Grandma and Grandpa Russell built their cabin that first summer of 1958. Since they already had the trailer, they decided to use it for the kitchen and just build one long living room in front of it with the door opening into the trailer. Grandpa poured a large rectangle of cement for the foundation and floor. The trailer wasn’t really very long, so he extended the front room about ten feet farther on the north side. Grandpa poured a smaller square of cement on the side of the trailer behind the front extension. It turned the large living room into a sort of L shape. Grandma put a metal framed bed in that back part which became their bedroom, even though there wasn't a wall seperating it from the front room.
Grandma and Grandpa decided to build the lower part of the walls of their cabin out of rocks, there were plenty of them in the wash and creek bed close by. They built the rock wall up about four feet, then used wood above that. Inside the cabin the rocks were plastered over with cement.
The front wall of the cabin, facing the garden and the road, was built taller than the back wall which was even with the trailer. Grandpa put a tin roof on top, slanting back so rain and snow could slide off. My, what a noise it made when it rained!
Grandpa made two big windows on either side of the front door and one big window on the north side of the cabin, looking out towards the wash. High up in the front wall he placed three smaller windows, one over each big window and one over the door. These windows opened at the top and hung down on a chain.
On the south side of the cabin Grandpa built a red brick fireplace with a mantle. It had black grill work over vents above and on both sides of the fireplace so warm arm could circulate and blow out to heat the room. On the right side of the fireplace a small door was built into the wall, so you could reach outside and get firewood or dump out ashes.
Above the mantel Grandma put a picture of Fisherman's Point which one of their grandsons painted for them. Fisherman's Point was a rocky cliff which towered many hundreds of feet high above the creek. Some people called it Lover's Leap, and it was a beautiful, but scary sight. Chamberlain Trail ran beside the point, then along the cliff for a ways. The dirt road was only wide enough for one car to drive on, but what a view you had looking over the side way down to the creek far below. Mom always closed her eyes as they drove over that part of the road, while Dad had a hard time keeping his eyes on the trail instead of looking out at the view.
Grandma and Grandpa brought up an old couch they owned and placed it on the back wall of the front room. Grandpa's brother gave them a bear skin which they laid over the back of the couch. It had black, wiry hair and sharp, yellowed claws on it's paws. It's eyes had been replaced with black, glass marbles, but it still had it's own sharp, scary teeth.
Grandma brought up her old treadle sewing machine, which she placed next to an easy chair under the south front window. She spent many days sewing on that old machine, or sitting in the chair braiding colorful rags together which she sewed into round rugs to cover the hard cement floor. Grandma also made a foot stool from five grape juice cans that she glued together, then covered with material. It looked like a big flower when it was finished.
Grandma and Grandpa brought up a wooden table and chairs that sat under the north front window. They kept a big, green, glass kerosene lamp in the middle of that table, and every night Grandma would light it so they could see to read or play scrabble. They also hung two kerosene lamps from the ceiling to light the rest of the cabin.
That cabin took a lot of work, but when it was finished, man, it was wonderful! Now Grandma and Grandpa could live comfortably in the mountains from early spring to late fall. Soon Uncle Tillis, Grandpa Russell’s brother, built a little white cabin on the other side of the garden, so he and Aunt Cleo could spend their time up there, too. Together, he and Grandpa planted apple and pear trees by the driveway that ran along the base of the hill. Grandma planted hollyhocks along the drive and Aunt Cleo planted a lilac bush next to her cabin.
The final touch Grandpa and Grandma Russell placed on their new summer home was a green and white metal sign they bought special to put on a fence post by the road. It said ‘El Rosel’, which meant 'the Russell’s'.
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