This thread is fantastic.
Our Northwoods Cabin Journey (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter Trihonda
- Start date
OP
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The little things we are having to worry about…
garbage removal and recycling…. It’s the middle of nowhere, and while the nearby town does offer some weekly pickup, for $100/mo, we have heard it’s spotty and not consistent, which is bad for bears of garbage is left for a day. The other option is having our cleaning service do it for us. We pay $2.50 for a large bag sticker, and the cleaning crew takes the garbage away. Cheaper.
When we’ve gone up over the years, we were all ways astonished that my uncle packed everything home with him, back to where garbage is cheaper to get rid of…. But he’d load his garbage up with all sorts of paper products and things that could easily burn. We do firepits almost every trip up north.. we always separate our burnable trash from the refuse and burn what we could. Creates much less actual waste. with all that in mind, we snagged a couple super large bins and plan to label these are burnable items, and have a couple garbage cans for actual garbage that needs to be removed.
Since we will be renting to snow mobilers, we also have a wire rack for peoples helmets and wet trail clothes. This is a pretty common thing in bars and restaurants up north. They cater to power sports and always seem to have ATV and snow machine parking, and then helmet racks in the entry.
. We’d rather the wet and muddy stuff stays outside..
garbage removal and recycling…. It’s the middle of nowhere, and while the nearby town does offer some weekly pickup, for $100/mo, we have heard it’s spotty and not consistent, which is bad for bears of garbage is left for a day. The other option is having our cleaning service do it for us. We pay $2.50 for a large bag sticker, and the cleaning crew takes the garbage away. Cheaper.
When we’ve gone up over the years, we were all ways astonished that my uncle packed everything home with him, back to where garbage is cheaper to get rid of…. But he’d load his garbage up with all sorts of paper products and things that could easily burn. We do firepits almost every trip up north.. we always separate our burnable trash from the refuse and burn what we could. Creates much less actual waste. with all that in mind, we snagged a couple super large bins and plan to label these are burnable items, and have a couple garbage cans for actual garbage that needs to be removed.
Since we will be renting to snow mobilers, we also have a wire rack for peoples helmets and wet trail clothes. This is a pretty common thing in bars and restaurants up north. They cater to power sports and always seem to have ATV and snow machine parking, and then helmet racks in the entry.
. We’d rather the wet and muddy stuff stays outside..
OP
OP
Lol, we are going up north this upcoming weekend. On the docket is upholstering the poker table. Coming up with me is one of my local poker players. He’s super handy and we decided that we are going to play an inaugural game, even if it’s heads up…. So I reached out to a neighbor up north, a local with connections. I told him to get some of his buddies and organize some players, and I’ll host! So we might get our first actual poker game in the books! Excited! Stay tuned!
of course my buddy said now there’s pressure to get the table done…. I’m actually not going to sweat it if we don’t, as I have the PCF topper up north, and it plays just fine!
of course my buddy said now there’s pressure to get the table done…. I’m actually not going to sweat it if we don’t, as I have the PCF topper up north, and it plays just fine!
OP
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Weekend up north with just me and a buddy this trip.
Things Started out slowly with a surprise drop in from my uncle shortly after we arrived and started to work on projects, it delayed us a couple of hours as we had to assist him with his needs. We also had a couple of neighbors drop by that we hadn’t met yet, and we had to spend some time being social (first impressions).
As for projects, they’re taking longer than expected, but we are plugging along. That early delay really hurt us, but we will push through on Saturday.
We tackled the plumbing, capping off and sealing the water supply line behind the wall… we eventually wainscoted the wall, but didn’t want to finish trim (the chair rail) until we finalize the trim out of the stairs storage area.
The area under the stairs got framed out, and we will side it with tongue and groove flooring tomorrow. We need to create a door too, and we want to try to keep it hidden…. Like a panel with no latch or hinges.
I worked on the poker table, and will finish that after we wake up.
Also, we just learned There’s a big snow storm coming, and they’re saying it might involve 18” of snow..OMG! I’ll post pics (of course)if we get major snow!
Things Started out slowly with a surprise drop in from my uncle shortly after we arrived and started to work on projects, it delayed us a couple of hours as we had to assist him with his needs. We also had a couple of neighbors drop by that we hadn’t met yet, and we had to spend some time being social (first impressions).
As for projects, they’re taking longer than expected, but we are plugging along. That early delay really hurt us, but we will push through on Saturday.
We tackled the plumbing, capping off and sealing the water supply line behind the wall… we eventually wainscoted the wall, but didn’t want to finish trim (the chair rail) until we finalize the trim out of the stairs storage area.
The area under the stairs got framed out, and we will side it with tongue and groove flooring tomorrow. We need to create a door too, and we want to try to keep it hidden…. Like a panel with no latch or hinges.
I worked on the poker table, and will finish that after we wake up.
Also, we just learned There’s a big snow storm coming, and they’re saying it might involve 18” of snow..OMG! I’ll post pics (of course)if we get major snow!
OP
OP
Though it seemed like we didn’t get much accomplished due to several hiccups, we actually did quite a lot….
We continued the work on the poker table (and finished).
And the “under the stairs” framing is nearly complete (save for one last board).
The tongue amd groove flooring looks amazing, and Gary did an awesome job! The “hidden” door looks cool too, and this is what took us so much time. We had to fit all the pieces together, from getting hinges that articulated and allowed the door to open without binding up, to building the door itself. We salvaged hinges from the old lazy Suzan cabinet doors, and discovered this hinges are like $15 each, but we repurposed them for the door hinges. They work really well. That said. The door/hinge install wasn’t easy.. we had to essentially make a couple mock ups of the wall assembly using scrap wood pieces to see how we wanted it to work.
We were also able to get the wainscoting in The kitchenette, but didn’t get the chair rail done, as we are waiting for that last piece of corner wall trim to be installed under the stairs.
I cut and stained a trim piece for the fireplace mantle (will install tomorrow).
We also had some of our northwoods neighbors over for a poker game and beers… had to christen the new table. Lots of fun.
Lastly, here are some overall shots of the basement area. It’s not finalized, but we are close,..
We continued the work on the poker table (and finished).
And the “under the stairs” framing is nearly complete (save for one last board).
The tongue amd groove flooring looks amazing, and Gary did an awesome job! The “hidden” door looks cool too, and this is what took us so much time. We had to fit all the pieces together, from getting hinges that articulated and allowed the door to open without binding up, to building the door itself. We salvaged hinges from the old lazy Suzan cabinet doors, and discovered this hinges are like $15 each, but we repurposed them for the door hinges. They work really well. That said. The door/hinge install wasn’t easy.. we had to essentially make a couple mock ups of the wall assembly using scrap wood pieces to see how we wanted it to work.
We were also able to get the wainscoting in The kitchenette, but didn’t get the chair rail done, as we are waiting for that last piece of corner wall trim to be installed under the stairs.
I cut and stained a trim piece for the fireplace mantle (will install tomorrow).
We also had some of our northwoods neighbors over for a poker game and beers… had to christen the new table. Lots of fun.
Lastly, here are some overall shots of the basement area. It’s not finalized, but we are close,..
OP
OP
We wrapped up a few projects today and are headed back south… through a snow storm. @sergiophil is behind the wheel and I’m trying hard not to grab the “oh shit handle”.
Took a few more pics that we will likely use in our temporary rental listing. We will want better pics once it’s 100% renovated, but we have to get some sort of listing going as snow is flying…
Took a few more pics that we will likely use in our temporary rental listing. We will want better pics once it’s 100% renovated, but we have to get some sort of listing going as snow is flying…
OP
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oh, and for @Jeff @CraigT78 and others, @sergiophil feels strongly about a chip meetup in the north woods…. i owe him big time for his help on this.. he is exerting his influence… My mind is spinning on ways to make this a reality
MTTD-Northwoods Edition?
MTTD-Northwoods Edition?
In!
OP
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Well, it’s likely our last weekend trip up the cabin before we start opening it up for rentals… lots on the to-list today…
we needed to patch up that hole in the drywall in our kitchenette. Included some before and after pics. I’ve already muddled and taped the seam. Tomorrow we will sand/paint the area.
we needed some shelves and to bring balance into the kitchenette. We looked at cabinets, and floating shelves, and even considered buying another slab of butcher block and ripping it in half ($190)…. in stead we snagged some 2x10 cedar boards from Menards.. cost $18 for the wood. Much cheaper than $190 butcher block.. anyway, I added mineral oil to the cedar and wow, it really made it pop! Mrs Honda snagged these industrial shelf brackets and we love how it turned out.
we added some trail marker signs for decor. We will be doing a lot of final touches and decorating tomorrow and Sunday.
my buddy spent a decent amount of time fixing one set of closet doors (had to literally rip down 1/8” off each) and yes, we know they’re adjustable. He also installed brand new closet doors on a set that was beyond repair.
we went out for a nice fish fry, and now I can barely keep my eyes open….
more updates tomorrow.
we needed to patch up that hole in the drywall in our kitchenette. Included some before and after pics. I’ve already muddled and taped the seam. Tomorrow we will sand/paint the area.
we needed some shelves and to bring balance into the kitchenette. We looked at cabinets, and floating shelves, and even considered buying another slab of butcher block and ripping it in half ($190)…. in stead we snagged some 2x10 cedar boards from Menards.. cost $18 for the wood. Much cheaper than $190 butcher block.. anyway, I added mineral oil to the cedar and wow, it really made it pop! Mrs Honda snagged these industrial shelf brackets and we love how it turned out.
we added some trail marker signs for decor. We will be doing a lot of final touches and decorating tomorrow and Sunday.
my buddy spent a decent amount of time fixing one set of closet doors (had to literally rip down 1/8” off each) and yes, we know they’re adjustable. He also installed brand new closet doors on a set that was beyond repair.
we went out for a nice fish fry, and now I can barely keep my eyes open….
more updates tomorrow.
OP
OP
Wow, so many things to get done that we never realized. Custom outlet covers for the rock wall, fireplace mantle, Organizing the garage, more drywall, crazy retaining rock wall blocks that needed to be stacked, placing block rings around the propane tank valves and well heads, placing reflective orange driveway stakes around the driveway and yard as warnings in the septic field, installing exterior key lock box, installing a deadbolt lock, some
Outdoor electrical, and lots of cleaning and organization. I know I’m Forgetting stuff….
We took time to meet with our cleaning lady and do final walk-thrus, and also has a health inspection from the county.
And finally capped the night with delivery pizza and a beer by a big bone fire (had tons of scrap wood and burnables to get rid of).
Outdoor electrical, and lots of cleaning and organization. I know I’m Forgetting stuff….
We took time to meet with our cleaning lady and do final walk-thrus, and also has a health inspection from the county.
And finally capped the night with delivery pizza and a beer by a big bone fire (had tons of scrap wood and burnables to get rid of).
OP
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On our final day, and the last time we have to work on the cabin until we open it up for rental, what could go wrong? Well, just about everything.
On our to do list for today was finalizing a ton of various tasks like painting, nailing trim, And even little things like installing a locking cover over the garage thermostat. There was literally tons of things to do. One of the biggest things was the massive cleanup operation. Not only that we need to pick up and clean from a construction job site, but we needed to sanitize and clean everything to hotel standards. Nothing could be left out, every single thing needed to find its place. Whether that was in storage, or somewhere In the rental to be used by guests, or in one of our vehicles to be taken home. This was no small task.
So what went wrong? Well for a home that has 3200 sf and a ton of hardwood floors, it only figures that we would have our swiffer wet jet break down on us. So off to the nearby town of Mercer to look for a new swiffer. After several stops, the only place that had a swiffer was the local dollar store.
And while we were doing tons of laundry, cleaning all of the bedding, towels, etc. of course our washing machine would decide to freeze up on us. Right in the middle of a cycle, the door locked all of our laundry inside, and it wouldn’t do anything. After two hours of troubleshooting, and a call to a friendly local appliance repair shop, we deduced that our machine was toast. Repair was going to cost $500, So it only makes sense to get a newer and larger machine. We were informed that our old machine was about 20 years old, WTF! The cabin is only nine years old, so obviously this was secondhand laundry equipment.
But life has a way of working out, as suddenly has it stopped working, it’s suddenly started working again for no reason…? Given the hiccup, I think I knew Laundry system is in order ASAP. But we have a little bit of breathing room.
Here are a few pics from today. We took some newer listing photos too, and will post them once we sort everything out.
On our to do list for today was finalizing a ton of various tasks like painting, nailing trim, And even little things like installing a locking cover over the garage thermostat. There was literally tons of things to do. One of the biggest things was the massive cleanup operation. Not only that we need to pick up and clean from a construction job site, but we needed to sanitize and clean everything to hotel standards. Nothing could be left out, every single thing needed to find its place. Whether that was in storage, or somewhere In the rental to be used by guests, or in one of our vehicles to be taken home. This was no small task.
So what went wrong? Well for a home that has 3200 sf and a ton of hardwood floors, it only figures that we would have our swiffer wet jet break down on us. So off to the nearby town of Mercer to look for a new swiffer. After several stops, the only place that had a swiffer was the local dollar store.
And while we were doing tons of laundry, cleaning all of the bedding, towels, etc. of course our washing machine would decide to freeze up on us. Right in the middle of a cycle, the door locked all of our laundry inside, and it wouldn’t do anything. After two hours of troubleshooting, and a call to a friendly local appliance repair shop, we deduced that our machine was toast. Repair was going to cost $500, So it only makes sense to get a newer and larger machine. We were informed that our old machine was about 20 years old, WTF! The cabin is only nine years old, so obviously this was secondhand laundry equipment.
But life has a way of working out, as suddenly has it stopped working, it’s suddenly started working again for no reason…? Given the hiccup, I think I knew Laundry system is in order ASAP. But we have a little bit of breathing room.
Here are a few pics from today. We took some newer listing photos too, and will post them once we sort everything out.
OP
OP
There’s a supply of more in the cabinet nearby.Looks great - good luck with the rental! I hope you fill it all season.
But - you're short a couple of cup holders, you know a beer is gonna be spilled on day one
OP
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Well, we promised last trip would be our last before renting the cabin.. we lied. Me and a buddy headed up to work on the cabin (cough) or rather play in the snow. There’s tons of snow, and we plan to go XC skiing and snow shoeing. Plus maybe winterize up the ATVs…. .
arrived at the cabin and was surprised to find it “ready” for the first time ever. Free from clutter, clean, and if I were a guest, I’d have been impressed.
heres a few pics I snapped….
.arrived at the cabin and was surprised to find it “ready” for the first time ever. Free from clutter, clean, and if I were a guest, I’d have been impressed.
heres a few pics I snapped….
It really does look amazing (an overused word). I could not bring myself to let strangers stay in this place if it was mine, it's too beautiful. Hopefully you get respect from your renters!
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I hear you..it pains me too. But we dont want to extend ourselves financially. This place up north is costly to maintain. our hope is to recoup a lot of the costs of ownership, if not more so, by renting it out. We have some fairly extensive rules in place, and a security deposit, in case of damage or abuse.
OP
OP
Extra weekend up north. Day two, Hit the snowshoe trails at nearby WinMan, then played with the tractor. Winterized all the ATVs and even one of the snowmobiles. Even the plowing was fun! It’s a winter wonderland!
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Well, i keep saying we are done going up… BUT we keeping finding reasons that require us to…
Our last trip up, we discovered the washer and dryer hiccuped. The washer froze up mid-cycle and locked up. Took us a couple hours of tinkering to get it working again. We even had an appliance repair tech on the phone who said our unit had reached its lifespan…. So we decided to upgrade to a new set, despite being completely leveraged already. We simply couldn’t have guests experiencing such a break down..
Here’s our old, and new laundry setup
the new dryer didn’t come with a power cable, so we had to part out our old one…
we also knew that snow mobilers had the potential for drunken debauchery (riding across the lawn). While our rental rules strictly prohibit this, since we have very fragile things buried in the lawn, like our 1000g propane tank… we felt we needed to protect against the one stupid person who’d blow up the tank, and house, by riding his sled into the valve that was completely buried by snow. Yea, we are glad we surrounded the propane valve withblocks, just in case. Cuz it’s
legitimately buried in snow…
we did experience our very first rental guests over New Years, and they had great things to say in their review. But privately they did offer up some minor fixes and suggestions. One was to add more colorful blankets and throws on the couches. Done. Another was to up our coffee game with better coffee makers.. done!
lastly, here’s a photo our guests sent us of them snowmobiling out of the driveway.
Our last trip up, we discovered the washer and dryer hiccuped. The washer froze up mid-cycle and locked up. Took us a couple hours of tinkering to get it working again. We even had an appliance repair tech on the phone who said our unit had reached its lifespan…. So we decided to upgrade to a new set, despite being completely leveraged already. We simply couldn’t have guests experiencing such a break down..
Here’s our old, and new laundry setup
the new dryer didn’t come with a power cable, so we had to part out our old one…
we also knew that snow mobilers had the potential for drunken debauchery (riding across the lawn). While our rental rules strictly prohibit this, since we have very fragile things buried in the lawn, like our 1000g propane tank… we felt we needed to protect against the one stupid person who’d blow up the tank, and house, by riding his sled into the valve that was completely buried by snow. Yea, we are glad we surrounded the propane valve withblocks, just in case. Cuz it’s
legitimately buried in snow…
we did experience our very first rental guests over New Years, and they had great things to say in their review. But privately they did offer up some minor fixes and suggestions. One was to add more colorful blankets and throws on the couches. Done. Another was to up our coffee game with better coffee makers.. done!
lastly, here’s a photo our guests sent us of them snowmobiling out of the driveway.
OP
OP
Been a while since I've updated this...
We had an amazing season of snow, and the rentals showed this. We were pretty much booked up all winter. The property has held up well, and our only hiccup was a bloke who smoked in the cabin (albeit blowing the smoke out a window). This caused a smoke smell and our cleaners had to spend extra time and energy wiping down everything and washing bedding twice.
Otherwise, it's been smooth sailing. I can't wait to get back up there to start on the exterior projects that need attention. We need to buy a couple paddle boards and kayaks, and a shed to store life jackets and paddles... However, there has been significant snow recently, and we're still buried in many spots.
We had an amazing season of snow, and the rentals showed this. We were pretty much booked up all winter. The property has held up well, and our only hiccup was a bloke who smoked in the cabin (albeit blowing the smoke out a window). This caused a smoke smell and our cleaners had to spend extra time and energy wiping down everything and washing bedding twice.
Otherwise, it's been smooth sailing. I can't wait to get back up there to start on the exterior projects that need attention. We need to buy a couple paddle boards and kayaks, and a shed to store life jackets and paddles... However, there has been significant snow recently, and we're still buried in many spots.
OP
OP
Been buying things for the cabin…. Lots of projects need to be done before summer season… and the MTTD Northwoods edition….
snagged a bunch of watercraft (kayaks from costco and paddle boards from cabelas).
snagged a 4x6 shed to use as a boat house/ kayak rack. We will mount racks to the side for the kayaks etc and store paddles and life jackets inside.
one big project is a firepit. We intend to create a large circular crushed stone area just off the back patio, and place this in the middle…
another big project is the retaining wall seen on the side of the patio, under the deck. It fell down a couple years ago amd has to be redone correctly. You can see it here in these pics
stay tuned!
snagged a bunch of watercraft (kayaks from costco and paddle boards from cabelas).
snagged a 4x6 shed to use as a boat house/ kayak rack. We will mount racks to the side for the kayaks etc and store paddles and life jackets inside.
one big project is a firepit. We intend to create a large circular crushed stone area just off the back patio, and place this in the middle…
another big project is the retaining wall seen on the side of the patio, under the deck. It fell down a couple years ago amd has to be redone correctly. You can see it here in these pics
stay tuned!
We did this last summer at our lake house. Now we are switching from crushed stone to pavers/pebble combo. Too many things/weeds growing up in the rocks, plus it’s just not fun walking around it at night after a few wobbly-pops.
OP
OP
TLDR: Bought cabin and contents from uncle. Uncle has since started removing a bunch of items from cabin. It gets ugly.
This isn't a pleasant part of our journey, but it needs saying (unfortunately). I wanted to document and tell our entire journey (good and bad), and this is part of that. This involves a lot of emotion and stress. For background, my uncle is really my only remaining family member on my side of the family. He's older, cantankerous, stubborn, and very controlling (which if you've read this blog, you understand why he had a hard time letting go). That said, he is important to me. I have said that I didn't want any deal we made for the cabin and contents to get between us. That family is more important than stuff. We worked hard to ensure the deal we agreed upon was fair and acceptable to all parties. But there has been some bumps in the road...
There are a ton of details and nuances, but I'll share the cliffs: Part of our purchase agreement/contract was very clear, that from offer to closing (two months) my aunt and uncle were to remove from the main house and attached garages ALL personal items they wished to keep. The home was purchased "furnished", but they were also going to leave various tools and maintenance supplies necessary for the upkeep of the property. My uncle had 100% discretion as to what he wanted to leave us. We told them to take what they wanted (or simply move it to the detached garage). The contract was also very explicit that anything left in the house or attached garages transferred ownership at the time of closing. At every turn, we reminded my uncle to take what he wanted (and even offered to help move items for him), and he repeatedly said he had what he wanted, even telling us that after closing we should inventory the tools he left and add in what tools we felt we still needed.
After closing, we discovered a large amount of tools and supplies left at the cabin. Probably several thousand dollars worth. These have been very helpful in the property renovations. My uncle had three of every tool he wanted. He kept two sets at the cabin, and one back at his other main home. Prior to closing, he did take one of each tool back home, leaving practically one of everything at the cabin. We took his advice, we inventoried, we replaced certain items that were needing replacement, we added our own things, and they all got mixed together, reorganized, etc... It's our cabin now.
Buuut, in the 6-7 months since closing, my uncle has been back to the property a couple of times. Once by complete surprise, and the most recent by arrangement. In both cases he removed a bunch of items from the property, including around $1k in tools, and also household items like bags full of blurays, cleaning supplies, fuel pumps, spare tractor parts, new motor oil, a couple of battery tenders, and even a 6gal (brand new) container of diesel. The first time I blew it off, thinking it was just his snagging a few last minute things he absolutely forgot to get before closing, but this most recent time, he and 2 of his buddies spent 3 hours shopping around the property for stuff to take. I was beyond livid (and heartbroken). To make matters worse, my uncle says he simply believes he never agreed to include the tools in the sale, that he was just loaning them to us. That doesn't explain the other things he took...
I lost sleep over this for 3 straight nights. I was sick about it. My uncle had already confided in me that he seriously regrets selling the cabin, and it was presenting outwardly almost like a resentment.. Here we are, fixing up the place like he couldn't, and he has no control over it... His desire for control is the primary reason we insisted on a written contract that was very clear on ownership of the stuff. We didn't want any confusion or misunderstandings. Nor did we want him holding onto some weird attachment over the cabin or the stuff inside. However, that is exactly what has happened.
My aunt was furious with my uncle, and she has stated the contract and sale was very clear to her, and she has no idea what my uncle was thinking. He's so much of a control freak, he has repeatedly tried to shut my aunt out of all of the discussions, insisting that I not copy her on anything "because I'm causing her too much stress" and that "she doesn't want to be included"... This while my aunt is texting me to say none of that is true, and that she insists on being copied on everything.
So what did I do? My options were to just give in to my uncle and let him take anything he wanted. However, we already gave him that option (but the window closed on that 7 months ago), and it didn't prevent the current drama. And I don't think this is about stuff, it's about control. I was still seriously considering allowing my uncle to snag a bunch of the tools he left, but then when he started to try to control my aunt and shut her out, it became glaringly obvious that this was all about control, and had very little to do with stuff (after all, he has two of everything already). It also didn't help his cause when we started to discover a ton of the stuff he took wasn't just tools...
So, I put my foot down and told him he was out of luck. I'm sure this has permanently soured my relationship with him, but truth be told, I really don't like this side of him... I knew he was controlling, but this was over the top, and it totally reminded me of LOTR, where Bilbo gives up control of the ring, and meets up with Frodo later on... My uncle is like that, but didn't immediately revert back to kind frail Bilbo... He's gonna be bitter about this forever... My aunt has repeatedly told us we've done nothing wrong, and that it's my uncle that is out of line... but is still feels like a lose/lose situation to me.
I promise the next post will be back to happier subjects, like back breaking retaining wall builds...
This isn't a pleasant part of our journey, but it needs saying (unfortunately). I wanted to document and tell our entire journey (good and bad), and this is part of that. This involves a lot of emotion and stress. For background, my uncle is really my only remaining family member on my side of the family. He's older, cantankerous, stubborn, and very controlling (which if you've read this blog, you understand why he had a hard time letting go). That said, he is important to me. I have said that I didn't want any deal we made for the cabin and contents to get between us. That family is more important than stuff. We worked hard to ensure the deal we agreed upon was fair and acceptable to all parties. But there has been some bumps in the road...
There are a ton of details and nuances, but I'll share the cliffs: Part of our purchase agreement/contract was very clear, that from offer to closing (two months) my aunt and uncle were to remove from the main house and attached garages ALL personal items they wished to keep. The home was purchased "furnished", but they were also going to leave various tools and maintenance supplies necessary for the upkeep of the property. My uncle had 100% discretion as to what he wanted to leave us. We told them to take what they wanted (or simply move it to the detached garage). The contract was also very explicit that anything left in the house or attached garages transferred ownership at the time of closing. At every turn, we reminded my uncle to take what he wanted (and even offered to help move items for him), and he repeatedly said he had what he wanted, even telling us that after closing we should inventory the tools he left and add in what tools we felt we still needed.
After closing, we discovered a large amount of tools and supplies left at the cabin. Probably several thousand dollars worth. These have been very helpful in the property renovations. My uncle had three of every tool he wanted. He kept two sets at the cabin, and one back at his other main home. Prior to closing, he did take one of each tool back home, leaving practically one of everything at the cabin. We took his advice, we inventoried, we replaced certain items that were needing replacement, we added our own things, and they all got mixed together, reorganized, etc... It's our cabin now.
Buuut, in the 6-7 months since closing, my uncle has been back to the property a couple of times. Once by complete surprise, and the most recent by arrangement. In both cases he removed a bunch of items from the property, including around $1k in tools, and also household items like bags full of blurays, cleaning supplies, fuel pumps, spare tractor parts, new motor oil, a couple of battery tenders, and even a 6gal (brand new) container of diesel. The first time I blew it off, thinking it was just his snagging a few last minute things he absolutely forgot to get before closing, but this most recent time, he and 2 of his buddies spent 3 hours shopping around the property for stuff to take. I was beyond livid (and heartbroken). To make matters worse, my uncle says he simply believes he never agreed to include the tools in the sale, that he was just loaning them to us. That doesn't explain the other things he took...
I lost sleep over this for 3 straight nights. I was sick about it. My uncle had already confided in me that he seriously regrets selling the cabin, and it was presenting outwardly almost like a resentment.. Here we are, fixing up the place like he couldn't, and he has no control over it... His desire for control is the primary reason we insisted on a written contract that was very clear on ownership of the stuff. We didn't want any confusion or misunderstandings. Nor did we want him holding onto some weird attachment over the cabin or the stuff inside. However, that is exactly what has happened.
My aunt was furious with my uncle, and she has stated the contract and sale was very clear to her, and she has no idea what my uncle was thinking. He's so much of a control freak, he has repeatedly tried to shut my aunt out of all of the discussions, insisting that I not copy her on anything "because I'm causing her too much stress" and that "she doesn't want to be included"... This while my aunt is texting me to say none of that is true, and that she insists on being copied on everything.
So what did I do? My options were to just give in to my uncle and let him take anything he wanted. However, we already gave him that option (but the window closed on that 7 months ago), and it didn't prevent the current drama. And I don't think this is about stuff, it's about control. I was still seriously considering allowing my uncle to snag a bunch of the tools he left, but then when he started to try to control my aunt and shut her out, it became glaringly obvious that this was all about control, and had very little to do with stuff (after all, he has two of everything already). It also didn't help his cause when we started to discover a ton of the stuff he took wasn't just tools...
So, I put my foot down and told him he was out of luck. I'm sure this has permanently soured my relationship with him, but truth be told, I really don't like this side of him... I knew he was controlling, but this was over the top, and it totally reminded me of LOTR, where Bilbo gives up control of the ring, and meets up with Frodo later on... My uncle is like that, but didn't immediately revert back to kind frail Bilbo... He's gonna be bitter about this forever... My aunt has repeatedly told us we've done nothing wrong, and that it's my uncle that is out of line... but is still feels like a lose/lose situation to me.
I promise the next post will be back to happier subjects, like back breaking retaining wall builds...
OP
OP
Well, there's a lot to do in the few weeks we have left before our first renters. As mentioned above, we purchased a lot of things to improve the property. But there are some major projects that need attention.
This past weekend, we built our new shed/boat house and paddle sports rack. This was a larger task than originally thought. We knew we'd have to reinforce the insides, but I wanted this bomb proof. We used 4x4's and lag screws, and lots of pressure treated stuff when it was contacting the ground, and cedar for the exterior. It'll look nice with boats on it.
We also had a retaining wall that my uncle built 10 years ago... as you can see, it didn't work (shocking). One complication is that because the soil washed out, a concrete footing has started to lean, causing the deck support to lean as well. This isn't a critical place in the deck, but it needs attention. Both my neighbor up north (former landscaper) and the local excavation/landscaping pro shop took a look and suggested I dig it out nearly completely and use a tractor or skidsteer to gently push it back into place, then quickly backfill around it with rock (to lock it in place). Then as the new wall gets built up a few more rows, the soil and rock (now done correctly) should prevent future issues.
We laid out the first 3 rows of wall, and backfilled with 3/4" rock. After we address the tilting post and footing, we'll add some geo-grid over the rock, do 2-3 more rows of block wall, then fill with more rock. Fun times!
We also didn't get to the fire pit this trip, but we're coming up a week before the MTTD and plan to tackle that then.
On a positive note, we’ve been wanted a carved bear for a while. While driving up, we noticed a guy delivering these bears to a local shop. It was the artist, and the shop was closed.. the artist sold us one at wholesale pricing.
This past weekend, we built our new shed/boat house and paddle sports rack. This was a larger task than originally thought. We knew we'd have to reinforce the insides, but I wanted this bomb proof. We used 4x4's and lag screws, and lots of pressure treated stuff when it was contacting the ground, and cedar for the exterior. It'll look nice with boats on it.
We also had a retaining wall that my uncle built 10 years ago... as you can see, it didn't work (shocking). One complication is that because the soil washed out, a concrete footing has started to lean, causing the deck support to lean as well. This isn't a critical place in the deck, but it needs attention. Both my neighbor up north (former landscaper) and the local excavation/landscaping pro shop took a look and suggested I dig it out nearly completely and use a tractor or skidsteer to gently push it back into place, then quickly backfill around it with rock (to lock it in place). Then as the new wall gets built up a few more rows, the soil and rock (now done correctly) should prevent future issues.
We laid out the first 3 rows of wall, and backfilled with 3/4" rock. After we address the tilting post and footing, we'll add some geo-grid over the rock, do 2-3 more rows of block wall, then fill with more rock. Fun times!
We also didn't get to the fire pit this trip, but we're coming up a week before the MTTD and plan to tackle that then.
On a positive note, we’ve been wanted a carved bear for a while. While driving up, we noticed a guy delivering these bears to a local shop. It was the artist, and the shop was closed.. the artist sold us one at wholesale pricing.
OP
OP
Another trip up to the cabin… projects need attention before we get renters and of course for the MTTD northwoods edition. We tackled a few more projects yesterday.
We needed to build another section of decking for the pier, and of course put the pier in.
we intended to stain some adirondak chairs (like the one shown) to go around the firepit, but we were all out of stain.
So we moved onto excavation of the firepit area. We dug down 6+ inches. The circle is 22’ across. We placed weed barrier down, used paver edgers to create an edge. Then we backfilled with some stone. We didnt have enough stone (rock) to fill the entire space, but we have a delivery scheduled for more on Monday. The large blocks shown will serve as borders for the metal fire ring in the middle. Since these have lips on the bottoms (to act as supports when stacking for retaining walls, we had to chisel off the lip to get them to sit flush.
We also setup our boat house (lol). Well, it’s a paddle sports rack.
Then it was back to the Pine Lake Lodge for margaritas
We needed to build another section of decking for the pier, and of course put the pier in.
we intended to stain some adirondak chairs (like the one shown) to go around the firepit, but we were all out of stain.
So we moved onto excavation of the firepit area. We dug down 6+ inches. The circle is 22’ across. We placed weed barrier down, used paver edgers to create an edge. Then we backfilled with some stone. We didnt have enough stone (rock) to fill the entire space, but we have a delivery scheduled for more on Monday. The large blocks shown will serve as borders for the metal fire ring in the middle. Since these have lips on the bottoms (to act as supports when stacking for retaining walls, we had to chisel off the lip to get them to sit flush.
We also setup our boat house (lol). Well, it’s a paddle sports rack.
Then it was back to the Pine Lake Lodge for margaritas
refudiator
Sitting Out
Honestly, everything about this is just amazing. My family is currently in the midwest, but both of us are originally from the East Coast. It has been something of a dream of mine to re-establish an extended-family "base," so to speak, somewhere back East.
In the 1970s, my family owned a farm in the Laurel Highlands near Ligonier, PA. As my Dad's generation grew up and moved to cities around the country, though, my grandparents couldn't maintain the property. They also weren't farmers by trade: no one in the family had actually worked the land in over a generation, and the arable fields were mostly just leased to those who could. That said, my Dad and all of his brothers and sisters all have memories of spending summers at the farm, finding swimming holes, maintaining the garden, and just being truly together as family.
I get why they sold the land, but it's maddening to me as someone who just wishes our family still had that kind of capital - some kind of place to build common experiences across generations to bring together the previously close (and still reasonably close, but it just feels like we're getting more distant) branches of our large extended family. I've made it my goal to just forge it anew: we're going to settle down near family and just develop something like a lake retreat so that our kids and all of their cousins can be together and share those memories.
Following this with interest - congratulations on your amazing property and thank you for all that you're sharing!
In the 1970s, my family owned a farm in the Laurel Highlands near Ligonier, PA. As my Dad's generation grew up and moved to cities around the country, though, my grandparents couldn't maintain the property. They also weren't farmers by trade: no one in the family had actually worked the land in over a generation, and the arable fields were mostly just leased to those who could. That said, my Dad and all of his brothers and sisters all have memories of spending summers at the farm, finding swimming holes, maintaining the garden, and just being truly together as family.
I get why they sold the land, but it's maddening to me as someone who just wishes our family still had that kind of capital - some kind of place to build common experiences across generations to bring together the previously close (and still reasonably close, but it just feels like we're getting more distant) branches of our large extended family. I've made it my goal to just forge it anew: we're going to settle down near family and just develop something like a lake retreat so that our kids and all of their cousins can be together and share those memories.
Following this with interest - congratulations on your amazing property and thank you for all that you're sharing!
OP
OP
today was another productive day, while my buddy mark and I tackled the firepit, Mrs Honda and her friend stained the chairs. They turned out amazing!
There was a lot of moving heavy blocks and large rocks around.
The firepit base had to be raised up with stone (cuz we took too much dirt out yesterday). Once we got this level, we put down a base or special base gravel and then leveling sand. Once the first row was in place and level, we did a total of three courses, along with a steel insert. we get more stone delivered tomorrow, and we will fill in the seating area. We are holding off putting the chairs in until we get the stone in place.
one sad side note, the area has been under severe fire restrictions… super low humidity (10-20%) and high winds. It’s been great weather to work in, but sucks that we haven’t been able to do a fire pit (Yet). Soon!
we also spent some time shoring up the pier, and paddle sport shed. Putting in a bar to hang life jackets and hooks for paddles.
my buddy Mark was planning to stay until Tuesday, and another buddy was coming up Tuesday/Wednesday to take his place…. But the second buddy just came down with Covid and had to cancel. Wishing my buddy a speedy recovery, but he's gonna owe Mark a beer or two when Mark isn’t allowed to leave Tuesday. Lol.
There was a lot of moving heavy blocks and large rocks around.
The firepit base had to be raised up with stone (cuz we took too much dirt out yesterday). Once we got this level, we put down a base or special base gravel and then leveling sand. Once the first row was in place and level, we did a total of three courses, along with a steel insert. we get more stone delivered tomorrow, and we will fill in the seating area. We are holding off putting the chairs in until we get the stone in place.
one sad side note, the area has been under severe fire restrictions… super low humidity (10-20%) and high winds. It’s been great weather to work in, but sucks that we haven’t been able to do a fire pit (Yet). Soon!
we also spent some time shoring up the pier, and paddle sport shed. Putting in a bar to hang life jackets and hooks for paddles.
my buddy Mark was planning to stay until Tuesday, and another buddy was coming up Tuesday/Wednesday to take his place…. But the second buddy just came down with Covid and had to cancel. Wishing my buddy a speedy recovery, but he's gonna owe Mark a beer or two when Mark isn’t allowed to leave Tuesday. Lol.
I saw the critical fire alert when I was checking the weather for your area - hopefully all will be OK.
So this is a random question, but when growing up in NY we called them docks. In Texas I think people call them docks. Is pier a great lakes region term or is there something different between pier and dock?
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