Patti has surgery and we get ready for the cabin. 09-24-14

I got the propane tank back from Blue Star Gas around 1:30.

Patti had another appointment with the dermatologist yesterday. A couple of weeks ago they cut a tumor out of her shoulder

and yesterday she had another one removed from her neck.

The tumors are called Basel Cell Carcinoma. They are not life threatening but can be disfiguring.

Today we are going shopping for supplies for another trip to the cabin.
I am going up tomorrow and Patti will be coming up on Saturday.
Tuesday (9/30) is my birthday and I won’t be coming home until Friday (10/3) so there won’t be any blogs until Saturday (10/4).

Talk to you then.  

Some shopping, Visiting and dinner out. 09-23-14

Yesterday I went to the Blue Gas store to see if they had replaced the “O” ring in the valve of my 10 gallon gas bottle. According to the repair person at the store, the ‘O’ ring can’t be replaced; the whole valve has to be  replaced. I won’t be able to pick it up until today.

Patti had a doctors appointment around 10:00. The Dr. office is not far, so she walked to and from her appointment. Things are ok, she just has a new pill to take.

Soon after Patti returned from the doctors we drove up to the Windsor Walmart to get her prescription filled and do some other shopping.

After we finished shopping we drove over to Joanne and Dave’s house to visit. Joanne is babysitting their granddaughter, Riley. Around 4:30 Joanne took Riley back to her mom and returned around 5:30.
When she got back, we all went to Mary’s Pizza Shack for dinner, after which we dropped J and D off at their house and returned home to Santa Rosa.

Okay, that’s it for today.

 

Paddling on the Russian River Estuary 09-22-14

I took a ride over to my friend, Bob’s to see if he could help me with the download of windows 8.1 into my new laptop. We tried it a couple of weeks ago but it didn’t work.
I got to Bob’s around 11:00 and we set up the computer to do the download. This download takes several hours to complete so we decided to go kayaking at Jenner while the download was running.
We waited until the download had started and progressed for a while. When we were satisfied that it was well under way, we got in Bob’s car and drove to Jenner.
We launched our boats into the estuary.
The mouth of the river is closed at this time so the estuary is like a long lake.
The wind was down so the water was pretty flat and the paddling was easy. We headed across the water toward Penny Island.

About half way across I realized that I didn’t have a hat. I mentioned it to Bob and he said he had one in his car and would get it for me. “What a guy” :o)

The ramp was full of people launching their boats so we continued paddling to the island where we stopped and waited for the crowd to clear. After about 30 minutes the boats had all been launched and Bob headed back to get me a hat.

I paddled a little further up the river to a channel that goes through the island’s east end. I waited in the channel taking pictures of Jenner through the limbs of a Eucalyptus tree

until Bob returned with a hat for me.
You can see Bob at the ramp in the lower left of this picture.

From there we slowly paddled along the south shore of the river passing some Mergansers resting on a log

and a gull on the other end.

A little further up stream we stopped at the otters log for a break.

We watched the cows and geese cavorting on the opposite shore.

We left the otters log and continued along the shore passing Paddy’s Rock.

 
On our side of the river I noticed this interesting rock outcrop above the trees.

Eventually we came to a place where Bob found several Muskrat nests. There is a pretty good landing here in the Sword Grass.

 
We disembarked and followed a trail into the woods.

As you can see the trail is a little rough and goes through some large stands of salmon berries.
The salmon berries are a bit thorny.

  
Along this trail are several Muskrat nests.

Here is Bob checking out the entrance to one of the nests.

We left the Muskrats to their slumbers and headed back down stream towards Jenner.
As we floated along we watched the trees for a couple of Yellow Jacket nests that Bob had seen before. They aren’t easy to spot but we did find one of them.

Can you find the yellow jacket nest in these trees?

 
No? Ok, here is a blow up of the nest.

After checking out the wasp nest we continued our paddle.

A short distance past the nest a Blue Herron flue into these Cedar trees.

As we approached Penny Island we saw another Blue Herron standing at the entrance to the channel.

I just happened to get a shot of him taking off.

 
As we paddled through the channel I got this picture of one of the abandoned buildings on the island.

As we approached the boat ramp the fog line can be seen hanging a few miles off the coast.

We got off the water

and headed back to Bob’s place to check on my computer. 
Unfortunately the down load didn’t work again. After messing with the computer for a while we started another down load and I left the computer with Bob and went home.

It was a good day on the water.

At The Cabin with Kathi and Bob

Monday:

We got up early, had breakfast, loaded the last minute stuff in Patti’s car.
I had a doctors appointment so we went to the doctors for my annual physical.
After the doctors appointment we headed for Boonville.
We got to the cabin around 11:30. and got moved in.
Kathi and bob arrived around 1:30. We got them set up

and spent the rest of the day sitting in the shade visiting.

We cooked burgers and dogs for dinner. After dinner we played cards until bed time.

Tuesday:

I got up around 7:15 and took a shower. Yes, the shower is now working and it is sure nice to have. .

After breakfast I took a walk up to the spring tank to check it out. Everything looks to be working fine.

Sat around Kathi and Bob’s van visiting for a while.

Later we took a ride down to the grove.
The creek is pretty low but is still running.

When we got to the grove we walked down to the swimming hole and were surprised to find a large fir tree on the cliff above the swimming hole had broken off

and fallen into one end of the swimming hole.

The tree spanned the swimming hole, crushed the trees that we normally sit under for shade.

The tip of the tree  reached to the base of  one of the large redwoods on the creek side of the grove.

We walked around the grove paying our respect to the giant trees there.

Back at the cabin we had had ribs for dinner.

We played cards until bed time.

Wednesday:

Around noon we took Kathi and Bob down the hill to Boonville to do some tourist stuff. After checking out some shops and a couple yuppie cafes

we went to the gas station for burgers,

In the evening we had a movie night in the dining hall.

Bob had a 22 inch flat screen TV that he ran off of a jump start battery and an inverter. We watched one of our favorite movies
“Second Hand Lions” It’s always good.

It started raining lightly around 7:00; we were glad to see some moisture.

Thursday:

Woke up to rain.
It rained off and on all day.

Spent the day in the cabin visiting and playing cards.

Friday:

Got up around the normal time, took a shower, had breakfast.
We hung around the cabin while Bob started packing up their van.

We saw a bunch of bugs flying around by the dining hall; it turned out to be a termite colony hatching from a small hole in the ground.

Around 1:30 I took Bob up to the Bear spring and showed him the spring tank.

From there we drove down to the shooting range where we shot at clay pigeons for a while. We shot up about a box and a half of shells. Since I was either running the thrower or shooting I didn’t get any pictures.

Spent the rest of the day visiting.
We had picante chicken for dinner.

Saturday:

I got up around 7:30 showered, and had breakfast.

Kathi and Bob left to continue their trip about 11:00.

Patti and I hung around the cabin until around 3:00 when we left for home.

It was a very nice visit with Kathi and Bob.

And of course it is always good to be
“At The Cabin.”

Clifford goes to the paint shop and we shop for a trip to the cabin 09-11 to 14-2014

Thursday;

I spent most of Thursday cleaning out the jeep and removing stuff that is not going to be painted. Around 4:00 in the afternoon we took Clifford over to Mike’s place so he and Matt can start painting it.
We spent a lot of time picking out the “best” camo pattern.  
When they are finished with him, Clifford will no longer be “Clifford The Big Red Jeep”. Hence forth he will be known as “Camo Clifford” or maybe “Sgt. Clifford” or “Rambo” or “Gunny” or something macho like that. :o)

Friday;

I installed a grease fitting in the tire carrier pivot. That only took a short time. I just had to drill a hole and tap it for the fitting. Once I figured out the pitch of the thread on the fitting the rest was simple.

Later in the day, I took a ten gallon propane tank to get the “O” ring in the valve replaced. I had to leave the tank at the propane place.
I won’t be able to pick it up for a week since we are going to the cabin on Monday morning and won’t be back until the following Saturday.

Patti went to the Santa Rosa HS football game. She left at the end of third quarter as SR was loosing badly. They made a bit of a comeback in the fourth quarter but it wasn’t enough and they lost 32 to 18.
The loss of their star quarterback
(grandpa’s opinion) to injuries in the first game of season has  definitely hurt the team.

Saturday;

We spent the day shopping for stuff for next week at the cabin with Kathi and Bob.
We had to go to four stores to get just basic stuff.
You would think that as large as the stores are and as much crap as they have on their shelves that you could get your shopping done at one place.
Sometimes I think Patti and I just have different tastes than the rest of the country.
For example we were looking for some “Garlic Dill Pickle Slices” but after the fourth store we settled for kosher dills instead.
And then there ‘s black licorice.
You would think that would be easy; think again. After the fourth store we gave up on that one for today. Maybe tomorrow we will find a store with some “good” black licorice. I am not talking about “Twizzlers” I am talking about “good black licorice”.  
I have noticed that the larger grocery stores appear to stock just one brand name and their house brand of whatever and they all carry the same name brands.
Have you noticed this?

Sunday;

We went to G&G today where we found some good black licorice but no garlic dill pickles.

We will start putting stuff for the trip to the cabin in Patti’s car later, when the day cools off. There really isn’t that much to take; most of the bedding is already there except for the sheets. All the cooking and eating utensils are there. All we need to take is sheets, food, clothing, personal items and toys: guns, books, tools, etc.

Today will be the last time I’ll have to go to Burger King to post a blog, I hope.

We will be at the cabin until next Saturday 09-20.
When we get back we will have internet service at home again.

I’ll talk to you Sunday.  

Some RV work and a day trip to the cabin 09-11-14

 

Monday 09-08-14

We didn’t do much today.
I worked on the blog until around noon and then finished unloading the van.

Tuesday 09-09-14

We got up early and around 8:30 we drove the RV up to Windsor so the mechanic could work on the AC.
From there we drove up to the Lytton Springs Salvation Army store and bought two more office chairs.

When we got home we had a message on our phone that the RV was finished so we got back in the car and drove back to Windsor to picked up the RV. From there we drove to the RV storage place at the south end of Santa Rosa. On the way home from the RV storage we stopped at Costco for lunch and some shopping.

Wednesday 09-10-14

We decided that we needed to take the new chairs up to the cabin.
We are going to meet Kathi and Bob up  there on Monday and we will be there until Saturday.
With the chairs in the car there won’t be room for the other stuff we have to take up so we decided to take the chairs up there today. That way I can also hook the water system up so we will have showers next week.

On the way up 101 we saw a hot air balloon rising above the freeway.

We got to the cabin around 11:00, unloaded the new chairs and set them up in the cabin.

After that I drove up to the new spring tank, turned off the outflow valve and came back to the camp where I proceeded to cut the pipe. I replace the elbow with a tee, connected a valve and then connected the pipe. I used some Rector Seal on the connections so they shouldn’t leak.

After connecting the tee I turned on the faucet in the sink at the dining hall then drove back up the road to the tank and opened the valve.

When I got back, water was sputtering from the faucet but eventually settled down to a steady flow.

I turned that one off and went to the faucet in the middle of camp and turned it on.

The next thing to check was the shower so I went down to the bath house and tried it. The shower worked perfectly. Lots of flow and hot water.
Yipeee!

The weather was getting very hot so we secured everything, loaded the big chair in the back of Patti’s car and headed for home.

It’s always nice to go to the cabin even if it is only for a few hours.

Time at the cabin and the new spring 09-08-14

 

Tuesday 09-02-14

Arrived at the cabin around 9:30.
After I got moved in, I took a short break.

The new chairs look like they will work fine. The office chair works so good I may look for another one.

I put the other chair on the porch temporarily.

 

After getting moved in, I drove the van up the Bear Springs Rd almost to Bear Spring where a small bay tree had fallen across the road impeding any further progress.

“No problem” I thought.
I jumped out of the van, went around to the passenger side, opened the doors and pulled the chain saw out.
I set the chain saw down and proceeded to try and start it. After many, many pulls on the starter rope the chainsaw refused to start.
Out of gas!!
I couldn’t cut the tree out of the way so I had to turn around there. It was a real tight spot but after much backing and filling I got the van turned around.

I unloaded the coils of plastic pipe and connected the end of one of the coils to the bumper of the van.

  
Then I cut the tape that was holding the coil together and began rolling out pipe. Of course the pipe had plans of its own and fought me all the way down the hill to the end.

By the time I got the first coil unrolled I was pooped and the temperature of the day was getting hotter. I headed back to the cabin for a break. When I got to the porch I checked the temp and it read 99 degrees.  
I took rest of day off.

Wednesday 09-03-14

Got up early.
After breakfast I fueled, oiled and sharpened the chainsaw and drove to spring. The first thing I did was cut the tree out of the way. Now I can drive all the way up to the spring where the road makes a loop around some trees.

When I got back to the coils of pipe, I began the chore of unrolling the rest of the pipe. It took a while but I finally got all 1300 feet of 3/4 inch black plastic pipe laid out along the road uphill from the spring where we will pull the pipe through the woods down to the cabin site.

Once I got all the pipe laid out, I connected the valve and fittings on the tank. By then it was getting hot and I was getting hungry so I went back to the cabin for lunch. 

Dave pulled up around 12:30. 
It was already to hot to go back to work and I was pooped anyway.
We took a walk in the evening to scope out the route for the pipes we will pull down the hill tomorrow.

Thursday 09-04-14

After breakfast we went up to the spring tank.
Our first job was to pull 300 feet of 1/2” drip line up a very steep hill to connect it with the one coming down from the spring.
We got the pipe connected with the tank and it began to fill.

Then began the task of pulling the 3/4” pipe through the woods. There are three, 300 ft. sections of pipe and it all had to be dragged through the brush and trees just above the road.

This job fell to Dave with all the support I could provide.

As Dave fought his way through the woods I pulled the pipe down so Dave would have some slack to work with.

We pulled and sweated and worked until around 2:00 when, after pulling in over 600 feet of pipe we took the rest of the day off.

Nothing like a cold beer after a hard hot day of work. Temperature for the day was 97 degrees.

Friday 08-05-14

Got an early start.

After breakfast we went up to the old mill site to see if there was anything there that we could use for the the bridge we have to build for the water line to cross a gully. We found some long though twisted 2X4’s and some crooked 2X2’s that we loaded on top of the van and took them back to camp.

When we got back to camp we built the bridge across the dip.

 

We walked the route back from camp to where we need to leave the road and go over a hill and down into the camp. 
Once we got the route adjusted we pulled more pipe until we crossed the bridge and decided to quit for the day.

Patti and Joanne arrived around 8:30pm. 

Saturday 09-07-14

We got an early start.
The first thing we had to do was to make some stakes to hold the plastic pipe in place.
We split some redwood and shaped the points with a draw knife.

We also made some stakes from some oak firewood with the ends sharpened with a hatchet.

  

It only took us about an hour with the girl’s help to get the pipe pulled all the way to the camp.

We hooked the pipe to the outflow of the Tank and put a valve on the end at the camp.

Then came the task of staking out the pipe. We followed the pipe down hill taking out the dips and securing the pipe to the mountain side. That took a couple more hours. We finished around 3:00 and took the afternoon off.

After dinner we played cards for a couple hours.

I like the table pulled out so that people can sit around it. That wasn’t possible when we were using nylon camping chairs. The new chairs are smaller so they can be left around the table all the time.

Sunday:

Dave left around 10:00 Sunday morning. He really worked his butt off this week and I really appreciate it. After he left I walked up to the spring tank to make sure that it was filling properly. Everything looked good so I opened the outflow valve and let water head down the pipe for the camp.

When I got back to the camp I opened the valve.

After a lot of air and bubbles came out, the flow settled down and we have lots of water and plenty of pressure now to run the water heater.

Okay that was our trip to the cabin last week.

We will be going up again on the 15th of Sept. I will hook the new pipe to the main line then.