i keep a diary

June 01, 2017

First Week at the Cabin

My first multiple-night solo trip up to my cabin in upstate New York!

Thursday, June 1st

Left NYC Thursday morning and made it to the mountains by the early afternoon.
driving
maddy
The land I bought is historic and was involved in an accidental skirmish between settlers and local natives during the French / Indian War. Settled 1754. Attacked by "Indians" 1755. George Brimmer is buried right on the edge of my property.
cabin ˆ scary ˆ wtf ˆ maddy
My truck was loaded with stuff I was bringing to the cabin. I made it almost to the top of my private mountain road only to find it blocked by a fallen tree!
road ˆ tree
WTF, why we stopped?
No way around it! Had to leave my truck parked and walked everything down to the cabin by hand over a few trips.
Home sweet home in the woods!
cabin
Love this view so much.
cabin ˆ scenic overlook
maddy
After getting everything unpacked, I put out Maddy's dinner for her and settled down on the couch. Maddy seemed really confused. She kept looking at me, "Wait, we live here now?"
cabin ˆ maddy
I've got two axes. (Dad joke BAM!)
First order of business was drove to the cell store to switch to a provider that had coverage on the mountain!
driving
maddy
Then hit the grocery store to stock up for the week!
groceries ˆ shopping ˆ maddy
maddy
No more groceries ok, tho?
groceries ˆ shopping ˆ maddy
By the time we got back from the store, my timber-farmer neighbor had come by with his tractor and dragged the fallen tree off of my road. Thanks, Tom!
road ˆ tree

Friday, June 2nd

I hadn't ordered a new mattress for the upstairs bedroom yet, so I slept one of the bunk beds!
It was still chilly in the morning so got a fire going...
...while I put the groceries away.
cabin ˆ food ˆ groceries
Making coffee out on the porch.
Morning coffee view!
Had a little bit of work to do on Friday, so I set up my mobile office on the picnic table outside!
Solar charger briefcase come through!
me
Pretty excited to be working off grid!
cabin ˆ me
maddy
After finishing work for the day, Maddy and I set out to explore the mountain!
hiking ˆ maddy
Cool to open up GPS and see where I am on the property as I was learning the land.
cabin ˆ map
Fern field!
fern ˆ hiking
Found a bunch of hunting blinds all over my property.
hunting
Exciting to see lots of flowers and plants that are new to me!
flower
maddy
Maddy loves exploring in the woods.
hiking ˆ maddy
Found a couple of scenic spots I thought would be good for future cabins and marked down their GPS coordinates.
If I zoom out on the map far enough you can see how close my property is to the Vermont border!
cabin ˆ map
After almost 3 hours of wandering we finally found our way back to the cabin.
cabin
Used the last bit of daylight to chop some wood.
me
I'm a mountain man now. lol.
cabin ˆ messy hair ˆ me

Saturday, June 3rd

On Saturday I made a list of things I needed to get from the hardware store.
rainbarrel
Needed a new hose adapter for my rain barrels.
rainbarrel
Took the back roads and found a cool covered bridge.
bridge ˆ driving
You know you're in upstate NY when...
license plate
Ok, long lawn time to meet....
....my new string trimmer!
A few hours later, I'd managed to wack down the knee-high grass into an actual lawn!
maddy
Is chilly. Can make a fire?
snuggie ˆ maddy
Before the sun set, I drove into town...
clouds ˆ driving ˆ sunset
...to grab dinner at one of the local diners.
diner
Did some late night lantern-lit interneting via my new cell hotspot.
cabin ˆ computer ˆ lantern

Sunday, June 4th

maddy
Look how excited Maddy is. Lol. She loves waking up in the woods and cannot WAIT for me to get up and take her on a walk so she can be off leash and hunt chipmunks. Fucking little dachshund psycho!
excited ˆ maddy
maddy
Way better than her city morning walks.
hiking ˆ maddy
me
Post hike morning couch nap!
cabin ˆ couch ˆ me
In the afternoon, I drove into Vermont to check out nearby Bennington.
obelisk
They have a cool obelisk memorial for the Battle of Bennington of the Revolutionary War.
obelisk
maddy
Headed home with Maddy before the rain showed up.
driving ˆ maddy
Hung out on the porch and watched the clouds roll through the valley.
cabin ˆ porch

Monday, June 5th

On Monday morning I drove a few miles down the road to Ronnie's of Bennington to shop for a UTV (utility terrain vehicle) also known as a side-by-side!
After checking out all their inventory, I settled on this little honey.
A 2016 Yamaha Wolverine R-Spec! 708cc of mountain-ripping fun! After I was paid, I scheduled delivery....
...and headed back the mountain...
firewood ˆ truck
...to haul some firewood up to the cabin!
firewood ˆ truck
me
Such manliness.
firewood ˆ glasses ˆ gun show ˆ truck ˆ me
After I finished hauling wood I heated up some water on my stove for bathing...
...shaving...
...and then I did the dishes!
Was pulling a nail out of a piece of wood...
glasses
me
...and ended up punching myself in the face pretty hard. Lol. Mountain life!
ouch ˆ me
Around 5pm I got a call from Ronnie's that my new Wolverine was en route so I drove down the mountain to receive...
...my brand new toy! So exciting!
wolverine
Took Maddy's dog carrier out of the truck...
truck ˆ wolverine
maddy
...and loaded her up for her first ride up the mountain at HIGH SPEED.
wolverine ˆ maddy
maddy
She LOVED it!
wolverine ˆ maddy
The pickup truck can make it up my private mountain road but you have to drive at less than 5mph and so it takes around 10 minutes to get up to the cabin. The Wolverine has crazy off-road suspension and you drive really fast and make it up there in less than two minutes!

Tuesday, June 6th

maddy, me
Rainy morning ween snuggles.
bed ˆ cabin ˆ cuddle ˆ maddy ˆ me
Tuesday was another rainy day. Waited for the rain to stop for a bit...
cabin ˆ wolverine
maddy, me
...then Maddy and I hopped in the Wolverine and went exploring the trails on my property at HIGH SPEED!
wolverine ˆ maddy ˆ me
Made it all the way up to the access road that runs across the top edge of my property on the mountain ridgeline.
scenic overlook ˆ wolverine
I was supposed to stay another 2 days, but the with the forecast calling for two days of heavy rain, I decided to pack it in early and head back to NYC.
driving ˆ rain
When I got back to my well-lit apartment, I discovered that the reason my back had been sore for the drive home is that I tick dig in deep!
I managed to get this fucker off....but upon closer examination, it turned out I had a few more I couldn't reach....
dead ˆ gross ˆ tick
me, meredith
....so Meredith came over to help me remove them! (Thanks, Meredith! You're a real one!) I kept an eye on the bite areas for a few days and little while later got tested for Lyme's...but lucked out came out negative! Lesson learned - wear a hat and tick spray up at the cabin!
flashlight ˆ tick ˆ me ˆ meredith