Papaw Dew's Deer Camp

My dad's back yard has become a deer camp. Now we are making it cool.

For grins and giggles, a video about charging my power tool batteries from solar.

I forgot to post when we discovered that the big old train trestle beam had a whole bunch of hollow places in it. That makes it completely unsuitable for a foundation.

For now, the tiny house is on blocks. But I don't like it.

A stem with some enormous leaves, bigger than the hand next to them; pawpaw tree.

Ken wins the big leaf contest.

A stem with a few broad leaves, a green label, and a piece of pool noodle around it; pawpaw tree.

Georgia is doing fairly well.

A stem with lots of new leaves, a white label, and a piece of pool noodle; pawpaw tree.

Tucky gets the prize for most numerous leaves.

Next to an orange trailer and a segment of portable fence, jagged leaves in clusters of five; Virginia creeper.

Oh noes! While I was gone, the Virginia creeper totally swallowed up my common violets! Guess I have to weed eat.

I know I'm not supposed to love Virginia creepier but I can't help it. It's native. And it fulfills the nightmare scenario that people attribute to kudzu.

Kudzu, after all, can't eat the South whole because it requires direct sunlight. If it could, it would have done so decades ago.

Virginia creeper is just fine in the shade. And prolific as hell.

A Bluetti EB3A power statioin next to a Dell laptop, connected by a USB-C cable.

I was upset when my workplace replaced my laptop because the new one would not charge from any of my three power stations via USB-C. I do not like converting electricity from DC to AC just to transfer it and then render it DC once more. Lossy!

Then, one time I plugged in my newer personal laptop, which had the same problem, to a phone charger. It actually told me the problem in its error message. It needs at least 27 watts. Phone chargers are like 5 watts. I guess my older power stations also don't go so high.

The new Bluettis, it turns out, can charge up to 100 watts on USB-C. Much better! It says the draw is 12 watts right now rather than 27, but I'm pleased not to lose precious converted sunlight going to AC and back.

Tiny purple flowers among green leaves.

These violets around the tiny house delight me.

Tiny purple flowers among green leaves.

A pasture with standing water on the land; along a fence line, the soil is higher, up out of the water, and there are trees in a row along the wire fence.

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A shady treeline at a wire fence, in front of a pasture with a pond; a little red wagon with plastic buckets in front of the trees.

Planted three pawpaw trees among these other trees on the fence line. They need shade for the first two years. Lots of labels to hopefully help the helpful folks remember not to cut down the older trees.

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I said what I said, but right now my tiny house also is an eyesore thanks to the ruined roof requiring a tarp.

Orange tiny house with a giant gray tarp tied down haphazardly, in front of a decrepit house trailer with an entirly missing front door, wide angle view.

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Under long tree shadows, a 20 foot beam with a giant chain through a hole in one end.

An orange vardo-shaped tiny house on wheels hooked up to a John Deere tractor.

I forgot to post the move!!!

A couple weeks ago we moved my tiny house to its permanent location. It's out from under the oak tree and is now helping obscure the total eyesore the single wide trailer house has become.

Dad has offered up a giant beam that is used for train trestles to be the foundation for the tiny. It's a 20 foot creosote-infused beam that we'll saw in half and use under each end of the trailer frame. Sink holes are a hazard around here so a beam like this will help with lateral support.

When installing my wood stove chimney, I discovered massive damage to the roof. Will have to replace THE WHOLE THING. The roof is made of SIPs so this is going to be an engineering challenge. Meanwhile I have a giant tarp on the roof. I hope I got there in time to prevent the tops of the walls from taking internal damage.

Next we need to drag the shower around to the back of the trailer house. And I want to start building the outdoor kitchen soon.