LITTLEBIRD HOLLOW HOMESTEAD

July 13,2010

LITTLEBIRD — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 17:36:42 +0000

Well we got started cutting trees down yesterday and hauling them to my building site with the 4 wheelers.Was going to do some re-figuring and flagging of the foundation lines today,but windy and cold,way too cold for this time of the year here! Hope to get started tomorrow and have some pics to upload showing some more things done.Had to write something tho today to show why such a gap between the assembly of the sawmill and now.Just weird weather,either raining and cold,or real windy and cold.Goodness this is mid July and the garden isn’t even doing much at all ! Oh! Almost forgot ! I did finish doing the rock work on the front of the gravel building pad.Will upload the pics of the finished work tomorrow.

ALL 47 boxes turned into my sawmill ! ;-)

LITTLEBIRD — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 16:57:13 +0000

well ,with help,we got the sawmill assembled,FINALLY! It sat in the canvas garage for just over a year in 47 boxes and after two days of assembling it is FINALLY all together and works like a dream!! Have cut down two trees and made one into a perfect 4′x4′x16′ beam and another one was experimented with to make some odds and ends of boards. I have got to say that this Norwood2000 bandsaw mill is just as perfect to a dream come true and will enable me to cut my logs on two sides just fine and be able to build my cabin alot easier than with a chainsaw and drawknife—-lol ! Should be able to start cutting down the trees I will need to build with next week,IF,the rains stay away for at least a little while. Want to mention that the sawmill had to have two people assembling it.One just could not do this alone.There were many things that had to be assembled on each side at least at the same time to make sure all were in line with each other AND there had to be a solid level surface to assemble it on.Once the carriage was together it seemed like it took no time at all to install the motor.bandsaw blade.etc. After building this upcoming cabin it can be used to earn money from those who need to use it on my property to make themselves their own lumber.So I can see it was a very WISE investment!

on site and starting to make lumber !

Just wanted ya all to meet the two little grand-daughters!

LITTLEBIRD — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 17:24:17 +0000

These two youngsters mean the world to me and I am building this log cabin just for them as a legacy. I know this old world is not getting any easier to live in and surely will not be a life of riley for them in the years to come,although I would wish to think it would be very good for them throughout those coming years. The youngest one lived with me for alot of her growing years ,up here off the grid.She loves the freedom and all the flowers around she had here,but I am proud to say her Mama has her feet on the ground now and this one is finally back living with her. I miss her terribly,but she is where she belongs. She is also growing up without her older sister being around and that pains my heart greatly.She is living with her paternal grandparents about three hours away,which could be a thousand miles away as much as the littlest one gets to see her. So I dedicate this cabin I am building to Cheyenne and Seirra AND their Mama, Michele !!!! It will be their safe refuge and their little five acres of land free and clear for the rest of their lives. It is named LITTLEBIRD HOLLOW !!!!

sawmill is getting assembled ! 6-23-2010

LITTLEBIRD — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 16:51:40 +0000

What a gorgeous day to begin assembling the Norwood portable sawmill ! After taking all 47 boxes containing the parts of the sawmill outside of the tent garage to an awaiting tarp on the ground we finally began to start finding the pieces to begin laying out and start assembling it all.What a chore ! Bolts,nuts and washers galore !! Thank goodness we got the help of a young man and his wife,Bob and Chris, to help or I don’t know where we would be.LOL ! Probably it all would still lie in all those boxes for another year? NOT ! LOL ! I will start showing bits and pieces in pics here to show how we are making progress towards the assembling process. Just can’t say it all in words here as there is sooooooooooooo many steps,parts and “under the breath cussing” (LOL). They are at it again today and looks like it is about time for the engine to be placed !

laying the carriage frame

carriage frame done

north side window

LITTLEBIRD — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 17:03:41 +0000

This window faces the north and is set in the wall low as I will be building a workbench for repairing tools,etc. along that the length of that wall.It also faces the woods and an area where the deer come down in the late evenings to graze.

windows

LITTLEBIRD — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 16:54:13 +0000

I got my windows from the local home resource center that recycles all building materials donated to them.This

window has a privacy glass within it as it will be facing south (hotest direction during mid day) and it will also be facing the log cabin I will soon be building.

door

LITTLEBIRD — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 16:42:53 +0000

the door I put on this landscape timber shed is from an over 200 year old log cabin that was being torn down in this area.Just love it !!!

the shed is now 99% finished !

LITTLEBIRD — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 16:22:22 +0000

Finally I am able to stop running my head off for a while and sit down here and add to my blog! Last weekend I held my first family reunion ever with everyone camping down on my lower property at my building site! It was fabulous and for once the weather held out and was gorgeous the whole weekend!!! I had finished off the closing in of the landscaping timber shed/temp outhouse and my sawdust toilet was sitting inside,with its pail of sawdust and a trashcan sitting next to it. Everyone commented on how nice and comfy that sawdust toilet was and how nicely I built it.Said they were surprised at how it works and just loved it! For two whole days after the reunion I had to rest my weary worn out bones———–lol and when I went back down to clean out the toilet I was surprised at how there was no awful odor coming out of that pail !! Soooooooooooooo it truly proved its worth to me!! Have to still get the roofing paper up on the roof,then the metal roofing and to top it off the roof peak metal capping. But for right now I have enclosed three pics of what it looks like at this time. I want to say that after building this landscaping timber shed (8′x8′) it has left me with thoughts that these CAN also be used to build a cabin with,dog houses,root cellars and many more uses. I plan on building another one for a chicken coop,only not as tall as my shed (10′ high at the roof center). I also have some rather large pallets,that glass companies get their huge glass window panes delivered to them on,for building a wood shed for my woodstove wood.and with the not so big ones I will lay flat and use for raised bed gardening.All of these sort of pallets can be obtained from most glass installation companies for free by the way. Today is the day to finish off the whole timber shed,so must get going while there is still good enough weather to do it in.Suppose to rain within the next two days.

LITTLEBIRD — Mon, 31 May 2010 20:44:40 +0000

15th wall up on timber shed today!!

LITTLEBIRD — Mon, 31 May 2010 20:16:34 +0000

this has been the first time I have been able to work on my landscaping timber shed now for over a week ! Raining every single day and some of those days have been coooooold,too cold to do one silly thing outside.Today I was able to get down to the building site about 9 am and worked on getting more of the 4″x8′ landscaping timbers laid and secured with the lag screws.Lo and behold I had enough time,before the rain began falling again,to even put in the two windows and secure them with long screws. I am now over halfway done with my shed and still have almost a half a pallet of timbers left to finish with. Also set up my 55 gallon water barrel right up next to my utility tub so that when one hand pumps water out for washing hands ,etc.,the water will not be wasted as it will catch in the utility tub.When I want to use that holding water all I have to do is pull the plug and empty into the bucket below the tub and use to water plants and the fruit trees.