What My Wife Really Thinks

Everybody welcome back to the cabin Whoo, it is a little too warm in here Had the fire going earlier. Well still have it going because I'm cooking dinner, but I put it on Or put a big log on there before I went out Work it outside today After letting it die down overnight didn't really need the fire But I put it on anyway so that I could simmer some beans and it got too warm in here So I've actually I got all three windows open a little bit getting the some fresh air but While dinner is still cooking. I thought I'd go through all the subscriber Mail and subscriber gifts that I got again this week Um, if thanks again to everybody whether you see the gift from yourself be open right now or not I really really appreciate it as always That addition I'm building on the back of the cabin right now, which I'm going to cut a door into the back wall here to get into But I think that's gonna end up containing a lot of these Great gifts that I'm getting from you and letters and stuff But anyway, like I said, I do appreciate it. I'm gonna open it up right now. I just wanted to make note that that peel box that you've been sending stuff to in Barry that It's going to be No longer as of I think two months from now it's just too well, I'm not going to bury very often anymore because Because my Family's not living. Well one my one daughter is still living down in Barry and we still do some stuff down there But anyway, it's too far to go for everyday stuff. So I don't go down very often. So Huntsville is actually closer so you'll see that that My updated address on current videos is the Huntsville Peel box post office box and I'll probably check that. I don't know once a week or something when I go in to get groceries Maybe maybe every once or every two weeks or something like that. Anyway big boxes again big haul and Yeah, anyway, I'll just get into it and show you what I got I Didn't open all of it, but some of it I open I haven't pulled this one. I would actually this is a Quilt I haven't opened it yet. So Other than from the top here hi from Texas enjoy your channel been watching well Been watching while I make quilts. Hope you enjoy this quilt. Love your dog our friend Lupe. That's That's cool that you're doing that while you're watching the videos That's nice very nice, thank you Very very nice Wow Yeah, and I'll read I'll read all of this offline, but that's from a trap Travis and show show Shauna How would to identify plants by HD Harrington the gift of good land Wendell Berry? I actually have not read that. I've read quite a bit of Wendell Berry, but further essays culture and agricultural by Wendell Berry So I'm sure there be essays in here that I have not read And I'll probably start reading that tonight actually in between books right now. Thank you. That's very cool Jim and Marge I think That's um, that's helpful actually as I'm getting ready to start building the timber frame Books are awesome. I love getting the books of course because What else am I gonna do? Don't have internet here and the data plan on the cell phone is not big enough to watch much I do watch some things here, of course, but I can't watch too much. So books are always appreciated This is a man and dog through the Newfoundland wilderness by Justin Barber with a forward by TA Loeffler Justin Barber has his own YouTube channel He's down in Newfoundland and That's a pretty cool of bookmarks as well. He I think this is a story of him traversing across Newfoundland with his dog Forget how long they did that for 700 kilometer adventure across Newfoundland. So it's almost 500 miles Now he wrote wrote this book. So thanks Justin if you want to check out Justin Barber You can find him on YouTube and He's got lots of outdoor stuff stuff on his channel. I know that Justin I have watched this I know you asked that I have watched your channel I think I've commented a couple of times, but I know it's hard to catch all the comments But yes, and thank you very much for that Shall we? Knows about this one. Yeah Thanks for the dummy. It's a Kong training dummy. And I think you said a few things And again, I apologize if I don't get the name, right Look at that the literature of nature the British and American traditions That's an awesome book Walt Whitman Jack London Ralph Waldo Emerson Bryant Audubon William Byrd Tennyson yeah, John Keats. That's that's There's a lifetime of reading. So that's this is from dawn from New Hampshire so the book and the Dummy for Kelly. She's wiped right out because it's obviously she's been retrieving all day again as usual So thank you. She's gonna love that and I love the book. So thank you very much this is from Ricardo in Ohio from from Ohio. These are apparently sauna hats Felted I'm sure they're probably wool. They feel like it Felted hats anyway for wearing in the sauna. They don't look a little comical, but Apparently it's good to protect your head like this so you can get even hotter in that in the sauna without it burning your hair or or your scalp so that's a Helpful. I'll definitely use these that's a photo album an old photo album But I've got a couple of things like that and I'm keeping all the letters in so when I die Whatever somebody can actually go through all the stuff that happened while I was here I am writing in my journals as well fairly often. So between that and the letters would be quite a history, I hope at some point of Interesting things to read what was going on here. Well, this is a Another knife from Virtus knives from Sam. This is the model forest knife model in walnut Sam Palo Verde Sam was actually the first guy to ever send me a knife. I think two years two and a half years ago I think now actually and I have four or five of his knives and I use them quite often You saw me last week with the big utilis version. I'll set a six inch blade or something on that So and a white and a nice Pucco that my wife uses actually So this is the forest knife that he made me this time and I think this is my new favorite knife I Love that size actually. That's the forest knife. He's calling It's a little bit different blade shape, which I actually prefer this blade shape. Plus it's got a Sort of a flat grind then with a micro grind on there on the edge compared to the Scandinavian Grind So I actually like this a lot. That's probably what I'm gonna End up using to butcher my deer, which I've got to start hunting the next couple of days. I'm actually Scouted the outpost camp a couple of days ago And the deer are in there big time right now, and I really haven't started hunting yet, and I only have a month One month and a half less than a month and a half. So I've got to get started on my bow hunting So I think that's gonna be the knife that I would use to process my deer So it's got brass inserts and brass rivets And yeah, just a really nice knife hefty Black rifle coffee company. I Don't drink as much coffee. Maybe as it looks like on camera, but I do have at least one per day Usually in the morning and it's usually actually the second thing that I do I have breakfast first and a lot of times I might start with a tea or a jag of tea When I first wake up have breakfast and then I have a coffee this is from disadmiring fan actually So thank you. I will definitely drink that coffee Yeti keeps up sending me stuff now got a 35 What do we say it was quartz? That's something I would Bought on my own, but I think actually my wife would probably like that for I Don't know like day trips or something I've been storing some of her stuff in there. I think that actually will come in handy for something Heavy duty like all their stuff This is from my mother a while ago and it's from the attic because the house That my wife's still living in right now sold Everything has to come out of the house in the next month. There's Kelly you got up. Thank you like that I have four bushcraft girls, and I'm not sure Sure who sent it first two different people and I'm not sure if it was from the same place I do Appreciate whoever did sentence, especially if you did order them just through Amazon So this winter we're probably gonna do a lot of snowshoeing almost every day And we often just stop and have a little fire on the side of the trail somewhere Don't need to go on trails, but I mean, you know what I mean Stop somewhere and make a fire and have a tea and cook something up. So this little kettle Titanium so yeah, I will use that. So thank you. Whoever sent that says letter opener little open L letter opener Which I guess I should be using to open the letters They're cool. Actually Funny enough. I my dad started a knife collection year probably Might even been before I was born Certainly continued when I was younger. So he had quite a knife or has quite a knife collection. He's given me a lot of them I have A lot of them are more like decorative knives. No the stuff not utility not Functional or usable knives for my kind of what I'm doing here, but they still look nice. Anyway, I have quite a collection as well So I'm not sure what I'm gonna do with it. I might display my All my knives maybe in the workshop This is from Doug and Amber Wilson from Texas and they say they've paddled or he's paddled I'll gawk in quite a bit which is near here, which is I spend a lot of time and I'll gawk one Yeah, so the knife is gonna come in handy. I'll have that somewhere probably in a drawer where I Whenever I'm looking for a knife can't find one despite the Dozens that I have but anyway amber made this little sheath for it as well. So thank you. I appreciate the time and effort Everybody puts into these gifts. That's amazing. Thank you This is from coast and it probably hang these somewhere in the cabin to or in the workshop So that's it for this week Wow it's gonna keep me busy sorting all this stuff and coming up with places to put everything when my Wife and I first met I actually had the cabin at my old property One down on The lake not too far from here, but an hour drive just because the way it's situated Can't drive directly to it, but not too far from here. So similar landscape and I'd built a lot that log cabin with the intent of living in it. So when she met me we would go up there on weekends and Just some spend some time in the cabin and in that lake and the surrounding forest and stuff, but it was Then that when we're getting married I was trying to convince her that to move there not into that cabin But to for me to build something a little bit more substantial like a more modern home or cottage and It didn't work out for a number of reasons, especially Sort of work wise and was going to work for the family where it wanted to raise a family and the type of jobs that we had so put kind of shelved that for a while and didn't really Anticipate having this opportunity to live this way again However, it's not my wife's ideal life She's quite comfortable in the life that we had been living for the last 25 years or whatever. It's been but she's very supportive and we have a great relationship and She I don't know. She just supports me and everything I do and I support her as well. So so this was This place is less of a compromise. It's more my dream than it is her dream and For that reason and we'll see how long it lasts. We'll see how long she lasts here and what and if it's not That long how that changes How it changes my future Here, I don't know Not too sure how that's gonna work out but anyway, it's My marriage is number one and This lifestyle is At the top as well. So I'm That the way we've been doing it for the last year or so is actually working it quite well for us we have a strong bond and our we have a strong family with my girls as well and everybody is pretty independent and Sort of self-reliant I guess and Capable and for that reason We just are able to go sort of and do different things yet come together when the time I don't know to come together when when it matters and We can each of us can spend time alone I guess is the real point and and they're content to do that yet We're not antisocial and we love spending time together. So we've found a way for quite a few years actually to kind of do our own thing yet come together and spill still spend a fair bit of time together, so Regardless of how this turns out with my wife joining me here in in January We will continue to work out a compromise That works for both of us and for our daughters and that allows me to continue doing whatever You know always wanted to do and sort of put on hold for for 20 years or so Hard to say more than that because don't know where this is headed never knew where it was going when I started and Each and every day is sort of an adventure for me because it's uh, I don't know learning so much I'm learning so much about myself. My family is so supportive and We're gonna always continue to find a way to compromise so that we're all able to sort of live our dreams So I'm really interested to see how the next several years are gonna go you know, it's different when When your daughters or you your kids leave and and you got that empty nest and opportunities open up back up again I don't really need as much comfort as I've ended up putting here like the sauna for example it probably could have continued sponge bathing and and You know showering when it rains out and jumping in the lake in this stream here and all that kind of stuff Oh, that's perfectly fine for me, but I would never expect my wife to do that or my daughters for that matter. So it's um, I don't know. It's an evolution for sure and I'm Doing things in this cabin to make it to the point where it's comfortable Almost and for anybody including my wife. So this addition back here is gonna make a significant difference We'll see I don't really want to do it but if It makes her more comfortable for me to sort of modernize this place even more I'll probably end up doing that even though it's not my Original design or intent I think that's probably going to be the compromise that what I do here to this place is going to make it more comfortable for Everyday living longer term living for somebody who's not quite as outdoorsy and as adventurous as me or for that matter I would say Proportionately as a percentage would say more men are able or willing to do this live this way More so than women so I don't know what that means exactly It's not a plan right now, but I'm seeing as I'm doing things Make that addition it's going to have a composting toilet or some kind of holding tank toilet Even if that gets emptied in the outhouse, that's comfortable. My wife I think will be perfectly fine with that she would Prefer to bathe for example, I would like her to do More often than or more comfortably and then in any weather Regardless temperature or bugs situation or whatever. So the sauna Bathhouse might be stretched the way it is currently with no power in there So there may may come a time where I add more solar panels and a proper solar system or a bank solar power bank that can store more energy so that she can use more electricity and have lights and and Whatever else she needs to be comfortable in there. This is really personal a lot of this stuff. So I'm not sure Hopefully she doesn't watch this video Yeah, so even the lights in here a lot these lights I don't have on when I'm not filming I just like the candlelight and fire light and lanterns and stuff, but I have to have good light to film with and These lights work great. They don't actually draw much power, but the fridge I mentioned draws too much power So I'm making sort of an icebox freezer kind of combination I've got my outdoor freezer gonna have the the ice house and cellar next year a Bunch of things but I think we're gonna end up anyway needing more electricity for computers and camera gear and whatever else she wants here So I'll have to definitely expand the power System that I'm using now I'm not sure what that means. It might end up meaning a generator or two is that I use more often To charge in the winter might mean wind power More solar panels for sure. That might be enough more solar panels if I put them out in the open Or clear even a couple of trees out to allow more sunlight but a big enough power bank that we could make it last in the winter when power generation and The ability to store is a little bit less So, yeah, those are all the compromises I'm making for My wife but also for more permanent comfortable lifestyle So all of these other things that I'm doing like the workshop Which is far enough from the cabin that it's not within this Footprint of this this collection of buildings right here. That's gonna be sort of a retreat and Or sort of a man cave for me to spend more time and and I think as I get older I'm just gonna want to do like more woodworking type stuff. It's not an essential building not an essential Thing to have when I don't have power tools and stuff to use there could probably build stuff out here I'll even in the winter on the porch But anyway, I just rather have that comfort The longhouse is a nice place to get together with the guys without disrupting My wife's like it's fine to have guys here when she's not here But wouldn't be be kind of intrusive for her for me to have a bunch of guys here while she's living here The longhouse would be more of the gathering area Area I can get together with the guys and stuff and then my canoe regular trips canoe trips Fishing trips and all that kind of stuff. The outpost camp is another little cabin I'll have that I can sort of get away not that I need to get away with from my wife But just the lifestyle that I like to live means more adventure and more getting out into nature and spending time Directly alone a lot of cases. I actually do like spending time alone in the wilderness. Yeah, so that's That's where we're headed. So I don't know why I think I'd start mentioning all of that because All of this stuff that I keep getting sent by everybody. I want everybody to know that it is very meaningful to me and that when this journey started you guys been following along since the beginning and Being a big part of it. So all of the Sort of memories is what I'm collecting from everything that you're sending me as well as the journals that I'm writing and the videos that I'm making sort of a I'm hoping a you know, big collection of Something that maybe somebody in the future will find interesting as well, even if it's just my family so I Sort of sort of a museum of my adventure here so all of the you know, the books and the you know, the penance and the tools and the Clothing even and all the little things of that quilt like all these things are gonna keep and I'm gonna display somewhere on the homestead And sort of keep it as a personal museum to my life and What that's worth anyway Getting really hungry because I was working all day and didn't eat much I didn't feel like stopping got the beans on the fire a little bit too late and They're probably just ready now, but it's like 730 so I'm hungry So I'm gonna tune it. So as always really appreciate it Thank you for all the gifts again, and I look forward to seeing you at the cabin next time. Take care