LOG CABIN LIVING IN ALASKA

JULY 28, 2006
Well our cabin has become our home for awhile. We moved out of Anchorage and have been living here for most of the summer! It is heaven. Our days are spent glassing the mountains and bench country around the cabin in the morning and evening, with odd cabin jobs keeping us busy most of the day. Aaron is doing his antler carving and scrimshaw and I am able to use my phone as a modem to continue to do web design. I think our dogs are in heaven here as well. Nothing better than sitting at my desk in the corner with huge views to both my right and left. We've seen groups of bull caribou on the hills, four brown bears now, two wolves, a handful of moose, and thousands of bunnies. The thing I miss the most now is showering. Without running water it is hard to shower as often as I like. So far we are working it out to be an actual shower once a week. Keeping food cold has also been a chore, but dry ice has helped immensely. We feast on A LOT of canned goods right now. It is a big adventure for us right now trying to figure out how to live simply, but comfortably. We will try and keep a picture journal of our summer cabin jobs and adventures.

cabin dogs

The very rough life of our dogs. Tundra has really grown up, but still has some room to grow. She is full of life and keeps Kodi young. Not very often that Kodi lets her sleep so close to him....must of been playing hard.

cabin dog

cabin laundry

Learning to wash clothes was a chore, but a friend gave us this little contraption to do small bits of laundry. "The Wonderwash"... Nothing like washing clothes and hanging them to dry in the outdoors. They smell so much better this way!

wonderwash

glassing


AUGUST 9-13, 2006
One of the best parts about being here all the time is we have lots of time to explore!
We ended up hiking in a day later than we had planned and the weather was beautiful, but hot. We hiked 10 miles; the first three miles were on an old animal trail, and the rest was brush thrashing and hit and miss animal trails. Luckily the bugs weren't so bad. We hiked to where we thought we'd be moose hunting from and realized how totally unrealistic it was since the moose would still be at least two miles away - two miles of alders and thick spruce. It was frustrating, but I guess at least we figured that out before we went in with intentions of hunting.

mooselakescout

The evening was spent making a small shelter to sleep in and glassing the hills around us. We saw the biggest grizzly/brown bear we've seen since we've been in Alaska on the far hills. We also saw a number of caribou bulls; and a couple of cow moose in the lake. The trail in had some whopper piles of bear scat; and on the way out we found some good rubbing trees with bear hair all over them.

mooselakecamp

cabin rock

AUGUST 17, 2006
We can't always play though. This is the rock work we've been doing for our walkway. We've been carrying rock a couple times a week on our pack frames to help get in shape for hunting season, and to make our walkway. We have a lot further to go though.

cabin rockwork

cabin roof extension
AUGUST 18, 2006
We have known this project was coming. Our roof overhand was much too small. Our poor logs were getting beat by weather. It would have been easier to build it longer in the beginning; but apparently we weren't thinking. It was a challenge to figure how the extensions would be sturdy enough to stand the wind gusts. We've had A LOT of rain and stormy conditions this summer, so finding the right day to start was tricky. We framed the three foot extensions out on the ground and awkwardly slid them up the roof and somehow together balanced them and placed them in the brackets we'd attached to the old 2x8.

cabin roof extension 1

log cabin roofing

We managed to get steel up on one side of the new roof extension; but then it started raining too hard to safely complete the other side. The south facing side of the cabin will be a real trick; one for a day that there is no wind or rain since we don't have the loft to assist with putting the extensions up. So with our new almost complete extension; the deck stays completely dry and most of the stairs do too!

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August 19-20, 2006
Visitors are such a blessing! Luke and Rochelle we have known since moving to Alaska, and they came nearly two years prior to help with projects, but this time was for fun! They fixed some of the best grub that Aaron and I have had in awhile. Aaron was so excited....he didn't have to grill a thing for two whole days.

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The wild blueberries and raspberries have been plentiful this year! We have so appreciated the fresh bounty we have been able to harvest! There is nothing better than pancakes and fresh berries and homemade syrup!

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blueberry picking

We only have to walk about a hundred yards to pick blueberries here. We have picked more than we can handle so I've been learning to can syrup and jam here.
Tundra is a berry hunter. She doesn't mess around and eats the whole time we are out picking. She would definitely survive without us!

blueberry hunter




Kodi, on the other hand, is LAZY! He likes to sit by me and watch for critters and snooze. He expects me to feed him berries as I pick too...Silly dog.

pretty kodi

Ceiling boards

August 22, 2006
A day to start the outside ceiling boards. Aaron and I bought 160 1x3s since 1x4s were nearly twice as much. I couldn't wait to get our outside boards on to make it a little harder for bugs to come and visit us inside the cabin.

cabin ceiling boards

Cabin work




I do actually work here! I have learned so much with this cabin build. It's not always fun, but I enjoy hard work and learning new skills. Seeing the fruits of our labors is very satisfying!
We are putting up "squirrel frustraters"....

south roof extension

August 23, 2006
Aaron and I were thrilled when we awoke this morning to find that there was no wind and that it wasn't raining. We needed to make the most of what nice weather there was to tackle the front roof extension.

South roof extension 1

Cabin roof work

The front was going to be a process since we didn't have the loft to use to build. We did use 2x8s and our ladder on top of our window covers to make a temporary walkway just high enough to reach the ridgepole.
The south winds are brutal at the cabin so this front extension had to be strong and well attached to the rest of the roof!

Log cabin roof extension

log caulking

There is lots of joint care to be done! I have been caulking joints for months I think. Ever joint I caulk I think that is just one more little bug that can't get in, or one more place for moisture to leak.

Time to work on our building safety. We are tying our log ladder over the roof for Aaron to use as he roofs the last section of the extension.

Roofing safety

Roof addition

The roof looks better already with the extension. Now we just have to see if the wind won't rip it off! It's anchored pretty securely to the ridgepole and the original roof.

safe roofing

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Feels good to have this project done! I hope this protects these logs a little more!

Complete cabin roof