Settling Of Contents

Thirteen years and one month later it can be said I did what I set out to do. A cozy cabin is nestled in beautiful wild cultivated gardens.

Voodoo happens, if a little slower and a bit later this year.

A man can dream.
And new life settles in.

So did a landing on the service entrance stairs. What actually settled was the masonry block wall and the cement footings for the landing. I couldn't raise the ground so I put in taller posts, 2 inches taller, to raise one side of the landing. It went smoothly enough.

I've been watching the block wall for over a year now. I built both it and the dry stack wall below. I know what's under there. I feel pretty confident it has settled as much as it can. But there are other surrounding factors that need attention that would help things out.

Rooted cuttings have grown to become large shrubs.

Time can take many appearances. A ten by ten foot square of stones is slowly growing to heiau. Each stone has become like a day of work. I dig holes. They follow me home, a few here and there, because I need more.

The cultivated in the forest have brought gardens to the wild.

The gardener keeps planting more. A rooted rhododendron stem came home this week with a small bucket of rocks.

There was one design flaw in the cozy cabin, the fixed recessed windows in the loft. They collect snow and ice and rain and rot. One of them had begun leaking and some bugs have obviously moved in from the chewed up insulation bits that are falling from the kitchen ceiling.

I went up on the ladder and re-caulked this one, the one that doesn't leak. Now I wait for the caulk to dry.

But there are two recessed windows in the loft that collect water and rot.

I tried. I did put the ladder up against the house and climbed up there, but I just couldn't do it. This was going to need some scaffolding to make me feel safe. I did kill all the wasps while I was up there though. For next time.

Later and contemplating, there was an epiphany. It's a design flaw that will forever need fixing. I built this house and installed those fixed windows. They are only held in place by wood trim. I can eliminate the flaw by changing the framing trim to get rid of the recess that is collecting the water. The new recess will be completely inside. And that can be done from inside the house standing comfortably on the bedroom floor. I have a new plan. No scaffolding or ladders needed.

Good. That problem is settled and when the windows come out it should be a lot easier to kill whatever bugs have moved inside. The bugs are supposed to be outside.