Teepee Man

A teepee?  A real tee pee? How many people have a full size teepee in their back yard? Well, actually it's not ours, it belongs to Phil, a.k.a. Teepee Man.

Phil comes and goes freely at Birdland. As a matter of fact, I'm not sure if he lives there or not. He sure seems to be there a lot and he comes and goes at all different hours. But I guess you can do that when you're designing your own village. I do give Phil a lot of credit for being a visionary and experimental in the area of shelter on the cheap. I guess that's why Russel likes him and allows him free reign at his spot next to the goldfish pond at Birdland.

What started out as a teepee for any normal guy in his forties to get away to,  has developed into a neighborhood of, let's see, I think I counted six structures last weekend, including the teepee. The real interesting thing about the neighborhood is it's transformation to more of a modern look.  Phil has taken the bold step of incorporating glass and plastic, stretch wrap in particular, into his designs. An architectural clash in comparison to the lone teepee in the middle of the woods. Think futuristic meets minimalist and add a good dose of rustic, put 'em in a blender and viola!, you've got the plastic, glass, sticks and twine teepee village.

The stick structures are assembled in a way that would make any survivalist swoon. The sticks or small limbs are lashed together with twine and then the entire structure encased with stretch wrap. For the winter house, a thick layer of leaves is applied over the wrap to provide insulation value, then another layer of wrap over the leaves to provide waterproofing. Add a wood burning fireplace and you're set. The engineering behind it makes perfect sense. The mice love it. It's the fireplace inside that's a little un-nerving for me. 

The summer house is similar in construction however, it's screened on the lower section with aluminum insect screening, shrink wrap for a roof, animal skins on the dirt floor, and a recliner; a must have for any guy. The summer house looks out over the recent pier he built out into the pond where he watches over a small and high yielding crop of hydroponic tomatoes growing in 5 gallon buckets. Very impressive and decent tasting tomatoes, too.

The main nerve center for the village occurs in a glass box. Any assembly, planning, supplies, cooking, entertainment and refrigerator are in "the box". Power is supplied with about 1000' of extension cord snaking its way through the woods. Originally, Phil tapped off the main house but Russel's tenant complained. I don't know what he does now. With such a long run of extension cord, I'm surprised anything other than powering a dim bulb would work. Other utilities powering the village are a half dozen 20# propane tanks, a forest full of wood for burning and a pond for non-potable water usage.

What about sanitation facilities? This is one of the most unique features of the village. As a matter of fact, I have never seen or known of any existence of a structure with the attributes of all glass panels and shrink wrap to incorporate a toilet facility. A box for reading materials and freshening up supplies, always feeling that you're totally a part of nature yet, free from a billion mosquitoes. No need for night-time lighting, just shine a flashlight out of the teepee door to light the path and light up the potty. Brilliant!

I probably never will see one of these elsewhere. I don't want to see these elsewhere but, you do have to admit, it is interesting to look at, not being used.