I’m back!!!

 

Took some time away from the blog but now I’m back.

Assembling the Tuff Shed

When we got home from the memorial day weekend on Tuesday, the rock that I had delivered was gone. Jim had spread it on the spot to the right of the driveway and filled in the frame for the base of the “Tuff shed”.

We spent the rest of the week getting ready for the shed delivery.

Friday morning around the 7:45 the first guy showed up with the shed parts on a trailer.

By 8:00 the second guy showed up and they immediately began unloading the trailer and laying out the parts for the shed.

First they assembled the steel foundation.

 

Then the floor goes down.

Then they brought in and set up the walls.

Once the walls were up they put up the gable ends then the rafters went on.

Then the sub roof.

Then comes the tar paper and then the metal roof.

In about three and one-half hours they were done and gone.
I was very impressed by their efficiency. These two guys just went to work and with a very few words got the job done.

Getting ready for visitors.

We spent the next few days cleaning out the spare room. This room has always been used for storage. We always called it the “wreck room”. By Monday we had all the stuff out of the room and stored away in the shed. We put two cots in the bedroom and bought a blowup full bed mattress. We are now ready for Becky, Samantha and John to come for a visit. Becky and Samantha live in Oregon and John is visiting from Fairbanks, Alaska. They are coming to visit us and attend Harvey’s High School graduation.

After all was said and done only Samantha slept in the wreck room on the blow up mattress. Becky moved her cot into the dinette and John used the shed as his private apartment. 

Harvey’s Graduation.

We picked up Harvey and Dina at their place.
Of course we had to take lots of pictures.

Here is Harvey and his proud mom.

Here are the cousins. Our three grandkids. Samantha, Harvey and Johnathen.

 

We got to the school early but it was still crowded. We had to park in the enclosed parking garage. It took us about 45 minutes to get out of the garage when the event was over.

The Graduation was held on the Junior Collage football field.

Here is the entire class. I don’t know why they had the graduation set up so that the students had their backs to the audience. Someone wasn’t thinking.

Proud grandpa.

Harvey, his cousin Devante and their proud moms.

John and me at the cabin.

On Saturday 06-06 John and I went up to the cabin for a few days.

We got there around noon and got moved in.

After lunch we took a walk around the cabin loop trail.
We stopped at all the benches along the way.

The first bench.

The bypass bench.

The dirt bench.

We walked the whole loop and got back to the cabin in under an hour.

Firewood work.

Sunday morning we decided to work on moving the pile of firewood and stack it against the cabin.

John spilt the ones that needed splitting while I moved and stacked.

 

We worked on this a couple of hours and got about half the pile split and moved.

 
We took a break and then headed down to the shotgun range. When we got to the creek crossing we found a large tree limb had broken off and was blocking the road.

 

I pulled the tree limb out of the tree where it was hung up and cut it up for firewood. We stacked the wood along the road to be retrieved at a later date.

It was close to lunch time by then so we went back up to the cabin to await the arrival of the women.

Patti, Becki, Dina and Samantha came up for lunch. They stayed around until about 2:30 and then headed for home. 

By the time they left it was getting very hot so John and I decided to head for the creek.

John had a good time cooling off in the creek.

While John was fooling round in the creek he found the carcass of a Crayfish.

In the 24+ years that we have been coming to this swimming hole we have never seen a Crawdad. It is time to think about building traps.

While we were down there, we cut up the tree that I had pulled from the creek the last time we were here and stacked the wood.

It was beginning to cool off so around 5:00 we headed back up to the cabin.

splitting more wood old radio shows and cards.

After dinner John split and stacked more fire wood.

In the evening we listened to old time radio programs on the XM and played Rummy.
John won.

Weed Whacking and more playing in the creek.

In the morning we went back down to the shotgun range; we finished cleaning up the tree on the road and did some weed whacking where we shoot.

 

When that was done we went back to the cabin for a break. We were going to do some shooting but the weather got to hot so we decided to go to the creek instead.
We ate lunch and then drove down to the creek.
At the creek we removed more branches, etc. from the swimming hole.

Now it will be ready for 4th of July.

We stayed at the creek until the day began to cool, then headed back to the cabin for dinner.

After dinner, John split and stacked some more wood. By the time we left the next morning John had split and stacked almost all the rounds from the original pile.

This is all there is left to split.

 

The wood stacked against the cabin almost reaches the windows.

 

That is a good start on my fall wood supply.

The ladies go to the city.

While John and I were at the cabin; Patti and then girls went to San Francisco and Pier 39.
They drove to Larkspur and took the ferry across the bay to the city.

Here is Patti and Samantha on the boat.

It looks like a beautiful day in the city.

 

Patti here:

It was a gorgeous day in the city; no need for sweaters or jackets and was in the low 80’s!!!

Once in San Francisco, the four of us girls started walking towards Pier 39.  It’s well over a mile from the Ferry Building and it took us about 40 mins.  I think that I did pretty good considering I’m getting a knee replacement in 5 1/2 weeks.  Anyway we looked around and did a little shopping after lunch.  Lunch was at BUBBA GUMP SHRIMP CO.  Becki had a hamburger & fries; Dina had deep fried shrimp w/fries; Samantha had shrimp mac & cheese and I had a shrimp po-boy sandwich w/fries. I would go back again!  After checking out more shops, it was time to get back to the Ferry Building.  Lucky us, we got back to Larkspur in time for the 5 PM commute.  Much fun was had by all!!  I would have had more pictures but the battery died right after getting off the ferry. Bummer!!

Marty here: 

The Kids left for home on Thursday 06-11 around 5:00am.
Patti and I went up to the cabin to get the van.

Friday we moved all our stuff out of the rented storage locker we have been paying for for 20 years.
It took my van, Patti’s car and Dave’s pickup but we got everything moved in one trip. We stacked everything on the back patio.
For the last several days we have been going through boxes consolidating, and discarding stuff. Eventually we got everything stored and we still have a little room for more.

Okay that is all that I can remember of what took place over the last couple of weeks.

I’ll try and stay a little more current with the posts but If things are boring I may skip a day or two.

Memorial Day at the cabin and surprise guests.

Note.
There is a conflict between Google and Microsoft about protocols so, for a while I have not been able to post my blog. I thought They would get the problem solved quickly but so far they haven't.

Today I decided to use Blogger to publish this post. it is a lot slower but it gets the job done. 
Enjoy.

Patti and I got to the cabin around noon on Friday.
We got moved in and just enjoyed the rest of the day in the quiet of the forest.

Saturday morning we were sitting around the cabin. Patti had just gotten dressed and I was on my second cup of cocoa when we herd a vehicle coming in.

It turned out to be Joanne and Dave.
When we talked to them during the week they said that they most likely would not come up to the cabin over the weekend, so we figured we would have a nice quiet weekend alone. 
Apparently Joann was able to juggle their schedule and they were able to come up. Joanne also invited her friends Darlene and Ronda; they arrived about two hours later.
We didn’t get a lot of work done with all the company but we did manage to get a little done. Patti and I moved a small pile of cut up firewood from up at the trailhead to the cabin.

The pile of wood fit nicely in the jeep.

Later on Joanne and I brought down another pile of wood.

The wood is the start of a stack that will grow alongside the cabin.

The rest of the day we just hung out in the shade visiting.

At five o-clock we had happy hour.

In the evening we played cards. (Ukrainian Rummy)

Sunday while I was moving some firewood I uncovered this Alligator lizard.

Dave, Joanne, Darlene and Ronda took a walk down to the barn.
Patti and I puttered around the camp and had lunch.

About the time the rest got back from their walk I was ready to head up to the trail where I wanted to fix a steep area near the gully crossing. I took the jeep up to the trail head; and carrying the chain saw in a back pack and a rake in one hand and Polauski in the other, I headed up the trail.
I worked about an hour on the trail and got the steepness taken care of. The Mosquitoes were so bad where I was working that I could not stop to take a break for more than a couple minutes so I had to just finish the project and get out of there.
Dave showed up just as I was loading the chain saw back into the backpack. We headed back to camp and spent the rest of the day just hanging out.

We had another happy hour and played cards again in the evening.

On Monday we went down to check out the creek. I had not been down there since we returned from Arizona. While we were at the creek we cleaned up some of the branches from the tree that fell into the swimming hole last fall. The tree was removed from the swimming hole by the winter flood but there are still some branches and part of the tree high on the beach. There was another small tree in the upper end of the hole.

I drove the jeep down to the water and had Joanne hook the winch cable to the big end of the tree.

  

Once the cable was connected I backed up the jeep and pulled the tree out of the water.

We will cut this up later. We headed back to the camp and hung out for a while.
 About 5:00 our guests headed for home. Patti and I had dinner and listened to old radio shows on the XM.
Tuesday morning we cleaned the cabin, loaded the jeep and were on our way home by 12:30.
When we got home I saw that Jim had moved all that rock from in front of the house to the frame in the back yard and filled the parking spot next to the drive way.

It was a fun weekend.

Off to the cabin again. 05-21-15

 

The rock for the base of the shed was delivered in front of my house this morning.

That was the last thing that we needed to get done this week so we decided to head for the cabin for the long Memorial Day weekend.

After the rock was delivered I went to visit my brother, Sonny. He gave me an old gas station style battery charger. If there is room in the jeep this trip I will take it up to the cabin and see if it will work on my generator. Supposedly this unit will charge a battery in about an hour. 

Patti called today to find out when she will get her new knee. As it turns out it won’t be until July 27th.

We will be back Tuesday.

Talk to you later.

A family gathering and a week at the cabin. 05-19-15

 

Patti and I spent the last week at the cabin.
I went up on Friday 05-08. Got moved in and puttered around the rest of the day.

Saturday morning after breakfast I decided that it was time to fire up the weed eater.

 

I worked on that for a while (no after picture).

It is still chilly in the mornings and at night so I am still dealing with firewood.
Of course dealing with firewood is one of the reasons I come up here. It is the best all around workout that I can think of and when you are done you have a pile of firewood to keep you warm when the weather gets cold.
I split a few logs; enough for a couple of days and stacked  a mixture of splits, rounds and thick chunks of oak bark in the wood box and on the porch.

After lunch I went up to the trail head and did a little more cutting on that down tree.
I like my new Echo Chain Saw.  It has a 14 inch bar and is about three pounds lighter than the old husky. It’s a lot easier to use in brush or when limbing out a tree. The saw will handle larger stuff and will go through a 12 inch oak log without a problem. Since it is a light saw, I can cut for a longer period of time now before my back tells me to stop.
We will see if it holds up to the punishment it will get in the woods.

A family Gathering:

Sunday morning around 10:00 I left the cabin to go to Ukiah for a family gathering at Lake Mendocino. It was mostly Wayne’s kids and their family’s. Kathy and Bob were also here from Oregon.
Family gatherings are always fun. You see people that you remember as little kids, all grown up with kids of there own. 
I guess you can classify that as fun… let me get back to you on that one.

Wayne, his daughter Teresa, and granddaughter Monica.

Things always work out but they don’t always work out the way we expect.

The plan was for Kathy and Bob to follow me up to the cabin after the gathering and spend a week with us. Wayne was also going to follow us and spend a couple of days.

As it turned out Bob’s motor home experienced a complete electrical failure while they were camped at a casino in Fortuna on the way down to Ukiah. They ended up renting a car to get to the gathering. Unfortunately they were not able to spend the week with us at the cabin as they had to go back to Fortuna to try and get the motorhome home.

Wayne decided that he was going to head straight up to Washington state to stay with Teresa.

After the picnic I headed for the cabin. Patti had to drive to Santa Rosa to take Dina home then she drove back to the cabin. She got there around 7:30.

A productive week:

Monday:

I took Patti for a walk on the new trail. We went about half way but her knee was giving her trouble so we turned around.
We spent the rest of the day puttering around the cabin.
We planted some poppies and butterfly and humming bird mix flowers along the path to the bench.

Tueday:

Patti and I spent a little time every day working on the pile of trees that Bob N cut down the last time he was up here.

 

We spent about an hour or two a day and by the end of the week we had it all cut up and piled.

Here is Patti raking up the last of the debris.

 

We spread our time between clearing the driveway and splitting and stacking firewood on the porch.

Wednesday:

We had been cutting on the driveway for about a half hour when Joanne and Dave showed up.

We took a long break and visited with them.

After lunch Joanne and Dave took a walk while Patti and I went back to work on the wood cutting.

I made some Nopalies and Joanne and Dave stayed for dinner.

Thursday:

I needed to order some rock for the base to the shed at home. I also wanted to bring the van up here to get it out of the way while I have the shed and the space along side the driveway rocked.
I wanted to make sure that I gave the rock company plenty of time to deliver the rock so I decided to go to Santa Rosa, order the rock,  pick up the van, have lunch and head back to the cabin.
We left the cabin around 9:30 and were back by 4:30.

Friday:

Got the driveway open.

Saturday:

Patti and I went up to the trail head and did some more cutting on that down tree. We got all the smaller parts cut up. I’ll have to drag the big piece out with the jeep to cut it up.

Dave came up around 11:00 to spend the night.

After dinner we played Ukrainian rummy.

Sunday:

I cut up the last big logs along the driveway and Patti raked up the last of the debris.

We left the cabin around 4:00 and stopped in Windsor where we went to dinner with Joanne and Dave at KC’s on the green in Windsor.

Monday:

Spent the morning unloading the Patti’s car. Oh yeah, we left the van at the cabin.
Patti started doing laundry.
Goofed off the rest of the day.

Tuesday:

Patti has been having problems with her right knee for a long time.
Today we went to see Dr. Howe an orthopedist. They took x-ray’s and found that her knee is definitely worn out the outside of the socket is worn down to the bone. She needs a new knee so we are going to get it taken care of as soon as possible.

I spent the rest of the day puttering in the garden.

Okay, that was the  last 11 days.

Puttering in the yard

 

Sunday:

In the morning I cut up the old Apple tree.

It turned out to be full of termites.

My sister Mary was having an open house art sale so in the afternoon Patti and I went to Petaluma to visit her.

We had a nice visit for a couple hours while she showed her art to prospective customers.

Monday:

Puttered around in the backyard getting the site for the shed ready. We have changed my mind a couple times regarding exactly how the shed will sit on the site.

Tuesday:

Bought the 2X4’s for the frame for the foundation of the shed.

Later, I chopped up the bushes that I cut down the other day and managed to get them all in the yard waste barrel.

My niece Joanne came by for a visit in the afternoon.

I kind of laid out the 2X4’s where the shed will sit but I still have to find out what the legal set back (distance from the fence) is for a shed. The shed is 10’X10’ but the pad for the shed is 12’X12’. The frame is for the pad and will be filled with 3/4” drain shale.

  

I hope I will be able to move it back toward the fence a little more.

Okay that’s about it for now.
We will be going to the cabin for a week. I am going up on Friday morning. On Sunday, I will meet Patti at a Family Reunion at Lake Mendocino. From the party I will lead my brother-in-law Bobby, back to the cabin. We are going to try and get his RV to the cabin.
He says he thinks he can do it. I haven’t seen his RV so I can’t say what will happen. It aught to be interesting. I hope I remember to take pictures.

I probably won’t be posting for a week unless I have time Sunday morning.

Getting ready for a new shed. 05-03-15

 

Friday:

We went to the Tuff Shed place and ordered a 10’X10’ shed. It will be delivered on the 29th.

I needed a couple new tools so we stopped at Friedman Bro’s where I purchased a new smaller chainsaw and a new cordless drill/driver and impact driver.

I have spent so much money today that I feel sick.

Saturday:

In the morning I laid out the The footprint for the shed and cut down a bush that was in the way.

After lunch I got sidetracked by a shopping expedition and didn’t get anything more done on the shed.

Maybe tomorrow I’ll get more done.

Back home and a happy reunion. 05-01-15

 

Tuesday:

Okay I got back to SRO around 4:30. on Tuesday. As soon as I got home I started unloading the jeep. Then I went to Carl’s Jr. for dinner. Had their all natural burger and some onion rings. The sandwich was okay but the onion rings sucked. I ended up with the  worst hart burn that I have had since I started taking Omeprazole many years ago. It took four Tums to get rid of it.

Wednesday:

The first thing I did was to start charging batteries.

I worked on my chain saw for  while it turned out that one of the mounting bolts had stripped out. I managed to get the saw back together and the bolt is in place but won’t tighten completely. It should work okay but we will see in a week or two when I go back to the cabin and start cutting up the trees Bob cut down.

Puttered around the yard a bit. Cut down about six lumber bamboo that were coming up in the back corner of the yard.

Thursday:

Waited around for Patti to get home. She called around 10:30 saying that the bus was just turning off the freeway at Todd Road. I got in the jeep and headed for the buss stop. I got there just as the bus was pulling in.
A happy reunion!

Okay that’s about it for now.