I wouldn't quite call it a comedy of errors... but...

When I was a little girl, much younger and much smaller than I am today, we were living in a home in Port Credit, Ontario... I don't think Port Credit exists any longer, and it's now part of Mississauga.  Anyways, my parents bought a piece of property just outside of Brampton, and they had this dream to build a house and raise their three kids there - my two older brothers, Barron and Bart, and me...  I was in kindergarten when they started.

I remember getting home from school, and my parents would load us up in the volkswagen and we would drive to Brampton, and my dad would work on the house until sundown.  I am not completely sure of the time line, but, I know this went on one summer long and all fall - the only thing I can figure out, is eventually we were living in the basement when my grandfather Sprick died... We didn't have a telephone, and the police came to the door to tell us that he had passed, and that was 1965..I would have been 7 years old then. My parents owned a home in Port Credit, and it was for sale with the thought that dad would build the house in Brampton all winter long, and in the spring, the house would sell, and enough of the house would be completed and we could move in.

Well, as fate has it, the house in Port Credit sold quickly, and we had to move into the house in Brampton... which was, let's just say, not ready for living in yet.  The basement floor and walls were poured, but, there was no restroom downstairs, and the upstairs, where the family would live, was not completed.  There was a kitchen downstairs, and bedrooms, and a laundry room sink (and beside it was a Cascade 40 - it's electric!) and a fireplace... And, we moved in, and lived there all winter long...Being that I was a kid, it was like an indoor camping adventure, all winter long!

In talking with my mother, years later, it was not her favourite time in life...  She hated the dirt, she didn't like the whole bathroom arrangement, but she made it through, and totally supported my dad.

Over the weekend, these memories flooded my mind as we moved into the cabin, a little before we were planning...  giggle.

We were going to go down to the cabin, and make a few repairs on the RV - the seal in the bathroom toilet had degraded and we needed to replace it.  The plan was, to fix the bathroom, and then spend the night in the RV.. Before now, it has been too cold at night to spend the night, but, it's warmed up at night to the point that it's really comfortable now.

We didn't go down on Friday night because we knew we needed to fix the loo and there was no rooms in any part of the area.  This was the weekend of the Balloon Festival in Panguitch, and the traffic and volume of people was incredible.  So we get to the cabin Saturday and Jim guts the bathroom...  and, then we find out that the commode that we purchased has two screws to mount it into the floor like a normal toilet, and the one that's in the motorhome.. well, we can't figure how to detach it from the floor...not pleasant.. after working on this project for a couple of hours, we give up, and decide to set up a little bedroom up in the cabin...  And, I must admit, it was ok...  We bought a queen sized bed, thinking we could use it in the RV and then put it in the cabin.. which we did... But, um..it's a little small, and Jim says he's going to sleep on the couch next time...  We put the bed in the actual bedroom, and took Barbie sheets we had to cover the couch, and made curtains...  I laid in bed on Saturday night, and gazed up at the ceiling.. I'm not quite used to seeing this, but, it works.

 This is looking from our bed thru the bedroom door.. that isn't there... showing Jim's foot...Giggle...

It's our home away from home.

Jim and I both woke up at about 4 in the morning, and went outside.. It is incredibly dark, and quiet.... except for some bird or beast that is making some strange chirping sound... didn't see it, didn't want to see it...  But, through all that total blackness, there are these amazing stars - thousands and thousands of stars... and, through my bleary eyes they look so incredibly close... It was absolutely breathtaking.  It's one of the most amazing sights I have ever seen.  Jim says there's no light pollution.  Amazing.

So, the next day we set up a little makeshift kitchen - just some place to make breakfast or make a sandwich.. we have a hot pot, a microwave, and a little refrigerator.  I washed my face and hair in the little sink on Sunday morning... and that was an experience...  remember, we don't have plumbing or running water, so, water has to be brought in, and heated in the hot pot... takes two people to wash your hair... and the sink empties out to.. nowhere...  So, we did a little rigging, and it's good.. for now.

The mirror is set on a table saw.. giggle... But, at least, I have some place to put my makeup on... It works!  Eventually, this mirror will go into one of the bathrooms!  But, until then, it works perfectly balanced on the tablesaw...

But - let me go back a couple of weeks....

Jody and Justin are working on either the deck or the tyvek...Both are kinda difficult jobs - especially the Tyvek with the height of the roof and the angles... But, Justin is doing an amazing job.  We have a little more to finish with the Tyvek, and then we get the inspection from the county, and the siding gets to go on.  I am so stoked.

And again two weeks ago, an evening with Jim at Home Depot... he's such a creative dater...


Back to the present . . . We packed up the trailer on Friday night to get ready for Saturday morning - we have this incredible dining room set, made with log timbers - very rustic... Well, we have already taken the table down, so we figured it was time to take the chairs...  Jim loads 5 chairs into the trailer, and we also pack it full of all kind of other building stuff, and totes.




We get about 1 hour south of Provo, and all of a sudden, Jim is pulling the truck over to the side of the road and yelling...I was sound asleep, and didn't see what happened . . But, he said that we'd lost one of the chairs.. I look back and there's this one chair, sitting in the middle of the road... and, cars and 18 wheelers are dodging it..  Jim is running down the side of the road, trying to get to the chair before some car smashes into it, and someone gets hurt... I was freaking because the traffic was heavy, and I didn't want someone to get hurt from the chair, but I also didn't want Jim to get hit by a car or truck trying to get the chair out of the road...  After about 10 vehicles dodged the chair, a guy in a truck stopped in the middle of the road, and all traffic behind him stopped also.. Jim went out into the road, got the chair, and came back...  This was not the cardiac workout he was expecting!..  Got the chair back into the trailer, and we bungee cord the chairs into place where nothing was going to move an inch...  I have rarely been that scared...  When Jim got back into the truck, he said that my lip was bleeding... Huh?  I look in the mirror and sure enough, I've split my lip... I don't have a clue how, but there was a little trickle of blood coming down my face...  What an intense moment.

Saturday night, we found this great restaurant in Hatch.. It's actually a bar, BUT, it has this HUGE grill that you cook your own steaks on...  It's called "The Outlaw"...  Jim cooked the steaks, we put it with a baked potato and a salad... was amazing...  We were talking to this foursome that were on vacation from Italy... They booked motel rooms in Hatch... which totally cracked me up... There's five 1950's motels in Hatch, and a whopping 133 people.. I asked them if they booked their motel online... they gave me this strange look, and said yes...  Somehow, I knew it..  Giggle.

A couple of weeks ago, we were at Habitat for Humanity in Orem, and I saw this whole bunch of brand new metal balusters...  And, they are exactly the balusters that we need for the deck, bridge and inside balcony...  Got a smokin' deal on them.. so, we are one step closer to getting the deck done..

If you look at the CAD drawing above, if you see the little squiggly bits... the straight pieces to either side of them, is what we bought...  Jim was going to make them himself, but this will save time and money.. Stoked!

On Sunday afternoon, Jim was going to open the French doors on the prow side of the cabin, and he says, "Cheri, we've had a death in the cabin"... I was thinking it was a mouse or a bug or something... and I was a little concerned, that we had mice.. But, nope.. wasn't a mouse...

We are not sure how this bird got into the cabin.. we are thinking he/she snuck in when we had all the doors and windows open, and was somewhat hiding...  But, it gets really hot in there during the week, and there is no water.  We were showing her/him to Ron and Mary, our neighbors, and they think this is a woodpecker... The feathers are grey and black, with a little bit of orange on the tail feathers.. and a really long beak..  Sad.

Our plan for the weekend was to get the landing and more of the steps from there down to the basement done.. Jim didn't quite get that whole project completed, BUT, he did get a lot done.. He's ready to set the final stair treads now, but at 6:00 PM we had to get going home.

Again, we're happy, happy with the progress that is being made, and the adventure continues..

Jim and Cheri

...MOVING FORWARD

Oh my... I am not quite sure where to begin..

We have not been at the cabin for a whole month...until this past weekend...  The last time we were there was April 22 - We made a fast trip to Toronto in March for my mother's funeral, and made it to the Cabin in April, and, in retrospect, it's had me a little off balance.  Jim hasn't been pushing me, and has let me sort things out in my head a little bit...  and it's been good.... so, this post is going to be a little bit of everything that's been going on for the past couple of months...

Back in April, we really have tried to get work done... Our April trip resulted in a whole lot of talking and planning and deciding what we were going to do... I was of the opinion that we should just sell the cabin and the property... I felt that I would die before we got it done. We have had such a terrible time finding help in the Panguitch area, it's kind of depressing...Jim, is being the optomist here, and just wants to move forward... I think we have that little "help"  problem solved...

We made it to Panguitch on the Friday night and planned on staying two nights at the Purple Sage..  the lady that owns it is so nice...  can't say enough good things about her.  We slept in a little bit - we find the 3.5 hour drive after working a full day at our jobs, makes us more than a little weary..

We start the day by going to the grocery store in Panguitch... And, it was here, that I realized why I kinda like Panguitch... it might not be everybody's cup of tea, but I kinda like it..

Joe's Market is small, but friendly... doesn't have a HUGE variety of the same item, but it always has what I want.  But, it was in the parking lot, that something really appealed to me...

DOGS!... these three warmly greeted us when we parked our truck...  just happy to see us...  and they're cuties...

The 2nd thing that I really like is the community pulls together as a huge family.  I have participated in the Garfield Caring for Kids program for several months - such a worthwhile cause.. This group makes such that school aged kids get meals to eat over the weekends.  Some kids only have breakfast and lunch at school, so when the weekend comes, they go hungry...  Such a great cause..

When we got to the cabin, the number one project was to get the stairs from the basement to the main level - didn't quite happen - but, we're learning a lot...  Jim got a couple of the stair treads in, and then realized that the platform at the bottom wasn't high enough, so the stairs didn't go in correctly... so, out they came...

We hired a local contractor (Justin) to help with the deck, and he and his wife, Jody came on Saturday to start work on the deck.  I was told that you don't nail the deck into place, but you screw it on the framework, so, with that reasoning, Justin and Jody were screwing on the deck...  Nuff said...

We picked up a load of brick earlier in the week, and towed it with us on this trip... It's super heavy, but I didn't have a clue what we were going to be towing in just a mere 6 weeks... Jody was such a help in getting this trailer unloaded...

We purchased the carpet padding in Provo, and decided to haul it with us on a previous trip.  It was being stored in the kitchen of the cabin, so Jim decided to put it in the loft. The only problem is... there are no stairs going to the loft, so we had to get all Mcguyver on the situation.  Jim got up into the loft and made a pulley system, and we pulled the carpet padding to the loft... pretty smart, huh?  Two paper clips, a stick of gum and a pulley, and my man has it looked after!!!  Giggle..

During the building process, our original contractor took it upon himself to remove the manzanita in front of our cabin... did we want it removed... nope... But, it's gone.  So, we have this gaping hole in the "hedge" about 10' wide.  So, I've decided to plant some trees in the space - and I am hoping they survive.. I put a couple of lilac trees there, and a 6 or 7 other flowering trees in the space.  We wanted that hedge there to block the view, from the street, of our patio area...

Now, if we fast forward 6 weeks, the best way we can describe this time period is... RELAX!  It started with the graduation day for our little Coy...  Now, this kid has personality plus!  It was such a joy to see him walk to the front and "graduate".  Jim says that we are looking forward to him to graduate from university with his engineering degree!

   

The next thing we did that was a blast was taking a little trip to California... just relaxing and visiting with friends... we love it... I usually pack the vehicle and the suitcases, and Jim puts the trailer up... I must admit, this is not my favourite job.  Jim is really organized, with everything in it's place... that's not quite my forte, but I came up with a plan to get the job done the most efficiently... Because I work for a printer, they always have these really cool boxes from paper... I snagged some of them, and the job was easy!  When Jim got home and went to load the last of the "stuff" into the van, he was shocked beyond imagination... This is what he saw, and the first thing that went through his mind was... "what happened to my wife"?  Giggle...  'ya just gotta shock these guys every once in a while...

How freakin' organized right?  Sometimes, I even surprise myself..!

Not one of Jim's favourite jobs...  (he told me not to take a picture of his butt.. BUT... I think it's kind of cute, and I couldn't resist...)

While we were in California, my dear sweet husband surprised me... with sunflowers.. They spent the week in our trailer...  such happy and cheerful flowers...  they make me smile.. I am wanting to cast them in cement and make a stepping stone..  they didn't fair so well on the drive home... But, they'll be perfect for stepping stones.

Fast forward a little more and.... we drove down to the cabin on Friday night - I swear, when we drive down on Friday night - we're just beat the next day....  We got into Panguitch at about 11...  and yep, we tried out a new motel - let's just say, we won't stay there again...  The beds were the hardest things on the face of the earth.. I think the floor would have been softer... outlets didn't work in the bathroom... and there was no other outlet to plug into anywhere near a mirror... Was interesting getting ready in the morning...


I've been shopping for furniture inside the cabin, and I am looking for black, wrought iron pieces.. I found this piece in Salt Lake - wanted it to go outside on the deck - just as a table to go between the two chairs...  turns out, it's a little taller than what wanted... so, I'm not sure what to do with it now.  Jim is thinking about cutting the legs down, so it will fit... we'll have to see... I love the design and love the "knuckles" on the legs...

I was in the hardware store in Panguitch on Saturday and was talking to the cashier, and was telling her how hard it was to find help.. She told me about a family that lives in Hatch, that have a bunch of kids and all summer long, their mother gets them to do odd jobs, like cleaning up property, and mowing grass and stuff like that... She gave me their phone number.  I talked to the mom, and she said she would send her boys over.... at this point, they were fixing somebody's sprinkler system, but when they were finished with that job, they would come by.  A couple of hours later, these three boys show up - 17 years old, 15 years old, and 12 years old.. We had bought some glass brick (I swear, about a billion pounds of glass block) and it needed to be taken out of the trailer and onto pallets... I had started stacking them, and got about 3 rows high and I was spent...  They guys tackled that project and got it done in no time.. I was stoked.  I then got them to pick up some of the construction garbage from last year...  they got that all loaded into the trailer and then hauled it off to the dumpster... Talk about a happy camper here!!  They were amazing...  We have a couple of other projects we want them to finish, and they are going to show up during the week and complete that job!  They told us that while they were throwing stuff into the dumpster, a lady from our subdivision came up to them and they were visiting... They said that she told them that she had some work for them to do also.. We were like, Hey!!!  These are OUR workers - no stealing!  Giggle..


Here's the before picture of the construction garbage...

Here's the after picture!  Amazing..





Here's the glass block on the trailer...




Here's the block that I got stacked before I was totally beat!!!

This is what the boys completed.. in record time... and were still breathing afterwards...  See that stack that I moved...  I was having a minor heart attack... There is definitely something to say about youth... mainly, I ain't got it any longer!  Giggle.

And Justin and Jody came by Saturday afternoon and again, were screwing on the deck!

And, you remember that little booboo with the stairs from 6 weeks ago.. Well, it got all fixed, and I am now the proud owner of a set of stairs!  No longer do I have to go outside and around to the side of the house to go to the basement!  I am totally stoked!  Jim wanted a very gradual, easy on the knees staircase so when we get old it won't be too hard on us.

I really like this first picture... don't know why... just do.

                                                                                                                      Last stair tread going in.

This staircase weighs about 1500 lbs.

Jim worked so hard all day Saturday and Sunday to get them finished.. He was determined to get them done before we left on Sunday.  Each 3X12 inch stair tread weighs about 80 lbs.  We always plan to leave by about 5 or 6... With the 3.5 hour drive, it gets us home at a reasonable time.. Well, we left the cabin at about 8:30.. and didn't get into Provo until 12:30 - had to take a couple of pit stops along the way...  Monday morning came waaaaay too early!


During all this working and driving, we try to keep the little booboos to a minimum... It was the truck that sustained damage this time... Jim was backing up the truck with the trailer, and a tree jumped into the way...  scuffed up the door of this truck...  The poor truck is taking a beating.

I must say, all in all, it was a productive weekend, and I think we're back on track.  We were leaving Sunday evening, and I actually felt like I would have liked to stay a couple more days...  The time with Jim was nice.. the things were accomplished were nice... the help from Jody and Justin was amazing.. the help from the three boys was nice... just a great weekend.

The adventure continues.

Jim and  Cheri