Friday, Jim and I were planning on getting off work a little early and driving down to Manzanita, and be up and at 'em early Saturday morning. Now, that in itself is a feat, because I don't do mornings very well.. But, I was willing to try.
At about noon, I realized that I had too much stuff to do at work still, and was going to be delayed. Friday morning, Jim was told that he had a meeting from 10:00 am to 3:00 pm... and he was going to try and get out of it early... Well, that didn't happen...I didn't get home until after 5:30 and Jim got home just a couple of minutes before me... so, we worked on packing up the van..
Saturday morning, Jim goes into the backyard to make sure everything around the house is secure before we leave and got the scare of his life... He explains to me, that as he rounded the corner of the house, there standing in our backyard was a young deer... it spooked him, and he scared it, and they both bolted! Giggle...
We started driving down south, and hit the most incredible rain and hail storm. We needed to stop and get something out of our storage building, but it was pouring rain like you wouldn't believe. I told Jim that we should just wait it out for a little bit..... after sitting at the storage gates, I decide that I've had enough wait time, and I get out of the van, punch in the code, fling open the gate, and then run back to the van. Well, our van is a Ford, and when you put the van into gear, all the doors lock.. and I'm standing out there, in the pouring rain and hail, pounding on the door... not pretty... not pretty at all... I was absolutely wet from head to toe. I was not amused. Jim was kind of giggling, while apologizing... uhuh...We drove over to our storage building, Jim runs out, and is fiddling with the keys, finally gets it open and goes inside... and it's still pouring rain. When he got back into the van, he acknowledges that it's cold rain... really cold... I was like... um.. ya...
Our storage building is in Panguitch, Utah, which is about 14 miles from the property. They have this little True Value Hardware store in town - I love that place. It has everything from tools to kitchen appliances to fabric. It's still raining like crazy when we pull up... and there are two State Highway patrol vehicles, with lights flashing, in front of the store. There are a couple of officers standing in front of the building and a couple of townspeople... I figured there was something going on with the weather... Got out of the van, in the pouring rain, and these two guys are laughing at me... I was like, really? Again, totally soaked through... and these two guys in front of the hardware store are laughing at me... We get in the store and ask the clerk was the issue was, and she said it was a DUI arrest - the two guys were drunk... I had drunks laughing at me... sad....
We got a motel for the night because we figured that the roads to the property were going to be so bad it would be almost impassable. We were going to spend the night in the RV, but, decided against it. We checked into our favourite motorcycle themes room again... giggle... When we got into the room, I made a dash for the restroom, and all I can hear is the 'vroom vroom vroom'... Jim was playing with the ceiling fan again...
We went to dinner in Duck Creek - interesting little place. What amused me most was the pie cooler in the cafe.. they had all these pies in this cooler... like 5 - 6 different kinds and they looked amazing. But, on top of the cooler were rolls of toilet paper...Rolls of toilet paper?... About 15 rolls of toilet paper. Didn't make sense to me... But I guess you have to store them somewhere.
When we finished dinner, the guy we have doing dirt work calls and said he wanted to show us what he had done out at the property. It had stopped raining a little bit by then, and he was insistent, so we drove up the mountain, in the mud and around the puddles.
We got up there, and Vince had done an amazing job... I was totally stoked! Totally. There's about 120 feet of lower driveway, that butts up to where the cabin is going to go.
It was so exciting! Best money ever spent was hiring this guy.
We went back on Sunday morning, and in the area where the shed and garage are going to go, was a deer... she was kind of staring at us, and we were staring at her... I told Jim that she was beautiful, and he said that in time, I'm going to hate the deer because they are going to eat everything. And, my mind flashed back to those little jerks who ate all my flower bulbs... So, I've got mixed feelings about the deer right now.
Jim staked out where he wants Vince to dig next, and staked out all the property lines. So, the property is covered with caution tape and stakes right now! I love it. Hope the deer don't knock them down.
The backhoe had a few problems this week, and we had to take off a piece and Jim is going to take it to a repair place (EVCO House of Hose) or something like that this week and get a new piece made. We tried to get a replacement part at the Case dealer, but they didn't have them in stock - they have them made. When we get it replaced, Vince can get back to work...
She should be fixed by next weekend. It is again, another amazing adventure.
Cheri
