Papaw Dew's Deer Camp

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

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.

An orange piece of plywood with a circle cut out has four pieces of wood lying on it in the shape of a frame around the edges; written in marker on the plywood, "INSIDE".

Friday the weather held and my fatigue wasn't too great, so I got to build the panel to replace that window.

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On a leafy autumn ground, a metal tray has a wee wood stove standing on it, with stovepipe sticking up.

Thursday, my work schedule and the weather converged and I could finally burn in the tiny wood stove for my tiny house. This is to get the coating to burn off outside instead of inside.

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I'm still minding foster kittens but they are off the bottle now and have received their first vaccinations. In three weeks they will get their second set of shots and will be eligible to travel to our rescue partners in Rhode Island. Then I'll be able to take up projects at the deer camp again.

They haven't been entries lately because there hasn't been stuff going on lately. I took on a litter of newborn foster kittens, so I haven't really had time for any of my projects.

And there's plenty left to do. I still need to build the cabinet to put the fridge in the outdoor kitchen into. I need to cut the bamboo poles to finish the rack in the tiny house. And I want to start building out a more permanent outdoor kitchen and a screened in sitting area. Since the mosquito tent is coming all apart.

Panorama view of deer camp, left to right: end of my tiny house, another member's camper, my dad's backyard and house, the outdoor shower, clothesline, man cave shed, turn around drive, the end of my tiny house.

When I first moved my tiny house here, and my dad rolled out an extension cord for me, my uncle made fun of me for not being 100% solar.

I submit to you the reason I'm not 100% solar. The parts in this picture that are in full sun right now are only in full sun a short slice of the day. The whole property is like that.

I tried charging from solar one time. I had to move the panel around so much it was like minding a baby.