New Life in the Woods

Sorry I haven’t posted in a while, but the last couple of weeks have been very busy! Susan, the landlord, showed up on Sunday the 13th and her brother Guy came down from Portland the next day, ostensibly to repair the roof of the main house. By Tuesday morning that plan was abandoned and I was recruited to help tear up several rotting decks around the main house. There was initially talk of building new decks but that plan evolved into putting Tin flashing around the base of the house and then filling in the spaces where the decks used to be with gravel. The next day a dump truck, trailer and bobcat were rented to cart away a bunch of the trash around the property, bring gravel up from the shale quarry, spread more gravel around the driveway down to the cabin, and clear off the space above the hidden underground room so that a barn or something could (eventually) be constructed on top of that foundation. The trailer was also to be used to bring in a load of dry wall for the cabin so that I could continue repairs down there at a later date.

It turned out that the “gravel” from the shale quarry was more a mixture of dirt, gravel, and rocks which had the unfortunate effect of making the driveway (on one side at least) pretty much unusable. The small Bobcat that had been rented didn’t have the power to push it around very well, flatten it, or crush it. So, after all the decks were demolished at the main house I spent a couple days bashing rocks with a maul to break them down into smaller chunks that would, hopefully be more manageable for the Bobcat. It didn’t help much, but I got some great bruises on my shins from flying rock splinters and at the end of the second day was attacked by a swarm of bees. Pretty discouraging all-in-all and I was feeling pretty badly used at that point. Susan had had to leave the day before so it was just Guy and me from that point on.

Here you can see where one of the old decks was removed and some of the damage to the wood siding on the main house. We were working 10-12 hour days (far longer than I had tried to do on my own up to this point) in 90+ degree weather and I went through about a gallon and a half of water or other liquids each day, sweating all of it out. Around this time Guy discovered a leak in the water pipes leading to the main house, right where the main shut off valve was, so that became another project. On Friday the 18th I dug out all the rocks and dirt around that pipe and discovered that some past tenant had replaced the PVC with cheap black irrigation pipe, spliced together in short sections with pipe clamps. I dug out the entire length of the pipe over to the driveway and (finally) discovered where it joined up to the remaining PVC pipes on the other side where those pipes run down from the water tanks up the hill.

Here you can see the remains of the decks plus other old wood piled up for burning once the rains start again in the Fall. Guy and I both took the weekend off to recover a bit and then went shopping on Monday to get new PVC to replace the water pipes. That same day a new bulldozer of sorts was delivered and that was used to finish scraping off the roof over the underground room and scrape the driveways flat. It was also used to dig a trench across the driveway where we would put down the new water pipe.

Here you can see how much better the driveway was after the new earthmover was used a few times on it. Unfortunately, there were still a few big rocks left here and there and one of them knocked the muffler off my car. On Tuesday, after repairing my muffler, I finished work on laying down the new pipes, cutting, and gluing them together. We also made another trip to get a gate for the entrance to the driveway and we spent the last half of the day boring holes for the posts to hold the gate and then mounting it.

Wednesday morning Guy had planned to work on jacking up the main part of the house to fix the foundation a bit, since it had evidently subsided over the years and the floors were very uneven inside. It was thought that this should be done first before the work on the outside walls was done, the inside floor repaired, or the roof rebuilt (not to mention the gravel shoveled into the space where the decks used to be). However, a planned power outage by Pacific Power foiled that plan and Guy had to leave mid-day. So, in the end, the roof didn’t get repaired, nor the floor inside (damaged by last years rains), nor the siding around the house, or the tin flashing, so the gravel couldn’t be shoveled in.

On the plus side, I did get a load of dry wall delivered plus some wood to make scaffolding (so I can reach the vaulted ceiling in the living room), I got paid a bit, and I got new gravel on the driveway, which should make it a lot easier to get up and down during the Winter rains and snows. We also cleared out a lot of trash, including the old water heaters from both buildings, the old wood stoves, an old gas stove and toilet that were under the cabin, and about a ton of other stuff from around the property.

Susan was very concerned about how much a new roof for the main house was going to cost her, and seemed very upset and depressed about all the other work that Guy determined should be done first, but the main house is in better shape now, ready for some of those other repairs to get underway. Another leak in the water system was fixed and the main house has a proper water line now, protected under the driveway by a larger pipe surrounding it. There is also a locked gate that should help keep vandals out, something I know she has wanted for some time.

I have spent the last several days resting and recovering, letting my new blisters heal, but I am now ready to get back to work on some of the tasks left for me to complete here, plus the dry wall, and my job search. You can see the rest of the pictures of the recent work on my Flickr site. Meanwhile, my garden has been making backward progress. I have kept it watered but the peas and spinach were largely done in by the heat and this morning I went up and found a rather large rabbit sitting calmly eating the last of my spinach. I spread some fertilizer and watered again, but it is time to finish fixing the fence, get some more mulch, and replant half the garden… so I’ll be working on that as time allows and I’ll keep you updated.

I had a great visit last week from a friend of Mari and Jerry’s named Donna… and her charming dog named Bessie. It spurred me to get some cleaning and straightening done before the visit. The cabin is still not completely cleaned up, but it is much better. We made a nice dinner and talked late out on the deck. The next day, following a good brunch, we went down to the Applegate river and explored a bit. The river was quite warm and Donna even swam a bit, although Bessie was a little more timid. I was with Bessie. I didn’t have shorts so I passed, but it was very peaceful and beautiful and we all had fun.

The rain keeps trickling in… just as the Summer heat has kicked up a notch. It got up to 102 in downtown Grants Pass late last week. It was in the mid 90s in the shade up at the cabin. Friday night we had a Thunder storm from about 8-9 p.m. with moderate rain, which was a big help to the garden, especially since the water had stopped running from the Spring pump a couple days previously. You can see two limbs of a tree that broke in the high winds here during the thunder storm. The limb in the lower left was still living, the one in the lower right wasn’t. Huge Fir trees around the cabin were moving visibly from side to side in the high wind. It was exciting!

In this picture you can see that the dead limb actually landed across the driveway (see the debris in the driveway to the right of the downed limb) right into the area where I used to park my car all the time. I have lately been parking further down the driveway in the shade where the hose from the spring box terminates, so I can fill up water containers there and bring them up to the garden in the car. Good thing I switched parking areas!

It turned out that the hose from the spring pump was plugged with mud. I dithered for a couple days trying to figure out whether I could connect an old hand pump I found out in the woods to the hose to force the blockage out. Finally I disconnected the hose at the spring box and at another spot a little further down where an extender connects two pieces and simply blew through the hose. That did the trick. I put a screen over the outflow drain in the spring box and plugged a leak in the floor, sort of. The water started flowing strongly again through the hose all the way down to the driveway where I fill my water containers. Today it had stopped flowing again and I went back to find that that leak in the floor of the spring box had opened up again. I may have to dig out the clay I put at the bottom to plug up those leaks and replace it with cement or something. Maybe plastic will work as a stopgap.

Meanwhile, I have been working on fixing some of the sheet rock here and there at the cabin and continuing to work on the garden, particularly the fence. It has been too hot to do a lot of work outside, but if I wait until the afternoon it cools off a bit and I can still get stuff done.

In other news, I did see a rabbit on the lower stretch of the driveway the other day, so maybe Mari was right about what was eating my veggies. I may need to get some chicken wire to keep them out since the mesh of the fence, especially in back, is big enough to let them through. I have also seen a hawk (probably), a baby deer (a few days old maybe), another grey fox or possibly a coyote (not sure), and lots of wood peckers recently. The picture shows the woodpecker but doesn’t quite capture his brilliant red crest. They are very hard to catch a good shot of since they are always moving and pecking and spot me moving in to take pictures right away.

My next tasks: find some straw or something to mulch the garden much better and find a job. I have decided to just go apply at the local supermarkets, etc., so I can have some money coming in. I have lots of mixed emotions about it, but it can be a temporary thing, a stepping stone so to speak. Anyway, I am still out here, still making progress, and the cabin is ready (more or less) for more visitors. So, all of you start thinking about when you can get some time to come on up. You will enjoy the visit and you can give me an excuse to explore the area some more!