working up the hill
Originally uploaded by justinmaple
Uphill with the plate packer.
Sunday, May 31, 2009
First load of gravel on the driveway
First load of gravel on the driveway
Originally uploaded by justinmaple
Gravel down, Chrissy packing it in. 1 am thursday night.
Driveway widening
Driveway widening
Originally uploaded by justinmaple
We had to widen our driveway to make sure it will accomodate concrete trucks and by bringing it up a few feet, we lessened the grade too.
Log skidding
Log skidding
Originally uploaded by justinmaple
Got them all stacked eventually. 42 total in the one stack.
Bringing the logs up to thier summer home
Bringing the logs up to thier summer home
Originally uploaded by justinmaple
The process of bringing the logs up to the pile where they will finish drying and wait for milling.
Chrissy giving a fine size reference
Chrissy giving a fine size reference
Originally uploaded by justinmaple
Had to skid all the logs so that we could pick them up with the bucket on the backhoe and stack them off in the background in that pile. Top right.
Beetle
Beetle
Originally uploaded by justinmaple
I am still unclear about what kind of beetle this guy is. Anyone know?
Driveway progress
Driveway progress
Originally uploaded by justinmaple
Filling in the old driveway bed with new dirt and raising the whole thing up a few feet.
Panorama, Tanana River
Panorama, Tanana River
Originally uploaded by justinmaple
Just stitched together some photos from out in the middle of the main channel of the Tanana.
Digging the outhouse hole
Digging the outhouse hole
Originally uploaded by justinmaple
Phase one of comfortable bathroom experiences.
Pasque flowers
Pasque flowers
Originally uploaded by justinmaple
Found a secret hillside totally full of wild pasque flowers.
10 lines, 30 hooks, 1 burbot
10 lines, 30 hooks, 1 burbot
Originally uploaded by justinmaple
1 big burbot that fried up to feed 3 people. Yum.
logpile
logpile
Originally uploaded by justinmaple
Some of the 45 logs we have saved for milling siding later this year
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Trouble
Ball joint takes a dump on itself
Originally uploaded by justinmaple
The painful view from the inside.
Saturday, May 16, 2009
Sunday, April 5, 2009
More tree cutting
We had to cut down one of the biggest trees at our place today. It would have been hovering over our house had we left it and after growing up with giant trees hovering overhead, I decided to forgo the experience with our own house. It is a white spruce and measured out 107' tall with a 6'6" circumference at the base. That is a huge tree for the Fairbanks area by any standard. We'll be using it in the house in some way or another, but we haven't figured out quite how yet.
-Justin
-Justin
Monday, March 30, 2009
Moose raided the chicken feed
Dogs were barking randomly tonight, and as I got up to see what was going on I noticed these guys out in the side yard between the porch and the outhouse.
They were munching on willow branches and we're looking pretty hungry. This time of year is hard on them as far as food goes, its getting pretty sparce. Then I look over at the chicken coop and notice that they have raided and completely eaten the chicken/rabbit food. We just bought a 50# bag yesterday. They knocked the container on the ground, broke the lid off and had proceeded to spread it all over the snow. When I walked over to check it out, the little guy decided he hadn't gotten enough earlier and came over to finish it off.
They were munching on willow branches and we're looking pretty hungry. This time of year is hard on them as far as food goes, its getting pretty sparce. Then I look over at the chicken coop and notice that they have raided and completely eaten the chicken/rabbit food. We just bought a 50# bag yesterday. They knocked the container on the ground, broke the lid off and had proceeded to spread it all over the snow. When I walked over to check it out, the little guy decided he hadn't gotten enough earlier and came over to finish it off.
Monday, March 2, 2009
Moose out in the driveway
Heard some rumblings from outside and the dogs were acting a little weird, so I got up and looked out to the driveway. Cow and two calf moose were eating up our willows along the road. Just snapping off big sections of branch and chewing on them. I am just glad that I didn't let the dogs out to investigate before I noticed the moose.
I put some video up on youtube here.
I put some video up on youtube here.
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Houseguest
Dad came up for some wintertime relaxation. We had a great time and really enjoyed his company. He stayed with us at the cabin all but one night. He appreciates the outhouse like no one else seems to.
Dad's last night at our cabin. 3 dogs and 3 people in a 16'x20'.
Dad's last night at our cabin. 3 dogs and 3 people in a 16'x20'.
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Some photos from the weekend
Got out to our property on Saturday, split and then stacked wood all day. Got some photos along the way though. It was nice and sunny out with some fresh snow. The weather was agreeable at about 13 above. It was nice to comfortably work without a jacket for a change.
-Justin
Chrissy hiking up the driveway, this is going to be interesting winter driving.
Split and stacked alot of wood. All birch in this pile.
Neat shadows in the snow from the bright sun. Looking South.
Fresh snow makes everything look so nice.
-Justin
Chrissy hiking up the driveway, this is going to be interesting winter driving.
Split and stacked alot of wood. All birch in this pile.
Neat shadows in the snow from the bright sun. Looking South.
Fresh snow makes everything look so nice.
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Warmed up tonight, walked the dogs
Chrissy got a teaching/subbing deal at a school near my work so we carpooled today. We got home and it had warmed up enough to take the dogs out on a bit of a walk. They have to get all bundled up though or else Gunnar and Squirrel get cold paws and start whining for home.
Snorri doesn't seem to mind much as long as she has a ball to chase/attack.
Not my most manly moment, but I sewed the one piece pajama like thing for Squirrel.
-28 F
Snorri trying to get Chrissy to kick the soccer ball, Squirrel just trying to stay upright.
Gunnar with a hostile ice beard and the look of "let me in the house already!"
Snorri doesn't seem to mind much as long as she has a ball to chase/attack.
Not my most manly moment, but I sewed the one piece pajama like thing for Squirrel.
-28 F
Snorri trying to get Chrissy to kick the soccer ball, Squirrel just trying to stay upright.
Gunnar with a hostile ice beard and the look of "let me in the house already!"
Monday, January 5, 2009
effortlessly beautiful
A friend of ours is showing me how to make furniture out of birch. I haven't taken any photos yet of the process (next time- as I plan to make more), but I did feel compelled to take a photo of the wood shavings. They just looked so pretty laying in a pile on the floor. I'll take a photo of the small table I'm making when I'm finished. It' really awesome working with the wood. It's taught me a lot. It's very forgiving. There's also something about it that's..... seductive I guess you might say.
Chrissy
Saturday, January 3, 2009
Cold starts, frozen everything and hard, slow work.
Its been cold lately. We're right in the midst of a "no end in sight" cold snap that has made everything outside a chore. Yesterday, Chrissy and I were itching to do some sort of physical work after being indoors in excess so we headed out to our property to split and stack some firewood. We brought along some cotton balls soaked with Vaseline so we could get an instant fire going as soon as we got there. It felt like it was probably in the -20 to -25 range out there which meant we had to keep starting up the truck every two hours or so since we don't have any electric yet. We got a good hot fire going and got to work. I was going to get some photos of the progress we made with the stacking, but the camera got too cold and couldn't muster up the power to turn on. I took a few photos when we first got there though..
Chrissy warming up by the burn barrel below the garage pad.
Looking South from below the garage pad. about 40 feet ahead is where we'll be building our house. Still need some site work on that portion.
Our garage pad, or part of it. Wood hauling sled in the foreground and one of the woodpiles we're in the process of moving in the background. We're thinking the garage is going to be 26' x 36' with two garage doors and a small shop on the end. We'll be living in this building for a bit while we build our house.
Our driveway looking North from the garage pad. I was standing just off to the left of the driveway which is why it looks like there is a log in the way. It meanders straight ahead and then takes a right up the hill pretty steep.
The birch tree laying out straight on the right is one we cut for Chrissy to use for some table legs. Shes been peeling logs at home lately.
We split wood for a while, which is really easy when its this cold. The logs just burst apart when the maul connects. Every bit of water in the wood is frozen and just waiting to fly apart. Then our friend Matt came up and we started the process of moving the previously seen woodpile over out of the way so we can start construction in its place in the spring.
Fortunately this will be the last time we need to move this wood before it takes a short trip to the stove. We still have 2 or 3 cords of wood that are cut into rounds and stacked that we'll try and split before the winters up as well as a fair amount of brush that we need to burn up while we have all this snow. The summertime wont allow any burning of brush and we don't want to just bury it.
Got up this morning and it was cold. -42 is what its reading at the house. We haven't even tried to start the truck, when its this cold it burns gas so fast and everything just feels like its about to break. We're just hanging out at home drinking coffee and watching videos.
The chicken coop has been holding out the cold pretty well. Our construction has proved effective. A week at -30 or colder was what I was fearing the most, but so far so good. We have 2 lights in there providing heat, a 250 watt infrared and an 80 watt red tint flood light. I had to wrap an old sleeping bag around the front door area of it to close up some of the small gaps, but other than that its been doing great.
The thermometer on the left the outside temperature. The one on the right is our wireless indoor and chicken coop thermometer. -43 outside, +40.8 in the coop.
Chrissy warming up by the burn barrel below the garage pad.
Looking South from below the garage pad. about 40 feet ahead is where we'll be building our house. Still need some site work on that portion.
Our garage pad, or part of it. Wood hauling sled in the foreground and one of the woodpiles we're in the process of moving in the background. We're thinking the garage is going to be 26' x 36' with two garage doors and a small shop on the end. We'll be living in this building for a bit while we build our house.
Our driveway looking North from the garage pad. I was standing just off to the left of the driveway which is why it looks like there is a log in the way. It meanders straight ahead and then takes a right up the hill pretty steep.
The birch tree laying out straight on the right is one we cut for Chrissy to use for some table legs. Shes been peeling logs at home lately.
We split wood for a while, which is really easy when its this cold. The logs just burst apart when the maul connects. Every bit of water in the wood is frozen and just waiting to fly apart. Then our friend Matt came up and we started the process of moving the previously seen woodpile over out of the way so we can start construction in its place in the spring.
Fortunately this will be the last time we need to move this wood before it takes a short trip to the stove. We still have 2 or 3 cords of wood that are cut into rounds and stacked that we'll try and split before the winters up as well as a fair amount of brush that we need to burn up while we have all this snow. The summertime wont allow any burning of brush and we don't want to just bury it.
Got up this morning and it was cold. -42 is what its reading at the house. We haven't even tried to start the truck, when its this cold it burns gas so fast and everything just feels like its about to break. We're just hanging out at home drinking coffee and watching videos.
The chicken coop has been holding out the cold pretty well. Our construction has proved effective. A week at -30 or colder was what I was fearing the most, but so far so good. We have 2 lights in there providing heat, a 250 watt infrared and an 80 watt red tint flood light. I had to wrap an old sleeping bag around the front door area of it to close up some of the small gaps, but other than that its been doing great.
The thermometer on the left the outside temperature. The one on the right is our wireless indoor and chicken coop thermometer. -43 outside, +40.8 in the coop.
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
New Years Moon with Venus
35 below at the house and I just got home from work. The moon has been looking pretty amazing these last few days with cold clear sky. Today though, ice fog has moved in. Not too bad at our house which is a little higher up, but really thick and gross in town. Just imagine all the exhaust, steam, smoke and dust all swirling around between ground level and 50 feet up, as a nice fine particulate freezy mist.
Tried out my new camera from the driveway. Heres what the crescent Moon and Venus looked like at 4:45 pm. The blobs are particles from the ice fog that reflected the flash.
Tried out my new camera from the driveway. Heres what the crescent Moon and Venus looked like at 4:45 pm. The blobs are particles from the ice fog that reflected the flash.
Saturday, December 27, 2008
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