Yeah, Okay, I know, I was supposed to publish this blog last Saturday. Well, I decided to stay up at the cabin for another week and since there is no internet or cell service up there so I couldn’t publish it so here it is now. Enjoy!
When Patti & I got to the cabin about 1:00 on Saturday it was very hot so we ate a quick lunch and headed for the creek. It was much cooler down there with our feet in the water.
Patti got some nice reflection pictures.
Sunday morning, I tried to take a shower but the the flow was very low. Upon investigating, I found that the tank for the camp spring was empty. I think it is because the line from the spring has to go up hill for a short distance and the water is backing up into the spring. I will have to dig a short ditch to bring the line down a bit. I hope that works.
Later in the day I used the left over linoleum to cover the work bench next to the dining hall sink
and the food table in the dining hall.
Sunday was a very pleasant day, not to hot.
Our new Camera has a neat feature. It does Panoramic’s. Here Is the first picture of the whole camp that I have ever been able to get.
Monday, I went up to the camp spring and dug a short ditch to lay the input line in. Later I realized that the problem was not the input line. It was the leaks in the dining hall line. Need to fix that!
Peter and Leon stopped by around 3:00. They had spent the night at the grove.
Tuesday morning, I went up the hill to turn the camp spring on. Coming back down the hill I stopped to take a look at the cherry tree It looks like it has some kind of disease. While I was checking it out I noticed a small Rattlesnake coiled up near a hole by a stump a few feet away. I couldn’t find anything handy to kill it with so a called down to Patti to bring me an ax or shovel or something to kill the snake. While I was waiting the rattler slowly slid into the hole so I couldn’t get to it. I asked Patti to bring me the pistol. I aimed down the hole and blasted away I don’t know how far the snake went into the hole but I figured it was worth a try. After I was done shooting I poured Gasoline all over what was left of the hole so if the bullets didn’t get him maybe the gas would suffocate him.
Patti and I left around 2:30. Patti for Santa Rosa and I for Ukiah to re supply. It was very hot in Ukiah and I had to go to several places to get what I needed. Finally I was able to get back to camp by around 5:00.
Wednesday;
Dave showed up around 10:30.
After he got moved in we went down to the creek to get some rocks. I needed some flat rocks for the steps to the wash house and Dave needed some road rock for the front of his camp. We came back to camp and worked on our separate projects.
Thursday;
Dave worked on his camp and I worked on finishing the stairs to the wash house.
It was vary hot so in the afternoon we headed for the creek to cool off and get another load of rock for Dave. We had just set our chairs in the water when I noticed a small red frog or toad sitting very still on the bottom of the creek.
It sat so still for so long that at first we thought it might be dead but Dave poked at it with a small branch and the frog/toad swam off.
Friday;
Very Hot again today. In the morning Dave and I took a ride.
I had been telling him about a spot on the ranch that Peter calls the Edward’s place. It is a small apple orchard, maybe 4 trees near a broken down shack
on top of a high hill surrounded by massive Oak trees.
There are a couple of springs in the area and it is a great place to ambush a deer or a pig.
On our way to the Edward’s place we had to cross the creek. As we began to cross, I noticed something started to swim in front of us. I recognized it and stopped the jeep just in time.
I don’t know what kind of turtle it is but it is a good indication of how healthy this creek is.
On the way back to camp we stopped for another load of rock for Dave. Dave has been filling five, five gallon buckets with rock each load and spreading them around the front of his camp. It will make a big difference when the rains start.
It took a total of 20 buckets full before he was done.
After we got back, Dave continued working on improving his camp.
He covered his wash stand with some of the linoleum that was left over from the bathhouse.
I took the rest of day off and just puttered around.
Saturday:
Matt and his brother-in-law, Mike, showed up around 11:00. Dave and the guys did some work on Matt’s camp. I put up a screen on the front window of the cabin. It was very hot again so later in the afternoon we went to the creek to cool.
Sometimes it’s hard to believe the beauty and tranquility of this place.
Not all the beauty is just in the views of the creek.
Sunday;
Matt and Mike left around 11:00 and Dave pulled out about an hour later.
I worked on finally putting the ends on the metal surround for the wood stove. Now, I can taken that one off the list.
Just as I was putting away my tools Patti and Dina showed up. They only came up for the day however as Patti had to go to the dentist tomorrow (Monday) morning to get a painful tooth worked on. Patti said that she may be back on Tuesday. I hope so.
Monday;
I was going to go to Ukiah today for gas for the generator and other supplies but changed my mind. I started the generator this morning and charged the laptop so I could catch up on the blog. The generator is still running and charging the battery for the fridge controls and the XM Radio. When I get done here I will plug the laptop back into the geny.
I started working on the trim for the floor in the bath house but the “wiggle molding “ that I got has a different pattern than the corrugated roofing that I used in the shower area.
I will have to take a piece of the roofing with me to the store to see if I can get matching molding. I sure hope so other wise it won’t look or seal as good.
Okay, its time to turn this computer off and see if I can get it charged before the gas in the generator runs out.
Tuesday;
I drove over hwy 253 to Ukiah this morning to do some shopping. It was cool at the camp when I left but by the time I got to Ukiah it was already getting hot. I couldn’t find the molding that I was looking for in Ukiah so I will look for it in Santa Rosa next week.
I got back to camp around lunch time. After lunch I started taking apart an old table that we built about 20 years ago. It had been sitting outside for years and looked pretty dilapidated but I was surprised how hard it was to take it apart. The table was put together with 20 penny galvanized nails and they still held tight. Un fortunately the lumber on the top is pretty rotten and not as useful as I thought it would be. I am hoping to use some of it for the enclosure for the refrigerator. We’ll see if I can salvage enough sound wood.
It got so hot while I was working on the table that I stopped work and went to the creek to cool off and spent the rest of the day there.
Wednesday;
Today was a pretty productive day. This morning after breakfast I finished the job of taking apart that old table. I pulled all the nails and stacked the wood on the lumber stack behind the dining hall. After that I tackled the leaks in the water line to the dining hall. This time I used galvanized nipples and painted them with “Rector Seal”. I ran out of fittings at the sink but that leak is small and I will fix it later.
After lunch, I put some shelves up in the cabin
and moved the showerhead in the shower.
All in all it was a good day and I was able to cross some items off “The List”.
I was taking a break in the cabin and noticed a small mob of turkeys wandering through the woods just up the hill.
Later on I checked the waterline for leaks and the only one I found was at the sink. Its just a sweat but I’ll have to get one more fitting,
Thursday;
It was cold and foggy when I got up this morning. I even started a fire in the stove. Once the fog burned off around 10:00, it was a beautiful fall day.
I built a night stand to put between the beds. I used a 12 ft piece of 1X12 that I had forgotten about. It had been part of a scaffold that was used when building the roof on the dining hall and was left up in the beams. There was just enough material to make the small nightstand.
Later on while I was sitting at the table, looking around the cabin I decided that what was needed was someway to put a lantern up on a post so I came up with this.
It looks pretty cool at night too.
I may have to make another one for the back wall.
I got back to Santa Rosa around 1:30. we went to watch Harvey’s team play at Winsor high school. They lost 34 to 21 but the JV’s did better than the varsity team did. At half time the varsity team was down 41 to nothing. I don’t know what the final score was though.
Here are a couple pictures of the boy in action. He is Number 7 in the white jersey and orange sleeves.
Okay that’s it for now.
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