Day Two - Tuesday

Working together.

Day One - Monday

They built a fire for the sticks and refuse they cleared from the site and got busy on the foundation. There is something about having a fire going when we're working outside in the Fall. Good smells and a place to warm our hands.

In this photo, they have stacked blocks for the piers and located the beams they will use.

Applesauce

The Cabin

Where has the time gone???I can't believe almost a month has passed since I posted last. We've been busy keeping up the house, cleaning out the garden and flower beds, working on school activities and canning applesauce. It is SO good to have all those jars of applesauce in our cabinets again. 100 total and 19 jars of juice.

Now, we are watching a cabin materialize right before our eyes. It has been Ukiah's dream to build a little cabin with his dad. He's looked at countless books and magazines for years, formulating ideas. Well, early Monday morning the building commenced. They are really making progress! They located a spot not too far from the house but not too close either...just right for a 12 year old boy. ;) They cleared the area, cut down a few trees and began setting piers for the foundation. Right now they have the whole foundation completed and floor joists put in. It is a 10'x14' cabin with a 7' porch. This is their special father/son week so when I went to get more building supplies today, Silas and Levi went with me. I came home with a trailer full of lumber and wood for the floor and walls. Shingles too. Drew found a great place that sells seconds and we were able to purchase the materials for far less than regular lumber yard prices. What a blessing! This time they've had together has really been worth the sacrifices needed to make it happen. Next week Silas is going to have his time with Daddy and they are going on a backpack trip. Levi will be next and has chosen to go canoe camping. They'll canoe the river awhile until they locate just the right spot for camping. Then, they'll pull in for the night and set up camp.

Silas and I have taken a lot of pictures so I'll try to post some tonight. I'm amazed at how fast this cabin is going up. Surely God is blessing Drew's efforts and commitment to spend this special time with his son.

One pet leaves..another one moves in

Ukiah found this little lizard last year when we first arrived in Missouri. She traveled with us all over - Pennsylvania, Virginia, Tennessee, Kentucky and more! Well, it's been a year and he was thinking he wanted to return her back to the wild. She has eaten well for us and even laid more than 20 eggs! That was really neat. Too bad they weren't fertile...that would have been even better. So, three days ago he took her out to a sunny spot and said his goodbyes.

I wondered how long it would take him to find something to put in his aquarium...

Today he found this:

This praying mantis has the same voracious appetite that his lizard had! It's a good thing Ukiah likes to catch insects. :)

A charcoal experiment

We've decided to try to make charcoal for medicinal uses. Since we've never done this before, I knew it would be an interesting experiment. We researched to find out what would be the best wood to use and ultimately chose willow. After we found the willow that was the right size, we stripped the leaves off and the boys cut it up into the proper lengths.

From what we read, we needed an airtight container to put the willow sticks in. The best thing we could come up with was one of my canners. I figured we would put the lid on and then secure it with C clamps.


So far, so good. The boys had a fire going so I tightened the C clamps - any tighter and I would've cracked the enamel. Then...onto the fire.


They cooked and cooked. THEN, I noticed that some smoke was escaping from under the lid. So it wasn't airtight after all. :( We were supposed to let it cook for 1 1/2 hours and then remove from the fire to cool entirely. If we were to take the lid off while it was still hot, the oxygen would cause the charcoal sticks to burst into flame and turn to ash. So, after determining that it was indeed leaking, we took it off the fire. When it was almost cool, the lid was removed. Curiosity was getting the best of a particular boy. ;) It didn't burst into flames-it had apparently cooled enough- and we discovered that we had made charcoal pencils! Those sticks were in the pencil sharpener in NO time. lol. So...that was our first attempt at making charcoal. It was fun and we ended up with something usable. Now, I just need to come up with something airtight that can go over the fire. Any ideas?