Room With A View

Room With A View

I'm in Oregon, for maybe months volunteering my dumb-labor on a major log-home-construction project for my ex-step-son Rob, see www.greatempty.us/blog.

Conversation in passing, Heidi mentions she & Rob own 2 acres in Trinity County, that they'll never do anything with. Her dad, Dave Beans, an amazing man, a forester, lives off-the-grid on ~80 timbered acres overlooking Weaverville while forever working for the county assessor's office, its timber assessment expert. Before acquiring that land & building his big log home there (destroyed in recent conflagration, he, truly Miraculously, escaping with his life), he somehow finagled 6 acres from the center of a large private timber holding a half-hour north of Weaverville, a mile from the paved road, an incredible view, granite peaks of the Trinity Alps Wilderness Area. That was to be The Family Home, but for some reason he went for the 80. What to do with the 6? He deeded 2 acres to each of 3 children. There was already a 1-room frame 'cabin' on 1 of the parcels; another occupied by the skeletal foundation of the house he intended there; the 3rd (Rob/Heidi's) holding the spring water source & nothing else.

They showed me a picture of the site/view: incredible. And i know the region well, having lived in Weaverville & vicinity 14yrs. Almost all the land is either ForestService or private timber company. Almost no development. Big green timber, grey mountains.

The 'cabin' is used a few weekends a summer by the now-owner sibling, a controlling accountant who lives in Scott Valley, a couple hours to the north. The other bro is easy-going engineer, with a big house on the mountain above Weaverville.

Immediately when i heard of the place, i was intensely interested, and said so. Heidi was hesitant, as, she knew, the controlling brother (who as the oldest had weasled his way into the lot with the cabin) would object. But they'll certainly never do anything with it - they have no $ and they're building a 5k-sq-ft log home right here in Lorane OR. As it developed, i told them i would RENT the property from them (as it turns out, for free), build my house there, live there, and, when i die: it's theirs.

The 2 of them are completely unselfish Christian folk. They are ANXIOUS for me to do this thing, regardless of benefit or loss to themselves. Their chief concern is that *i*'m getting the short end of the stick.

I REALLY want to build a(nother) house of MY own.

It will be a simple place, which i lie awake nites designing in detail in my mind, ~550-sq-ft. I'm thinking it can be done for $20-40k (my labor, duh), tho i really have no way to judge modern costs. (There WILL be a guest bedroom. If it happens, will i see u there?)

My plan: (1) continue applying for NationalParkService jobs, which so far has been fruitless. Maybe i'll get 1 for the summer, maybe not, or maybe i'll even be successful i getting a term (1-4yrs) or even permanent position. But no breath-holding. (2) If no job, or after temporary job, or SOMEDAY, do the house on that Rob/Heidi 2acres.

Q: Once there, what would i DO? A: whatever. There is a critical need in Weaverville (& so many places) for some1 to do whatever needs to be done. I can do that. (I have done that, tho' often, shamefully, incompetently. (Seemed not at the time.))

Here in Lorane, every day so much the same, and i like that, predictability. I wake finally (after false starts) ~9am. Rob's already up & working on the house, since who-knows-when. I emerge from 'my' tiny room that co-serves as the home-school library. This, the signal to serve breakfast, already cooked, patiently waiting, the water boiled, ready for my coffee. Husband, wife, 4 kids, me assemble 'round the table, hold hands, pray. The food is always excellent. A 2nd cup of coffee, then i'm to work on the house.

They live cramped in a most-orderly mobilehome while Rob builds the big house. All the family helps, while home-schooling and maintaining the farm: numerous chickens, numerous goats, sheep, pair o peafowl, 2 dogs, 3 cats. I help with building the log stairways, plus interior walls. All the stair runners, treads, and all the lumber, Rob mills from the trees he felled on his 10acres. We drag them to the landing using his Bobcat tractor and crane; we hoist them to his sawmill, he cuts them custom to size. Everything is so heavy! It's a huge labor and takes so much time; but he considers that free. He is an amazing man - from age 18 he worked with his mother & i on the ambulance, experienced 10x the carnage in his teen years than most folks per lifetime. (I care not to talk/think of that time anymore.) He's an artist, gifted in drawing, ceramics, woodworking. He's an athlete, marathoner. But for money he's on the county land-survey crew, repeatedly, unjustly, passed over for promotion. Up@6am every day, he works on the house, then off to his job, then back to work again on the house til most nites midnite.

Skidding logs to the mill.

Crane-ing logs to the saw-mill track.

Milling the logs.

The whole family works hard.

Hoisting to position.

Some fine-tuning.

‘Finished’ stairs.

Heidi's likewise inspirational, wild in her Weaverville youth, now completely dedicated to the kids, husband (tho' she gives him 1 tuff time), and household. Cleaning closets, etc, she says, glorifies God. Daughter Ashley, 16, reminds me of PCV Karen: quiet, studious, an accomplished musician on piano and harp. Stacy, 14, won sweepstakes award in the county fair: 14 blue ribbons, 4 red, 5 white, 1 honorable mention, more than any1, kid or adult - and they told her, sorry, this is the last time you're eligible, cuz she won it when she was 12, and came in 2nd @age 13! Altogether, the 2 of them plus Ryan, a typical 12-year-old boy 'cept he handles a chainsaw, and Lindsey, 10, quiet, cute, long red-haired. Altogether the 4 submitted 46 entries to the Fair, and won 41x: 23x1st, 9x2nd, 6x3rd, 3xHM.

The girls all have extremely long straight hair and all wear floor-length pioneer-style dresses - I dont know why - whether in kitchen cooking, or straddling big doug-fir logs, confidently, intently, stripping cambium with draw-knife.

At ~1pm we're called for good lunch. The whole family's present, and there's prayer.

We work thru the afternoon. i sneak back for a hot shower at 4:30 or 5 while Rob continues. There's coffee ready for me on exit. Dinner likewise is prayer, excellent food, and cacaphonic siblinic debate. After, everyone just sits and talks. There is no TV-watching in his home, tho' after a while they do drag out a TV (otherwise kept hidden away in a closet) for DVDs: silent-film comedians, '50s musicals, creationist science, or other wholesome themes. After the show, the family sits and discusses what they just seen, all participating with animated enthusiasm.

Then we all go to bed. The kids all sleep in 1 room. The parents sing them good-nite.

I write down my dreams.

It is amazing to me this peace which has come to my life. There is an order/predictability which i've not known. I am valued, honored, just like in Fiji, just because i am. Yes there is significant disturbing conflict among the family members (especially Rob & Heidi: he's a quality nut; she just wants it done). But the love and mutual reliance is genuine. They're an almost self-sufficient/self-contained unit on the edge of desperate civilization.