Episode #223: The Writing Shack

How it started

Diagramming the tape measure incident.

Howdy folks:

Welcome to Michael Perry’s Voice Mail, episode 223. This one’s available to free and paid subscribers alike. Click the player above to listen.

This one isn’t from any book, but it’s tied to a lot of books. It’s all about a little writing shack I had hidden on forty acres I used to own in the mostly middle-of-nowhere. And it’s got a lotta pictures, so: If the newsletter is truncated click on "View entire message" and you'll be able to view the entire post.

And this week’s marginalia wasn’t scribbled on a book, it was scribbled on a desk.

Thanks for tuning in,
Mike

I got the floor finished. Rectangle is for the secret compartment. I always wanted a secret compartment.

You know it’s goin’ slow when you gotta tarp it between sessions. That’s my old ambulance radio.

Shortly after this I turned things over to a professional. Thanks, Frog.

The running gear under the wagon you see in these pictures was made by Oscar Knipfer, as described in Visiting Tom. Eventually the running gear wound up beneath our second chicken coop.

Moving day. My brothers have moved bigger cabins, but that’s another story…

Twelve miles later.

End Stage One (Stage Two would require a log skidder).

Little tune-up on the fly…

Brother, brother-in-law, sister. Friend of the family on the tractor.

Brother-in-law takes a break. That’s ol’ Jack the Dog.

Wrote about ol’ Jack the Dog in Population 485.

Stage Two. Needed a log skidder to get it up the final hill. It was getting dark.

Ready to write.

Took long enough to finish that a bird built a nest up there.

Can’t see it, but those are deer hoof hooks, thanks to my ol’ Road King editor Bill, I believe. If memory serves, which it don’t always.

Pssst, don’t tell anyone, the secret compartment is under that rug.

MARGINALIA

I used to write and date notes on the desk in that shack. If I took pictures of them, I don’t know where they are, but at some point I copied them down, and so herewith this episode’s “desk-inalia.”

03/09/2005 – Cold (10 degrees) sunny, blue sky, gray tree trunks, snow crust strong enough that I walked atop it all the way out here even with a pack on. Bucked some firewood, split it, enjoyed the way the deep-frozen shack became cozy and warm. The dang mice have got to go. Didn’t mind when they moved into the roof, but now they’ve pooped and peed so much it’s leaking down the walls. The war is on.*

*I shot one with the 12 gauge but that plan has limitations.

03/25/2005 – Amy, Anneliese, smiley face (written by Amy). Warm, sunny, lots of bright snow, we hiked out for lunch, had venison sandwiches and an MRE pack. Amy had her Mickey Mouse backpack and hiked happily. We had hot chocolate, then Anneliese and Amy headed back and I stayed to work on the truck book.

03/26/2005 – Walked all the way out here because I got home last night and couldn’t remember if I shut the door. I had.

08/10/2005 – Rode here on my mountain bike, sweating gobs on the floor. Was afraid to look inside the shack having not been here for over four months, but none of the mouse traps are sprung, everything as it was save for a few dead bugs and a sprinkling of turds on the cot. The truck book is not going well, Anneliese and Amy are off for a visit to Colorado, I am determined to hammer something out.

08/13/2005 – Swept up, did find one mouse in a trap. Pretty much dehydrated. Working on truck book.

09/06/2005 – [in my brother-in-law’s (cunado’s) handwriting] Para Mike: Thanks for bringing me to your secret place. Gracias for having a good, the best cigar with me. I know my kid will have one of the best uncles. Gracias tio Mike. Cunado Marcelino. [NOTE: this visit recounted in the “Tio Miguel” essay in Roughneck Grace.]

04/27/2006 – Leaves just budding out. Maple leaves the size of quarters. First time out this year. Looks like someone took the single shot. Scared up turkeys on the walk in. [“Single shot” refers to the shotgun stolen from the shack. In 2007 we would move, and I would sell the land, the shack along with it.]

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Today’s episode is original, not taken from any particular book, but it references or is tied to several books:

Population 485 (the one that brought me to the dance I’m still dancing)

Truck: A Love Story (the one I was struggling with in the shack)

Coop: A Family, a Farm, and the Pursuit of One Good Egg (the backstory of Tim)

Roughneck Grace (the cigar backstory)

Visiting Tom (more on Oscar and why he woulda got on great with Tom)

Sneezing Cow everything else including can koozies, stickers, and T-shirts.

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