Well, a few things have happened over the past several days that have amounted to a couple of changes. First, we had to reduce our crew of carpenters from two to one: David McLean is no longer with us, but I, Cathy, will continue to work on the cabin until mid January (when I must unfortunately return to work in Prince George - brrrr). Second, the foundation we originally built has been removed and a new one is now in place. (photo of completed foundation in next posting)
Re-doing the foundation was my decision after several sleepless nights. I could not rest knowing we had laid the original blocks on top of a buried deer. Three years ago a little deer decided to lay down and die at the bottom of Deb and Hal’s property. Debby didn’t quite know what to do with a dead deer so she drug it up to the cabin and buried it by the steps. She buried it right where we now needed to plant the foundation*. David McLean didn’t think it would be a problem so we just moved a bit of dirt and set the deck blocks down. Then we carried on and built the walls. But that deer would not let me sleep. All I could see were it’s bones crushing under the weight of the addition, and then the building sinking.
When David McLean took a few days off to be with family I decided to dig up the foundation and release the deer. Pretty much every one knows there’s something not right about disturbing the dead, so Debby and I lit a candle at the burial site and said a prayer. At that moment I became aware of the dead tree roots underneath the foundation at the other end of the addition - given time, these too would decompose and shift the building. I knew then that I would have to dig up and remove some live and some dead roots as well, so our prayer expanded to include consideration of all that I was about to disturb - the deer, the roots, the rocks and dirt, and the worms. We offered thanks and asked to be kept mindful of all we were working with.
It was a very successful excavation. The deer was nicely decomposed down to dry bone and it was easy to remove. Underneath the other end of the foundation there were, in fact, several large roots that needed to be removed - which I did, believing that the trees will survive and still bear fruit. I dug down to solid ground, (below all the organic soil, as Carlos - pictured below - suggested), built three wooden forms,
*Three years ago, when David (Peter's grandson) was in grade three, we noticed a dog coming into our backyard a couple times a day every day for about a week. The dog barked and dug and pulled at something under the cabin - none of us thought anything about it until one day, we noticed a horrible smell permeating the air over half our property. A couple of mornings later, David and I went outside to find a three quarter portion of a small dead deer, its other parts were strewn around the yard. The stench was putrid! We got the wheel barrel and hoisted the deer carcass onto a shovel and into the wheel barrel. (We took lots of photos and made a booklet for David to take to school to show his friends who stood around him in a circle ooohing and ahhhing over the gory shots.) Together, David and I pushed the wheel barrel up to the cabin and, instead of digging a hole, I dumped the deer on top of the ground and proceeded to make a small hill by mounding soil on top of the deer. Why? Because I couldn't stand the smell and didn't have the whatever-it-took-at-the-time to continue sniffing the air while I dug a hole -- I just needed to get that carcass covered quick. *
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