Sunshine

carpenter's helper

I watched as my husband, Bucky, navigated high above me around the wooden bracing of the cabin's loft. I had stood there myself the previous night and it was with sweaty hands that I transferred from ladder to loft to enjoy the view. It's times like this that we both forget about age and do what we've always done and for Bucky, it's building houses. This summer has been about new beginnings.

We arrived in Alaska in late June and Bucky left almost immediately to inspect the one acre lot we had purchased during the past winter, sight unseen. We were sent photos by the realtor of what appeared to be overgrown land with some mature birches. In the center of the acre was a conex box, so popular in AK for storage.

 The cow parsnip towered above me.

Bucky weed whacked the parsnip which was an amazing improvement. However, he didn't avoid the blistering that it can cause and his hands and arms still show some scarring.

South Central Alaska has experienced the die off of Northern White Spruce due to the infestation of the Spruce Beetle. Most of the adult trees in our neighborhood have died and stand as brown sentinels in the forest. https://www.barkbeetles.org/spruce/sbfidl127.htm
Homeowners have cut their dead spruce in fear of them toppling onto structures and to prevent them from fueling fires that often occur during the summer. For these reasons, using spruce D logs to build a log cabin was a natural choice. The logs were milled nearby and delivered to the site in early August.

The flat side of the log becomes the inside wall of the cabin.

While Bucky waited for the logs to be milled, he busied himself burying cable for power and putting up the necessary power pedestal. To do this he rented an excavator which also allowed him to level the lot and dig the outhouse hole. The cabin will be a 12'x15' dry cabin, no running water or septic, but electricity. 

Carlisle helped her Dad lay electric cable.

The sunshine in July allowed Bucky to dig holes for the posts on which the cabin floor would sit and to square up and build the cabin floor which includes a front porch.

piers on which the floor sits

tarp covered floor in preparation for AK August rain and out house in the background

August arrived turning our gravel roads to mud and mushrooms sprouted in numbers and size thought to only exist in fairy tales. Our week of moose hunting arrived at a time when construction would have been wet and uncomfortable, so the job sat idle. Bucky chomped at the bit to get back to work. By the end of August and into September, sunny skies and warm temperatures returned. With this high pressure predicted to remain for several weeks, we moved our RV from the cabin in Talkeetna to the building site.....which we now called Sunshine, a name used by locals when referring to this part of Talkeetna. Living on site made it easy for Bucky to extend his work day. It's odd for me to witness someone who flourishes with labor!

Pigs of all sizes and colors arrive morning and night to eat roots and my compost. They belong to the neighbor who lives about a mile away. The woods are criss crossed with their paths through the underbrush where they forage.

The conex yielded an ugly easy chair providing Bucky a comfy spot to take his breaks.

The work done by the spruce beetles made the logs easy to peel. As I worked on them, I was reminded of Bucky's Dad who could expertly remove the skin of an orange in one piece. By working his thumb under the orange skin and expertly rotating the orange, he was able to release the fruit leaving the skin as a single, long, curly spiral. He would then place the peel on the hot wood stove. Soon the aroma of warm orange oil and the subtle perfume of burning citrus would fill the room. With each pull of my draw knife, I lifted the spruce bark trying not to break it. It was difficult to avoid breaking the length of bark when I encountered a knot. It became a contest, with myself, as I worked my way down each 12 foot length of log, trying to better my previous attempt. Instead of orange, the air was filled with the fragrance of spruce oil and sap.

One of my days was spent painting the interior of the outhouse. Bucky knows that I detest painting, but his hours of labor were far exceeding mine, so I acquiesced when he asked if I would do it. He had purchased the paint in a bargain bin at the hardware store, clearly marked "mistake". I pried off the lid with my screwdriver and looked into a pinkish purple pool. Using my stir stick, I tried to find pigment at the bottom of the can in hope of adding volume to the loose mixture. After several minutes of stirring, the consistency remained runny, so I looked to the label......cement stain. It made me smile to think that a garage floor or any other cement surface would look good in this color. The label of "mistake" was not a mistake.

Perhaps with a door and the siding complete, it will appear more eggplant than pink peony!

Log upon log, the cabin has reached upward. It's satisfying to see the progress. Most days, the pigs wander by. We often hear their snorts and snuffling before we see them. Our dog, Fisher, looks at them with very little interest although a few days ago, she snapped at the wagging tail of one as it passed by.

The front entrance appears.

and now the front window

Carlisle carved the porch posts.

 the back of the house

                                                                       the front
Today is September 11th, a meaningful date. Many lives were lost on this date in 2001. On this date In 1952, my sister was born. In 2011, just days before her 59th birthday, she died. Today in Talkeetna, the sun continues to shine as the cabin ridge pole goes up.

Today is September 17. Soon all the windows will be in place. The metal roofing is on and as soon as the door is purchased it will be installed. Bucky will store his remaining materials in the conex and we will pack up the motorhome to head east. Next summer, Bucky will continue where he left off. Last I checked, there is still a full bottle of Aleve in the medicine cabinet!

September 25
Bucky has hung the exterior door, from our friend who bought it at a yard sale. It was an even trade as our door purchased from Lowe's had the wrong swing. My first reaction when seeing the door was, "oh, no!!, too much ....now it really looks like a saloon." That soon changed to, "it does add some color and sparks conversation". It'll either be, "honey, I love the door" or we'll definitely need to change that tacky door."
What do you think?