Four Days at the Cabin.

Thursday, 05/24.

The weather was cloudy and damp when  Patti and I left for the cabin around 10:00 in the morning. We stopped at Joanne and Dave’s on the way up to get the portable shower so we could hook it up.

The shower is basically a small on demand water heater that runs on propane gas. We just hang it on a wall in the shower room and hook the hoses up. It is a very simple unit.

We got to the cabin around 1:00 and since it was clean we could move right in moved right in.

The Shower.

After lunch I decided to set up the shower.
Nothing to it, right? Just hang it on the wall and hook up the hoses, right?
I hooked it all up, turned on the water and water sprayed every where.
The water inlet leaked, the connection to the shower head leaked and the worst one was the drain valve would not shut off.
I messed around with the shower for a while but couldn’t get the drain valve to stop leaking.
I found an o ring that allowed me to fix the leaking water inlet.
I tried to find a washer for the shower head hose. I found one that was close but not good enough to stop the leak in that connection.

In the end I gave up and we didn’t have an operating shower for the four days.

The weather was wet and cold all day so we spent most of the day just sitting in the cabin and enjoying the fire in the stove.

Fix the Fridge.

I have an old RV propane refrigerator at the cabin and every time I come up I have to remove the back panel and clean out the rust that has fallen onto the burner. This time was no exception.
Now it is just routine.

Friday, 05/25.

Weather is still wet. Some rain overnight. We woke up to clouds and drizzle this morning outside temps in low 50’s. Nice and warm in the cabin.

Front window.

After breakfast I decided to work on the front window of the cabin.
The clear plastic film that I used instead of glass had come unstapled at the bottom and I was afraid that mice could crawl under the plastic and get into the cabin.
It was a simple repair. I just had to remove the bottom trim piece that covers the plastic and staples and restaple the plastic and replace the trim.
Surprisingly it all went off with out a hitch.

Water Feature.

When we arrived at the cabin Thursday we noticed that the Water Feature wasn’t running.
The Water Feature is the over flow from a small spring up the hill above the cabin. I piped the overflow down in some plastic pipe and have it dripping from a large stump on the hill. If the water is running I know that the tank is full.

Occasionally the pipes get separated by some animal stepping on it or chewing the plastic pipe.

Wild Iris.

The drizzle let up for a while so I decided to check out what was wrong with the Water Feature. As I started up the hill I noticed these wild Iris’s. Most of the wild Iris we see up here are of the blue variety.
These were a very delicate yellow…

with purple veins.

I continued my walk up to the spring. What I found was that the connection to the inlet of the tank had been pulled out so no water was going in the tank.
After reconnecting the connection, I walked through the woods, across the hill to come down by a different path. On the way down the hill while still in the woods I noticed this Blue Iris and was struck by it’s beauty.

Lawn Mower.

By lunch time the drizzle had slowed and later in the afternoon I decided to see if the mower would start. I went over to the dining hall where the mower is kept and checked it out. It was covered in cobwebs so I cleaned that off and checked the gas. It looked like it had about half a tank.

So, lets see if it will start.
I pushed the little plunger on the side of the carburetor several times to charge the carb, pulled the rope twice and it started right up.

I decided that since I had the mower running I should do some mowing.
I mowed the section between the dining hall and the fire pit but by then, another cloud had come by and it was raining lightly. I put the mower under cover and went back to the cabin.

The rest of the day we enjoyed the warmth of the cabin.

Saturday, 05/26

I fixed us a breakfast of diced ham, scrambled eggs and refried sliced baked potato.

Now that we were fueled up we had work to do.

Mowing.

Patti decided that she would start the mowing so she set off to get the mower going.

Replace a Screen.

In the back gable of the cabin I have put in screen for ventilation. Unfortunately the screen that I used was made out of some kind of plastic. the mice have figured out that they can chew through the plastic screen.
Not a good situation.
I had replaced the right side screen a few years ago but now a mouse has discovered that it can get in the cabin by shewing through the left screen.
Today is the day to change that. I had all the supplies I needed for the job.

I had aluminum screen.
I had a supply of lumber stacked behind the dining hall.
I had screws and nails.
I brought every tool I thought would be useful for the job.
As it turned out I didn’t need many of the tools I brought.
The job went fairly smoothly. It didn’t go fast though and there was a lot of going up and down the ladder and a lot of breaks so it took a good couple of hours.

The screen in the upper left is the new one.

By the time I was finished with the screen, Patti was tired of mowing.

She has done a good job.

We spent the rest of the day relaxing.

The clouds moved away and the evening was very nice.

Sunday.

Once we got up and going we decided that today we would concentrate on mowing and weed whacking.

We started mowing around 11:00. Patti on the mower…

and I on the weed whacker.

About the time we were finishing, Peter drove up.
We had a nice visit with Peer for a couple of hours.

After Peter left we took the rest of the day off.

Monday, 05/27.

Around 10:00 Monday morning we decided that it was time to pack up and go home.

By 12:30 we were packed, the cabin was clean and we were ready to leave.

We got home around 2:00. It was a really nice relaxing four days.

Porch Dragons.

I noticed that we have a nice crop of porch dragons this spring.