Wow! It’s been a long time since my last post and there has been a lot going on.

On two different occasions I’ve spent a week out in shanty town. Mostly it was a fun and rewarding experience with a few “Ah shits”, some “DOH!” and a couple “What in the world am I doing?”

As expected ice is the limiting factor. No ice, no fresh food after a day. No ice, no mixed drink. Both are show stoppers which send me scampering back to town. I have a line on an old propane refrigerator that will partially solve the problem if I can get it to work. An alternative is a small freezer that I power up twice a day at the lowest setting till it shuts off. However for now a week is a good round number to put in before a hot shower and roof that doesn’t leak.

The first week it was pretty cold at night and I kept the propane heater cranked. The second there were two cold nights which was odd since it was in the 80s during the day. Thankfully I had an extra propane bottle so I could cook. I didn’t run the heater all night so I

had to get up several times a night to heat the place up then shut down and go back to sleep. I always knew when it was time to light it off since the boy would be standing next to me nudging me.

When I would wake up he would sit and stare at the heater. After he got over the hissing sound it makes he fell in love with it. I have a wood burning stove out there but need to put down backer board, cut holes for the chimney, put in the chimney and seal the stove. With temps in the 80s mostly I’ll use propane for the occasional cold night and install the stove this summer.

I’ve done a lot of brush clearing. It takes at least three passes to get the brush cleared and managed. First you have to rough cut. This leaves stumps anywhere from a few inches high to about 18 inches. I just zip through waving the cutter and let it fall. Then you have to haul the brush out and burn it. After burning an area you go back and cut out the stumps. At that point you can finally tell how much fill will be needed. In a lot of cases it is further complicated by the dozens of old, rotten logs about. They all have heartwood that is still hard as rock. When you hit one of these with the cutter it goes who knows where so you quickly learn to be balanced and out of the way.

Here’s a view of my front yard. My property runs all the way to the trees in the back and then some. The swamp starts just before the trees. I want to clear all the way to the swamp which is a huge task. The small drum is my burn barrel for plastic, treated wood, left over food and anything else that I don’t want to put in the soil. I burn leftovers so as not to attract unwanted attention from potentially dangerous critters. Like bears. The brush pile is waiting on a slow rainy day with no wind. If you blow up the pic you’ll be able to see some of the logs I’ve mentioned.

This is a view of the side yard. More piles of brush and a couple of partially burned out areas. I fear the small pine tree has a short life expectancy. I’m not sure if I’ll put up an awning or build a screened in porch but it will be to close no matter what I do.

Here is another view of the side yard. On the right you can see a track cut that goes back about 100 yards. I’ll be making it wider and putting in a feeder at the end. I have three more tracks planned with feeders. I don’t know if and when I’ll get around to shooting anything but I’m putting in the ability if I do. The trees in the background are about 1/4 of the way across my property. I’ve still not found a way back so I’ve only seen a small portion of what I bought so far.

This is sort of the back yard. Even when finished it won’t be very big. I’m going back about another 6 or 8 feet clearing then quit. The track
 is my new driveway and under construction. Once it’s done I’ll clear several feet on either side and put in trifoliate orange, pine trees and blackberries on both sides. If an uninvited guest starts in he will have no choice but to back out unless he can defeat the gate which might prove deadly for him. The sign on the gate will be a skull and crossbones with the caption “You Were Warned.”

Here are some views of the place from the road. That’s the second floor you can see. I believe once I get it skinned and painted that it’s going to be very hard to notice. I have bamboo planted between it and the parking area which will further help shield it from curious eyes. The bamboo I’ve planted is several species and grows anywhere from 25 feet to about 70. I’m also planning on putting some tree limbs off the side with Spanish Moss to hide it even more. The parking area will be blocked off and planted soon. I’ll put another gate behind some foliage back where the pine tree is just in case I need it. All the brush along the road will eventually be cleared and replaced with blackberries, trifoliate orange and any other nasty plant I can find. I want it very evident that if I don’t know you or you weren’t invited that pulling up to the drive, getting out with hands in plain sight and shouting “Hello” until I respond is the wisest course of action. There have been shootings out here over the years and I don’t intend to become the victim of some hot headed road hunter.

While I was visiting another camp the other day a guy was out checking game cameras. We were in a nice cleared area with several buildings, grass, generator running etc. We heard a shot and looked over to see what was up. He was only about 50 feet from us at the time. When he came back he had this in the back of his ATV. That’s about a four foot copperhead or cottonmouth. I was never sure which. What freaked me was that it was in among all that activity and not out doing other snakeazoid type things. I didn’t hesitate once I got back to the shack. I put on snake boots, rigged up a snake gun and put up with the discomfort of carrying two guns for the duration. Anyone who plans on visiting needs to think about this and come equipped. I have the guns but only one set of boots an’ I’m using them.

That’s about it for now. I’m headed out tomorrow to finish up some small stuff on the roof, get a door on the second floor and maybe get the driveway finished. Then I need to paint, seal and organize. My plans change on an hourly basis and sometimes a minute by minute. But even when I’m sitting on the front porch, bone dead tired and stinking like a pig I feel good because I’m living the dream.

Things are really starting to come together on the shanty with the roof now mostly, all the walls up, windows all in. Of course there are still a gazillion finishing touches left to be touched but for the most part the shack is basically dried in. The daylight in the center of this pic is where I need to cut an 8 inch wide strip of plywood to finish the wall. There are other areas that the plywood is only held on with a kiss and a promise and needs nailing down. Then there is caulking about another gazillion joints which leak light and cold air early in the morning. Not that cold air will be an issue much longer since it was in the 80s today.

Over the past few days I’ve been framing in the front while Randy did the roof. I’m continually amazed at how fast and precise his work is even though he knows this is just a shack in the swamp. For every four pieces of wood I cut and put in at least two are wrong, often requiring heavy grunting to overcome the nails I so joyfully put in. Randy just looks at things, waves a tape measure around, mutters something to himself, then presto, the roof is done. It took me two hours and three tries to put
in three pieces of wood for a hand rail on the balcony. But dam am I having fun.

As I’ve said, I have a punch list several miles long before even the basic structure can be called done not to mention outfitting it. But now I can relax a bit and smell the tequila.

Tomorrow is a day for hotel load. I have to do laundry. Has anyone been to a coin laundry lately? It’s scary. I usually get it started then sit outside with the boy. This will generate a dead zone about twice the length of his leash that no one seems to want to enter.

Then it will be off to the storage war. I have another endless list of stuff to find in my storage units which will make my life luxurious and wholesome. OK. It will make things better but I can wish.

Sunday I might have a tourist who wants to turkey hunt out there. After the grand property tour I’m gonna put his butt to work hauling brush while I cut it down. Hey, it’s a 23 mile walk back to town.

Monday I’ll load up and head out for a week. I wonder if the temptation to sit in the shade and doze will overcome my desire to hang a door on the second floor.

We made decent progress this week by getting the second
floor walls up, windows in and started framing the roof.  I have to admit to having an irrational fear of heights so I was very uncomfortable working hanging off the side of the building by one hand while nailing on plywood. There are still areas that need to be nailed and screwed down but that will be done from an extension ladder. Randy had other pursuits so we wrapped up Wednesday then headed back to town. I spent Thursday sleeping, crawling through my storage and buying material. Friday morning I headed back out with a truck load  of supplies and 60 pounds of ice to spend several days.

The first order of business was to try to introduce some order into the chaos which results from two very exhausted people just tossing stuff at the end of the day. Heh, what a dreamer. By dark I had one side of the shack cleared out with the first coat of paint mostly. By then it was to late and to dark to cook so my Friday rations consisted of two Nutty Buddy bars washed down with two large vodkas. The white paint did wonders for the light level but it was still rather dark for my taste.

Part of the darkness came from my kerosene lamp which puts out a lot of light. When it’s working. I had it cranked up and was enjoying it for both the light and heat when it went TINK! What the hell? I thought. Then it started putting out clouds of thick black smoke. A close look revealed that a tear drop shaped piece of glass had just decided to fall out of the glass chimney thing so it was burning like mad. I blew it out while cussing the fact that I didn’t have a replacement.

Resigned to the fact that I was going to have a dark corner I set up my propane heater. No sir, no more Ziggster pupcicles tonight! Then I realized I had a 20 pound bottle of propane inside a wooden shack with candles and a Coleman lantern burning. So I cranked the heat all the way up, started shedding clothes and stared at it for two hours until I began sweating. I figured I had the shack pretty well sealed so it should hold the heat for a few hours especially with the candles and lantern. I woke up about 3 am and it was cold as in every joint was screaming cold. So back in came the heater and I stared at it until about 4 at which time it went back out and I laid on another sleeping bag. I woke up about 7 when I noticed the sun coming through the window had heated my toes enough that I was getting some feeling back in them.

After I put on a pot of coffee I looked around and realized I could see daylight coming in from every direction and angle. So much for the sealing I did the day before. I set about

sealing out daylight with a passion and painting like mad. When I was done I decided that my kitchen needed some work and set about remodeling it.

The next day was spent mowing my front yard. I use a giant sized Stihl brush cutter and have to stop frequently to clear the brush when mowing. After a few hours I was worn out but much happier with the view from my front porch. It gets pretty old sitting there staring at the same old brush about 15 feet away which never seems to do anything interesting. Now I can stare at brush as far as 200 feet away which never seems to do anything interesting. Well, my front yard goes all the way to the trees in the back of the pic so something interesting is bound to surface. Anyway, I was tired and hungry since I had forgot to eat the day before. (is vodka eating?)

So I set up the gas grill and set the wood chips to soaking. I had visions of a slow grilled T bone, baked potato and corn on the cob. So of course the gas hose for the grill had a leak in it. Cooking a steak on a griddle on a Coleman stove should be a felony but as hungry as I was it was delicious.

Then it was time to get ready for dark and the sub zero arctic conditions which I knew were fast approaching. I had knocked over the gas lantern the night before and needed to replace the wicks which was an easy task. Then I lit it. Holy crap it turned into a ball of flame. There were flames coming from every joint in it which gave me visions of an explosion turning me and the Zigster into crispy critters. So I threw it onto my freshly manicured front yard. It went out. Thinking it was a trap I shut the boy up inside and stared at it for about an hour. Finally I went over and poked it with a stick. Dead. So I stared at it some more then poked it some more. Dead. I’m just not having much luck with flaming devices designed to give off massive quantities of light.

Compared to my first trial run this wasn’t near as miserable. I’ll dig the solar panel, deep cycle battery and electronics out of storage to solve the lighting problem. A new hose will fix the gas grill. I have a wood burning stove so I just need to put in a chimney for heat with the added benefit of some cooking capability. I had an air pump which worked well on the air mattress but I still had to deal with rolling out of it onto the floor then standing up. Some 5 gallon buckets and a piece of plywood will handle that. I easily have enough buckets full of beans, rice, flour, etc. to make a platform.

I’m hoping to get the shack dried in this week then want to try a full week out there. At that point keeping food cold and mixing vodka will become the problem. Well, as they say, be careful what you wish for, you just may get it. I got it.

And I’m loving every minute.

“I’m not going to tell you again, STEP AWAY FROM THE TRUCK!“

Well, we’ve had some excitement this week.

Things started well after the weekend off so about Tuesday we felt like we were really cruising by the end of the day. Then I noticed that I had no brakes on my truck which was exciting. So I spent Wednesday at the mechanic getting a caliper replaced that was surely made out of some precious metal. But hey, you need brakes so what was I to do?

Thursday morning we set off with the truck heavily loaded with pressure treated lumber and firewood. We got there and worked all day without incident so we were once again in high spirits by the end of the day.
The second floor porch deck was done, the roof partially framed, some rails up, etc. I wanted to cut some more firewood to haul out the next morning so we left a little early enjoying the short work day.

Then Murphy came a’ calling. I got to close to the edge of the road which seemed to somehow offend the road so it collapsed. At which
point I became highly offended and began to describe the situation in the wonderfully rich and colorful manner employed by submarine sailors the world over. In a nutshell, the situation sucked.

Four hours, two broken tow straps, another tree pulled out of the ground, and $300 dollars later I meekly followed the tow truck out. If you are wondering, the front tire really is off the ground. The passenger side wheel wasn’t touching ground either since it was suspended above a very deep ditch. As I was pulling into the camp ground I’m living at I noticed an odd noise coming from the front end which only further deepened my funk.

The next morning I washed about 200 pounds of mud, roots, grass and other swamp debris out of the front end. This seemed to have fixed the problem but I’m not making any bets.

We did a long week end then hit it hard yesterday and today. Made a lot of progress while keeping an eye out for Murphy. The second floor back wall is mostly in (6″ gap to fill), one sheet on both sides, windows framed, 2×12 header up and more roof framed. Our plan is to finish the side walls, frame most of the roof and maybe get some of the plywood on the roof tomorrow. I’m keeping binoculars and an AR handy in case I see that Murphy guy.

“I’m guarding it. What does it look like I’m doing?”