It's hard to believe we've been here for over three weeks now. This past week has been utterly exhausting, feeling like a perpetual Groundhog Day with the same tasks repeated endlessly. So, you'll be pleased to know this week's blog will be short and sweet. What were we up to? Trees. Lots of trees.
We started by felling and processing a few trees. Then, an executive decision was made: drop all of them at once. This way, they'd all be down, and we could process them in one go. Was it a smart decision? Yes and no. Yes, because it allowed us to work together efficiently on each step. No, because navigating around everything became quite treacherous. I'm happy to report that all the trees were down by the end of Friday.
Next, Cat used the DeWalt chainsaw to remove all the limbs, tossing them over our internal fence line. We're accumulating quite a pile of debris in the open area, which we'll wood chip as needed. Rick, meanwhile, was measuring and cutting the logs into five-foot lengths with his chainsaw. After a few days, we were surrounded by a sea of logs, a truly overwhelming sight.
Finally, it was stacking time. Actually, before that, we restacked. We had a few piles from our last trip that we weren't happy with, so we moved them. We hate doing things twice, but reclaiming some of our open space was worth it. About a day into stacking, Rick felt incredibly overwhelmed. He suggested we just clear the cabin area, given how many steps we need to complete before winter. I convinced him to give it a few more days. Needless to say, we made such great progress that he decided to see it through. Today, we finally finished this evening. Holy crap. We don't want to deal with another log for a long time!
So, what's next on the agenda? Tonight, we marked off all the cabin corners. Tomorrow, we'll be cleaning and clearing that area. There are many broken limbs, pine needles, and vines to deal with, plus some tree stumps that need trimming to avoid interfering with construction.
We're taking a much-needed break on Saturday and Sunday, heading to the Self Reliance Festival in Camden. We're so excited! We'll get to meet some YouTubers we enjoy watching, and there will be great demos and presentations. I'm especially looking forward to checking out the vendors and connecting with like-minded people.
Next week, rain is in the forecast, so we hope to get the footers in. But first, we need to secure a large water supply and place a big order at the local hardware and lumber store. Yes, we brought a lot of cabin supplies with us, but we held off on some items due to concerns about space and weight. Besides, most prices were better here, and they deliver for about $35. A win-win for us!
In other news, We updated the insurance for the camper and Jeep today. What a price difference! We're saving so much money. We also helped M & M pack up and head to their new land. It's going to be a great spot for them, and as a bonus, their trees are already down; they just need to do some dirt work.
Stay tuned for what comes next.
Remember Small Steps Get You Miles
Rick & Cat
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