People Nearby

The people we know in the area are kind hearted. I am continually surprised at how they are able to be open and giving, and not expect anything in return. I suppose they have not had any negative experiences to make them cynical. Or, if they have, they have not let it affect them to the point of changing their style.

Living close to a big city and in a small one, I learned not to be as open and trusting as I could be. I am often amazed at how outgoing and helpful the people are all around us in Maine. Once, I had to call a business on a Sunday afternoon. I got someone on the phone at the owner’s house, which I think was next door to the business. She said she needed to talk to someone else first, who happened to be at her house at the time at her young daughter’s birthday party. I told her that I did not need to bother him there and I could call back. Assuring me it was no problem, she excused herself from the phone and got the person with whom I needed to speak. He then proceeded to tell me I could empty a septic tank, and to leave $5 to pay. We did so the next day, which was a Monday holiday. When we went to leave the money, we found the garage door unlocked, no one around, and a beautiful shiny Harley Davidson in the garage, among other things. I kept thinking what are these people being so nice for? Do they want something? I thought I was a trusting person, but I looked for negativity where it wasn’t just because I was used to it.

Our neighbor, Tanner, is one of those men who know how to make, fix and build anything and everything. Everyone calls him Tanner, even his wife, although that is his last name. He and his family are our next door neighbors, and live at the pond year round. They made sure we felt welcome to knock on their door at any time, as we are basically camping on our property, without a well or electricity at first. Tanner said we could take water anytime we wanted from their spigot. Once, we tried in vain to start a fire after a rainy day. All the wood was wet and we gave up and went kayaking instead. When we returned, we found a wheelbarrow full of dry firewood at our camp, covered by a plastic bag to keep it dry.

Tanner and Julie built their own home at the appropriate 100 foot setback from the water. The house is built on a hill overlooking a cleared lawn towards the pond. Each snowfall, Tanner plows the quarter mile of our shared dirt drive by himself. With two little kids, he has to, or he wouldn’t be able to work, or get out in case of an emergency. Tanner put in our well point. He pounded 18 feet of stainless tubing into the ground by hand using an incredibly heavy forged iron tool that he made himself at the foundry where he works. He did this with his friend and tenant, a very thin man who, with his very old dog, Toke, inhabits a very small cabin on Tanner’s property. Julie, Tanner’s wife, calls the tenant her spending money. Toke the dog ambles over to visit us once or twice, every time we come up.

Some people have a gift for divining love, honesty or the truth. Some people have a gift for divining water. Before Tanner put in our well, he brought over his divining rods to decide where to put it. He made them out of stainless steel rods. They are about 18 inches long and one quarter inch diameter, with a bend to them. In order to divine water, one needs to hold the rods parallel and walk slowly over the area. When the rods cross, then there is water below. Tanner is a great diviner. The rods crossed just behind the shed, a perfect spot for a well. The tenant said he does not have the gift and the rods did not move when he held them. I tried it and was amazed when the rods crossed at different places on the property, including where Tanner was planning to dig the well. I felt like I was playing an Ouija board, where I was not quite sure if I was moving the rods or the rods were moving and I was following. I recall playing for hours with a friend as a child, spelling out the names of people in our past and our present lives. I could never tell if my friend was moving the Ouija piece or if I was, or if it moved by itself. Divining can be like that, I guess. If it’s for love, you never know if you or the other person made the first move. What you do know, is that there is something hidden there, under the ground.

Tanner is always deep in a significant building project. The last time he was building a very large shed for his gigantic stockpile of firewood. Previous to that, he was repairing the log splitter that he had made himself. He had to make that, because he had bought a giant tree rather than buy pre-split wood for his winter fuel supply. The tree trunk was easily 4 feet in circumference and 24 feet long. Tanner had to first cut the trunk with a chainsaw into manageable chunks, and then split each chunk into firewood that would fit his stove. The man never stops moving. If he’s not cutting wood, he’s mowing the lawn. He always has a can of beer in his hand. He says he doesn’t drink water on Sundays.

To be steeped in resourcefulness is a gift. Tanner has two young children and he takes care of them during the day, while Julie is at work. Tanner goes to his job at the foundry in the afternoon. At home, Tanner continues with his work as well as he can, with the kids in tow. Once, we found a very small hat in our shed after Tanner had been doing some electrical work for us. I imagined NJ, his 2 year-old daughter, watching him deal with the fuse box, and memorizing the circuits. I’m sure she and her brother will be fixing snowmobiles by the time they are 6 years old. Tanner’s 4 year-old son, Jake, has a kid sized Jeep, which he drives over from their house to our property. Tanner lets him take NJ in the passenger seat when he comes over. At age 4, Jake is an excellent driver. He uses the gas pedal, brake and steering and can go forward and in reverse. He is a much better driver than many I’ve seen in Boston. Tanner got the jeep at a yard sale for $12 and splurged on the $75 battery. Here in ATV and small vehicle territory, Jake and NJ are well on their way to being an integral part of this culture. With all they are learning from their dad, they will be a part of Maine’s self-sufficient culture as well.

New Plans

Hey, Loren,
Here are the plans, and an idea for the rear elevation. Yes, I added about 45 square feet to the project, but it is worth it in my opinion because the stairs just take up too much much-needed space. My recommendation would be not to be too chinsy on things that you're going to have to live with for the rest of your lives. As far as cutting costs, the first thing I'm looking at is that the porch seems pretty massive - is it to be enclosed with screening? or completely open? If open, then perhaps it doesn't need to be as big, even though personally I love it. Anyway, write me and let me know your thoughts. Also, could you give me some directions - N, S, E, W?

Talk soon,
Phil
Philip A. Gomez, Architect


Hi Phil!
Wow! That was a brainstorm to put the stairs on the outside! I've seen buildings like that and they are great. Would they steps be freezing in the winter? It looks like you put windows in the stairwell, which I like. Is it too extravagant? Maybe I can show the plans to the builder for and estimate at this point. I think we will still need a bulkhead to get things into the now full basement, like kayaks, if needed. With those stairs, we will feel like finishing the basement as well, one day.

I like all the closet space and the kitchen arrangement as well as the larger bathroom. I don't think we need the two sinks, but I guess we should think about the winter time when we are not all outside all of the time. The only change I'd make is to leave off the bedroom closet and put a window in that wall. I feel I need to see out in all directions. Then the small hall closet by the steps could be a small bedroom closet instead. We can just use a bureau instead of a closet in there anyway.

Speaking of all directions, the porch off of the living room is facing Northeast. So the corners really face the 4 directions rather than the sides. Living room corner faces east, and bathroom corner faces west.

did you look at the blog? It shows some views, the sun rises over the pond to the right of the dock. http://www.povertycabin.blogspot.com/

As for the porches, the side single entrance open porch (8x16) COULD be smaller, but we need shade in the summer outside! The main porch off of the living room will be 8x32 and all screened in. I know that will be our main living space during the buggy season, which is May thru July. We couldn't be up there at all because of black flies unless it was screened. August is really the most beautiful month.

That does not leave any room for cutting back on costs. No kitchen cabinets is the only thing I can think of.

I hope you are having a great trip in Colombia. Tell me about some of the places you have seen! Or are you spending all of your time working on these plans! I will be in touch very soon after some consultation on this end.
Take care and be safe,
Love,
Lor

The trails

The road is two miles long. It is a segue between two paved roads but it is dirt. Dirt and sand. The whole place is a pine barren, and the ground is pure sand. A long time ago this was ocean floor. Now when people ask me if I am near the sea, I can say that it once was! It is about 45 minutes from the ocean now. Only steps, though, to a pond, down the drive from a creek, and mile or two from several other ponds and a river.

The driveway to our place is exactly one mile in on the dirt road. I can still hear cars on the paved road side of the land. Mainers go pretty fast on the back roads too. On the other side, the trails have been made by snowmobilers. Snowmobiles in the winter and ATVs in the summer. That and motocross bikes. Not that I mind. I’m willing to put up with them because of the trails. The motors only go out at around 5 pm on Saturdays anyway. As a whole, I think they have a couple of drinks and then take off. I’ve only once seen an ATV on the trails in the morning when I was out. I don’t know about the snowmobiles because I’ve never stayed there in the winter.

Each morning, when I wake up, I walk in a different direction. Walk, sometimes run. Sometimes ride a mountain bike. Most of the trails don’t have signs, so I just follow them. I’ve found a trail around the pond, a trail to a field of glacial eratics and a trail up a mountain with views of the Whites from the top. Just recently found a trail to a convenience store! Now in addition to communing with nature, I can go buy something without walking on a paved road at all! Not that I ever think of something we need there. We usually have to make an event of getting in the car and going to the local general store, and it always involves ice cream for some people, even at 9 am. I know the time will come, though, when I have to get milk and I can be cheered up that I don’t have to get in a car at all, or touch pavement to get there. Only walk in the sand, climb a couple of hills and cross a stream. Not sure how I’ll keep the ice cream from melting, though.

The real reason I want the cabin

The real reason I want the cabin is that I want the shed for a painting studio. I want to wake up in the morning and go for a walk and come back and paint and when I am finished everyone will still be sleeping. That's how early I wake up.
This morning when I was out for a walk I noticed at one moment that the shadows on the snow were exactly the same color as the sky. I needed the studio then. When the sunlight is the same color as the shadows then something must be coming together. I always thought that shadows were darker than sunlight, but I suppose it is all in what they are compared to. Some shadows can be bright spots in my life as well. Shadows can illuminate just as well, if not better at times, than the light.

Drawings

These are the latest drawings of the cabin. It is one main floor with an open loft upstairs. There is one bedroom downstairs and bathroom in the back, and the open kitchen/living room in the front. The living room has two sliders that open up to the screened front porch, which is 8x32 feet. The side entrance will be through an open covered porch which is 8x24 feet. I wanted French doors, but that got cut in the attempt to be more practical.

These two drawings are Phil's redo of the draftsman's version of my original drawings. There are numerous incarnations and I'm sure there will be even more until the right one is found. Phil's ideas are to include the stairs in the corner so we maximize the loft space.

What's in a name?

Poverty: The state of having little or no money and few material possessions.

The thought occurs to me that if we keep the name poverty, it will remind us of what we have. You can’t appreciate the light without knowing the dark, the yin and yang of life. You can’t appreciate wealth without knowing poverty. Also, money and material possessions are not what are most important in life. Of course, they are much desired. I need to be reminded often that what I need most is not able to be bought. Life, Love, Peace, Self-Esteem. The name Poverty can keep me humble.

We did not choose the name and it seemed like we did not choose the land, either. The story of how we found the land is as follows. About 10 years ago, Linda and I ran into my old roommate’s ex girlfriend at her 50th birthday party. The ex had just bought the land and was thrilled. I was interested in hearing about buying land, as we had been thinking about doing the same thing. Since she bought a double lot, I mentioned if she ever wanted to sell part of the land to let us know. Surprisingly, about two years later, she called to say she was selling the land. They were doing it in order to finance a private school education for her son. Linda and I jumped at the chance to look at the property and loved it. We saw a few comparable pieces of land, but realized that water frontage on a pond, in conservation area was not to be passed up. We bought the 8 ½ acres with a home equity line of credit which we later transferred into a regular loan. We pay in two chunks per month and at this rate it will be paid off in less than 10 years. We’d never go on a vacation as extravagant as what we are paying for this.

Needless to say, our children will be attending public school. I’m not upset. Rather, I’m thrilled. Their adjunct education will be in nature. The cabin and surrounding pond, woods, and trails will be their classroom. I was and often still am overwhelmed with the prospect of raising caring, smart, confident children. I am comforted by the thought of bringing my kids outside and into nature when I have no idea of what to do for them. I tell myself that when I fail to come up with the right parenting techniques, I can always go into the woods for a lesson in nature. Nature always has something to offer, whether it is a challenge, a reflection or something else. Now Maya and Clay can grow up with an outdoor classroom. I hope that they, and Linda, and myself, and whoever else visits us there (hint, hint), will grow in all things that money cannot directly buy.

Happy New Year 2009

"Your house shall not be an anchor but a mast."

Gibran

Happy New Year!

Welcome to the first entry of the Poverty Cabin Journal, an account of our journey in building a cabin of our dreams. First of all, I have to say that although I love the name of the pond, Little Poverty Pond, I don't like the name for the blog. It is too depressing. I appreciate the puritans that named the pond so long ago, in their hope for the simple life. It may be a sign of the year to come if we name it that, because we will be much poorer financially after this project. Much poorer financially but so much richer spiritually and socially. We know that this will be true. At some point I may change the name, if I can come up with one that's better.