Another Wilderness Excursion

I`m going to try again this weekend to put the roof on ``the Ozark Hilton``; unfortunately, I won`t be able to get there until dark tonight, so may not be able to post anything tomorrow. I have never worked with steel roofing before, and I fear it will be far more difficult than anticipated (it usually is).

I am no Dick Proenneke (actually, the quality and ease of his work bugs the HE-double-hockey- sticks out of me!) and when I build something it is generally somewhat imperfect; actually it usually works but looks terrible. I expect no less from this roofing business, and will be surprised if everything works as planned. If I succeed at getting it to keep the rain out, and don`t break a bone in the process, I will be a happy man!

Right now the cabin is 16X11, which gives me room for a couch, a chair, and a cot and not much else. My ultimate ambition is to add another, larger structure-one 32X16 on the back of the existing cabin, then the original can either be a kitchen or bedroom. I`ve learned a lot from my original building, and the addition will be much easier to build, although I`ll need much more in the way of materials to complete it. I may opt to build a more rustic structure using natural materials. The problem is that my land was logged a number of years back, and I don`t have trees that could be used to build a classic log cabin. I will have to find some alternative way of doing things; I have investigated vertical logs in the manner of French Colonial Houses or Forts, cordwood (making a woodpile and chinking to form a wall)in the Swedish manner would probably be too heavy without a foundation wall, which I simply cannot do given the difficulty of digging in that rocky ground. Wattle and Daub-weaving twigs and plastering-may be my best bet, although I have not dismissed sawing some deadwood into shingles; I think that may be too much work. (Everything is too much work down there with no electricity.) A shed roof with a low slope should be easier and cheaper to put on the structure.

I also need to build an outhouse and shower facility; uh, I`ll get right on that!

By the time I get that place the way I want it I`ll be too old to enjoy it! It seems to take forever to do anything, and I`m not getting any younger. I suspect that, like the little red hen, I will have people happy to visit once I have the place done, but nobody wants to come down until that point, so I have to do everything myself. Electricity would be an enormous help down there, but I would have to have the lines run and it would raise my taxes from $7/year up to something I probably would not enjoy paying, so I have tried to do without, and will continue to do so until I have the addition installed. A generator would be nice but I can`t afford a good one, and a camping generator just isn`t worth the money.

Actually, improvements take some of the fun out of the place anyway; the teepee I built out of saplings and old tarps still brings back the fondest of memories, despite the mice, wasps, rain coming through the smokehole, etc. I spent many happy nights in that rude structure, and I really do miss it! The cabin is nice, but seems a bit too civilized sometimes.

At any rate, I plan on laboring all Sunday on my luxurious mansion. I will try to post something when I get home, if I am not too tired. Please bear with me (I really shouldn`t use the word bear when talking about my wilderness excursion!) and I`ll be back in the saddle soon!