Oklahoma Photos

The area we're building at in Oklahoma is part of the Ouachita (Wash-i-tah) Mountains. I'm fascinated by geography, geology, and history, so I've been reading all kinds of information about the area. The Ouachita Mountains (as well as the Ozarks) are an ancient mountain range that used to be as tall or taller than the Rockies, but since they are primarily sandstone, they have eroded over time and are now technically hills.

Here is a view when approaching the cluster of mountains we are building on.

Our land is in a cluster of mountains known as the Sans Bois Mountains. The view from our place overlooks the Kiamichi Mountains to the south.

Here is a view on one of the rock shelves on our property, looking up from the pad.

A small cave on the property. It's no higher than a couple of feet tall.

Another rock shelf.

 View from the pad overlooking the pond we dug for the dogs.

Our little camp site while building.

Looking up to the top of the hill from the pad. It can be walked up and down, but a 4x4 is needed to drive up and down.

We're finally building!

Things have been crazy lately. After buying land in Oklahoma almost 2 years ago we are finally starting to build a small 624 sq ft cabin. The cabin itself is 20'x28' which is 560 sq ft, then we are building an 8'x8' mud room/laundry room on the front porch to help keep cooling costs down in the summer.

In April of last year we had a pad flattened and a pond dug, and aside from laying grass seed we hadn't done any more work until last weekend (Oct. 2 & 3). We got about half of the posts set and this weekend (Oct. 9 & 10), Tony got the remainder of the posts set. He's been receiving help from his best friend Quinton and Quinton's two oldest sons, Bubba (Quinton, Jr.) and Nick.

Here are some photos I took when I was up there the weekend of the 2nd & 3rd:

Here are Quinton and Tony measuring out and marking where to set the posts.

Tony, Quinton and Bubba are using a post auger to drill the holes for the posts. The auger cost $30/day to rent.

Completed hole.

Completed set post.

Half the posts set. In this photo, north is at the top, south at the bottom, east on the right and west on the left. Tony this weekend added another row of posts on the east side to extend the cabin out another 4 feet and added the 8'x8' section for the laundry room on the south (west) side. The posts are set 4' apart. The kitchenette will be on the SW wall, living room SE corner, bedroom NE corner and bathroom NW corner.