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