DAYS OF THUNDER

It was an interesting week, to say the least.  We have been trying to move forward, but, with so much to do, in such a small time frame, it's difficult to get everything done before heading down south on the weekends - we need a couple of extra days during the week to prepare.  On Friday morning, I woke up - totally sick to my stomach (use your imagination here)... it was to the point that I just couldn't go to work - which is rare.  I think in the last 10 years, I have missed maybe 2 days of work...(When I had my shoulder and knee surgery - yes, I had both done on the same day - I was home 2 days and went back to work... stupid)... On Friday, I didn't know what the problem was - if it was a virus or food poisoning, or what...But, I was pretty bleak...

Justin has been working feverishly getting the siding on the cabin - and, we love the look.  There is no way I would be balancing on that scaffolding, but...  I guess he likes it...  The siding looks beautiful.  Can't wait until it's all done.

One of the first things done this weekend was to replace the light bulbs in the outside lights.  Jim wanted something with a little more sparkle than just regular light bulbs...  He made a quick stop at Home Depot, and voila.. sparkle!  Well trust me, it sparkles.

The next project that Jim is working on, is finishing the stairs with a landing that go from the main level up to the loft, and on Saturday, the platform was completed.  And, it's waaaay up in the air.  The view from the platform is exceptional.

This is a shot down to the stairs that go down to the basement.

The view of the great room from the landing.

This is going to be nice when it's finished.

The cabin has had thunder storms for the past two weekends, but on Sunday morning, at about 4 am, Jim woke up to.. thunder - only it wasn't outside, it was his tummy, having a very serious conversation with him.... VERY serious.  And, when you don't have running water, it's even more serious... Poor thing, he had planned that day to work at the cabin, and it just wasn't going to happen.  The work day was cut short and the 3.5 hour trip back home was started early.  Jim pulled into the driveway about 7:00 PM and immediately went to bed... slept through until 8:30 this morning.  I know he's not feeling too hot today at work.... Poor thing... and he slept most of Sunday at the cabin too!

For the past couple of weeks, the weather has been... questionable at best... some days, it's bright and sunny, and then these dark, ominous clouds show up, complete with thunder and rain - at a moment's notice.  It's nice to have the heat cut, but, it really is such a low, quiet growling before the rain starts... an interesting mix, but, we love it.

And, finally, my trees did not survive the deer... Time to buy a rifle...

The adventure continues.

BETWEEN THE DEER AND THE DIRT... I dunno know... grrrrr...

Several years ago, I planted about 500 bulbs in the fall, hoping that when spring had sprung, our property would be exploding with colour... All winter long, I anticipated being greeted with this amazing blast of fragrance and colour.. Well, spring came, we went to the cabin, and there was.. nadda.. not a single flower.  I didn't have a clue what had happened - I mean, really.. how can you botch planting bulbs?  After a little investigating, I found that deer enjoyed the deer resistant flowers, and the bulbs.. leaving absolutely nothing to bloom..   Fast forward to 2018...I got this brilliant idea about colour around the cabin, again.. and I bought lilac trees and 20 different flowering trees.  But, this time, I surrounded them with tomato cages to protect them from the deer.  Jim was at the cabin this past weekend, and the cages were knocked down, laying hither and nigh, and the trees were nibbled down to a nub...  Stupid deer.... I am about to become a deer hunter...  Grrrr.

The battle with the dirt continues....  I thought with a little bit of rain, the dirt factor would be decreased.. just a little bit... Apparently, this, like my desire to have flowers, is a fallacy.. Just not gonna happen... Groan.  This was the result of a flash flood running across the road in Panguitch and an oncoming California driver at full speed down main street.  Basically a brown shower... (What is with these California drivers?)  If you look through the front window, you can see the 4x4's for the stairs, resting on the dash...  Giggle..

I was just thinking.. maybe, there's not so much dirt there, as it is we have vehicles that are the wrong colour... just maybe...

Moving forward, we had a Tyvek inspection last Wednesday.  On Friday, we still hadn't heard anything, so I called Kane County for the report.  The lady that I talked to, pulled our file, and said that we had failed the inspection, and there was additional taping and such to be completed.  I was like... "WHAT?"  Justin had done such an amazing job, I was really surprised that anything failed.  I asked the lady to send me a copy of the report, and after reading it over, several times, I saw that the date on the top of the form was from last December... I called her back, and she said that she didn't know why the inspector had put the wrong date on the form...And, it wasn't just the wrong year, the whole thing was wrong.  The date was 12/13/2017...  After a little thought, we figured this was a report from the inspection last year - and the updated report wasn't in the file. I asked the lady to have the inspector call Jim, and after a couple of minutes, he did call, and said that we passed...  Thank goodness.. had us in a panic for a minute there...


With the Tyvek inspection passing, we are now onto finishing the siding. Justin and Jim worked on starting this project on Sunday..  It was blazing hot, but, they got the starter strip on, and started putting the siding on.  I love this siding - I think Jim had a stroke when I picked it out, but, I think it looks amazing.

The major project that Jim worked on Saturday was putting the 2nd set of steps in - that's the steps that go from the main level to the loft.  I still haven't made it up to the loft because.. well, I don't do ladders... at all.  He got the platform in the sky finished, and next time, he'll start putting the stair treads in.  I am so excited.  He'll be making the wrought iron angle brackets this week... I think the steps are going to look amazing.

The weekend was a little overcast and cloudy, but it cut the heat down a little bit... On Friday, Panguitch had a "spring water" run off issue due to flash floods... to the point that part of the town was flooded and it really got into the culinary water system.  Panguitch was in a "don't drink the water" zone, and families were having to go to Cedar City to get bottled water.  But, it was really cool to see how businesses and families outside of Panguitch pitched in to help.. Several businesses in Bryce Canyon, and Hatch had offered free water to the residents, and showers and facilities... The Day's Inn, in Panguitch had all guests shipped off to other facilities because the water was contaminated and not usable.  I believe on Sunday, the residents were supposed to purge their water lines, and then start boiling water to drink.  But, I'm not quite sure of any further update.

There were clouds on the mountains.  King of a quiet, eerie, look.

..This looks so quiet and calm...

..This looks kind of ominous, doesn't it...  Sort of reminds me of pending doom... That's the mountain we have built our cabin on.  We are at 8,100 feet elevation.


Jim installed the 2nd light beside the front door over the weekend... I am so excited.  Little by little I see the progress - and these lights are so exciting to me...  Jim knows to turn them on before taking a picture...  makes me feel so stoked..

On Saturday night, at about 2;00 in the morning, Jim told me that there was a HUGE crash..  He was rocked out of bed, jumped so much, that he threw his back out...  He turned on the lights, and found that the travel bag that he took his clothes to the cabin in, fell over.  We have all sorts of stuff stored in this bedroom, and the bag was on top of one of the headboards... It slowly wedged itself behind the headboard and must have shifted it in the night, and came crashing over.  What a way to wake up.  Giggle..

The square piece that you can see still balance against the wall, is the glass shower doors for the basement bathroom.

Jim went up to Duck Creek on Saturday morning, to pick up stuff for the cabin, and he met a little lady from California.  She and her husband had built a cabin in Duck Creek 36 years earlier.  Her husband passed a couple of years ago, but she still comes to Utah in the summers to hang out at their cabin.  Jim was totally impressed with some of the antique pieces in her cabin.. I love them..

Click on this shot to see it full size.  It's beautiful.

A couple of weeks ago, we purchased black granite for the counter tops in the kitchen.. it's beautiful.  It's taken us a little bit to get it home because the pieces are incredibly large and HEAVY!  Our little trailer doesn't like two so much...and we bought five pieces.  But, we've now got it home.  We bought it from a guy in Salt Lake who was renovating an office building, and this black granite was a single piece 30 plus feet tall from a fountain in Orem, Utah.  I am excited to put it in the cabin.  It's absolutely beautiful.  It is black with grey streaks running through it.  I think we have more than we need!

When we drive to the cabin, the trip usually takes us about 3.5 hours.  We typically make a stop in Scipio, Utah, which is about an hour and a half from our house in Provo.  At that rest stop, there is a gas station, and convenience store, and a tire shop and a Dairy Queen.  What is so funny, is that the Dairy Queen has the most interesting hours.  If it's the middle of the day, and the owners feel like going fishing, the store is closed...  And, there is even a sign that says something to the effect that they are not sure about the hours - but, if the store is open, you can come in, and if it's not, you can't... very strange...  But, I guess it works for them..  Last night, on the way home, Jim stopped in Fillmore, Utah, which is about 1.5 hours from the cabin.  All the signs at the Burger King in Fillmore exit 163,  say that their hours are until 10 at night... and sometimes, it's been a close call for us... giggle.  So, Jim pulled into the drive thru, and they are about to close, and it's 8:00.  He pulls up to the drive through, and they say they can't take credit cards at the drive thru because the machines are uploading new software...  He thinks to himself, "Ok, I'll go inside".. he goes in the Burger King, and is told that they can't take a card inside the store either... only cash... He reaches in his pocket and pulls out a $5.00 bill.. orders a Whopper...tells her to keep the change..(which was .03) scrounges around for some change to get a drink..  comes up with $1.50 and, I think the girl behind the counter just felt sorry for him, because she gave him a drink cup, and didn't charge him... Giggle..  Maybe, when we become "locals", we'll understand the closing policy in these stores... but, for the life of me, I can't figure it out now... Giggle.

Well, while Jim was working on the cabin, I was working a little more on my glass.  Really had a problem with a couple of pieces - they just didn't want to co-operate... So, I didn't get as far along as I wanted, but, did make a little progress.

As before, the adventure continues.

Jim and Cheri

Sorry, it's a little too rustic for me...

Another week has come and gone, and, the weekends are our time to do some work on the cabin... Only, this cowgirl didn't make the trek this weekend...  The cabin is beautiful and we now have a little bedroom and a little kitchen and all set up.. BUT, there is no running water...  that means...well, let's just say the bathroom in the RV is still under construction, and I can't pee off the deck.. nuff said.

Jim left on Friday afternoon, while I was still at work, and he took my van down.  I was left with his pick up and I must say, she's a big girl... and, when you drive that beast, you are head and shoulders above everybody else...  My van gets better gas mileage, and Jim wasn't hauling a trailer, so it made sense to switch vehicles.  He made it to the cabin about 6 or so, and I was busy, busy, busy at that time...  getting my nails done... so, it all worked our perfectly.  Jim got to the cabin and sent me a picture of what my van looked like...  um... a little more dirt than I'm used to...  sad face...

It was when Jim went to bed that we realized that I forgot to send pillows with him, so he was pillowless for two nights.  He thought he would use one of the cushions from the couch, but, found that they were too big, so he rolled up a blanket - no bueno.... So, he said that he had two nights of miserable sleep, but, I personally think that it was because he wasn't next to me.. just sayin'...

Saturday morning, Jim got up and was eating his breakfast on the deck, and a little chipmunk came up to check out the scenery...  This is the first time that we have seen squirrels or chipmunks up on the deck, but, Jim said it was really nice... Jim said that a little hummingbird also came into the cabin to check the place out...  flew around for a little bit, and then left.  This past weekend, Jim saw  a deer right close to the sliding doors downstairs, and chipmunks, and lizards - so, they all came out to keep him company.

The tyvek work is now completed and Jim has called this morning for an inspection from Kane County.  Justin has done a fantastic job and we are thrilled.  Not sure I'd like to be up there.

..just looking at the pictures about makes me barf...  no way in hell I am getting up on that roof... no. freakin'. way....

The deck is also coming along beautifully...  we have the ballusters, but Jim needs to drill holes in them... when there is a plethora of ballusters to be drilled, Jim is going to do it on his CNC mill at home so they're all uniform- and, this will be happening this week!

As Jim was about to come back home Sunday afternoon, this is what he noticed...  He had a spare and got it changed out, but it was a little low, so he had to drive into Panguitch to find an air station... Found one, but ahead of him was a woman who was trying to figure out how to put air into her tires...  Jim, being the nice guy, offered to help.. He got air in one of her tires, and while he was doing that, she walked into the store... then, came out, got into her car and drove off... no thank you, no appreciation, it's like it was expected or something.  I told Jim that this is why people get to the point that they don't want to help others any longer... the level of non appreciation was just too high.

 Um...  I think there's some beast out at the cabin that continually flattens our tires... grrrrr..

When I don't go to the cabin, Jim works really hard to make some change that will totally blow me away... and. this week, he installed an outside light, the light in the kitchen,

and one of our vintage Art Deco switch-plates at the front door...

 I am so excited.  We picked out the outside lights several months ago, and it's exciting to see them go up...!  Jim started working on the wiring - we're one step closer to finishing off this project...

The stair building project is coming along nicely.... first flight is complete.  Jim's proud of himself and it shows.  Giggle.

When Jim was closing up the cabin before coming home, he noticed that a little bird had come through the French doors... and, wasn't particularly interested in leaving... Jim was a little concerned because, if you remember, we had a dead woodpecker in the cabin just a couple of weeks ago.  This little mouse with feathers had landed on top of the dishwasher, that's currently stored in the living-room, while Jim was up the ladder in the loft...  Jim had a talk with it, made sure it could fly out, but, the bird was just checking out the place...  Back on the main level, he finally walked up to it, and caught it with his two hands very gently and then released it outside...  must have been a girl bird, and she was a little enamored with my Jim...  Chicks are always going after my husband when I'm not there!!!  Or it had been in there all afternoon and was exhausted, de-hydrated, or just over-whelmed with getting out of there.  After being thrown up in the air it flew away post haste.

While Jim was at the cabin working his little guts out, I wasn't at home watching TV and eating bonbons... nope.. I was working on the 2nd glass project.. I have been super stalled over the last couple of months, trying desperately to get out of this depressive funk that I've been feeling... So, I finally made the decision that at a certain time, I would just start.. and I did...

Doesn't look like much right now, but, it's a start... and, I feel good about it.. Jim thinks that I just needed a little time to myself to get started...  Love that man.

The adventure continues.  Jim and Cheri