Winter Fun

Sorry to all who have been watching for a new Post. I have been lazy.
We have kept busy with Holiday activities and travel. We spent Christmas here in Indiana and then right after Christmas we drove to Centralia Illinois to visit Sue Ann's parents. We had a nice visit there and enjoyed the trip.
We've been to our cabin for a mid November trip, a mid Dec. trip, and we were there for a very nice 4 day New Years vacation. We toasted the New Year in front of a roaring Wood Stove fire and a crisp 5 degrees outside. We have enjoyed Snowshoeing for the first time. It is really fun and great exercise. We also installed a new floor in the bathroom. That is the only work we have done for a few months. We will begin putting up the inside wall covering in the spring. Looking forward to that task.
We hope to have the cabin finished by July.
I have uploaded several photos taken this winter. Hope you enjoy them.
If you have any questions about them please reply with a comment.

That's all for now.

October 4th

Here is an update on our progress at the Cabin in MI. We have been up there for three weekends in a row, feverishly working on preparing for cold weather. That includes Insulation in the ceilings and walls, installing Electric Baseboard Heaters, and finally installing a Wood Burning Stove. It took 2/1/2 weekends of working all day Saturday and half days on Sunday to complete the Insulation. Sue Ann did most of the outside walls with R-19 batting insulation and I put up the R-38 batting insulation in the ceilings. The Cathedral ceiling was a real challenge. We put in over 3,000 staples by hand. I estimate that I climbed and 8 foot ladder 250 times, just for the ceiling in the great room. Talk about leg cramps at night, I sympathize with my Mom. She suffers from leg cramps and now I realize how painful they are. Anyway, we finished up the last section of ceiling this past Friday night. We did this after driving 5 hours. We arrived at 10pm and it was already 34 degrees outside. So the decision to close up the ceiling before we went to bed was easy to make. We used a kerosene heater that night, and it was quite warm inside. The next morning (Saturday) I wired up the baseboard electric heaters that we had purchased. They fired right up and brought the temperature inside to 72 degrees with ease. We are very happy about that. Next project, install a chimney through the roof and build a raised hearth to set the wood stove on. We had made a decision a week earlier to put the wood burner in the corner of the main room. This seems to be a nice fit that does not rob us of valuable floor space for furniture. Anyway, Saturday was a long day of planning and measuring and cutting holes and installing chimney sections and roof flashing. What an ordeal.  I got it finished at about 4pm in the afternoon. After a short nap it was on to the Hearth. I made it using 2 x 6 lumber, ¾” OSB board and ½” thick Concrete Board. The last material is for fireproofing under the stove itself. After nailing all this together we called it a night. While I was doing that chore, Sue Ann was laying out a very nice Natural Slate Tile arrangement on the floor. She did this in advance so that the actual setting of the tiles would go smoothly.Sunday morning and we did some last minute preparations to the hearth deck prior to mixing up a batch of floor adhesive. We stopped long enough to cook eggs ands cornbread on our new Electric Range! Yum.It took us 30 minutes to set the tiles and clean up the mess. We did great. At 2: oo we headed for Indiana. We are very excited about our next trip up in two weeks to finish the woodstove and fire it up.An update on my Dad: After 13 days in Intensive Care, he was released on Sunday afternoon. It was a very tough surgery for him and he is pretty weak, but he is looking forward to building energy up so that he can get down to Florida before it freezes here! 

Here are some photos taken in the last few weeks. Hope you enjoy reading this. (I think I am rambling too much.)

Bye,

Randy

 

Middle of September

Hi All!
Wow, the summer flew by didn’t it? We are into the cooler weather already, at least up north.
Sue Ann and I worked our rear ends off last weekend putting up insulation. We were able to do this because (smile) my electrical work passed Inspection. What a relief for me as I really worked hard at doing a good job. I’m happy. We are a little over half way done with insulation. I estimate that I have squeezed our staple gun over 2,000 times and I have a blister to show for it!
Here are photos of our small trailer loaded with Insulation, and what the walls look like now.

You know how I like guns!

After we finish up the insulation, I will be doing the Wood Stove installation. We have picked out a stove and the chimney components. Looking forward to that project. I dream of the day that we fire up the stove and feel that warmth coming off.
We have also chosen the Knotty Pine wall covering. We will purchase it locally and probably begin nailing it up in early spring.
I have one more thing to mention before I end. My dad is going to have Surgery next week to repair the same ailment that John Connaway suffered from. This is tough surgery as John can attest to. We are hoping and praying for a quick recovery for Harold and Mary Lou.

Photos from Connaway Anniversary and B-Day

Mid August Update

Wow, the summer has flown by rapidly! We are heading into cool weather here in Indiana already. It is getting down into the low 50’s at night. In Michigan the mercury is dipping into the high 30’s in early morning. When we are up at our cabin, we are using sleeping bags at night. They feel very toasty warm when you are in them, zipped up tight, especially if there happens to be a warm blooded Beagle in there with you, but when you wake up at 5:30 with an urge to go to the bathroom, it is a mental battle to unzip that bag and dash to the toilet. Our cabin has no insulation in it and it gets very cold inside at night. We are going up this weekend and one of the items I am packing in the Jeep is a Kerosene heater.
I am sure it will get fired up during that 5:30 am dash for relief! Since Sue Ann does not know how to operate the Kero Heaters, I am sure that I will be involved in the early morning dash, even if I don’t need to be.
John and Vivian Connaway celebrated their 60th Wedding Anniversary this month. Family and friends gathered for the event and Vivian’s 80th birthday was also celebrated. Sue Ann’s sister and niece traveled from California for the events. We enjoyed their visit especially while they were able to stay with us in Ossian. We enjoyed eating too much and watching the Olympics with them.
I will upload some photo highlights in the next posting, that were taken by Sue Ann. I did not go to Centralia with the girls. I was in Michigan trying to finish up the wiring on the cabin so that we can have an Inspection done. I was able to complete all the wiring except for a couple lights that need to be installed in the crawl space. The County Code requires that several safety features be in place and the crawl space lights are just one of them. I took Cooper, our 5 year old male Beagle with me. I violated Sue Ann’s rules for Dog safety by allowing Cooper to ride in the front seat of the Jeep during the drive up. It is a 5 hour trip and I enjoyed his company. He did fine. He also kept tabs on me while I worked alone in the cabin. I ran a line, about 75 feet long, from the cabin porch post to a tree out in the front yard. I attached his 15 foot leash to this line, giving him quite a bit of freedom to wander and hunt for Ground Squirrels. He had a nice time and was no trouble at all. And he did enjoy that warm sleeping bag at night.
This week my Dad is having tests run at one of the larger Hospitals in Fort Wayne. They will help to determine the best treatment for an Aneurysm very similar to the one that John Connaway had repaired earlier this summer. We are hoping and praying for a positive outcome and speedy recovery for Harold. He wants to get back to Florida with Mary Lou and their Pets as fast as possible!
We hope to do some relaxing this weekend at the cabin. I will celebrate my 56th Birthday on Friday. My gift is a big hammock! I can’t wait to find a couple stout trees to hang it from. I am sure Sue Ann will take a photo so that I can show you my gift. We also intend to get those Kayaks wet. We have worked so hard this summer that we have not had them out once. Should be fun.
That’s all I have for now. I’ll post more after this weekend.
Take Care!

Busy Summer

Hello to all.

It's been quite a while since I have done an update so here goes.
Right now I am sitting at the kitchen table with Vivian Connaway. She is asking me to tell her a joke! I will keep it clean! We are in Illinois for a long overdue visit. It's been fun to catch up on news, and see for ourselves how well John is doing after his surgery. He seems fine.
Next weekend we travel to Michigan for another weekend of Wiring. Hopefully the last one. I just need to run some lighting in the crawl space and tie up some loose ends here and there. Then we wait for an Inspector to come out to the cabin and look over my work. I hope he likes what he sees.
We took time to go to Cleveland last weekend to visit the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with Sue Ann's cousin Cathy and her family. I really enjoyed visiting the home in Euclid Ohio where I attended Grades 7 through 9. Is was really nice to see that my old school and house are still looking fine. It was a fun "overnight" for all of us. I have included a couple photos of the trip and also some photos taken in Michigan.
It's been a busy and quick summer so far.
Here are the photos. A self portrait by Sue Ann.This is our favorite place to go to dinner while we are at the cabin. This resturant overlooks a very nice lake.

Indoor Plumbing!!

Finally we are seeing the fruits of our labor on the cabin. Last weekend I was able to hook up the stool, shower and a utility sink. Plus we have hot water! We are moving ever closer to being able to stay inside the cabin on weekends. I am about a fourth of the way done on the wiring, and I hope to get most of it completed over the Fourth of July weekend as we will will be there for 4 full days. We will take the Kayaks along on the next trip also. Too much work and no play is not good, so we hope to do some exploring of one of the nearby lakes by Kayak.

We have been taking our dogs with us on the last few trips and they seem to enjoy being up there. Sue Ann has kept the dogs busy with walks and she has also taken several great photos. See the shots she has taken below.

Our neighbors on both side of us are really nice folks, and we enjoy seeing them and comparing notes on cabin construction. We have also visited several resturants in the area and we have found all the people up there to be very friendly and helpful.

We are very happy with the area we chose and now we live for the weekends in Michigan!

June News

Hi all,

It's been a while since my last posting so here goes.
Sue Ann's father is healing from a major surgery, as I mentioned on the last post. He seems to be doing well, although his strength was sapped by the procedure. Sue Ann and her sister stayed with her parents for as long as they needed to and now they are both back home. I missed Sue Ann BIG TIME!

I spoke to John on the phone recently and although he is still very weak, he seems to be getting back to normal.

Sue Ann and I went to Michigan this past weekend to work and to relax. I think we accomplished both tasks. Our Plumber is nearly done and the wiring is on hold until the plumbing has been inspected. I have installed a trap door that gives us access to our crawl space from inside the cabin. This access door should come in handy during bad weather.

The danger of forest fires has been high all spring. The sandy soil in our area sucks any moisture up right away, leaving the underbrush very dry.We have missed a campfire so badly, that we purchased a free standing fire pit with a screen so that we can safely have a fire. We have all the firewood we will ever need right on our property, so we can now enjoy the glow of a campfire whenever we want to. Here is a photo of the trial run, before we put the screen on top.

I also took some time to take a few photos of nature with my Canon. I hope you enjoy these shots.




That's all for now...........Take Care

Work at the Cabin

Hi everyone.

Just a quick update today.

My Dad and I went to Michigan this past weekend and got several chores done.

We installed an attic storage space 8 feet x 12 feet. No easy task lifting those sheets of plywood!

We also framed a wall in the kitchen and started putting up outlet boxes. We had a great time and my Dad got to see the area. I am not sure if I will go up next weekend.

Some not so good news concerning Sue Ann's parents. Her Dad had surgery on Monday of this week to repair an Abdominal Aneurysm. The surgery took 6 hours and the recovery process has been horribly painful for John. He is doing better today. Sue Ann and her Sister, Wynn are with him and also caring for Vivian, John's wife. Vivian is holding up well. Please keep them in your prayers.

I am sole caregiver of the Beagles for a few weeks. They miss Mom badly.

Later,
Randy

Happy Mother's Day to you Sue!

Happy Mom's Day to you from Randy.

I love you!

Mother's Day Weekend

Hi All,

We are staying home in Indiana this weekend. We have been busy with several Ossian based projects and we look forward to spending the day with my Mom and sisters tomorrow.

I have been busy planning the Electrical layout of our cabin. The Plumber will start next week and he should be done in a few days. So that will put the ball in my court, so to speak. I hope to be traveling up to MI next weekend to start running wiring. I may take a couple days of vacation so that I can get a good start. We spent a few hours today picking out ceiling fans and lighting fixtures.
I have to be very frugal on wiring because of the high price of copper wire. I paid $80 for one 250 foot spool of wire this week. And that is just a small amount compared to what I will need later. I framed in the shower stall last weekend and ran addition outlets for construction purposes. I spent some quality time down in our crawl space under the cabin. It has a very small door, that I have to back into while on my hands and knees. I have ripped out the crotch on 2 pair of jeans so far.
I may need to go in naked the next time to save on the cost of jeans.
We were the only people on our road last weekend so it was very quiet and peaceful.
We also had some free time to explore the area. We were advised to not leave our newly purchased bird feeder out at night due to bear problems! YEEHAWW! BEARS!
We visited the nearest lake (5 miles away) and we were pleasantly surprised to find a very nice boat ramp and crystal clean water. There is a State Campground on this lake and Trout fishing is available there.
We found out where we can dump our garbage and that the cost is included in out taxes.
We also ate at a very nice restaurant in Lewiston MI. We were seated at a table overlooking a very beautiful lake that is supposed to be full of Pike and Musky and Walleye. I can hardly wait to have time to fish!

Here is a photo that Sue Ann took after I finished the shower framing.
Later
Randy

Cabin Update

Hi,
We closed on the cabin Saturday, the 26th, so we are officially the owners, and the contractors. It was very exciting to walk out of the brokers office and head back to OUR cabin!
We did stop for a celebration beverage, but just one.

We met our new neighbors, on both side of us. Together we all own the road and share the responsibility of maintaining it. Our first group decision was to investigate installation of a gate at the end of our road. This gate will hopefully eliminate any traffic down our way. It is a dead end, gravel road about 1/8 mile long.

We met with 3 Plumbing contractors on Sunday before we drove home. We have now chosen one and he will begin the rough plumbing next week. I decided to pass on the plumbing and do the Electrical myself. What would take me several weekends to accomplish can be done by an experienced plumber in 2 days. Not worth the time and gas it will take to drive up there every weekend.

We have parked the RV up in MI for the next few months and it will serve as sleeping and eating quarters while we toil away. We took the Beagles along on this recent trip. Here is a photo of the RV, cabin and Beagles.

We are going up again this coming weekend to do some framing in the bathroom and to add another electrical outlet for the sub contractor. We will also do some shopping for a heating stove. That should be fun.

By the way, in light of the soaring gas prices, I have purchased a second car that runs on water. It will save us a few bucks.

Not!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Just checking to see if you are paying attention:)

Bye for now,

Randy

Finally Feels Like Spring

Hi,

It's Saturday morning and we are getting ready to tackle a list of chores. Nothing too exciting. I think we have to return a painting to the Library and make a run through Walmart. We have been checking out paintings from the Library all winter. They are full sized, framed prints that we have been hanging over our fireplace mantle. We get to enjoy them for 2 months and then we return them and choose another. It's been fun.

We will close on the Cabin in Michigan next Saturday. That's exciting for us, as we are really pumped about starting the Plumbing work. That's the next step towards finishing out the interior of the cabin. We will take the RV up with us, and leave it there for a few months. It will serve as our sleeping and eating quarters this summer. We found out yesterday that the cabins on either side of us are now sold. So we are anxious to meet our new neighbors. It will be fun to hear about their plans and compare them to ours.

Not much else to report. The coming week will be busy, as we prepare for next weekend. We intend to load the RV down with building tools and supplies. We are also planning on taking Beagles with us so it will be a fun packed trip! Sue Ann will follow me with the Jeep. Then we can leave the RV and drive the Jeep home next Sunday.

That's what's happening right now. Have a safe week everyone!

PS

I noticed a Robin nesting in our big Pine tree in the front yard of our Ossian home.
I took a few quick photos before the light went away. Here is one of them.

Staying home this weekend!

For the first time in a month, we are not traveling north to Michigan.
Closing on the cabin will probably be next Saturday. So we intend to pack the Jeep full of tools and materials for use on the cabin and drive up there on Friday night. I have spent a few hours walking around in the local building supply stores. I am taking written and mental notes about all the areas involved in the finishing of our cabin. I have not made up my mind about how much of the impending work to do myself. We need to provide all of the plumbing, electrical and finish carpentry in order to complete our cabin. I believe I am capable of doing all this work, but how long it would take is another matter. We would like to be done with all this work in one year. But, if I do it all myself, then one year seems too aggressive.
I may have to farm out some of the work. If I had to choose what to sub out today, I would choose the plumbing. I say this because I am still not confident that I understand all the codes associated with Plumbing. I have come to realize that correct plumbing plans are critical. If you mess up on the plumbing, the results can be ugly. Drains are the tough part. Proper venting is very important. If you get it wrong, you end up with a slow flushing toilet, and stinky odors in the house. Not to mention clogged drains. I don't want this to happen, so I am thinking of going with a plumber for this part.
I have more confidence in the Electrical area. Plus I have the added benefit of advise from my Dad and my brother in law, Steve. My Dad is a retired Electrical Engineer. Steve has done a lot of wiring on his own projects. I feel fine about tackling this myself, with their advise and help. Inside carpentry is the part I look forward to. That involves putting up the interior wall coverings, framing and installing kitchen and bathroom cabinets and all interior doors, etc.
We are planning on using Knotty Pine throughout the entire cabin. No drywall! We want to capture the "up north" cabin feeling.

Looks like I have some chores to do here at home also. The grass needs to be mowed, and the shrubs could use some attention.
It's going to be a very busy summer.
Bye for now.