Monday, December 1, 2008

Cabin

"Do not worry if you have built your castles in the air. They are where they should be. Now put the foundations under them."

With one month away from moving in full time I thought I would run a few pictures of my cabin at Bear Ridge. Normally I would be hesitant to post these pictures until I am there but a good friend is staying at the cabin this month to break the place in for me.






Looking up the hill towards the cabin. Bedroom on the right with bathroom and kitchen on the left. Living room in the middle.














Looking out the living room. Big rainstorm this summer note the bucket catching water from the leaking roof.














Here is the kitchen. The cabinets will be replaced in February with self built ones that are more friendly to 5 gallon buckets. Note that there is no sink. I use the big utility sink in the bathroom.














Older picture of the wood stove with the bedroom tucked in behind it. Stays nice and toasty warm.


















This is the new sunroom still not completely finished. The green house will extend out from the sliding glass doors and run along the rest of the house.









"All endeavor calls for the ability to tramp the last mile, shape the last plan, endure the last hours toil. The fight to the finish spirit is the one... characteristic we must posses if we are to face the future as finishers."

"I have learned, that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours."

16 comments:

Mayberry said...

Suh-WEET! Leaky roof and all....

The Other Mike S. said...

I live in moderate-weather Northern California so this might be a stupid question: I believe you noted that you will be getting a decent amount of snow. Your roof pitch seems almost non-existent. Will that be an issue?

Well done! That view out of the front room is to die for. You should have a serious sense of accomplishment with what you've done. Congrats.

BigBear said...

I was worried about the roof pitch also but have had over a foot of wet snow and me on it without any issues. Seems to hold.

Anonymous said...

I discovered your blog a few days ago and have really enjoyed reading it. Great stuff and your strait forward talk, practical advice, and logical approach has really motivate me to increase my personal preparations. I'm also s small house afficianado and loved seeing the house pics today too.

I have a couple questions regarding shelter and your opinion on how this might all go down.

1. Do you have preparations for nuclear fallout? I suspect Colorado is low on terrorist lists of places to bomb. Much more likely targets would be NY, DC, LA, SF, but it seems to me that a fallout free future is becoming dimmer and dimmer. For instance it would just take a couple going off in Pakistan or India for the rest of the world to start thinking about wind patterns and basement refuges.

2. Today's news of our government preparing 20,000 domestic combat soldiers seems to strongly support the idea we could be headed toward marshall law and fascism. I always suspected that the brown shirts would be evangelical Christians conscripted into service the day hell broke loose but now it seems the government wants 20,000 of their own ready to deploy. What do you think the catalyst will be?

3. What about timing? How much time do you think we have before they throw freedom in the can?

Thanks!
Mike

BigBear said...

Mike,

Thanks

1. I do not have a fallout shelter, I have thought about it but don't know it there is a need. The valley where I live is a high desert surrounded by mountain ranges supposedly if there was fallout it would be spent traveling up the outer slopes.

2. We all need to remember why there is a war on terror and subsequent deployment of domestic military police. The war on terror is nothing but a smokescreen to put the mechanisms in place to for population control when everyone is broke and rioting for bread. This is a planned destruction of the American economic and social structures. Give the rich all the money (happening now) then control the population when they realize what is happening (next year)

The brown shirts will be anyone wanting to eat. 20000 will not control this country but it will break riots very effectively.

We are giving these massive bailouts now because the people are just hurting they aren't completely broke yet. Next year at this time a bailout would cause rioting. If you cannot feed your family and the gov is giving Citi Bank 200 billion to by up toll roads you might be inclined to riot.

3. It is here already. We are in the Great Decline things will only get worse, think of Russia after the breakup. No money in a society that lives for nothing but money. The shift will be very very painful. There will be many trigger events over the next year causing localized rioting and gov response. This will continue until it is just another part of the day.

India and Pakistan will probably get into a nuke shooting match drawing us in. Nothing better than wartime nationalism to control a starving public.

Bullseye said...

Bear, thanks to the cabin pics man, I love it. I see why you are happy to live at the cabin full time. I love the view too, it's great. I will be watching very close to see how life goes there. You have motivated me to work more towards my goal of living simple. Thanks again for the pics, great looking place.

Staying Alive said...

I liked the cabin except for the pitch on the roof. But small, utilitarian homes are going to be VERY popular very soon. Now get busy and get that garden in! You'll be harder to control if you are adequately fed. The starving people will be the ones they round up and enslave.

Michael

Anonymous said...

Hi,

I have read every post you have made with much anticipation. I really like what you have done, and think you made a GREAT choice of the large windows to get the view that is there. It is worth the BTU loss to look at that! Tried to get an off grid straw bale home in Weston Colorado, but could not put the deal together.

Two things:
Square foot gardening. IT ROCKS! Super easy too. The book is cheap, (I have no financial interest in it, just love the concept) and it makes it so easy with very little labor. Make a 4x4 grow tables for the greenhouse. Mark them into a grid, and use 1/3 coarse vermiticulite, 1/3 peat moss, and 1/3 compost. Almost no weeding because there are no weed seeds in the first place. I’ll send you a little brochure for free if you like on a .pdf file.

Vermiculture: I’ll get you a .pdf book of ‘Worms eat my garbage’ for free if you are interested. You only have to mess with less than an hour a week! Very little work, and you will be rewarded with Wonderful compost and feed for fish or chickens if you want. Nothing is wasted, the worms eat anything organic (But wouldn’t recommend meat or poultry products). All of the organic waste (Not dog or human poo though, if you want to use it for a garden) goes into the worm bins along with some carbon stuff (Shreaded cardboard and newspaper or copy paper) and the worms can double their biomass every 90 days if you do it right.

Good luck and thanks for sharing your life with us wanna-bes and trying-to-bes!

Skip in Kansas City

Anonymous said...

Nice digs, gotta love that view. Guessing the living room view is to the north, sunroom/greenhouse facing south? If so, that a lot of north facing glazing... What have you got for insulation in the walls/ceiling? Take care.

Ryan said...

I can has jealous.

BigBear said...

tootrack

The mountain view is to the north so that is where the big windows go. I will be swapping the front no "e" windows out with the back super insulated windows sometime this month. That will reduce the heat loss somewhat. I hang fleece blankets over the windows at night and they do a good job of holding heat.

The ceiling is R19 walls R13 low but adequate.

tansy said...

wow! what a great view.

Anonymous said...

Those clear/no-E ones to the south should help getting some free solar heat into the house. I needed to better plan for my greenhouse... your's in the back (south) is the way to go, mine house faces south - and the wife doesn't want a greenhouse "in the front yard".... Take care

Anonymous said...

Big Bear, Great looking cabin. You have come far! I wish you the best of luck in your new life. One personal question, answer only if you like. Will your partner be making the trip with you?

BigBear said...

Nope, he is staying in the springs.

Anonymous said...

So then, you'll be single?