A few months back we made the decision to leave the Orchards and Vineyards of Wenatchee, WA and move back to the Western Montana/Northern Idaho area. We actually started looking in Western Montana and eventually settled on the small town of Mullan, Idaho. Population somewhere around 800. It sits about 6 miles from the Idaho/Montana border in the beautiful Northern Bitteroot Mountains. Definitely no Orchards or Vineyards here!
In fact, this is the property as we first saw it . . .
That green building (with light purple trim!) is sort of an old garage. I say sort of because there was just a gaping hole in the front where garage doors used to be. There was no house and that was o.k. because we decided we wanted to build our 'Forever Home' ourselves. O.K. . . I say 'home' which most people would equate to mean a 'house'. I want to clarify that, especially to people who have seen and/or have been to one or more of our prior homes. I don't want to mislead anyone and send you off down the wrong path. This is not going to be like anyplace we have had previously. This is going to be more like our 'Forever Cabin'. (After all, we are up in the Mountains now :) This will be small, simple (well . . . maybe not so much) and fun. I thought I was being clever when I came up with the term 'Rustic Industrial' to describe our plan until I googled that phrase and found literally hundreds of references to Rustic Industrial Interior Design. Obviously not so clever after all. The object is to do this and then, at some point, guilt free, be able to head south in the Winter. This will be our warm weather haven and official Home. At least, that is the plan.The reason I decided to do a Blog about this is because a lot of our Friends and Family keep asking 'how are things coming along on the house?' This way, with a click of the wrist, anyone can come see the progress for themselves. Granted, a lot of it will probably be pretty boring, BUT, I have a funny feeling, since we are building this ourselves (o.k. since hubby Glen is building this himself!), there are going to be some mis-adventures along the way that will bring a laugh or two. As to the title of the Blog . . . We have decided to name our new Home 'Camp Dunmovin' (wait . . . it may take a minute . . . :). Thus, The Adventures at Camp Dunmovin.Excavation is done. Not as level as it should be but I'm told a truckload or two of gravel should take care of that. :/ Sewer and water lines are laid, hooked up and actually working! We brought our RV to the property and had access to all the amenities. :) Then it rained for two weeks straight and turned everything to mud . . .Below: Just before the excavation began. You can see the walkway remnants of the original home which has been gone for many years. When the ditches were being dug for the sewer and water lines the fella's came across an old basement buried deep in the ground. Needless to say this caused a little diversion to the original layout of the pipes. :/ The patio and walks were all buried under the snow when we bought the property.
The digging has begun . . .
We needed to remove some of the sod and HUGE rocks that were dug up during the excavation. We have a friend who owns a Trucking Company in Coeur d'Alene so Glen asked if he could borrow one of his trucks for the removal. He said "Sure. Take Old Blue." Old Blue is an old 1974 Dump truck that I'm sure is kept around more for nostalgia than anything else. For some unknown reason I wound up having to ride up to Mullan in Old Blue with hubby. The photo below shows us discussing whether or not I am even going to get in the truck! (I am only including these photos because I promised you some humor.) There was a passenger seat (of sorts) and even a safety belt, but these trucks evidently don't even necessarily have passenger seats because who in their right mind would ever want to ride along in one of these! I felt like a mixed drink, shaken over rocks, with no hearing left, by the time we completed the 50 mile trip. You can't talk because you can't hear. Therefore any bad words I might have wanted to use would have all been wasted.
There is NOTHING for me to grab hold of to get myself in to the truck so . . .
The next photo I'm not showing because there is nothing funny about the look on my face once I finally got up into the truck!Out of the mud . . . a smile.
Building materials to be delivered July 1st! :)
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