After getting home from Oregon, Greg was more than ready to get back to the property.

We had been gone long enough that he had missed an entire weekend working out there, so just a couple of days after we got home we loaded up and headed to the mountains for the day.

One of the first things we had to deal with was our newest residents…

Mice.

Ever since Jayse and a few friends stayed in the camper and accidentally left food behind, we’ve had a full-on mouse invasion. We checked everything over, cleaned up what we could, and set out more deterrents and traps in hopes of convincing them to find another place to live.

Our main reason for being there, though, was to prepare for our meeting with Central District Health a couple of days later. We were hoping to get approval for a septic permit, so we walked the property, took measurements, and identified a few possible locations for a tank and drainfield.

On Wednesday we met the inspector out at the property.

She was wonderful to work with and incredibly helpful, but we quickly learned that our property wasn’t going to make things easy.

The biggest challenge?

Our soil.

Most of it is decomposed granite, and it is incredibly difficult to dig through. The first location we had hoped would work for both the septic tank and drainfield was ruled out pretty quickly.

So we dug another test hole.

No luck there either.

Finally, we moved farther down the hill near our firepit where the soil conditions were much better. It wasn’t our ideal location, but it was close enough to the building pad and just far enough from the creek to meet the required setbacks.

The current plan is to place the septic tank up near where the cabin will sit and install the drainfield farther down the hill.

To be honest, installing a full septic system wasn’t what we had envisioned.

Originally, we had hoped for something much simpler. We even looked into options like a composting toilet with a small greywater system for the sink and shower.

Unfortunately, Idaho regulations don’t really work that way.

If you have pressurized water—even just for a sink or shower—you need a full septic system. Even composting toilets require permits and approved units. Our realistic choices were either a completely dry cabin with no running water or installing a conventional septic system.

Since we’re building a tiny cabin, I also assumed we’d be able to install a smaller septic tank.

Nope.

The minimum required size is 1,000 gallons.

It feels like complete overkill for a tiny cabin, but on the bright side, we probably won’t have to worry about pumping it very often.

Once we added everything up, we realized that with Greg’s access to equipment, my background working in plumbing, and my brother being a plumber, installing a full system simply made the most sense.

It’s definitely an expense we weren’t planning on, and that part stings. So does the added timeline. We thought we’d be able to start building the cabin this summer but having to put in a septic has really pushed things out. We will likely only get the septic in this summer and will hopefully be able to start building next summer/early spring.

But I also know there will probably come a day when I’m standing in our little cabin taking a hot shower or flushing an actual toilet, and I’ll be thankful we made the investment.

Sometimes building a dream means making decisions that aren’t very exciting in the moment.

The following weekend we headed back out to the property again. Greg left early Saturday morning while I took my time getting ready at home.

It was raining, and before I knew it I had spent a couple of hours sitting out on our covered deck listening to the rain. I started a fire, made a mug of hot cocoa, and just enjoyed the quiet morning.

Honestly, it was exactly what I needed.

Eventually I made my way up to the property where the rainy weather actually worked in our favor.

We have an infected tree that needed to come down, and with everything wet from the rain it was the perfect day to burn.

Greg cut the tree down and limbed it while I kept the burn pile going. Between loads of branches, he spent the afternoon using the excavator that was already on-site from the septic test holes to continue clearing our cabin pad.

By evening we were both tired, dirty, and hungry.

Dinner wasn’t anything fancy—just leftover pasta we had made earlier in the week—but after a full day of working outside, it tasted perfect.

We packed everything up and headed home that night feeling like we’d made another small step forward.

Building this cabin has already taught us that progress isn’t always glamorous.

Sometimes progress looks like permits, setbacks, unexpected expenses, mouse traps, muddy boots, and burn piles.

But it’s still progress, and little by little, this place is starting to become everything we’ve imagined.

Cool blue metallic bug