When the dogs and I moved out of the camper in mid-May, I didn’t look back — my forever home, however imperfect it may be, is the cabin. I dropped in on the RV from time to time to gather trash or to fetch the odd item, and it still needs a thorough cleaning, but as soon as I could be done with it, I was done with it.
Shutting off water and electric sealed the deal.
I was running the brush cutter on the lower level the other morning and happened to look up at the camper. That’s a perspective I dont often take, and the sight made me laugh out loud.
Volunteer vegetation that I’ve encouraged (and bragged about) had crested the bank, overtaking the west side of the fifth-wheel. Closer inspection revealed a nearly impenetrable tangle — sumac, mostly, but also poke and greenbrier.
I’d have to deal with that if I wanted access to the wet bay and the Stinky Slinky, which eventually I will. With both the time and the inclination yesterday morning, I grabbed long-reach loppers from the shed, waded into the mess and began to hack back the sumac attack.
It wasn’t difficult, only tedious. I don’t for a second believe that I won’t have to come back and do it again (and again), but for now I’ve fought it to a satisfactory draw.
Better. And I finished before 7:30am, without breaking a sweat.
I gave you before-and-after visuals above, but I thought it might be entertaining to rewind to what things looked like here a couple of years ago.
This image, snapped while standing on the lower level, is from the day I finished putting up the soft shed in July of 2023:
And here’s a photo from essentially the same angle, after I was done pruning yesterday:
The only thing I planted was grass seed, to hold soil over the leach field — Nature reclaimed the rest without my help. Two years ago, owing to site work, there was virtually no vegetation on the bank or the lower level, and now it’s a jungle.
I got what I asked for, and then some.
My plumber-neighbor came up The Mountain yesterday afternoon with an offer I couldn’t refuse — in the bed of his pickup was a well-loved through-the-wall air conditioner that he was willing to give me. Not only that, but he said he’d install the dedicated 240VAC circuit to run it. All I had to supply was breaker, receptacle, box and plate.
After discussing placement and the lumber required to support it, we carried the heavy and awkward beast from his truck into the cabin.
We tried to, anyway.
That’s right, two guys with a combined age of 135 years dropped it on the concrete stoop outside the front door. Shit happens.
There’s no telling if the impact caused internal damage. We decided that I’d run to Miller Hardware for the outlet parts, then we’d put that in so we could test the unit (before cutting a big hole in the cabin wall).
He’d hang back and get started hooking up the plumbing for the bathroom vanity.
Well, the good folks at Miller didn’t have the receptacle I needed, so there’d be no testing the AC yesterday. As for the plumbing, it failed its own first test — apparently there was debris inside the faucet, which then required unhooking everything and blowing through the supply lines to dislodge it.
That solved the problem. It works great.
Installing a second chiller in the cabin, if this one survived the tumble it took, won’t happen for another week or so. Miller says they’ll have the receptacle I need on Tuesday, and Amazon promises delivery Wednesday. (Yes, I’m hedging my bets.)
But on the bright side, my modified dry sink is now wet, which means that plumbing the cabin is complete. That feels damned good, and I couldn’t’ve done it without the kindness and help of my neighbors.
Life is good.
Take care of yourselves, Patriots. Stay calm. Stay sharp. Stay free.
#WiseUp #LibertyOrDeath #Ungovernable