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It feels so good to do even the smallest action that means one step closer to the goal.

This is the third post in a three-post series. Here are the first and second ones, you know, ICYMI:

Animals

Aug 11

This is the second post in a three-post series. Here’s the first:

Since visiting the new physical manifestation of A Good Spot a couple weeks ago, I have planning, scheming, and working. And I made a thing!!

The goal is to get the yurt up next spring/summer. The yurt needs a platform, essentially a round deck, to stand on. I need to learn how to build said platform.

To learn how to build said platform, I need to bolster my building skills. An outhouse seems like a logical structure for increasing skills before attempting the platform, and it’s pragmatic for the location. Before I can build an outhouse, I needed even more basic skills, so a bench became the first project.

Specifically, an Aldo Leopold bench. Once you know what one is, you’ll start to see them everywhere. I noticed one in my neighborhood while walking Uša just when I started the project.

The universe sings your song when you start to play it.

An old Aldo Leopold bench sitting quietly on grass in front of a beige house. — Aldo Leopold Bench, in my neighborhood, found while walking a dog (of course)

It took me approximately two weeks to make the bench and install it at A Good Spot. I found a plan that was simple enough, I bought the wood from a local lumber yard, and I got to work with a circular saw and help from a friend in my garage. If you search for “Aldo Leopold bench plans,” you’ll find a myriad of one-sheet directions or online tutorials.

The point of building the bench was to build my confidence with power tools and my ability to problem-solve. And the second point of building the bench was to create something for A Good Spot. I got a good feel for how to use a handheld circular saw and speed square. Drilling is something I already felt confident about.

This photo array tells the story of creating the bench.

four photos showing pretreated wood on horses in a garage or standing against a wall — I cut long pieces of wood into smaller pieces of wood

(Because of the original lengths of wood, I ended up with more pieces than necessary for one bench—so a second bench has to be on the horizon!)

Pieces of sitting on horses in a garage and light brown stain on the floor that resembles a smirking face. — Though the wood was pretreated and pre-stained, I decided to stain the cut edges. All was well until I was putting the lid back on the can! The result: a smirking face on my garage floor.

Drilling and assembling the sides. N.B., the carriage bolts were not put on correctly--the heads should be to the outside when the bench is fully assembled and they will not be on one side.

The pieces of wood being assembled in the greenest woods. — Screwing in the seat and back went much more smoothly than anticipated. The back is not perfectly flush with one of the sides.

I felt the satisfaction of working with one’s hands, a sense of accomplishment sitting right next to a sense of much to do, figuring out how to do it better next time, and peace during the process of building this humble bench.

I can’t wait for the next project.

I checked the trail cam while I was at A Good Spot. This old gal showed up more than once. (The date is wrong because I bought an inexpensive trail cam and didn’t set the date/time; it was actually August 6, 2026.) Turns out, according to H., she’s sporting a DNR collar from a study done because of the chronic wasting disease from quite a few years ago. Plenty of young ones were also photographed.

Good ol’ gal

Please, consider pledging to this substack, A Good Spot, as it would be greatly encouraging and well, simply, AWESOME. Click here to learn more about A Good Spot and its long-term goals.

I don’t care what Pangram may say, I write every word and I am a human being.

A Learning Bench

Animals

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