When you're building your own cabin, you need to make sure everything is plumb (vertically straight) as well as level (horizontally straight). So I put my eyeball up to the old transit, taking care to not nudge it and thus disturb its settings, while Jeff holds a yardstick up for me to focus on and … Continue reading On the Level (or Plumb)
As our nation divided several years ago, an assumption seemed to grow alongside that divide...that you can be an intellectual personal or a practical person but not both. I think you can be both. Henry David Thoreau was both. He's the latest American writer to absorb me while doing the practical cabin-building work at Camp … Continue reading Thinking of Thoreau
The vision takes form...3 patio doors and 10 windows, with a view to the water or woods or both. That's a lot of glass for a 1,000-square-foot dwelling. And that's the point. With four walls up now, the Cabin at Many Moons in Michigan's Upper Peninsula (U.P.) emerges more every day. It brings to mind … Continue reading A View Runs Through It
Needed: One capable man, one old back-hoe, one heavy chain, and a friend or two. Stand by with a few braces, and...ta-d-a-a! Two walls went up today, and suddenly, I can visualize it! The Cabin at Many Moons is taking shape. This was even more exciting than pouring the foundation. Photos and captions below. (To … Continue reading How To Raise a Wall
If the foundation gives a thing strength, the frame gives it shape -- whether "the thing" is a cabin or a viewpoint. Quality matters more with some things than others. The people who shape one's viewpoint should have the highest possible quality, but the wood that shapes a cabin can be a step down from … Continue reading Framing Begins
After the pour came the grind. Whew! One more big step in creating the multi-function foundation for the Cabin at Many Moons. (To read about the pour, click here.) It's nerve-wracking but exciting. Before "the grind," the foundation was basic black. We wondered what we will see underneath. I'm told that beautiful stones will emerge, … Continue reading The Grind
Ditches are unremarkable -- except when filled with lupin, as they are right now on the roads around Keweenaw and Huron Bays. In fact, much of Michigan's Upper Peninsula is decorated by these stately blue/purple flowers -- sometimes punctuated by white or pink -- which belong to the legume family. (Think peas.) Cars stop on … Continue reading Ditches-full of Lupin!
It's kind of like a barn-raising. When you pour a concrete foundation here in the remote far-north, neighbors and relatives join in while the hostess provides drinks and food as a coordinated dance ensues: Pour. Spread. Level. Smooth. Repeat. We hired a few experts, but it was the "show-up-if-you-can" group effort that made it work. … Continue reading The Big Pour
And we're off on the next big adventure! We have a building permit and just passed the first plumbing inspection. With any luck, a 28x36 cabin will be erected at Camp Many Moons this year and will be habitable next year. This is almost as scary as starting on The Great Loop. (To read that … Continue reading The Build Begins
The word "camp" means different things to different people. Loners or groups? Tent or cabin? As with almost everything, the meaning you attach depends on one's personal experience. And the meaning is changing for me. For now, Camp Many Moons remains cabin-less. In the five years since I spent 50K for this 300-foot waterfront lot, … Continue reading Cabin-Less Camp
For Many Moons 