it’s fun to see the progress. https://youtu.be/zYEQTfLPBoI Mark and Logan
Near Disasters and Progress This was a full week with Mark here, and following a tradition set last year, much progress was made and a (near) disaster occurred. The progress is described with the images below. The (near) disaster was that Logan cut himself with a chainsaw, which resulted in a trip to the Emergency
9/11 Anniversary — almost fitting I am posting this on the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. This past week wasn’t that disastrous, although there were more near-misses than we should have had, as noted below. Progress was considerable, as all the SIP panels for the roof are on site, the steel for the roof is
Short Week We had a very short week, as Logan needed a break and headed to Alabama for a long weekend. For the 2+ days we worked, we made good progress. Things will get exciting as we will (hopefully) soon start on the roof. We quickly finished up the last two walls to complete the
Walls going up This week was all about putting up walls and we made good progress without major mishaps. We’re a bit over halfway done with the fourth row of logs out of six. As we refine our process we’re making faster progress and doing better work, although the approach is still not what anyone
Ramping up… I hope As usual, we didn’t get as far as I had hoped, but progress was made and nobody was hurt. A couple of Logan’s friends showed up, plus we got rained out for a day, so we only got about three and a half days of work but we completed the second
HUGE Sill Logs! This was our first work with logs, and of course you start with the bottom (sill) logs that are the most difficult, and also the biggest. Logan, cleverly, took most of this week off to spend with Sabrina, so Tom came over to take his place. The progress is described below, followed
Not much progress, but not zero progress Everything seemed to conspire against making progress this week. The weather was unusually wet, we swapped out the excavator for a telehandler (which took time), Sabrina arrived so Logan is taking some time off, my truck died (temporarily) in a highly inconvenient spot, and of course there was
Too fast! Mistakes! And good luck? This week was ambitious and so we had to move fast. This led to mistakes, and of course problems happen even without making mistakes. And in the end we ran into a major problem… but at exactly the right time. As a result, we began a pivot and will
The original plan for this week was to backfill the cellar, set up and pour footings for the walls, and then work on the stem walls. We changed this by shifting to dirt work after the footings so we could access the main floor with the excavator for leveling. Also, I changed up the schedule
This week saw some progress, but it was also frustrating. The images below show the progress. The frustration was largely due to my ignorance of concrete and flawed thinking on what Wylie would like. The ignorance was that I didn’t figure on time needed for concrete to cure before backfilling. The flawed thinking was that
Logan arrived, and we have had a busy week, not without hiccups and dumb-ass attacks. We finally finished up the cistern, applying 2 more coats of sealant. I used a fan with dryer venting that Wylie and I made to blow in fresh air before going into the cistern. Additionally, I parked the tractor over
Over the past week or so I have been trying to get going so we can hit the ground running when Logan arrives. Most of the supplies are ordered and the following images show the process of getting the new camp up. We dug holes to set posts, then built a simple 2 by 4
There was plenty of melting since my last visit a month ago. Side by side photos shown below are dramatic. May 6 April 9 The cistern appears to be in good shape. I need to get inside it to seal it in June. May 6 April 9 The tractor (covered in tarps) was almost buried
I hiked up to Skookum today and found — no surprise — LOTS of snow. The top of the cistern air vent is just under the tripod and about a foot out of the snow. I painted the air vent black and built a tripod to protect it from animals. The cistern last fall. The
Preparing for 2023. The garage is full of Insulated Concrete Forms (ICFs), a pallet of cement, concrete dye, sealant, and more. We won’t be completely ready, but it should be better than last year. At the end of the summer in 2022, we bought a truck. It has a dumptruck bed so we can haul
I am a little out of sync with the posts. Lately nearly all the work has been devoted to the cistern, and we will soon be shutting down for the winter. The idea was to backfill as we poured to support the foam outer walls. Besides — can you believe it — we finally got
Finally, we are on to the cistern. With help from Hunter and Steve, we got the base poured. Logan hauled the mixer/pump up to the cistern site with the excavator. Motion again! Steve and Hunter helped make the floor pour a smooth operation.
Logan returned from Alabama, but there was a delay in getting an excavator. And of course there is the never ending saga of getting gravel. During this time we made progress with the spring and spring box, plus I showed the road to another trucking company who decided not to deliver gravel. The good news
Nash and Logan both departed, so only Wylie and I have been working for the last two weeks, which means progress has slowed considerably. Still, progress has been made, plus Logan will be coming back soon to hopefully kick the project back into high gear.
The crew of Logan, Sabrina, and Nash have left and thus there is a lull in the project. My knee finally said “ENOUGH” and I could barely get up and down the stairs for several days. We still have not gotten gravel delivered for the next concrete pours. The good news is that Logan will
With Mark staying to help, we’ve made good progress and have poured the walls of the spring box. This involved operating the mixer/pump for the first time plus some hard labor. So far, so good. Stages of building the form for the spring box. We started with 2-inch foam insulation walls, then put a rebar
Disaster! Much has happened, but the biggest event was we had a serious accident. Logan was badly cut and broke a bone in his finger, resulting in a trip to the emergency room. The accident occurred while trying to fabricate a wooden spoon with a circular saw, with assistance from Mark — everyone involved feels
We are largely held up because we do not have gravel nor have we gotten the cement mixer/pump hauled up the mountain and positioned. This probably isn’t that bad, as several projects have been polished. The waterline is buried from the spring box location to the cistern location, and then from the cistern to the