Louis Ureneck

The building inspector has blessed the cabin. Or, in town hall language, he has granted an occupancy permit.

I’m not ready to move in, mind you. The new (old) wood stove remains to be hooked to the stovepipe, and the cabin is bereft of furniture. Still, an occupancy permit is a landmark event.

I was busy last week preparing for the inspector’s walk-through. I had asked him over the phone for items that might trip me up.

He pointed out that I would need balusters on the porch and handrails on the stairs. I had neither. (In fact, I didn’t have stairs. We’ve been using a construction ramp.) So, I spent one full day working on a porch railing and the stairs. Paul had set up me up beautifully by building stairs at his home in Portland and driving them up to the cabin. He had constructed them so that they would attach to the porch with hinges, which allows them to rise and fall with the frost and heaving ground. By including two vertical posts at the base of the stairs, he made it easy for me to set the handrails.

I finished the work as the day’s light was dying. I lit the gaslights for the inspector’s visit. He checked off the smoke alarms, gave me advice on where to put the carbon monoxide sensors and made some suggestions on installation of the woodstove. Then, we shook hands and wished each other well. Oh, and I wrote a check for the building permit for the shed behind the cabin. The price, with the fine for not having gotten it before the shed went up: $12.80.

Louis Ureneck

Now that the cabin can be officially occupied, my work is to make it habitable and comfortable before settling in. In addition to the stove connection, there is still interior trim, painting work and hauling in some simple furniture.

So here we are, at the end of December 2009, and this project, begun nearly a year ago, is nearly done. With the cabin’s completion will come an end to this blog in The New York Times. It’s been great fun. The best part has been the community of readers that has gathered around this virtual parlor stove.

The end of the Times’ blog, after next week’s posting, does not mean an end to the work. In addition to final interior cabin details, I’ve already begun thinking about an apple orchard on the hillside that looks down on the beaver pond and a barn ­— projects for the spring. I would like to plant maybe 50 apple trees, of antique varieties especially for cider, and build a barn as a woodworking shop. There’s a lot to learn and to do in the coming months.

I will continue to describe my work, and ask for your assistance and attention. The new site is Mainecabinblog.com where you can read this post and future posts going forward.

And there’s this: It occurred to me that many of you who have been following this blog (bless you!) may be interested in helping pull together an event (a festival?) that celebrates cabin building and the simple country life, perhaps for next fall. There’s a wonderful setting, not far from the cabin, of fields and meadows that would be just right for tents and demonstration projects. It might be fun to gather craftsmen, musicians, and others for two or three days of workshops, fellowship, food and music. Are you interested?

Let me know.

In my next and final entry, I will reflect on some of the lessons I learned over the last year as a cabin builder.