The Dogtrot

August 6, 2013August 6, 201347 Comments

I have mentioned a few times here that our home began as a cabin in 1840 and was modernized in the 1920’s. Apparently, modernization of your cabin was quite common, and often took place over time.

I’m certain that many scenarios went like this.

The main cabin was constructed and this construction was known as a pen. The upstairs was accessed by a ladder or notched log, and this loft was the sleeping quarters. The fireplace cooked your meals, kept you warm and dry in winter and turned the inside of the cabin into a furnace in the summer months!

Later you built an outside kitchen to keep the house cooler. You also added a second pen with what we would call a breezeway in between them. This new structure would become what is known as a dogtrot cabin.

Further modifications that would happen as time went by would be to add the kitchen as a separate room on the back, and even later in time, the luxury of an inside bathroom! 😉

We had the opportunity to do a bit of exploring this past Sunday on the mountain and ran into an excellent example of an old dogtrot cabin. This is very similar to the construction of our home on the Mountain Farmlet.

: The original cabin (pen) is on the left.

: The addition of the second pen created a sleeping quarters and a ‘dogtrot’ between them. Here is where you would sit to keep cool on those dog days of summer.

: Kitchen is added on the left. Note the stacked stones underneath to raise the cabin off the ground.

: Venturing to the back I found this little building. I am uncertain of its original purpose, but perhaps this was the outside kitchen?

: It now holds a lot of junk…

: As a new quilter, I was saddened to see a hand stitched quilt rotting away in the window.

On the outside of our old cabin the owners really updated the look by adding a clapboard covering (the front) and a *board and batten veneer over sides and back of the log structure. Later they enclosed the dogtrot and added windows to the cabin to make it match the new addition.

Can you see our home’s history when you look at it now?

The dogtrot is behind the cow. The previous owners closed in the center door. It is our intention, as time goes by, to open the doorway back up and make it the main entrance.

The old place is like the “Haunted Shack” at Knott’s Berry Farm in California. Which means that nothing is entirely level, nor is it square.

OK, it’s not that bad. 😉

However, the foundation men have been here this past week and the floor is sound and newly supported with proper house supports. Gone are the rocks, tree stumps, and logs, that were rotting away and bug ridden.

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NOTE: I want to give a special shout out to the fellows at Quality Foundation and Repair out of Muscle Shoals, Al. They started this job and worked in very cramped quarters to see that it was done, and even went into extra innings to remove the 7 layers of rotten bathroom flooring, two of which were sandwiched old carpeting! You just wouldn’t believe it if you saw it, and unfortunately I forgot my camera that day.

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Construction terms and a bit of history can be found below:

A complete explanation of the types and construction of the log home can be found here in a PDF entitled: The Pioneer Log House of Kentucky by William J. Macintire. I feel that this is a comprehensive and awesome read!

*Board-and-batten: an exterior treatment of vertical boards with battens (smaller boards) covering the seams.

*Clapboard: an exterior treatment of horizontal boards that overlap as you build them up. Look HERE

Found along the trail

July 29, 2013July 29, 201332 Comments

This weekend we worked on our trail through the woods by clearing it of debris from recent storms. Over the next few winters some carefully planned thinning of our little woods will be a productive endeavor! Trees growing too closely together get thin and spindly, and they simply cannot hold themselves up in a wind.

: An over crowded and weak sapling!

: Along the trail there is nothing to hold them up and over they go!

: False Coral Fungus ~ Tremellodendron pallidum: I read the true coral fungus is edible, but that in some it can cause nausea and gastrointestinal distress. That chance makes it truly not worth it. This one however, is edible but it is dry and chewy. That characteristic places this one on the not worth it list as well! 😛

: Here we have a nice specimen of Poison Ivy. There is much more along the way and it must be irradicated.

: YIKES! That was a close call with the wagon handle!

: Our everpresent support team. NOTE: Gas can caps are very secure, and Tucker doesn’t smoke so there was no danger! (We don’t either.) ‘-)

: I am sorry I couldn’t get a better picture of this spiny spider. These spiders build very strong webs across the trail. They are hard to see… but you sure as heck can feel them!!!

: Resurrection fern…

: Resurrection fern after a bit of rain. An amazing epiphite. (photo is bad, but you get the idea.)

More information on the above flora and fauna may be found by clicking on the links below:

False Coral Fungus ~ Tremellodendron pallidum

Spiny Orb Weaver ~ Gasteracantha cancriformis

Resurrection Fern ~ Polypodium polypodioides

A Saturday Snapshot: find the kitty

July 27, 201342 Comments

Do you see *her?

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*Her name is Miss Kitty and she is one of two kitties we inherited when we bought the Mountain Farmlet. The kitty boy is named Neville after this fellow!

Neville is even more camera-shy than Miss Kitty, but seems to be well fed. I will keep trying to get a photo of him and post it if I do. We are hoping that once we get moved up onto the mountain that they will be less skittish and come around more often. 😉

PS: The young man down the road is being paid to keep them fed and watered in our absence, so never fear! 😀

Because you asked…

June 17, 2013June 17, 201342 Comments

Many of you have asked for pictures and I wanted to oblige you. However, it was a long journey from finding the Mountain Farmlet, to finally signing on the dotted line, and then being able to set to work.

You will recall that we had said the Octogenarian could take as long as she needed to sort out her belongings, and then have her Estate Sale. It took a good while, but we feel better for having let her take her time.

This is the nutshell version of what we know about the Octogenarian and her husband’s history. Some of it may be a bit off, I was, after all, catching it in bits and snaps at the estate sale, but I am trying to be as accurate as memory serves.

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Her husband was born there in 1920. His family owned, if I recall correctly, 300 acres back then. (Some of which, I believe, is still owned by descendents.) They bought the place from the *(1) original builder of the one room cabin.

Living in “Rock Creek” was a hard life. Plowing with a mule, walking or riding by horseback on a *(2) “pig trail” through the mountain. When he was a teenager, he would leave the mountain to make a new life in Ohio.

In the 1940s when WWII began, he signed up and was shipped off to Arizona, and the Octogenarian followed him via a train that was carrying more troops to AZ. She was accompanied by her mother for propriety, and they were married when she arrived. Then, it was off to war for him, and back to Ohio for her.

After his return from the war, they raised a family there in Ohio and when the children were grown, and off beginning their own adventures, her husband wanted to return to the family home. That was about 20 years ago.

I have no idea when this photo was taken, but she did say it looked pretty much like this when they got here 20 years ago.

In their time here they patched, painted, cleared the property of weeds, and forged a trail on the southern end of this twenty-five acres. They dug a pond, stocked it with fish, planted a wonderful garden below the home, and beautiful flowers around the front entrance. They wanted it to be a garden spot up here in woods.

It is so different now, and of course quite a bit older too, but I would say that they had accomplished their goal.

I’m sorry I don’t have the same view as above, but at any rate, you get the idea.

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So now it is our turn, and there are a lot of repairs to do to an almost 175 year old home. We know many of them: plumbing, foundation, electrical, and roof repair/replacement… and others, of course, that will only reveal themselves as we set to work. 😉

When I talked to the plumber, the first words out of his mouth were: “You’re gonna get rid of that shower too, aren’t ya?”

Me: “Yes, it was in the plans…”

So our journey begins in the bathroom.

: The bathroom/laundary. No window as it was closed up when the new bedroom was added. No fan, that fan cover is to close up the old wood burning cook stove’s pipe. This room used to be the kitchen!

: Behind door number one… the water heater.

: Behind the water heater, this old shower.

: Floor tiles applied to protect the ceiling from moisture. Surprisingly, this did work!

: Cracked shower pan!

: Domolition!

: This is a sapling pine tree, cut to fit as a support for the wall. It worked too!

: Rotten subfloor under the cracked showerpan. Sadly, we may need to replace the old beam underneath as well.

We intend to remove and replace the rotten sub-floor, put in a plank floor, straighten/lift the ceiling (there is room up there for that now) put the bathtub where the shower once was, and if possible, move the water heater over near the washer and dryer. Also in the plans are a new window in the far wall, and an exhaust fan in the ceiling. (I neglected to mention that, so thank you, Deb!) I have been gathering up some really fun and unique ideas for the walls and the sink…

But, you will have to wait till we are done with the reconstruction for those pictures!

I am certain that there are some of you who will not understand what we see in a place with uneven floors, and that leans just a bit. A place where nothing matches and all was hand hewn…

Well, I understand it is not for everyone.

However, when we first saw it we knew it was for us. We may very well be tinkering on it till we are too old to do so, but I think that the work will keep us fit and healthy along the way. And no, we do not intend to try to make everything look like city living, or to change things out to make them all “matchy-matchy.” That would simply be too boring.

Besides, would new matching doorknobs on both of the plank doors to the bathroom make them look any better?

Not to our eyes.

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NOTES:

I am uncertain at this point as to the original owner/builder, or about when it was changed to a “dog trot” and then later enclosed. But I understand that there are public records that can help me to find out!
Her husband’s words for the little horse trail up to the cabin.