Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Adapter Found - finally PICS again!!!!

Yay! While preparing for G's parents visiting, I finally found the camera's card reader so I can finally post pics again :D

I'll start with a few random shots of indoor stuff from previous posts:
Our 200 gallon water tank up in the loft so we finally have running water (gravity-fed, not pressurized).
The pantry shelves. Eventually I'll get these painted and better organized!!
Adjustable spice shelves I built to fit between the wall studs in the pantry. No space goes to waste in a small cabin!
Our tiny bathroom under the stairs. Two-seater bench holds the poo bucket and urinal.
Note the narrow sink we made out of a fish-steamer, which still needs some work to drain properly.
Honey Bucket, not to be confused with....
... bucket of honey :D
The perfect pee-tainer, a 3-gallon outboard fuel tank.
Complete with sturdy handle, fill gauge and threaded liquid-tight cap!!
View from the "throne" - very untidy understairs storage at the moment.
BTW - I highly recommend the 'Gourmet Liquid' ant bait for Carpenter Ants!!
Obligatory picture of Ripley, she's such a camera whore!!

More posts and pics soon!

9 comments:

Misty Pines Homestead said...

Its great to hear from you and the cabin is coming along.Are you planning on living there full time?We got our property(see blog,have pictures)and will have to do some retraining ourselves to think small too. LOL You got it going finally and have done alot!

Plickety Cat said...

Hi Ann - yes, we've been living here full-time for almost 3 years, and in the cabin (instead of the tent) since we finished closing it in last fall.

One tip I can offer for DIY homestead types... start small, but design for extensibility. If you start with a one or two room cabin, you can always add more rooms to it later if you design it for that possibility. And you can also build additional outbuildings for specific purposes... not everything needs to be under one roof in conditioned space or all at once upfront.

A big benefit of that approach is that it allows you to figure out exactly what you really need for your homestead after you've actually lived and worked there awhile instead of guessing what you *might* need *eventually*.

Misty Pines Homestead said...

We got lucky with this property,we got barn to go with it! 3.5 and lots of pine trees and oaks.Our cabin is a 14x40 and yes it can be built on to.Isn't it exciting.i'm more of wanting to get the garden in and I really think theres gonna be room for a nice one(doing the happy dance).

Anonymous said...

I am going to send your picture of the honey pot and gas thingee to my parents. I live in central Manitoba in a cabin that I am finishing and I have the exact same bucket system (except the urinal as there is only me). lol

I won't have running water till next year but hope to have the drainage system done over the winter. I have downloaded all your blogs, they are an inspiration to me when I get feeling overwhelmed. ThankS!

Plickety Cat said...

Welcome to the blog, I'm glad they're helping you feel less alone in your adventure. Keep your chin up, it's all worth it! :)

We decided to separate the urine since it helped keep the honey bucket from smelling, since only wet poo stinks. Plus it helps keep the awkward bucket lighter so it's easier to carry out and dump.

lynn said...

So glad to see some pictures and hear from you, I do enjoy your blog, I look forward to seeing the inside of the cabin. How are you getting the water to the second floor? We have not had a frost in Maine yet though it is cold.

Plickety Cat said...

Hi Lynn - we're still hauling water 50 gallons at a time from the village community well 15 miles away, and then dragging the 5 gal jugs and 6 gal gamma buckets up the stairs. Luckily, we don't use that much water, so that's only a once-a-week chore when we go into the village to check mail and run errands.

We're planning to get a proper 100 gallon truck tank (max you draw from the well daily) and a small DC transfer pump to save our backs and knees from lugging 400 lbs of water up the stairs! we'll still keep the jugs and buckets for times when the trail is too muddy for the truck since the big tank won't fit on the 4-wheeler :)

Hopefully, next summer we'll get our sandpoint well driven so there will be water on-demand at the property besides rain and melted snow ;) We missed the sweet spot this summer when the ground was thawed enough AND dry enough to drive the wellpoint.

Misty Pines Homestead said...

Question when you can ,how does the pee thingy work? I see the red jug but how is it setup from the top?

Plickety Cat said...

I made the urinal by drilling a hole in the bottom of a mixing bowl and attaching a standard sink drain assembly. The drain's tailpiece is long enough to fit into the mouth of the jug.

To switch out jugs, we just raise the toilet seat, lift up the bowl a little, set the new jug in place and make sure the drain pipe fits down into the mouth of the new jug when we set the bowl back down.