It’s ironic how often plans disintegrate as soon as you try to put them into motion. This blog series is a case in point. The day after I started it, I found myself sitting in a doctor’s office, getting diagnosed with a bad sinus infection. Ugh.
I wound up with a splitting migraine by the end of the week, when I should have been typing up the second installment.
So here we are, weeks later. I’m finally recovered-ish, and thankfully done with my anti-biotics, which required me to stay out of the sun — quite the task when you are camping full time. Still, it was nice to actually lay in the hammock I’d put up weeks before and do some reading. I’m enjoying Mark Sundeen’s The Unsettlers, despite it being from a religious and political perspective that is very different than my own. It’s interesting that the goodness in homesteading is apparent to so many different kinds of people. I think it speaks to the desire deep within us to live in a way more in tune with the rest of creation.
While I was convalescing the last couple weeks, Bonnie-Jean and Grace were busy helping to dig the rest of the holes for the bunk house footings. Both our brothers had some time off from work, so that made things go faster — though not as quickly as we hoped due to all the rocks. Still, the family enjoyed working all together. Even the kids got involved!
We finally got down to our minimum footing depth last Wednesday, so that was exciting!
On Thursday, we put up our batter boards. It may sound backwards putting up the boards after the footings were dug — because it is. We had planned to put in batter boards with wooden stakes weeks ago, but the wood stakes kept breaking on the rocks. So — we ordered some nail stakes from Home Depot, and they finally arrived on Wednesday. The guys drove the stakes into the ground, and then we attached the boards using a water level.
We decided to double check certain aspects of our foundation plan before putting the string line in place. The slope of our site is more severe than we realized, and we want to make sure our piers will work in that scenario. Since we are spending this week in town taking care of a bunch of errands, it’s the perfect time to get organized for the concrete work.
Along with all the hard work, we’ve had some fun the last couple of weeks. We played several card games around the picnic table with friends. We sipped sodas cooled in the spring on warm afternoons, and we drank too many cups of hot chocolate on the surprisingly cold evenings. The cooler weather has made the fireside positively delightful and campfire cooking the method of choice. Bonnie-Jean has whipped up several batches of her famous campfire hash, as well as her version of The Pioneer Woman’s Migas. These days we have this sort of big breakfast for dinner, opting for quick choices like cereal or oatmeal in the morning. We have been loving the outdoor life, even if the tepid water in the solar showers has been an adjustment! As the weather turns colder, a canvas tent and woodstove may be in our future.
HOMESTEAD SISSIES 