10-07-10 to 10-19-10

10-19-10

Hi,

I am finally back from I.C.

I went up there last Thursday, 10-07 and was supposed to come home on Wednesday, 10-13 but I called Patti and convinced her to come up and join me so we didn’t come home until yesterday Monday 10-16.

On Thursday, after getting settled in, I finished putting the lag-bolts in the front steps. I spent the rest of the day getting the area around the spring cleaned up so we could work on it tomorrow when Bob comes up.

Friday morning around 10:00, I was building a new wash stand with an actual sink, to replace the old wooden plank with a hole in it that we have been using, when Bob’s Subaru came rumbling up the lower drive way.

We visited for a while, then we went up to the spring to see what we had to do the next day. The spring had made it through the winter very well so there wasn’t much digging to do. I had all the tools up there already so we went ahead and dug out the old tap

Old Tap

and put in the upgraded one.

After we got the new tap in, the dam built and clay laid in to form the basin.

We called it a day to let things settle out.

Saturday morning, we went down to the creek to get a load rock for the spring.

After laying the rock in the spring cut

we covered the whole thing with plastic garbage bags

Then covered that with dirt,

Then covered that with forest litter.

That should keep the critters out.

The spring is now running clear and cold.

Later in the day I took Bob up the hill in the jeep and dropped him off so he could walk back down through the woods to camp and check for other springs along the way. He found some water but it was a couple ridges over and not convenient to bring down to the camp.

Late Sunday morning I took Bob back up the hill to look for springs.

While he was gone I did some more work on the wash stand and spent some more time taking care of trim work on the “tool shed”.

Bob didn’t get back to camp until late in the afternoon. He had found a good spring and is very keen on tapping it. Apparently he did a lot of digging in the spring and was very excited about the prospects.

Bob Left around noon on Monday, he wanted to do some kayaking on the Navarro river before going home.

I needed to go to town to get some bananas and some gas for the generator so I left camp around the same time as Bob did.

On the way back to camp, I tried to call Patti on my cell phone but she was not home.

After dinner I drove up to the top gate and called Patti again. This time I got through to her and convinced her to come up and join me. She came up on Wednesday.

Tuesday morning I went down to the creek for more rock. This time it was some old fill rock that was used to fill in the ends of a temporary bridge over the creek when they were logging the place a few years ago. The rock was in a big pile near the road by the creek but very hard to shovel. I wanted the rock because I noticed after I set the wash stand in place that the pad for the stand was too small and would have to be enlarged. Also I wanted some rock to put in front of the tool shed steps.

I dug out old rock and dirt

then split a redwood log to make the sides for the pad and bolted a small log across the end.

Then I filled the area in with new rock. It took two loads of rock to fill the pad area, a little rock spread in front of the wash area and some in front of the steps. I still need two more loads to to finish the job.

On Wednesday morning I erected a temporary awning over the porch.

Patti showed up around 12:00. It was good to see her.

For the next couple of days we worked on trim and mouse proofing.

Joanne and Dave came up on Saturday to do some work on their spot.

So, it looks like all the trimming and mouse proofing is done. The last thing I did was to build a “ Food preparation tool storage area”

Connie and Bruce gave us an RV AC/propane refrigerator (thank you very much Connie and Bruce). It worked once but doesn’t now so my next task is to try to get the fridge working. If I can get it to work on propane it will be great!

Okay, well, we are home now. I’m not sure when I will be going back up to the camp. It is supposed to start raining later in the week and I need to get firewood cut and covered before the rains start in earnest so it can’t be long.