Most of the photographs of work at our cabin show my brother-in-law, Doug, doing the work. That is mostly because he is doing the work at the time I am taking the picture. The other day he picked up my camera while I was chopping firewood and captured me splitting a log, proving I do a little work around the cabin.
Doug and I drove up to the cabin today to install the last pieces of the chimney that we did not have a few weeks back. We got a nice fire going in the stove and I had him toss in some birch bark to get some smoke for the photos. Aside from the installation of the wood floors, we now have a mostly finished cabin that we can use in colder weather, too.
Doug and I had a second project last weekend at the cabin, the construction of a woodshed. He had built the walls, floor and roof in sections at home and we assembled it there. He spent an inordinate amount of time leveling the floor, as witnessed by the photos below. You can see a time lapse video at the bottom of the page that shows the construction and the filling of the shed with our meager wood stash so far.
Doug and I traveled up to the cabin over the weekend to install the chimney and hook up the wood stove. The chimney installation was fairly straightforward and it was only difficult because of the height and angle of the roof, which we overcame with a second ladder over the peak of the roof. The problems arose when we realized that we did not have the correct adapter to connect the stove to the chimney inside the cabin. After a trip to St. Ignace and then to Cedarville, we thought we had the correct piece, but we did not. I was able to get the correct piece when I arrived home Sunday, but we still need to drive back up to install it.
Doug and I finished up the trim work on the cabin last week. We also hung the cool sliding door that he made for the bedroom. We only have a few more things to complete and the interior of the cabin will be finished.
I spent last week at our cabin in the Upper Peninsula. On Monday night, the Northern Lights erupted in a spectacular show. I had to wait patiently for a few breaks in the clouds around midnight to capture photos of the colorful skies. I had only a window of about an hour to photograph the aurorae before the thick clouds rolled in for the rest of the night.
Tuesday night was far clearer, but the Lights were only a dim flicker low on the northern horizon. At the bottom of this page you can watch a short video of the progression of the stars through the night sky from Tuesday night. If you are watching it in a dark enough setting, you will be able to see the Northern Lights near the bottom of the screen along the tree silhouettes. You will also see little bright green flashes, which are the lightning bugs flying in front of the lens. Make sure to click the little gear on the lower right corner of the viewer to increase the resolution of the video.
