Posted on February 20, 2020

Last November I received a barrel sauna kit, however, I was so busy at work that I didn't have a chance to unpack it and begin construction until January of this year.

It took a while to build it, mostly due to lots of rain this January and also because I wanted to paint the outside with oil so that the cedar wood would keep its beautiful looks for some time to come.

Once the assembly was complete there was another problem: we didn't have any electricity on this side of the house and the sauna required 240V and would draw up to 40 Amps. This was out of my league and required a real electrician. That's why I called Mark Toothman, a Tracy neighbor and professional electrician, who laid some tubing along the roof line to bring power all the way from the other side of the property.

While he was at it he also fixed the previous hot tub wiring near the chicken coop and provided an outlet so that the chicken could have electrical light. What a guy! Mark Toothman himself is a birdman. He has a flock of chickens at his house and also an amazing parrot, an African Grey, which can hold a full conversation in clear English. Heck, most of my neighbors can't do that.

The day the sauna was connected I went for my first session. It was everything I hoped it to be and better. I had always thought of saunas as magical places and my sauna is just like that: a place of serenity, of quiet suffering in sweltering heat accompanied by the sizzle of the pourover.