Siding!
Mike has been working on crafting and installing the siding on our 12X14 cabin for the past few weeks and it looks amazing. All four sides are done now and he’s left with a few finishing touches to tend to. We decided to side the cabin with wood we were generously gifted by a friend who lives up around Helena, instead of the wood Mike milled with the sawmill last fall. We plan on using that wood for cladding the interior of our cabin, which is the big project up next on the docket. While I am so very grateful for the dope insulation we have in our cabin walls, having the batts always in view instead of finished walls doesn’t lend a warm, homey tone to our dwelling place. The vibe I’m interested in being surrounded by isn’t construction-chic.
As Mike’s been utilizing mostly downed trees on our property for the wood he’s been using to build our cabin, we’re hoping that stacking the wood he milled last fall and leaving it to winter over will have eradicated all the pine beetle larva we discovered was housed within it, much to our disappointment. I don’t know about you, but I have a strong preference that pine beetles don’t hatch and emerge from the wood inside my living place.
I find it intriguing how much the presence of siding has changed the whole energy of things. It’s not just a physical change, but a psychological one too. For me, the siding helps to support the transition from being a work-in-progress to feeling at home. Now when I’m outside out on the porch or doing whatever thing near the cabin, I feel more grounded and settled. The siding encourages me to feel more like this is a place called home, rather than a temporary, under construction living space. What can I say. I’m a nester and a home-maker, a vibe-curator and a space creator. It’s not just form and function that matter, but feel and flavor too.
Gratitude for Mike and his energy, abilities, skills, and interest in building things in a meaningful way. He’s not the sort to just slap a building together. In fact, I don’t think he could if he tried. It would pain him not to give the care and attention he feels a building project needs in order to do it well. He’s a craftsman, not a grunt worker. This also means things take a little more time. Fortunately, in our big life move to live differently and start Empty Mountain, part of our endeavors of downsizing and simplification center around wanting to create more time and space for the art of living. And I think we are doing just that.