Miss Dolly Kitten Update, Cabin Plans & Solar Clearing | Ep 850

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This week’s episode of The LOTS Project Morning Show was one of those that covers the full range—adorable kittens, stubborn construction delays, questionable movie sequels, and thorn-covered land clearing. It’s August 11th, 2025, and I’m sipping on a fresh cup of Light Costa Rican coffee from FoodForestFarms.com. Let’s dive in.

Miss Dolly Moves In – The Kitten Takeover

If you tuned in last week, you know a small kitten showed up outside our camper and immediately caught Kori’s attention. At the time, Dolly—yes, named for Dolly Parton—was about eight weeks old, skinny from living as a stray, and living outside in a makeshift shelter I built. It was nothing fancy, just a rough little house with a front “catio” so she could eat and drink out of the weather.

That lasted… a few days.

Off to the Vet

By Tuesday, Kori decided Dolly needed to go to the vet. We didn’t have a kitten-sized carrier (our last cats were years ago and our dogs are massive), so Dolly got a cardboard box ride—with holes poked for air—that lasted about five minutes before Kori gave up and held her the entire 40-minute drive. To everyone’s surprise, Dolly didn’t scream, panic, or make a mess—she just curled up and purred the whole way.

The vet dewormed her, gave the first round of shots, and said she was healthy, just skinny. That’s when the real shift happened. On the way home, Kori stopped for a cat carrier, litter box, and supplies. She told me the outdoor litter box was “just so she could use it while sleeping outside.” I should’ve known better.

By that afternoon, Kori was rearranging her desk area and using some panels from a failed product review—a portable dog fence—to build Dolly her own little condo under the desk. Litter box, food, water, blanket, and a safe hideaway. That was it. Dolly was officially an indoor cat.

The dogs, Clyde (Great Dane/St Bernard Mix) and Norman (St. Bernard ), were… less than thrilled. Clyde immediately fixated on the little condo, pacing and staring at it for hours. Norman didn’t notice for almost two days, but once he did, the obsession began. Dolly? She couldn’t care less—turning her back, staring them down, and generally ignoring their size advantage. She’s even landed a few warning swats when they got too curious.

Now she’s got a two-story cat condo, complete with a ramp to Kori’s desk, a scratching post, and a perch. I’m still not entirely sure how this happened, but Kori’s happy, and that means Dolly’s here to stay.

Cabin Material Update – The Waiting Game

The other big update is the cabin build. I’ve locked in a source for the flooring materials—joists, subfloor, and the center beam—but there’s a catch: delivery will have to wait. The company I’m buying from doesn’t have the right equipment to deliver lumber, and my original installer has gone silent on helping move it.

A friend with the right truck, trailer, and skid steer has agreed to pick it up and unload it at the build site, but his schedule means it’ll be about two weeks before it happens. That’s just part of rural life—things move at their own pace.

In the meantime, I’ll be prepping the site for the next stage. The center beam will span the 36-foot width of the cabin, supported by five piers. I’ve decided to use precast deck piers on compacted gravel rather than pouring concrete—less mess, plenty of strength for a single-story build, and faster to install. The plan is to dig 12–16 inches down, compact the soil, fill with gravel, compact again, and set the piers perfectly level.

By the time the material arrives, the supports will be ready to go, and we can jump straight into flooring installation.

Happy Gilmore 2 – A Swing and a Miss

Over the weekend, Kori and I reactivated Netflix for a couple months. We had a list of things to watch, but the curiosity got the better of us when we saw Happy Gilmore 2.

I loved the original from the ’90s—Adam Sandler in peak goofy form, quotable lines for days. The sequel? Not so much. About 45 minutes in, Kori looked at me and asked, “When is it going to get funny?” I didn’t have an answer.

The movie leaned heavily on callbacks to the first one, which felt unnecessary—no one is watching Happy Gilmore 2 without knowing the first film. The plot was thin, the jokes fell flat, and it just didn’t capture the original’s charm. I won’t be watching it again, but if you’re curious, give it a try and let me know if you disagree.

Clearing for the Solar Field

Finally, I’ve started work on clearing a section of land for a future solar field to power Tim’s cabins at DG. This isn’t just a few weeds—it’s a jungle of eight-foot-tall blackberry canes intertwined with fast-growing tulip poplar saplings. The blackberries are so thick you could almost crawl through them like a tunnel—if it weren’t for all the thorns.

My current method is slow but effective: cut the canes at the base, pull them out, then remove the sapling they’re climbing on. The edge of the patch is the worst—thicker growth and more thorns—but once you break through, the center opens up a little.

Long-term maintenance is key. Several folks have suggested planting rye grass after clearing to choke out regrowth, and goats might be an option for seasonal cleanup. One thing’s for sure: if you don’t keep on top of it, the blackberries come back stronger than before.

This sunny patch is in the perfect spot for a centralized array, and once cleared, it should provide consistent power year-round without dropping too many additional trees. It’s slow work, but it’s progress.

Wrapping Up

So that’s where things stand—Miss Dolly is officially part of the family, the cabin build is paused but not stalled, Happy Gilmore 2 was a disappointment, and the solar field is slowly taking shape.

Next week, I’m hoping to make real headway on the pier installation for the cabin floor and get a larger section of the solar field cleared. Until then, I’ll keep sipping my Light Costa Rican from FoodForestFarms.com (LOTS10 for 10% off), keeping the dogs from overwhelming the kitten, and maybe finding a better movie to watch.

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