Two years in review

Confession. I still have some “what the hell are you doing?” thoughts, two years later. They seem to strike when I’m in the city, where checkbook matters inevitably take center stage.

When I actually arrive at the woods and weeHouse and Loveless Lake (these days, sauntering down the awesome Saturn Deck), it’s so mind-blowingly fun and beautiful and full of surprises, that all of that left-brain, Monday-thru-Friday handwringing stuff just falls away.

Who knew two years ago that I would have the stomach to take on all that trash and see the beauty in this piece of land on the verge of foreclosure? (OK, confession No. 2. I didn’t have the stomach. Chris did.)

And then … who in the world goes around hiring crane and crew and watching a weeHouse that was bought -- sight unseen -- fly through the air onto that piece of land? (Great coaching from Alchemy.)

My latest thing, as yet unchronicled in this blog (soon, very soon), is to buy some deck boards from a guy in Palisade, Minn., who is harvesting Minnesota wood and baking them, without chemicals, in a kiln imported from Finland.

What an adventure.  And, I do believe, we’re bringing a whole lotta love to Loveless.

The current scene, with the aging Chipper.





Rubble, October 2011: Chris, left, and The Builder

 

October 2010: Day One.

Happiness is …

Friends who visit with treats!

Ramona and Margaret made Loveless part of a fall exploration adventure that included lunch at Café Wren, in nearby Luck, Wis., where they picked up some yummy peanut rolls to pair with homemade zucchini bread baked fresh in  Margie’s St. Paul kitchen.

We enjoyed said treats during their visit, and Chris and I got to snarf up leftovers with our coffee the next morning.

(I was too busy showing them around to remember to take photos of my actual friends, hence their essence, in food.)

Just because

I’m posting this picture just so it’ll remind me how beautiful it was last Sunday when we started building the deck. I don’t know how experts measure “peak” fall color, but the sky was blue (the lake was green) and the maples, oaks, basswoods, birch and whatever else I’ve got growing there that I haven’t yet learned the names of were absolutely brilliant in the afternoon light. Man, will this be a treat to look back on sometime around Jan. 15.

Those stripes on the side are my attempt to figure out what to do with the basement concrete. I’m experimenting with dark browns, but I’m not sure I’ve found the right thing just yet. I ordered enough Minnesota pine to put a “skirt” around the perimeter under the weeHouse, but I’m not sure that’s the right direction, either.

Architect’s plans called for The Builder to spray a transparent water sealant on the foundation so we could go with the natural concrete forms. Instead, there’s baby-blue spray on it. We’ll get ‘er figured out.

Ideas? I’m all ears.

Presenting … The Saturn Walkway

Visualizing things is not what you’d call my strong suit. But I’d always imagined I’d turn the huge pallet of very fine cedar decking that came with the weeHouse into a walkway that would lead down to the house from the driveway (once we cleared out the pontoon, motorboat, astroturf carpet and assorted trash and weeds). I just wasn’t sure how it would all come together.

Mike, our scrapper-scavenger-builder-entrepreneur friend, suggested we use some I-beams he’d salvaged after a mobile home burned down near his home in south-central Minnesota. Swell idea!

Over a recent long weekend, Mike, along with the still-healing Chris and my up-for-any-adventure friend, Aaron, worked like mad and got the Saturn Walkway built.

Here's the story:

In the beginning, there was an enormous pallet of quality deck pieces.

 

Mike drove this trailer of I-beams verrry slowly through the Twin Cities and up to Loveless.



We staked out the expected pathway, and picked our starting point at the weeHouse.

Mike scrawled some numbers and pictures into my reporter's notebook and got out the torch.



Chris and Aaron started digging post holes.



 

Oops! Call before you dig. What is this? Copper wrapped in electrical tape?



Mike figured out how to lock the I-beams to create stairs and gentle sloping walkway.

Aaron and Chris mixed a slurry of concrete for the posts.

At setting sun, the final I-beams reach the driveway!



Aaron prepares his camping hammock. (Before dawn the next morning, an owl swooped so low Aaron felt the power of its wings.)



A new day: Bring on the deck -- which Chris disassembled b/c it was too heavy to move otherwise.

Aaron digs in.

Lookin' good!

Welcome to the weeHouse. (Visualize with giant ferns and railing.)



Saturn Sky, deck and "my" weeHouse in their former lives.

   



On a roll

Wouldn’t you know that after a spring and summer of monsoons, just two little rain showers have befallen my humble plot in the three weeks since landscapers graded out the land and rolled out some fabric and grass seed?

Fortunately, I ponied up an extra $78 dollars so the crew would set up an elaborate timing system, courtesy of Menards, that sets off four sprinklers, twice a day, for 20 minutes each. Gravy train!

About three weeks ago.





Critters...



...hoping to take up residence for winter?

P.S. For northwestern Wisconsin readers, I’d recommend Jon Hol to anyone looking for a guy who’s trustworthy, dependable and who knows his native landscaping stuff.