A beautiful tree lined driveway to a stunning Deluxe Tent equipped with a nearby outhouse and hill billy hot tub, and 200 square foot party room next to a large private campfire.
July 1st to September 30th is my 3 month sabbatical. I have spent the bulk of it working up on my land and I am impressed by how much can be done when I am up there on a regular basis. It is definitely feeling a lot more livable and a lot less broken.
and that my land is big and that Mother Nature even bigger.
The area in front of the tent is a complete mud pit with no hopes of drying up so 3 drains are going in, the ground has to be graded and 10 more large trees need to come down so more and more sunshine can pour in and the mosquitos breeding grounds can dry up.
The deck did not settle evenly and there is a 2 inch slope down to the one corner. If you ever drop anything at least you know where to start the searching. That will have to be fixed – thinking a car jack and a couple of patio slabs should do the trick but maybe not.
I won’t be building my little artist studio this year but I will be finishing one kick ass campground and starting the prep work for the Ginger Shack to be built the following summer.
After all these years I know that it is not about sticking to a time line but not losing sight of the end line.
I found these rain barrels on Pinterest and have to say …. I think they turned out A-Ok!
Took all of 10 minutes to make.
Up on my land and hopefully they will be upright and full of water when I return.
I grew up in Manitoba and a couple hours North of my hometown is Riding Mountain National Park. A few friends have cabins up there and May Long weekend is the time open them up and mark the beginning of summer!
I spent May Long weekend opening up my tent and my land to sunshine and stars!
The tent stood the test of winter!
I cut down trees
Jeremy cut down bigger trees.
Mia worked the axe.
A decent wood pile is forming.
A bridge out to the car park is almost done.
Fence posts for the HillyBilly Hot Tub area have all been cut.
Looking really good after only 2 days up there!
Thanks, yet again, to some amazing help from some awesome friends!!
Summer is coming and Camp Just Broken In is getting ready for the season…
I finally went to a Home Depot to look around and this was in the first aisle that I turned down. Bruce is my last name.
I really have no idea what I am doing right now in the sense of the construction part. I own a glue gun and basic tools so I like that I am already a name in the world of construction!
Over the last 20 years I’ve been fortunate to see as much of the world as I have.
Most times when I travel, I shop. I’m a sucker for pretty things and love bringing art home from far away places.
The goal of my 14 day trip through Panama and Costa Rica was to bring home only memories and I am happy to report I did just that.
One small backpack, everything was used, I stayed on budget and have nothing to declare. Mission accomplished.
Small space living here I come!
My neighbours told me the red squirrels are bad right now and this might be a summer full of rodents.
That made me think about how many animals Tigger is going to have to contend with.
My best guess is that none of them will actively seek out a cat, but I really don’t know.
Wild turkeys and cats? Deer, squirrels, owls and cats?
Bears, coyotes, wolves…. you don’t have to read about those combos.
I will have to do a little research.
No cat outside unattended and not after dark.
He has his claws. He has a bell. I really hope he has the ability to hold his own.
It is very different looking at a tree and thinking I wonder which way it will fall.
May Long Weekend is being dedicated to cutting down trees.
I need openings to the sky so come July the ground will be dry and workable.
This is the first area.
I feel like I can handle those trees.
These ones are huge and when I look up at those trees and imagine them falling I only see a crash.
A crashing down that will be dangerously close to the deck.
These are way outside of my comfort zone.
This is the campground area.
They are a nice mix of sizes and I have more forgiveness if they don’t fall exactly as planned. I know that I can thin this area out and maybe I will feel solid enough to try the bigger ones in there.
The fallen ones should just be a couple days of easy cutting once I am up there in July.
Slow, steady clean up straight into the fire pit.
There is one more window maker that needs to come down.
I would like to know the math on this one.
I am guessing a line straight down near the base to a 90 degree angle but then when it falls does it snap up and take off my head.
These are my thoughts right now.
I finally spent a night in my tent and it was amazing.
I would have felt a bit foolish making trips up to shovel out the tent but never stay in the tent.
It was just right in sleeping bags under wool blankets with toques.
Beautiful Spring April Day!
This is my friend Jill.
That is her Ontario Ranger mug from 13 years ago. She was an Outdoor Ed. student.
She had the -7 degree sleeping bags.
She cooked us scrambled eggs and Veggie Bacon.
Delish!
She also used the adjective “calm” to describe my home to a friend of hers.
I really like that adjective. 
Hell yes please!
I won’t be building the chair
but I am going to build one of these.
Some drinks and friendly competition among friends.
Beautiful, beautiful bulls eye!
It can get as serious as you need it to.
Real Serious….
I went axe throwing for the first time last night. I was not very good but I loved it.
Check out BATL for GTA locations.
UrbanPrairie 