Living in a shack, down by the River

A cabin in the woods in winter, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, Alaska.

Hey Folks,

My humble abode. This is after I shovelled all the snow off the roof. There’s about another 6-9 inches of snow on the roof already!

The original part of the shed is the part covered by the sloping roof. The porches, the flatter roofed sections, were add-ons later. The main area is probably 14′ x 16′ or thereabouts. There’s a little platform, like a loft in the roof, which really warms up when I’ve had the fire running. I’ve been doing a few little add-ons here and there myself, mostly with just odd bits and pieces of timber I find lying around, in my downtime, here’s a look at the new Shaq, a la Carl style:

Kennecott Mill and mining operations in Kennecott in the winter, historic building and restoration project by the National Park Service, Kennecott, Wrangell St. Elias National Park, Alaska.

You can see I’ve fixed the place up a bit, given myself some more room. The Mezzanine level I’m quite happy with. Now I’ve room to entertain, for guests to drop in. 🙂

Cheers

Carl

15 thoughts on “Living in a shack, down by the River

  1. Ron Niebrugge

    Hey Carl,

    Dang, I should have hired you to help with my remodel – you are a building fool! 🙂 You sure made it look a lot like the Kenicott Mill – even down to the old paint, nice touch.

    It is cool seeing your place – it is a litter bigger and nicer then I imagined; it is a cute little cabin. Is it macho to use the word cute?

    Glad to hear you are having so much fun. Great talking to you on your way out by the way – too bad we got disconnected – maybe at 40 below you cell signal froze in mid air, sound and all! Maybe it will come through when it warms up.

    Ron

  2. Beth Lunsford

    Hey Carl: I love the cabin! Tell your friend Doug it’s o.k. to use the word ” cute”. LOL So you have a mezzanine, huh? Awesome! No telling who may drop in on you. Hopefully something or someone you would like to see!! Hope you are having a great time. You take care of yourself!!

  3. Beth Lunsford

    P.P.S. Sorry, I mean’t to say Ron, not Doug in my post. It is perfectly acceptable to say ” cute ” Ron. We women LOVE that side of a sensitive man! Anyway, we { a lot of us } also LOVE the adventurous spirit of men, as it seems Carl, & most on this Journal post have that kind of spirit. We all wish we were doing what you are doing, Carl. Keep on inspiring us!!!

  4. Beth Lunsford

    Hey Carl, I noticed someone mentioned Bear Grylls in an earlier post. You asked who he was. He is a guy on T.V. who makes up adventures, like being attacked by a fake grizzly & saying it was the real thing. Actually, closer inspection found out it was a person in a bear suit. T.V. is so full of B.S.!!! They drop this guy down in the woods by plane, shoot an ” exciting show “, then they pick him back up in a few hours. What an adventure!!!! Ha! Ha! Have fun! Look for tracks when the weather warms a bit. Be careful.

  5. Carl Donohue

    Hey Folks,

    Thanks for the comments. Yes, Ron, it does look like Kennecott. I figured you’d notice. Don’t tell anyone. 🙂 Let me a good time to shout at ya, when you’re not busy, and we can catch up some more if you’d like. Oh, as for the size of the cabin .. The living quarters are 14′ x 16′ – the porch at the back of the cabin (on the left in this image) is just a shed, attached, and not accessible from inside. I enter from the right side of this frame, that porch is about 3′-4′ across, then go in a 2nd door to the living quarters. The back wall of the cabin is about where the little homemade bow is hanging on the wall.

    Beth, don’t sweat about calling Ron “Doug”. I call him all kinds of things. Sometimes when I call him, he hangs up on me, and pretends my phone lost service. 🙂 . Beth, I’m glad you like the cabin – it’s way cool, I love it. Oh, and thanks for the info on Bear Grylls – I’ve never heard of him. I couldn’t tell you the last time I watched TV. I watched the Rugby World Cup final at a bar in Anchorage in October, that’s probably it. Bear Grylls sounds like quite a winner. 🙂

    Michael, thanks for stopping by, bruh. Yeah, maybe I’ll put in a bid under the name Haliburton for some overseas contacts? 🙂

    Cheers

    Carl

  6. Mark

    And here I thought you were ‘roughin it’. You probably have a staff of 30 now at the new place. I was beginning to wonder what you were doing with all the trees you were taking – your clearcutting plan is no longer a secret.

  7. Beth Lunsford

    Carl, you know Haliburton Is a dirty word!!! And I’m glad Ron doesn’t mind being called whatever we want to call him! Your cabin is awesome. We are all jealous. And as mark says with all the clearcutting, come springtime it may be prime bear food! Keep up the REAL adventure for us. We all love it! Don’t work too hard. Keep up the great posts.

  8. Ron Niebrugge

    Of the things I have been called – Doug would have to be one of the nicest! Don’t worry about it Betty. I mean Beth. 🙂

    Hey Carl, how long are you in the city for? I’m around the office – what ever works for you works for me – it would be good to finish getting caught up.

    Ron

  9. Carl Donohue

    Hey Mark,

    You got it, bruh. I’m a clearcutter from way back. My last name is really Weyerhaeuser. 🙂 The staff have the week off, which is nice, and sunday mornings. Well, every third sunday morning.

    Ron, I’m in town until I get my vehicles re-registered, a change of address on my license, and a block heater in the van. All 3 of which I’m just keen as mustard to deal with. 🙂 I’ll give ya a holler before long.

    Cheers

    Carl

  10. Beth Lunsford

    Hey Carl, don’t go get accustomed to that city life!! We like to walk in your shoes, until your van breaks down!!Ron: Thanks for not getting mad at me for getting your name wrong. But PLEASE come up with a better name for me than Betty!! I would love to see you two after a couple suds. You’re already quite funny! Don’t get in too much trouble! Carl, hurry back & be careful. Ciao!!

  11. Carl Donohue

    Hey Beth

    City life’s not that bad, it’s dealing with bureaucracy I’ve never managed to do well. As for my shoes, well, unfortunately, it’s when the van breaks down that I would rather someone else walk in my shoes. 🙂 So far, lately, it’s been going great! Now I have an engine block heater in it, I should be able to get it started a little easier over in the park in cold weather and get around a bit more .. provided the road is passable. By the way, I don’t drink, and you don’t want to be around Ron when he’s on the suds – that boy’s crazy. :0

    Cheers

    Carl

  12. Jeff Lemoine

    LOL–your cabin is red!!! “Clearly the color of a street walker…” Thanks for the pic of it–not what I expected, but it’s cute 🙂 Hope you’re staying warm.

  13. Pingback: Cross country skiing photo – Wrangell St. Elias. « Skolai Images

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