Going to the Cabin.

Going out to Breakfast.

We have been trying to get together with our friend Donna but haven’t managed it. There is always something that interferes.

Patti talked to her yesterday on the phone and they made arrangements for us to meet Donna and her roommate, Susan at the Foreplay Café for breakfast. Then we are going to Donna’s place to check out her rock gardens.
It means I’ll get a late start to the cabin; it doesn’t matter when I get there as long as I get there.

Dave is coming up Friday. Patti and Joanne will be coming up on Saturday.

This post is being written Thursday morning before we are to meet Donna so I’ll just say; I’m going to the cabin, talk to you when I get back in about six days. 

Rough Night and Planting Raspberries.

Rough Night.

I ate too much, too late Monday and ended up refluxing all night. I got very little sleep so I didn’t have much energy yesterday.

Planting Raspberries.

Bob gave me a few raspberry plants when I was at his place.
The only thing I did yesterday, was to plant the raspberries. The dirt where I wanted to plan them was very hard. Eventually I got a short trench dug. I filled the trench with water then put the plant roots in the water then put all the dirt back in the trench. I’ll have to set up some kind of watering system for them later but at least they are in the ground.

Okay, that’s it for today.

A Visit With Bob.

Going to the Movies.

Patti and Joanne were going to a movie matinee to see
Momma Mia  Here we go again.
I didn’t want to go so I went to see Bob.

At Bob’s Place.

I got to Bob’s around noon.
The first thing we did was to check out the chickens.

We hung out in the chicken yard for a while talking about raising chickens and watched the birds play.

Bob has about 40 chickens. He plans to raise them for meat and  eggs so he has introduced some younger chicks and will continue to introduce young chicks periodically so he always has chickens  old enough to butcher.

Grazing in the Orchard.

After watching the chickens for a while, we decided that we needed a snack so we left the chickens and wandered around Bob’s orchard grazing on Plums Peaches and some of his wonderful Mulberries.

Bob ducking under a low peach tree branch.

The peaches are just beginning to ripen.

Old Toyota.

After eating our fill of fruit we walked over to check out Bob’s old Toyota Land Cruiser.

He is trying to get the Toyota back on the road. It has been sitting for several years so he has a bunch of stuff to fix on it. Right now he is working on some electrical problems.

A Jeep Ride.

After a bit we decided that a jeep ride would be fun so we got in my jeep and went across the road to the family’s property. They have several acres that border Armstrong Woods State Park. Bob has built a lot of roads on the property.
Some of the property is very steep hills and the whole property is covered with redwood trees.

We eventually made it to the top and had a nice view of the valley where Guerneville lies.

We finished the ride and were back at Bob’s house around 3:30. It was time for me to go home but I had to have some more of those sweet Mulberries.
After eating a hand full of berries I said good by to Bob and headed for home.

Okay that was my visit to Bob’s.

Patti enjoyed the movie so much she is going to take her two daughters to see it.

Three Days at the Cabin.

Thursday.

Arrive at the Cabin.

We got to the cabin around 4:30 in the afternoon so I’m not counting this as a day.

The weather was just right. Still lots of smoke in the air from the fires in Lake County though.

When we walked in the cabin we found more dirty cookware on the counter and in the dish drainer.
Leon and the gang must have been here.

I haven’t looked around much but I found more pieces of firewood with #12 nails pounded into them. That is a very stupid move. The only thing I can guess, is that they must have a 12 year old up here that they don’t supervise. 

Logs with nails in them are hard to split and once the wood burns away you have bent nails left.
I am sure that the way these guys do things there will be bent nails scattered around the area.
I will really be pissed if I get a flat tire because these dummies don’t have any common sense.

Forgot Stuff.

We have to go into Boonville tomorrow because I forgot to bring any propane cannisters for the gas lights. I also forgot to bring hot cocoa for my breakfast.

Friday.

Nails.

Just after I wrote the post for yesterday I took a walk around the place. It’s already happening; I found four nails laying on the ground near where our car is parked and Patti found a bent one on the way to the toilet. Here you can see two nails laying near the porch.

Yellowjacket Nest.

I walked over to the dining hall and checked out the Yellowjacket nest that Dave, Joanne and I killed a few weeks ago.
Some kind of critter must have smelled the dead bees and opened the nest up.

Garbage?

I walked into the dining hall and noticed a bag siting next to the wood stove. At first I thought that the boys had left some garbage but on further inspection I found that it was a bag of charcoal briquets. The mice have been chewing on the bag some but at least it isn’t garbage.

Cover for Water Filter.

I decided that the water filter needed to be protected so I started building a box to fit over it. I dug through the lumber that we have stacked behind the dining hall and found that most of the boards that I needed were pretty much rotted. I dug through the pile and found just enough good wood to do the project. The rest of the boards, I threw in the campfire wood pile.
Once I got all the pieces for the cover cut to size I needed some screws to put it together and there weren’t enough screws here for the job. I’ll have to pick some up when we are in town.

Going to Town.

Around 11:00 we left the cabin and headed for Boonville. It takes about a half hour to get to town. Fortunately the road work was at a point that we didn’t have to stop and wait to go through the construction area.

Our first stop in town was the hardware store where I purchased a couple pounds of screws and two propane canisters.

Next we went to the Boonville Market and got some cocoa mix and a some chips.

Lunch at the Gas Station.

From the market we went to the gas station. They have a convenience store and a café there. They have an extensive menu; Burgers, Mexican food and sandwiches.
We had chicken strips and fries. Not bad for gas station food.

Back at the Cabin.

We were lucky again at the road work as it was lunch time for the workers so we didn’t have to stop.

Once we were back home I continued putting the filter cover together.

Here is the cover siting next to the filter.

I still have to put a top on it and set it in place.

Playing Cards.

We had supper around 6:00 and after supper we played a couple games of Rummy; Patti won one game and I won the other.

Okay that was our Friday at the cabin.

Saturday.

Finishing the Water Filter Cover.

I had to put some blocks on the bottom of the filter box so it could be leveled up.

Need a Top.

The next thing that needed doing was to make a top for the box. I thought about hinging the top but figured that would just be something to break so I decided to make the top so it just lifts off.
That may be a mistake as some of the people that come up here will probably take the top off and toss it in the bushes.

Getting Wood.

I looked through the lumber that was in the pile behind the dining hall but could not find anything that would work for the top.
Time to go to the lumber yard.
We drove up the hill to the “Slag Heap” where there is some lumber from when they logged the place several years ago.

At the lumber pile I found a nice Redwood 1”X12”. I cut off about 6 feet of the board and put it in the car and we headed back to the cabin.

Picking up Firewood.

I had piled some firewood near the upper driveway so we stopped and loaded the car with firewood and later Patti stacked the wood on the porch and some along the side of the cabin.

Making a Top for the Water Filter Box.

The 1”X12” was not wide enough to cover the top of the box so I had to cut two 14” pieces and used a couple of 1X2’s to hold the boards together and keep the top from sliding off.

Here is the box completed.

Relaxing.

The rest of the day we did some shade hopping and relaxing.
We had BLT’s for supper and played cards in the evening. Patti won one game and I won the other so we are even.

Sunday.

Today is leaving day.

I still have to re-stack some lumber in the pile behind the dining hall as it kind of fell apart when I was pulling boards out of it.
A lot of the boards were rotten so they went onto the campfire wood plie to be burned in the fire pit.
After that was done we packed up the car and cleaned up the cabin.
Once everything was clean and tidy in the cabin we left for home.

We stopped at Joanne and Dave’s for a visit and got home around
5:00.

Goofing Off.

Wednesday.

Yesterday I didn’t do anything but sit around playing games on the computer.

Today.

Today (Thursday), Patti and I are going to the cabin. We will be there until Sunday.

Okay That’s it for now. Talk to you next week.

Fixing the Axel on the Cannon Carriage.

Getting the Sleeve Off the Axel.

I carried the cannon carriage from the back yard to the shop.
I laid it down on the cement in front of the garage.
With the application of heat and a pipe wrench I eventually got the sleeve off the axel.

I cleaned up the axel with some sand paper.

Then I put the sleeve  in the lathe and cleaned it up.

To clean the inside of the sleeve I wrapped some sand paper around a dowel and pushed it through the sleeve while the Lathe was spinning it.

Epoxy the Sleeve.

The next thing I had to do was to epoxy the sleeve into the wooden wheel hub so the sleeve will stay in place within the hub.
I mixed up some “Epoxy-Patch” and with a Q-tip wiped the inside of the hub with epoxy. Then I put a little epoxy on the outside of the
sleeve. Next I pushed the sleeve into the hub.
I cleaned the excess epoxy off everything and waited for the epoxy to set.

After about an hour I put the wheel on the carriage and it spins nice and easy.

Putting the Cannon’s Away.

Once the repair was done I took the wheels off both carriages and after rearranging some of the stuff in the shed I managed to get it all stored away.

OK that’s it for now.

A Frozen Wheel on a Cannon Carriage

Moving Cannons.

I have a couple of small black powder cannons that we used to take to Rendezvous where they have Cannon shooting competition.
It was my favorite competition at rendezvous.

My cannons were sitting outside in my back yard and I wanted to put them away so I pulled the barrels off and put them in the shed. I had to take the wheels off of the carriages so they would also  fit in the shed .

Frozen Wheel.

As I was rolling one of the carriages over to the shed I noticed that one of the wheels was not turning.

I turned the carriage on its side and tried to pull the wheel off but it wouldn’t budge. After a while the wheel would turn but it was real stiff and would not come off the axel.

Making a Wheel Puller.

I needed a puller that would fit the wheel hub. I dug through my collection of pullers and found one that had long enough legs to fit the wheel hub but the cross arm was too short.

This is the puller with the legs removed.

What I need to do is make a longer cross arm.
Here is how it turned out. The one on the left is the new puller.

Pulling the Wheel.

I tried the new puller but every time I put a lot of pressure on the puller, the arms would slip off the hub. I tried to wire the legs together but again, every time I tighten the puller the the legs would slip. Eventually I drilled a hole in each leg and screwed it to the side of the wheel hub.

This way I was able to remove the wheel.
The problem is, the steel sleeve inside the wooden wheel was frozen to the axel and when I pulled the wheel the sleeve stayed on the axel. Now I have to try and get the sleeve off the axel.

When the axel pulled out of wheel it distorted the inner flange on the wheel. That will also have to be fixed.

Okay, that’s as far as I got on the wheel problem. I’ll continue on it tomorrow.

Cards and Supper.

Joanne and Dave H, came by around 3:00 for a visit.
We played a game of Jokers Rummy.
After the game we went to El Charro Mexican restaurant for supper. Always good.
Back at the house we played another game.
J&D went home around 9:00

Okay that’s it for now.

We Are Back.

At The Coeur d’Alene Casino.

Monday morning, we had breakfast at the Huckleberry Deli in the hall along the front of the casino.
After breakfast Patti played on the machines for a while with mixed results. 

Waiting for the Rest of the Group.

Shirley and Bill were waiting for the rug cleaners to clean the carpets in their house. They live in Spokane, Washington about fifty miles from the casino. 
They figured that they would be here around noon.

Suzann and Roy are coming from Alberta, Canada and expect to be here by super time.

Jo Ann and Dave are coming from Idaho Falls, Idaho but aren’t arriving until tomorrow (Tuesday).

Arrivals.

We slept in and had a late breakfast at the Huckleberry Deli, in the front hall of the casino.
Shirley and Bill arrived some time after noon They went to have lunch. Patti, Shirley and Bill went off to gamble. I had a good book going so I headed for the room and read for a while.

Patti came out ahead this time.

Supper at the Sweet Grass Café.

Suzann called and said that they had stopped for supper and would be arriving later.

Around 5:00, we met Shirley and Bill for supper at the Sweetgrass Café. 
The food was fair, but a bit pricy.
I had a $10.00 hamburger that was so dry, I had a hard time swallowing normal sized bites. I ended up taking the meat out of the bun and eating it with a fork and a lot of catsup.
Bill said that his fish and chips were good.
Patti doesn’t remember what she had. It was that good.

Suzann and Roy.

Suzann and Roy arrived around 7:00.
We visited with them for a while.
Around 9:00 everyone headed into the casino to gamble.  I hung around and watched Patti play the machines for a while and then headed to the room.

Tuesday.

We met the others at the Sweetgrass. I had the Eggs Benedict. My eggs were poached very hard even after I asked the waitress for soft poached eggs. I mentioned this to the waitress and she offered to bring new eggs. Which she did when I was almost finished with the meal.

After breakfast everyone scattered to the machines. After watching Patti for a while I headed for the room.

Jo Ann and Dave.

After a while, we all met in the lounging area in the main hall and visited while we waited for Jo Ann and Dave.
They arrived around 2:30. We helped get them settled in and visited for a couple hours.
We all had supper at the Red Tail. The food was ok but a bit pricey.

Of course, after supper the group headed for the machines to try their luck. I hung out with them for a while but eventually went to the room.

Wednesday.

We all were sick and tired of being at the casino so it was decided that we should take a ride and see some of the country around the area.
We met up at the Huckleberry Deli for breakfast. After breakfast, Jo Ann and Dave got in Suzanne and Roy’s car. Patti and I took our car and we headed up Highway 95.

We took a turn off to the east and drove along Ferman Lake and into the Coeur d’Alene National forest.

At the east end of the lake are bunch of lily pads.

Jo Ann and Dave at one of our stops.

We Crossed the Coeur d’Alene River…

and continued in a northeasterly direction. We drove around in the woods for a long time and eventually decided that we were not going in the direction we wanted to go. The maps we had weren’t very helpful. Eventually I flagged down an on coming pickup to ask where we were.
I nice young guy got out his maps and showed us where we were and how to get back to 95. After a little discussion he said he had a map that we could have and gave us a really good map with all the road numbers on it. Once we left him we had no more trouble navigating the roads.

It is beautiful country but all the smoke makes it a little hard to see.

Eventually we found our way back to Coeur d’Alene. We decided that we would have supper at the Texas Roadhouse.

We have eaten here before and the food is excellent. I had a half rack of ribs and they literally fell off the bone. You don’t even need teeth to eat these ribs. Patti had a filet that  melted in your mouth. This place has been excellent every time we have eaten here.

Back to the Casino.

When we got back to the casino Jo Ann, Dave, Shirley and Bill wanted to gamble a little more.
Patti, Suzanne, Roy and I went to their room and played a game of Jokers Rummy (Rummy for Dummies).
We were almost finished with the game when Jo and Dave showed up. We finished the game and sat around visiting until around 10:00 when we left for our own rooms.

Thursday.

Today is departure day.

Around 9:00 we met everyone at the Huckleberry Deli for breakfast.

It is the last day and we are all trying to drag out leaving for as long as possible. We sat around until about 10:30 and eventually said our goodbye's and headed our separate ways promising to meet up in the fall in Arizona. All except Suzanne and Roy, who don’t go to Arizona in the winter any more. We will make arrangements to meet up with them again.

Heading South.

We decided to go south on US 95 to Winnemucca, Nevada and get on I–80, then go west all the way home.

A Smoky Ride.

The ride south was very smoky from the many wild fires in northern Washington and Idaho as well as fires in Montana and Nevada.

Following the Salmon River

Nice Bridge.

Agriculture.

As we got further south we saw Hop fields.

They went on for a couple miles along the highway and looked very healthy.

A Crop Duster.

A little further south we saw a crop duster doing it’s thing.
Patti got a couple of good pictures considering the plane was in the air and we were going about 60 mph.

Laying it down.

Over Night.

We spent the night in Ontario, Oregon and got back on the road around 8:30.
Our next overnight stop will be Sparks, Nevada.
The day started out very smoky…

and continued until we were almost to Sparks. It was still a little smoky in Sparks but not as bad as it was around Winnemucca.

Sparks, Nevada.

We got a room at the Motel 6 in Sparks and called my nephew, John who lives in Sparks with his wife, Cindy.
When they got off work they came to our motel and took us to the Sizzler for supper.

After supper, we went back to John and Cindy’s to visit for a while
Around 10:00 we went back to our room.

The Last Leg.

We figured that if we got an early start we could slip by the Sacramento traffic on I-80. After all it was Saturday and it should be an easy ride.

Around 8:30 we got on I-80 heading west; the traffic was light going through Reno. We stopped at Boomtown to top off the gas tank and have breakfast.
We were back on the road and in California by 10:30 .

Not much smoke and the traffic is light going over the Sierra’s. It’s looking good for an easy ride.

Gridlock Hell.

Everything was going smoothly until we got to where Highway 50 and I-80 come together. The river of traffic quickly became a lake. Everything came to a halt and was stop and go all the way to the Highway 12 (Napa) exit.

No one is moving.

When we got to the Highway 12 exit the traffic on 12 was just as bad as it was on 80. We didn’t get out of the stop and go traffic until we turned off at Old Napa Road, about 20 miles from home.

My friend Bob is right. It isn’t worth it to take I-80 from the Sierra’s. It is better take Highway 20 through the Sacramento Valley to 101 and go south from Ukiah. It’s longer but it is a much nicer drive.

We made it home around 2:30.

Okay, that was our trip to meet friends in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho.
It was fun to get together with everyone like that.
We will do it again but maybe at a different location.

Redmond, Oregon to the Coeur d’Alene Casino in Idaho.

Leaving Samantha’s.

We left Samantha’s around 10:30 and headed north on US 97 toward the Dalles on the Columbia River.
It was a nice clear day. The winds had changed and the smoke was being blown to the east.

Forget Something?

Patti was driving and when we were about 30 miles north of Redmond she asked if her purse was on board. I looked around as much as I could from the passenger’s seat but didn’t notice her purse anywhere.
Patti pulled the car over to the side of the road and we went through the back and found no trace of her purse.
Patti, turned the car around and we went back to Samantha’s place.
It took about 1/2 hour to get back to Samantha’s and of course she got a good laugh at our expense.
Even though Samantha told us a couple of times not to forget the purse we still missed it.
We told her that the reason we came back was so we could get another hug. So we hugged and got back on the road around 11:30.

Change of Plans.

The original plan was to stop some where short of Coeur D’Alene and finish the ride the next day. By the time we got to the halfway point it was still early. We stopped at Biggs, Oregon on the Columbia River to have lunch and to fill up.
While we were there we decided to try and make it to the Casino today.
We didn’t have a room reserved for tonight so Patti got on the phone and called the casino to make reservations for us.

Columbia River.

Driving along the Columbia River is always interesting.
Here is one of the many dams along the river.

The John Day Dam.

Here is the lake above the dam.

As you can see there is little smoke around here.

We continued east and eventually crossed the river at Umatilla and continued North on US 395 until we came to state Highway 26 where we turned east again heading for the Idaho border and US 95.
We stopped for gas at Colfax.
Once that was done we continued. We drove south about 2 Miles through town and connected back on to 26 going East.

What looks like just overcast clouds is really a layer of smoke a couple thousand feet in the up in the sky.

We continued east and eventually got onto highway 95 where we turned north again.

Smoky Sun.

It was around 7:00 and the sun was setting.
The smoke had settled to the ground and the sun was a great orange ball. It was hard to get a good picture of the sun but here is what we got.

Sun setting behind a building.

Behind a hill.

Big orange ball.

At the Casino.

We arrived at the casino around 8:00. It was a long day but I’m glad we are here.
We got a light dinner at the snack bar. After dinner Patti wanted to play a bit so we went over to the video Black Jack game and she played for a little while winning a little and loosing a little until she lost her original $20.00.
We went back to our room and hung out watching TV a little and around 11:00 we crashed.

Okay that was our ride from Redmond to the CD’A casino.

TTFN.