Flossie gets a cabin on the lake -- sort of

Hi neighbors. Flossie came by the other day and wanted me to go shopping with her. She had made up her mind while having her morning coffee that day that she wanted a storage building and was determined to have it up and ready by supper.

We went to several hardware and lawn and garden type stores. We drove around the parking lots of those that had buildings for sale. If she saw a type she liked we went in and discussed it with the salesman. None of them seemed to meet her needs. At least the ones that met her needs outdistanced her pocketbook.

She did finally settle on a small building with a front porch, three windows and a cute front door. "I can take that to the lake with me and use it for a weekend cabin." She smiled.

I argued that it didn't have running water or a bathroom.

"Yes, but there are shower and bathroom facilities at most campgrounds and at the lake. I own a little slip of land just big enough for this little house."

She bought the house and was admiring it when the salesman asked her where she wanted it delivered.

"At the lake" she said with no hesitation.

The man laughed. "Lady, we just deliver within a 10 mile radius. We can bring it to your house for you though."

Although Flossie was disgruntled (a great word to describe Flossie's demeanor most of the time) she agreed. We followed the truck to Flossie's home and found a spot behind the garage that it would fit.

Flossie asked me to join her for a celebration snack of coffee and pound cake. Once we were settled onto the couch, I asked Flossie how she was going to get the little "house" from her backyard to the lake.

"I'll ask the neighbor who has that huge tractor and flatbed trailer. If he can figure a way to get the house on the trailer, we can take it to the lake," she said smiling.

Silently I tried to envision pulling a wooden cabin up a ramp onto a flatbed trailer. It occurred to me that the cabin did not have tires and I wasn't certain if it had a floor!

"You might want to see about getting a frame with wheels on it to pull the little house up on the ramp then a winch to pull it up onto the trailer," I muttered, more to myself than Flossie.

She set down her coffee cup. "You think I'd buy a cabin without means to haul it? I've thought this through I tell you."

Then, between bites of pound cake and sips of coffee she explained to me that she had some old roller bed frames. She could lash them together and using the neighbor's forklift, raise the cabin onto the neighbors boat trailer.

She explained that the road to her little slice of heaven on the lake was narrow and tricky, so she would have him put her cabin onto his boat trailer. It was large enough because he had a pontoon boat that he used all the time on the lake.

She thought she could get him to put the pontoons on her cabin and float it over the lake to her land. She smiled in triumph.

Something didn't sound quite right, but I smiled in reply. What could go wrong?

Two weeks later we were back shopping for cabins. I'll just say there was a fault in thought about putting the cabin on pontoons with no flat bottom between them. We did learn that the 30-day warranty did not cover cabins sunk to the bottom of the lake.

Flossie did tell the conservation officer that the door and windows were all open and fish could live contentedly in the cabin for years. He agreed and Flossie didn't have to pay to pull the cabin out of the lake.

She found a cabin exactly like the first, had it brought to her home and put in the very center of her back yard.

"Not taking this one to the lake?" I asked cautiously.

"Nope," Flossie replied, patting the side of the cabin like a favorite horse. "I figure I can get all the great outdoors I want right here in my backyard. Just you wait, it's going to be great!"

Until next time friends, remember, the wilderness can be far away or right in your own backyard. Flossie will tell us more about her "Granny house" as the remodeling continues.