Monday evening:
I got back from Ukiah around 5:00. I swapped out the refrigerator batteries and connected the dead battery to the charger. The generator had been running all day so I decided to let it run until it was out of gas. It ran out around 7:30.
About ten minutes after the generator quit Bob showed up. He said that he had a good paddle on the Albion river. I saw the pictures and it looked pretty nice.
You might want to check it out on his blog for this date.
His blog is called “Bobs Eyes”.
Tuesday:
Making firewood.
Around 11:00am, Bob and I decided that we had to get some thing done so we started the chore of cutting down trees for firewood. The groop I wanted to cut down were it the beginning of the short driveway to the cabin where it meets the Homestead road.
Here is bob standing in the middle of the group of Tan Oaks that are slated for cutting.
Checking the trees out to decide where to start.
Bob gets started.
One down.
Next?
Number three got stuck in a tree.
It took several cuts to get it to come down.
Eventually it was on the ground.
Once we had the trees on the ground we had to clean the debris off the homestead road.
Bob did a good job cutting down the trees.
Now I have a large project to work on; cutting, splitting, moving and stacking all this wood. It will probably take me all summer.
Here’s another fine mess you’ve gotten me into Bob.
Wednesday:
Finishing the dead tree removal from the Bear Spring Road.
We spent bout 4 hours removing that big old chunk of wood at the crossing on Bear Springs Road. I forgot to take my camera with me until after lunch so I only got one picture after the log was removed.
Later in the day I got a picture of one of the bulbs Patti planted. I’m not sure what kind of flower it is.
Okay that’s it for Wednesday.
Thursday:
Puttered around in the morning.
Bob and I improved the path to the bench on the hill and I rolled a big old redwood round up the hill to use for a table by the bench..
Bob left around 2:00 and I went into Boonville to get gas for the generator.
Goofed off the rest of the day.
Friday:
To day is the day the old narrow stair treads have to be replaced.
The first thing to do was to remove the old treads so I started the generator so I could use my Milwaukie to pull out the 12” long lag-bolts that were holding the tread to the rest of the structure.
Once the bolts were removed the old tread lifted out easily. I only removed one tread at a time so I could still climb the stairs if I needed to.
I picked out the blanks that it was going to use for the treads and laid them on a couple of old saw horses so I could work on them. I had to try and true them up a bit on the top and bottom. The blanks both had a pretty good twist in them. After some work with my old home made fro and a draw knife I got them cleaned up enough to use.
After a couple of hours of lifting, grunting, fitting and several breaks; I eventually got the stairs back together just about the time the rain started to sprinkle.
Right now, I’m sitting at the table in the cabin with a fire going in the stove listening to the rain on the tin roof and writing this blog.
A delightful end to a productive day.
Saturday:
Lounged around the cabin in the morning drinking instant coffee mixed with hot cocoa, staring into the fire and listening to the radio.
Eventually I got going.
I swapped the batteries and started the generator.
After that I swept out the cabin and refilled the wood box. That left the porch empty of wood.
The next thing was to split enough wood to put a sizable stack on the porch.
That meant about 3 wheel barrows full
It didn’t take too long to have a good pile of wood on the porch.
After messing with the fire wood I went in to have lunch. After lunch I fell asleep in my chair. The chair isn’t that comfortable so I must have been tired from the wood splitting.
I just kind of hung out enjoying the cabin for the rest of the day.
Sunday:
Another long slow morning. The stove is getting to full with ashes so I let the fire burn down with the plan to dig some of the ashes out later in the day and put them in a metal bucket to cool. I won’t remove all the ash; just enough to have a good lip at the door. The fire burns better on a bead of ash and cinders. The waste ash, I’ll let cool for a while and eventually spread it around; It’s good for the soil.
Started the generator around 1:00. This may be the last time that I will have to run it on this trip. I hope so.
After that I got in the jeep and went up to the trail head for the Cabin Loup Trail.
I did a little cutting on the tree that is across the trail there.
I got some of the tree bucked up and the logs out of the trail. There is still more work to do but that was all my back would take.
I took my rake and headed up the trail. I did some trail maintenance and some improvements.
At a brake I this scene caught my eye.
I puttered around out there for a while and then decided to head back to the jeep.
It is starting to get dark and cold so I have to stop here and get the fire going in the stove.
Monday:
Dave showed up around 10:30. We sat around and chatted for a while then I wanted to go out the trail to pickup a couple tools that I left there the last time I was there. So we headed out the trail.
Along the trail we came across this beautiful alligator lizard.
From noes to tail it looked to be around eight inches long.
When we got back to camp Dave got to work putting up his camp. He will leave it up until late fall.
I puttered around getting things together to go home tomorrow.
Tuesday:
Dave left around 11:00.
I puttered around for a while longer. While I was picking up some stuff behind the cabin and saw these two Alligator Lizards fighting or perhaps mating.
They kept it up for quite a while. When I first noticed them I didn’t have the camera, it was packed. I had to go find it.
After a while the stronger of the two drug the other off.
The last I saw of them was their tails disappearing under a set of shelves behind the cabin.
I left the cabin around 3:00 and got home by 4:30.
Okay that was the last seven days at the cabin. I hope you enjoyed it.
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