The Pithole Hermit

For over a week now a little possum (about half grown) has been hanging out on my cabins porch. It is now dubbed Pocket.

The first night Lily suddenly woke and started growling at the window. I shined the flashlight out and there sat Pocket on the railing. It froze in the light. Now everyone’s heard of possums playing dead but this one was stuck on the rail and couldn’t curl up, so it just sat there. I kept the light on it and Lily barked but it didn’t move. I went out the door and threw a small stick at it. The stick hit the railing but the possum didn’t move. I went back to bed. In about 10 minutes I heard a thump and shined the light out. The possum had jumped down and was walking away.

The next night, once again Lily started growling. I shined the light and there was pocket right outside the window not a foot from where my pillow was. This time Lily didn’t bark. She just sniffed at it. Pocket again didn’t move. I think we were all getting used to each other. Grown possums are quite ugly but Pocket is kind if cute.

Last night I heard a rattling noise outside and again Lily growled. I shined the light out but couldn’t see anything. So I went outside. I hang my trash bag from a corner post of the porch. I shined the light on the bag and the bag wiggled. A closer look showed a possums tail sticking out of the top. Pocket had climbed the post and must have stuck it’s head in the bag and fallen in. Possums can hang by their tail so it was holding on to the top. After trying to figure out what to do without getting bit I cut the drawstring holding the bag up. The bag fell to the ground. It didn’t move so I figured Pocket was scared. So I went to bed. A few hours later it got light. I went outside and saw the bag on the ground. Pocket was still in it. It is a pretty thin bag so it should have been able to rip it’s way out. I picked up a bottom corner of the bag and dumped Pocket out. Pocket scurried away into the woods. It looked embarrassed.…

I ordered a new chainsaw. The 38cc Poulan I have works fine for firewood. But it just isn’t powerful enough or long enough to mill boards. So I got a 62cc 20″ X-Bull. A no-name chinese saw. A name brand 62cc saw is $400-$500 minimum. This was $109 so I took a chance. I received it and it didn’t start. Big disappointment. Followed instructions. Mixed gas 25:1. Added chain oil. Set throttle. Set switch on. It pulls nice but will not start. Removed spark plug. There is spark. Gas gets to primer pump. With air filter off appears some gas in carb but not very much. Spark plug was wet when removed. Tried adding a little fuel directly anyway. Still does not fire at all. Even tried another spark plug. Even tried remixing fresh gas. Nothing. And I have been keeping other chainsaws running for years but didn’t want to tear this down so I can still return it.

Contacted the seller and they said all engineers are on vacation and might be back in a week to respond. Must be a celebration of a pretty big slaughter by Chairman Mao of his own people to last a week. Or maybe the engineers got called up to shoot civilians in Hong Kong.

My patience ran out so I tore it apart. Found the coil gap about 1/16″. I was taught to gap the coil with a piece of paper so I knew it would never have enough spark with that big a gap. Gapped it to a paper width and buttoned it up. Two pulls and it started. Still not happy I had to fix it brand new but I’ll keep it. I’m no expert and someone without at least a little knowledge of small engines would never have got it going. They are supposed to test start it before shipping. They even warn there may be oil from the testing. But there is no way they could have test started this one.

Chainsaws, or any small 2 cycle engine, are not that complicated. Maybe, as an amateur, I’ll do a basic instruction on keeping one running. Most “professionals” always make it sound harder than it is. I guess that’s so you bring it to them instead of fixing it yourself. I’m not going to tell you the secrets of fixing computers.

I’m sure my one reader (yes I’m sure there’s one out there and you know who you are) is wondering if I only care about the shed and forgot about the cabin. Well I’m back working on the cabin. The ceiling joists are too high and I am having to heat space I don’t use. Plus I want to start using the space for storage of items still back at the house. So I’m lowering the joists. Not as easy as it sounds because the joist are structural and keep the walls from bowing out and the roof collapsing. So I am putting extra side supports plus struts angled down. Here is one joist brought down. The struts are not yet in place and the king board needs extended.

Once all three are lowered and secured I’ll put ceiling panels up with access doors for storage. There should be a lot more space since I’m lowering over a foot. In fact if I need to put too much up there I may add some more joists for support.

Update:

Here are some of the panels temporarily in place. I am not sure if I want them above or below the joist. I like above because I could stain them and hang guns or lanterns from them.

Even with them above look at all the storage space up there.

I have decided to put in four more joists between the existing ones. More strength when I crawl up there and I may even want to have a small room there. The trouble is getting four 12 foot 2 x 6 boards home from the store.…