The Meade Hall

[Chungas Revenge]

The porch on the Lil’ cabin gets a little tight, especially if you’re hunting. The porch on the main cabin has no overhead cover (yet ). This should check all the blocks. Big enough with top cover.

NHB putting down the decking boards.

 

[Chungas Revenge]

I’d make the 2 1/2 hour drive down from the mountains every ten days or so to spend the day mowing and working on the unfinished gaping hole I’d cut in the back of the main cabin.

Decided to use cedar as the material of choice for the trim and red oak for the tread.



Cut and test fit the pieces before staining.

Mowing ops pre porch addition.

 

[Chungas Revenge]

Trim cut and stained. This is for the Meade Hall side of the opening. Still running wire on the other side.

Trying to recall the stain color from memory. I’ll check my notes later. Same stain on the mantle.

 

[Chungas Revenge]

Late July 2025.



July was coming to a close. By all accounts the exterior would be finished up sometime in August. Plenty of time to move ops indoors and start wiring and insulating. Although, the thought of hanging fiberglass insulation in the middle of dog days, didn’t appeal to me.


OCB: What size stairs are you thinking about?

Me: Maybe a little larger than normal. I don’t know, surprise me.


Probably my favorite innovation so far. Up and down traffic is not a problem.

 

[Chungas Revenge]

August 2025.

Porch roof going on. Went with the larger timbers. No hand rail. One easy step off of the front.

 

[Chungas Revenge]

Wrapping up the porch..

Very close to finishing the exterior. Still have some staining to do. Later, the porch served as a good place to stage and work.

It’s now somewhere around the 12/13th of August.

I’d taken up the habit of checking the weather forecast daily. The heat and humidity that made July insufferable in Lower Babylon, swelled into the upper 90’s in August with no relief in sight. OCB throttled his schedule back to three hours a day IOT avoid the heat.

Ms Revenge: Do you want to leave this week?

Me: Nope.!!!

We’d spent most of the summer enjoying the moderate temps and cold clear water of the lake. Might as well stick around another two weeks. September was just around the corner.

 

[Chungas Revenge]

The call.


Going into mid August. OCB was only averaging about 12-15 hours a week while the sun was stuck on broil. I was putting in a sold 6 hours every ten days/two weeks in between mowing and wasting shells on the Skeet Range. We were cruising along like we’d just jumped bail at the retirement home.

At the mid point in the month I get a call from OCB. Apparently, word had gotten out that I’d lured him back into the work force and he was once again running a crew. That rumor filtered down to an individual who wanted a sizable addition/covered porch built and insisted on throwing stupid money at it to get it done quickly.

Was I willing to release OCB from our gentleman’s agreement for him to put a little extra something back into his cash reserves? Yep, on the condition that when bird season came in, I was first in the geezer pecking order to wade through the sorghum and switch grass. OCB gave me the “It’ll take a couple weeks” assurance and thanked me before he hung up. I translated that to mean no less than six weeks and it will be late September at the earliest.

I needed to talk it over with Ms Revenge.

Me: Say Pumkin, bad news. My hired gun and his side kick, need some time off from working on the Meade Hall. OCB has a customer making it rain greenbacks to add a porch or something. I’ve got nothing pressing in Babylon. And I might add, you’re looking like a San Tropez travel ad. How’d you like to work on that tan another couple of weeks (six)? You are looking savage, this mountain air and sunshine has you looking like you’re thirty yrs old again. Two (six) more weeks of this and they’ll be checking your ID at a PG13 movie.

Ms Revenge: Really? PG13 movie?

Me: Yes ma’am. Savage I tell ya, savage.

Ms Revenge: OK. I can stay another two (six) weeks.

Me: Thanks Hon, you’re the best. You want me to blow up your floatie?


A two to six week bubble had just floated to the top of my summer of Chunga.


Pic 1: Beach view = sunny and mild.
Pic 2: My tan is coming along pretty good too.
Pic 3 and 4: Forgot to show this a few pages back . The hook and eyelet system used for accessing the loft in the Lil Cabin. When not in use the ladder is hung next to the door.

 

[Chungas Revenge]

I’m not really sure how September melted into October. How do you misplace a month out of the calendar. It’s not like you accidentally discard it or toss it out like a day old newspaper. I’m certain I didn’t waste it or mismanage it. I think the days evaporate in that foggy, twilight daydreaming you only get from being content. If not, I’m a rambling dementia patient wandering around in my underwear unsupervised.


We did get busy again. No blow by blow pics to tell the story, just a couple shots of progress.

October mowing is the best…

 

[Chungas Revenge]

Early Oct on the lake..

Fall comes early. Still warm enough to be on the water fishing during the day, cool enough in the evening for a fire. I’d gone reluctantly and now I didn’t want to come back. There’s something alluring and hypnotic about the fall of the year to a short hairy man of the Isles.

When the sweltering heat in the valley is a distant unpleasant memory, It usually means one thing……..Oktoberfest!!!

Ms Revenge went native this fall. She asked me inquisitively one afternoon, “How do you train for the stein holding competition”.. I gave her a knowing wink and said, “Practice Pumpkin, lots of practice”..


Pics off of my Kayak.
From the back patio.

 

[TRDdrew]

Jackson , best kayaks in the business

 

[Chungas Revenge]

“Sit on “ model. Old guy proof. Very stable. Adjustable seat, multi position foot rest. It’s a beast.

 

[TRDdrew]

“Sit on “ model. Old guy proof. Very stable. Adjustable seat, multi position foot rest. It’s a beast.

Yes I do a ton of kayak fishing. I have a Jackson BigRigg and Cuda. Both are sit on top models, extremely stable. I can stand in both of them, and I'm no small fella lol.

 

[Chungas Revenge]

Moving past October.


With all hands on deck, getting a good a coat of stain on the exterior was paramount. Our sheeting started with 1/2” sheeting, a layer of house wrap and then the external 3/8” sheeting. I’m using the same 3/8” on some of the inside walls.

I was able to get a nice tobacco brown out of two different coats of stain.

Both the main cabin and the Lil’ cabin are due for stain this spring. I like the way this turned out. At least for now, its a contender.

1st pic: Shows the difference in the two colors.
2-4 pics: You can see the “red undertones” coming through the darker brown.

 

[Chungas Revenge]

Early November cooperates.


We were finished (for now) on the exterior, interior was wired and insulated enough to start on the ceiling. Had to be rustic in keeping with the hunting lodge-ish feel. I’d used 1x12 in the main cabin. A little too bold for the smaller addition.
Decided on a pine T/G in 16’ lengths.

The weather in early November was very mild, with a forecasted week of abundant sun and mild temps. Using a mat finish water based urethane to bring out the grain the wood.

 

[Chungas Revenge]

Rolled on the urethane with a small roller and smoothed it out with a brush. With the drying time and old geezer guild work rules, it took a couple of days. Had to be nice and dry to stack inside.

In between drying time, I worked on a step for the Lil’ cabin. Used cement pavers as a base, the treated 6x6’s topped with treated 2x8’s. Still working on the natural stone pavers.

 

[Chungas Revenge]

November 2025.

Ceiling is going up.

The clear urethane really brings out the grain.

 

[Chungas Revenge]

Post hunting season (1st week). Close to catching this thread up to date. Then I won’t be machine gun posting.

It’ll be just a normal thread then.

Motoring along with the ceiling. Waiting to start trim work once everything is buttoned up.

 

[Chungas Revenge]

Hallway ceiling. Still need to do the cutouts for the flush mount lights.

 

[Chungas Revenge]

Six hands makes the install smoother.


End walls going up. Looks like a lot of pine..the east and west walls will be stained or painted an accent color. The cedar trim around the windows, ceiling and end walls will help disperse it too.

 

[Chungas Revenge]

And there was light.


Flush mounts added but not for long. Easy mistake made today ref: measure twice, cut once. The light on the right will shift a few inches in toward the wall.


I may add two flush mounts on the opposite side of the entrance. Really brightens up the space.

No power yet, testing off of the generator.