The vision

We've hired a builder, pulled permits, lined up subcontractors and found a crane operator. And on Monday,  we finally got plans! Per usual, I'm pushing deadline. (This time, dear editors, it is not my fault. Really!) If Old Man Winter cooperates, we've got until the end of November to get the concrete walls poured on the walkout basment so we can welcome the weeHouse to its new home.

Here's the basic idea. If only the slope down to Loveless Lake were this gentle....

Year in review

A year ago this week, I signed the title to the property at Loveless Lake.  We pulled out truckloads of stuff from the cabin, carted off lawnmowers, weed eaters, furnaces, even a snow mobile engine. We recycled or reused as much as we could -- from the moss-covered shingles to the plastic bottle tops.

It’s impossible to account for all the hours of work. But it looks like we (well, Chris mostly) got it down to the slab in 33 visits, four trips to the Polk County recycling center (cash out: tires, mattresses, a fridge; cash back: aluminum cans), two trips to the Shakopee landfill (cash out: recycle shingles). And no dumpster. 

With notable assists from:

Mike the Master of the Come-Along: Who hauled three truckloads of scrap metal to the recycler and brought the place to the ground with a chain and his come-along.

Demolition Dave: Who helped send the kitchen crashing to the ground and found someone interested in restoring the pontoon to its former glory.

Youth of America: Chris’ sons, who showed up during searing 90+ degree temps to load shingles into the truck for us to recycle.

Neighbor Doug: Who was the first "outsider" to visit Loveless. On a cold winter day, he helped haul several foul mattresses up to the truck and to the Polk County Recycling Center, and then did a lap around Loveless on cross country skis.

As Frank might say, we did it our way.

Day One: Champagne on the deck. 



The footpath we cut through the brush and trees.




The (former) cabin captured in the cross hairs.





Down she goes.



The current scene.

Bringin' the ’rents 2 Loveless

My parents came up from Florida last week for their first visit to Minnesota in more than six years. We gave them the royal tour over to Wisconsin in Chris’ new-to-him minivan.

The weeHouse re-do is coming along nicely! Beautiful bamboo floor and walls are in, and the countertop and Ikea cabinets are ready to go.

Still a few things in need of repair from the storm damage.

Chris found some fire pit pokers my folks could use as walking sticks.



 We didn’t attempt Stairmaster Hill, with its lack of handrails and straight-down trajectory. Instead, we headed to the boat launch where they could take in the southerly view of all 140-acres of Loveless Lake.

My Mom was smitten with the weeHouse.

As for the Loveless property? “It’s got potential!” said my Dad.

Chipper hits the drink

We’ve picked up enough of the glass, nails and assorted rubble that we finally were able to introduce Chipper to his newest playground. For the past year, I’ve been slinking out the door, guilt-ridden, as I ditched the poor pooch to head off to Loveless.

It was his first time around a fishing rod, and he was slightly obsessed with trying to retrieve that mysterious thing Chris kept casting out into the lake.

 

I was overjoyed to see him paddling along, doing his funny Lab snort and scaring off all the fish.

Dumpster Diving

With all that waterlogged bamboo getting pulled from the weeHouse, Chris and I headed up to the wee’s current resting spot in Siren, Wis., to do a little scavenging. We’re thinking of using the "reclaimed" bamboo as a floor/wall of a future outhouse or storage shed. That'd class the place up, don't you think?

The flooring is a lovely blonde, horizontal cut. Oooh la la.

Still Life of a Teardown, Part Deux

This may look like just another Loveless Landfill site, which it is. But somewhere beneath the water heater, life jacket and other assorted crap, is a sandpoint well. We'll seal it up and abandon it before we pour a new slab. Recycling what we can first, of course.


This sign, once hanging in the kitchen rafters, continues to add a sense of levity and irony to our work.

The Objets de Loveless just keep showing up. I snapped this royal photo about two weeks ago.

Behold, our temporary power source. It arrived this spring tacked to an old piece of plywood with a dirty, cracked cover. Jake the Electrician said he didn't have the parts on hand, so he had to scrounge some up.

For this, I paid the power company $250. Jake, referred to me by the power company, did his part for free. All he asked was to have a shot bidding the job when it came time to build. Fair enough, right?

Well. Now that I'm researching such things, it turns out that Jake's company - Dalles Electricians - doesn't have an electrical license in the state of Wisconsin. Go figure.

A Sunnie Day (Gershwin had the foggy one)

Chris reeled in the first fish at Loveless! It was a little catch-and-release sunfish. I wasn’t there to record the proud moment on digital pixels, but Chris offered proof of the sunnie (one of four, in fact) before he set it free into the spring-fed waters of Loveless Lake, which now sport a lovely shade of chartreuse.



My colleague Dennis Anderson wrote a great ode to sunnies.



Chris tells me you can catch a sunfish without even trying. Well, I’ll be dancin’ a jig the first one I snag.

Meanwhile, the fiberglass boat is gone. Yay Demolition Dave! And Chris, bless his heart, is working his arse off to try to clean up the joint as we prepare for the arrival of the weeHouse.

I’m talking to folks to hire for the work ahead – septic excavator, well driller, masonry guy, carpenter, electrician, plumber … Heaven help me.

Here’s me trying to explain things: Yes, we’re going to drive these giant trucks down my neighbor’s driveway to get to my site … No, I just need you to build a foundation ... Yes, we’re going to drop this weeeeeeeHouse right on top … No, I’m going to finish up inside of the basement when I have more money …

I hope to meet with a builder on Sunday who'll be willing to take on a small and funky job. Surely, he'll want to bring a little love to Loveless.