The Cabin itself

As I had mentioned in an earlier post that I had originally considered simply wintering over in this cabin and until I built something larger, and then using this as a guest house, as often, plans change, things evolve and even needs do change.

This was, after all, about half the space of the last two places (goldstream was 16 X24 and goldhill was 16 X 24 with a half loft) whereas this cabin is 12 X 16 plus a 12 X 6 porch with a small loft overhead.  But as I transitioned from goldhill to here it did become obvious that this was all I really needed.  When I was once again living alone at the goldhill cabin I stopped using the loft and the front of the cabin just wound up being a place to store things, much of which did not need to be in a heated space.  So essentially, besides where I hung my coat and some other clothing, and where I had the trash can, I was really only actively using a 12 X 16 foot area of the goldhill cabin, and mostly I was only passing through that extra area to go in or out of the place.  And when I look back to the goldstream cabin, even there, I mostly only used half of the place except for where I had placed the computer or the rare occasion that I decided to use the davenport instead of the bed.

As I spent time in the new cabin outfitting it, extending my stay due to weather, and just taking the time to get a feel of the place, I did scrap that idea of wanting or needing something larger.

The interior design certainly evolved a few times over the winter as my plans, wants and needs continued to change, but to some extent that is still happening especially since I'm looking forward to finally installing a wood cookstove, and what a daunting prospect that is since there are at least two places it could go, and in one, four different directions it could face (though one direction would seem a bit odd, but still quite functional and accessible).  But in this case, especially, once it is in place, it will likely not be moved ever again.  Thankfully the stove is already here, that in itself was an agonising project sorting through what was acceptable, what was out of the question, what had most of what was wanted and had the least unwanted features or requirements.  And of course then try to fit that all into a pricepoint. 

But here again, so much of this is something for another day, the cabin is in place, electric service to be put in, and I'm having to deal with a problem caused by the expansion of the subdivision where I was living.  Over the last summer they had decided to expand the number of cabins.  Where up until that time there was really only one street with about 8 cabins, they started the rest of the subdivision, which meant extending the entry road, putting in the block to the east, and another to the west beyond the entry road, plus putting in cabins in any of the remaining lots on the street I was on.  All this activity and construction tore up the entry road to the point where it was a real challenge to get through a block or two of very soft dirt and mud, and consequently, unbeknownst to me it had thrown the front end alignment all out of whack on the van.  Upon getting back to Fairbanks the day the cabin went down, I was shocked to find out that the new tyres I had put on the van that summer had been scuffed down nearly bald on the front end, and the garage threw me another curve.  They claimed that they couldn't get it in alignment and that I'd have to take it to a body shop to have the frame straightened out, and just getting an appointment wasted the most time.  When finally they did take it in to work on it, they found nothing wrong with the frame and figured out that the garage had simply used the specs from a different model year while trying to align it and thus were not able to make the proper corrections.  So, weeks wasted and expense as well between the garage, body shop, a set of tyres that should still be on the van (as the replacements are) and all due to a land owner that ignored the conditions and problems his expansion was making on the existing tenants (and the bulk of the damage was actually between his subdivision and an older one, and that section was yet to be developed by whomever owned that parcel)

My next trip down, there would be snow on the ground and the electric service installed, with just one glitch.