Halfmoon's journal

Where are you and where are you going?
Farm_or
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Re: Halfmoon's journal

Post by Farm_or »

Pretty good fence building skills! It's not easy.

I told my wife to be alert stringing the barb wire because it knows Kung Fu. You relax for a second and it will jump and bite you.

Her least favorite part was packing rocks for the rock jacks that we built for the corners. Those are really hard to build to blm spec, it takes so many smaller rocks; we fudged on those a little bit.

halfmoon
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Re: Halfmoon's journal

Post by halfmoon »

Farm_or wrote:I told my wife to be alert stringing the barb wire because it knows Kung Fu. You relax for a second and it will jump and bite you.
This. Hold onto said wife, because a spouse who will fence with you (other than verbally) is gold. 8-)

Why do you have to fence to BLM spec? My experience is only with state/national forest permittees, and I haven't known them to have fence-building requirements. Is your county not open range?

Farm_or
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Re: Halfmoon's journal

Post by Farm_or »

Touche!

When I was a kid, my dad leased pasture from blm and forest service. We built and rode a lot of fence. I guess it's my own anal retentive notions to keep my fences to that high standard? I especially like using smooth wire on the bottom strand. Saves a lot of baby deers and antelopes from injury.

We spend an all day in the the spring fixing blm fence for our allotment. Strange, but we actually look forward forward to doing it. We pack a picnic and make an event of it. It's six + miles of fence. Every year, I say, "okay, we fixed a lot last year, so this year will be better." But somehow, it's always just as bad.

Eureka
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Re: Halfmoon's journal

Post by Eureka »

No comments, just enjoyed reading through it all.

halfmoon
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Re: Halfmoon's journal

Post by halfmoon »

Farm_or wrote: I especially like using smooth wire on the bottom strand. Saves a lot of baby deers and antelopes from injury.
What a great idea. We used to remove a few rows of fence clips after the grazing season and drop the fence in spots where deer habitually crossed. It was tough for them to jump in deep, soft snow. Of course, the predators counted on those snow-challenged deer. Hard to know whom to root for. We (sort of) tried to adhere to the Starfleet Prime Directive of no interference with alien civilizations/wildlife. Does feeding deer in the winter count? :oops:
Eureka wrote:No comments, just enjoyed reading through it all.
Well, that's a perfect comment. I always hope that people are enjoying the story, and I thrive on feedback. Thank you! :D

EMJ
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Re: Halfmoon's journal

Post by EMJ »

Always interesting to read you journal Halfmoon!

halfmoon
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Re: Halfmoon's journal

Post by halfmoon »

Thank you for responding to my shameless solicitation of feedback, EMJ! Do you have a journal? I'd like to read your story.

halfmoon
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Re: Halfmoon's journal

Post by halfmoon »

THE HOMESTEAD/ACCUMULATION YEARS

When the fence was complete, we turned our attention to the most important part of any homestead: the outhouse! Our future water supply was still in question, and we were fully prepared to haul and store water as part of living in this spot. We still hoped to develop a well in the future, but either way, an outhouse was critical.

Of course, this outhouse (because German) needed to be built like a bunker, sealed against flies and odor free. Our first task was to dig a 4’ wide x 4’ long x 8’deep hole. It couldn’t be dug by a hired backhoe because DH wanted the walls of the hole to be strictly vertical…I’ll explain why shortly.

We excavated the 256 cubic feet by hand, prying the numerous rocks out with a large crowbar. We were able to heave the dirt and rocks up and out at first, but as we descended this became impossible. If the rocks were small enough, we could load them into a bucket along with loose dirt and lift them to ground level with a rope. The larger rocks had to be secured with chains and lifted with the trusty tripod/come-along setup.

Finally we had a big fat hole with vertical walls and lots of rocks lying around the rim. Next step was to lay railroad ties around the perimeter, digging them into the dirt a bit. This sealed the hole against flies and illustrates why we had to hand-dig it. If a backhoe had dug the hole, the sides would be sloped. Since the top was ringed with railroad ties to seal it, the actual dimensions of the hole depths would be far less than the top if the sides were sloped. We would either have to build a huge outhouse or have a tiny composting reservoir. :shock: Trust me: you never want a tiny composting reservoir.

We then lay a sheet of marine plywood on top of the railroad ties. We framed the outhouse on top of the plywood just like a very tiny house, complete with view of the opposing mountain. The inside was lined with an apocalypse-level toilet paper supply for insulation. We installed a big vent pipe from the hole up and out the ceiling (a la US Forest Service vault toilets), screened the rafters and decorated the inside with artwork, a framed mirror and a kerosene lamp. There were also deep shelves and coat hooks in case one intended to stay while. It’s hard to believe, but this outhouse Did Not Smell and had no flies. We were pretty darn proud of it. 8-) (Photo is before we painted it to all to match the house.)

Image

Dragline
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Re: Halfmoon's journal

Post by Dragline »

Poopus Maximus! Impressive! Thanks for relaying your life-story is such vivid detail.

halfmoon
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Re: Halfmoon's journal

Post by halfmoon »

Thanks for reading my life story, Dragline! ...But where were you when we built this? I can see now that our outhouse needed a Poopus Maximus plaque over the door. :cry:

Farm_or
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Re: Halfmoon's journal

Post by Farm_or »

Good stuff as usual. But I can't help, my eye is drawn to the impressive wood pile in the background! You guys must have used a lot of firewood? Looks to be stacked in perfect order and cut to precise lengths

bryan
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Re: Halfmoon's journal

Post by bryan »

Wow, that's a serious outhouse! I don't know too much about outhouses (until I started googling..).. did it ever get full? Now I want to build an outhouse (w/ my own version of Hedonic Inflation built-in) :lol:

Jason

Re: Halfmoon's journal

Post by Jason »

At first I thought, wow, that's nice, they built an outhouse for their dog. He can go in there, take a shit, lick his balls, whatever.

Then I realized it was for people.

Based on the reflection of the window, is that the view when you're doing your business? Cause that does look relaxing. I could see John Denver in there, taking an inspired dump and coming up with "Annie Song."

halfmoon
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Re: Halfmoon's journal

Post by halfmoon »

@bryan, it is a serious outhouse. It never got full, though during extreme cold spells in the winter, the contents would sometimes pile up into a tiny Matterhorn of poop way down in the darkness. Don't ask me how I know this because I absolutely did not shine a flashlight down there to monitor things. Nope, no sirree. In spring, water seeping from the mountainside made it all disappear in any case.

I enjoyed the outhouse photo site to a ridiculous degree, by the way. One of those internet rabbit holes that sucked me in. Thanks for eating up an hour of my life! :twisted:

@Jason, that is indeed the outhouse user's view reflected in the window. I only wish I could have convinced our dogs to use an outhouse. Would have avoided a lot of picking dog poop out of the snow.
Farm_or wrote:Good stuff as usual. But I can't help, my eye is drawn to the impressive wood pile in the background! You guys must have used a lot of firewood? Looks to be stacked in perfect order and cut to precise lengths
Yes, we used a lot of firewood. Our house was well-insulated, but wood was our only source of heat. With temperatures falling well below zero Fahrenheit several times each winter, a lot of firewood was money (survival) in the bank. We also cooked primarily with wood, though we did have a propane stove.

As far as the "stacked in perfect order and cut to precise lengths" part: you did get that my DH is German? :D This piling of wood between trees was just a stopgap method, though, while we built and finished the house. It works well until the wood dries out and shrinks in ways that undermine the stack's precision. Then come the windstorms, the trees sway...we did a lot of re-stacking. Finally, we built a woodshed.

Image

This was our first log pole building. We milled 2 sides of each side beam and all 4 sides of the center beam with an Alaskan chainsaw mill. The roof was made with purchased lumber, OSB sheathing and metal. The firewood sits on surplus pallets.

Riggerjack
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Re: Halfmoon's journal

Post by Riggerjack »

OK, as long as we are talking details of outhouses, a few thoughts.

If you are going for the deep, long term hole, (4x4x8 the hard way by hand!?! OMG!) Think backhoe, 2wx8lx8d. With a 2' span, the floor is stiffer, you have the same volume, and you can have the building as wide as you want.

Windows are good, full light doors better, and a transparent roof best. Well, all 3 would be best, really. Whatever form of light you use at night should be mounted. Candlestick, lantern, led, whatever. As halfmoon pointed out, venting and sealing are good things.

Weatherstripping and caulk are your friends, or spiders are.

Many people dig lesser holes, use the outhouse for a time, move the outhouse, dig a new hole, using the spoil to cover the previous hole, put the outhouse over the new hole. Bioactivity happens faster near the surface of soil. Disclaimer, this may not be so true where the freezing is serious, Mountains and Minnesota.

I do not in any way advocate outhouses, but I have used many, and thought I'd share what I have learned. If you have water available on site, a septic system is not much more difficult, and better for water quality. The water you save may be your own.

halfmoon
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Re: Halfmoon's journal

Post by halfmoon »

@Riggerjack: interesting idea about the narrow, long trench. In that case, it would make sense to construct several seats and move sideways when one section fills. I wonder if this was commonly done in the past (minus a backhoe), because a number of old outhouses have multiple seats. I could never figure out why outhouse use would be a group activity.

Agreed about mounting the light source. It reminds me of how far we've come, because now a battery-powered LED lamp would be far more practical than a kerosene lamp.

Our eventual water supply was 500' uphill of the outhouse. Though we put in conventional plumbing down the road, I'm a fan of outhouses when intelligently sited. For one thing: they keep the filthy boots outside for breaks in the work day. They also conserve water, provide wonderful privacy...and sometimes even have a view.

One of the best and worst aspects for me? It forces you to go outside in the dark. That can be really annoying when it's bitter cold or you're half asleep, but then you look up at a sky awash with stars and the dark shadow of mountains beneath, and you really feel where you live.

Jason

Re: Halfmoon's journal

Post by Jason »

This is some real pioneering shit right here, pardon the pun. I remember watching a Disneyesque movie when I was a kid and the family was in the wilderness, snowed in and starving and I look over and there's this girl balling her eyes out and I'm like take it easy its fucking Disney, some benevolent wolf or some shit will come along and dig them out. Sure enough, they lived. I don't remember exactly how. I wonder where that girl is now. Probably married to a Hedge Fund guy.

As nice as that view is, I'd still rather shit inside staring at a shower curtain than outside staring at the magnificence of nature.

Riggerjack
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Re: Halfmoon's journal

Post by Riggerjack »

Yeah, I was still thinking single seat, but more room to take off raingear, light lamp, what have you. No reason to feel claustrophobic.

Speaking of going outside in the dark...

I was surprised, when I moved out in the sticks, just how dark the dark is. In the burbs, it never really gets dark, and when camping, there's usually clear skies. I have excellent night vision, and even starlight is enough to wander thru a clearing without worry. But when you go out in the drizzle in the night, it is really dark out there. A drizzle at night in the woods, and I'm stumbling around hoping not to find a branch with my eye.

But it is hard to beat a mountain view of the stars...

Farm_or
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Re: Halfmoon's journal

Post by Farm_or »

16x8x5= 5 cords? Do you know what mix of woods? Looks like lodgepole was aplenty?

halfmoon
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Re: Halfmoon's journal

Post by halfmoon »

Good deduction on the volume just from a photo, Farm_or! There might be a tiny bit of lodgepole pine in there because our property had one lodgepole in the 40 acres -- which remarkably managed to die all alone from pine beetle. The bulk of it is fir and larch. (It was a luxury not to split every single log no matter the size; in Western Washington, we burn alder and have to split even the small stuff or it'll rot before it dries.) There are a few skinny ponderosa pine in there; the big ponderosas are miserably hard to split and generally healthy anyway.

We never went out and cut down healthy trees for firewood; just trying to clean up the slash and thin unhealthy stands produced more firewood than we could possibly use. We did launch a project to clean out diseased trees that involved DH climbing a number of the larger ones to cut off branches infested with dwarf mistletoe (this not the stuff you kiss under).

https://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DO ... 025978.pdf

Larch are harder to climb than fir, and we ended up cutting a number of larch to save the young trees. It absolutely pained us; if there were a church that worshipped trees, we would sing in the choir. Turning these beautifully straight larch into firewood just seemed wrong, so we decided to peel them and build a log-walled shop. That's a story for another day, though. 8-)

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