Cabin Fever

Two little old people, my husband and I, finally moved into our forever cabin. We plan to live here until we die, or until those nice young men in their clean white coats come to take us away to the home for the mentally deficient.

When we first moved to Virginia City, we bought a hundred year old house. We liked that house, but we both quickly realized that we could not afford to maintain such an old home if we both wanted to retire from full time jobs anytime in the foreseeable future. It seemed the old place always needed some sort of repair or replacement job.So, the search began for something affordable. We bought a five acre lot, and then we began the search for the perfect dwelling to place on that lot.

We found the cabin of our dreams at the Montana Shed Center. We traveled to Great Falls to spec out our new home, and after considerable thought, some changes in the floor plans, and some lengthy discussion, we ordered our cabin. During the three month interval required for the Shed Center to build our small 16x44 square foot dream home complete with two lofts, we lived in a 12x16 structure. We had our septic system installed, water lines trenched in, and a foundation prepared while we impatiently awaited the completion of our new home.

We received word that the cabin was ready for delivery. We arranged a delivery date with the Shed Center, and then waited with great anticipation.

The big day finally arrived. The Shed Center transported the cabin from Great Falls to Virginia City. As the semi hauling the cabin paraded through town with great fanfare and at the height of tourist season, spectators lined the street to watch the arrival of our castle. I understand that a film of the event made it to Facebook. That goes to show you how little it takes to cause a commotion in little Virginia City.

The transport drivers unloaded the cabin at the bottom of the hill leading up to Lois Lane, the final destination of our cabin. Drivers and crew then used two ¾ ton trucks, one to push and the other to pull the flatbed holding the cabin to move it up the hill. Crew also employed four mechanical mules to assist with turns and with the final placement of the dwelling. It took over six hours for this menagerie of equipment and manpower to slowly move our cabin a quarter mile up Cornucopia Road, around a sharp S turn and then up Lois Lane around another sharp curve to our property. The crew needed another several hours to set the cabin squarely on its foundation and then attach the 4x8 front porch with interior loft to the cabin itself. The time and effort required for this did produce the results we had hoped for.

We love our new home. The cabin features a large living/dining/kitchen area, a bathroom, a loft over the bathroom, a large bedroom, and a smaller storage loft over our front porch. The spacious 700 square foot home has ample storage area and more than enough living space for two old people ready to scale down and live more with less.

The Montana Shed Center built a wonderful cabin that meets all Montana codes, has six inch well insulated walls and roof, and stands solid and sturdy as a tank. We anticipate that our wood stove will keep us extremely cozy during the cold winter months.

We also expect that this building will easily outlive us, require very little maintenance, repair, or upkeep. Two older people can live here quite comfortably with minimal expense well into the foreseeable future.

That is our goal, to live well on less, keep ourselves comfortable with minimal expense, so as we age, we have enough to live on and without the worries of maintaining an old house with more room than we need and that requires constant upkeep and repair.