... Making Amazing Progress!

Lowell and Jim made it down to the cabin again this weekend, and the work is moving forward so fast!  They go down about every other weekend and at the end of each weekend, Jim sends pictures to me, and the change is always amazing.

The rough-hewn timber frame construction is now complete and it's done in an industrial construction look.... it matches the black brackets that we used for the stair treads, and the corbels will match the design.  The railings on the deck and staircases and balcony will also be wrought iron.  Jim is going to be making the corbels himself and will be picking up the last pieces for this project in LA this week.

Jim says that he will be able to put the corbels together really quickly when he gets home.

The boys went to dinner on Saturday night in Hatch, Utah because Panguitch had the balloon races and it was crazy busy.. They went to the Outlaw Saloon - we like this place.. When it's not COVID season, they have this huge grill and you can cook your own steak.... but, that wasn't offered... Lately, whenever we go out to dinner, I ask the server to surprise me with the beverage...  And, Jim tried this on Saturday night... he told the server he really wanted something really tall and really cold and really sweet... And this is what he got... I think there was something lost in translation... This was sarsaparilla and who knows what, with a kid's sucker stuck in it... Jim said it was cold, and was just weird.  Jim told the server that this really was a girlie drink, and her reply was, "I'm a girl"... Um... weird.  Jim said that he doesn't think he would order this again.... ever.

The main floor bathroom cabinet got taken out of the box, assembled and put into the bathroom....  I like it... Still can't remember what granite we got for it... That information will probably come to light in the next couple of weeks.  Might be black, might be brown, might be cream coloured... can't remember...  Giggle.

Here's an updated view of the great room... I love how it's looking.

And, last but not least... Jim had a little booboo on Sunday afternoon... He and Lowell were taking a little break from all the work, and decided to take the four wheelers out and look for new trails... not quite sure how it happened, but Jim's four wheeler tipped, and he twisted his ankle and his knee, and ended up in the emergency room... Jim was wearing steel toed shoes, so, they protected a little of his foot... He says the ankle doesn't really hurt, but the knee sure does...  He sent this picture from the emergency room....... I think it's time for a side by side instead of a four wheeler...  Update:  The doctor at the hospital said his ankle is just really bruised.. nothing broken, but they think he tore the meniscus in his knee and are referring him to an orthopedic  guy in Provo...

Well, now that you've seen Jim's feet and the cabin, I guess you really realize, it's an amazing adventure...

Jim and Cheri

..it was a slow week, BUT.....

It  was a really slow week, but that doesn't stop us from doing stuff!!

First of all, I have to admit that I bought another bathroom sink... it's going to be difficult to choose what sink I want to install in which bathroom, but this one was REALLY pretty, so I just had to buy it...  I told Jim that I think this one is going to go into the bathroom downstairs... It's a little smaller than the ones going upstairs - I think the texturing in the glass is amazing....

Jim called me at work a couple of days ago and told me he had a surprise for me...  I got home, and he had bought me a mantle clock.. I think it's going to look absolutely amazing on the mantle in the great room.... It's kind of old timey, and interesting all in one.

Jim and Lowell took another load of block down to the cabin... These are the top layer blocks and apparently weight considerably less than the blocks that go down below... Jim is talking about hiring and 18 wheeler to take a plethora of block down, instead of just a few at a time.  I think it's a great idea!

On Sunday, we met with the HVAC guy who is going to map out what kind of furnace we need and where the lines are going to go in the cabin.  This will be the last part of the four way.  We were really impressed with this guy - seems to know his stuff, and is willing to work with us to get the furnace installed.  Being that we are 3.5 hours away, it has been difficult to find contractors and sub contractors to work.  Jim has another meeting with him at 5 today...

The work goes forward... Nobody want to the cabin this week, so we were left to do work behind the scenes... so, it's a slow news week!

The adventure continues.. slowly.... Love, Jim and Cheri

..just a little rock concert!

...been feeling a little low the past couple of weeks, but our adventure last Saturday, really lifted my spirits.... I really love rocks, and Jim took me to a guy selling... rocks!  It was amazing... and, I bought about 50 pieces of rock for one of my projects.  I am wanting to build an artsie kind of piece to hang in a wooded area of the cabin lot - kind of away from everything, with only a couple of benches, for someone to be alone and think and be inspired and whatever else... But, this piece is going to be made completely of slabs of rocks and the finished piece will be about 3' x 2'.... most of them  you can see through.. I am doing them in foil and then soldering them together.  Jim is going to build me a metal frame to go around it, when it's done.

If you look in the first picture, the piece in the middle has been copper foiled already.... all the pieces will be foiled....

Here's how the rocks will be put together and soldered... You can see the one little piece in the upper right hand side of the picture...

Jim also found some rock that he could use. The hearth is going to be done in a caramel rock, and I thought it might be nice to have some contrast. So, on Saturday, while I was digging through slabs, Jim was digging through buckets of rocks and he decided on some petrified wood. I think it will be really pretty with the two kinds of stone..

Here's what one of the cross section of petrified wood looks like. On the weekend, Jim and Lowell are going to the cabin, and I hope they take a picture of the rock we have beside this rock... It'll give a better of idea of what the final project is going to look like..

And, the rocks that he bought, kinda look like this... Jim is going to have to slice them before placing them in the hearth.

I did buy something interesting this week! It's a beverage rack... there are 4 pieces to this rack, and, in total, it will hold 66 bottles - and yes, it does hold 2 liter bottles. I thought the grandkids would have a blast picking out their own bottles of pop...

On Monday, I was walking into the backyard, with the cat, to go work in my garden a little bit, and there were a pair of quail sitting on the path... and, when Mokie startled them, the mom quail flew to the top of our roof, and the dad quail was charging the cat - who started hissing... Found out, they had about 10 little, tiny baby quail under them... Most of the little babies scattered, but a couple of them followed us into the garden... They were so tiny and camouflaged by the ground, that we were afraid that they were going to get stepped on and crushed... After a while, the parents gathered up their babies and left, but there were these two that stayed with us. We think the parents didn't realize they left a couple at the circus, so, Jim scooped them up and put them back where they were originally seen... I saw them up in a tree this morning... my goodness have they grown! It's like they're teenagers now!

I went back to the garden this morning to turn the sprinklers on (yes, Jim built me a sprinkler system for the garden - that's the nice thing about having an engineer for a husband...) and there were two robins and a chickadee looking bird, and a yellow bird all sitting on the sides of my grow boxes, taking a bath.. it really was lovely) I sent a humming bird feeder to the cabin with Jim and Lowell yesterday, because we have humming birds checking out the place... don't know if they installed it... But, I thought it might be nice to have breakfast on the deck, with little hummingbirds having breakfast with them... When I was at the cabin a couple of weeks ago, I was working on the deck, and I heard this loud buzzing by my ear.. thought it was some kind of bee or bug - nope, was a hummingbird.. just watching what I was doing... I was totally enthralled...

Jim called me on Saturday night, and told me that he and Lowell were going into town, and when they got there, he would send pictures.. he had a surprise.

About 20 minutes later, I got this picture! My acorn light got installed!!!

I saw this acorn light in Habitat for Humanity about a million years ago, and I loved it.... Jim wasn't completely sold on it at first...sometimes this happens, I see something and love it, and Jim, just isn't so sure about it...but, when this happens, I usually go back and buy it, and bring it home, and then he falls in love with it... yep, that's what happened... I talked to Rick, the manager of the store, and asked him to hold it for me in his office, and he did. A couple of days later, I went in and paid for it, and it sat in his office for weeks... and trust me, I mean many weeks.... I think they were a little sick of it sitting in the office. when I finally picked it up, Jim caught the vision, and he is the one who found the perfect place for it. (I felt a little bad when I went t pick it up.. Rick told me that his wife's maiden name was "Oakes" and he was going to buy it for her...Um... I felt a little guilty)...


I sent a picture of the light fixture to several people because I think it's amazingly beautiful, and everyone came back with a "beautiful" or "amazing", except one weirdo who said, "A giant illuminated acorn pinata? Awesome."

I told said "weirdo" he could have the first swing at this pinata... gonna be a pretty long bat or a hockey stick or whatever, to hit this baby... It's above the stairwell going to the loft... I think it is absolutely spectacular... Thank you to Rick McBride, formerly of Habitat, for working with me on this one.

Thank goodness Jim has Lowell working with him... So much is getting done, and so many ladders are being climbed!

And, I think, they got the hearth finished... I'm going to leave the verbiage to Jim on this one..

OK, this is the side of the staircase next to the hearth. We will rock everything that you see is grey in color. The rough hewn beams will peek through on the corners as well as the mantle. Should be pretty nice when we're done. Next comes the screening for the mortar to stick to. J.S.

One of the jobs Sunday was to raise the beam that's bolted to the front of the loft. It is a 3 X 12 rough hewn and must have weighed 300 lbs.

Once up they checked for level, they bolted it into place.

Three quarter inch bolts, counter-bored in on 2 inch flat washers look rather industrial looking but have a great look throughout the entire cabin. There's more to come!

Here's Lowell drilling 18 inch deep pilot holes to accept 3/4 inch diameter nails to hold the mantle in place. Lowell finished and exclaimed "That's not going to move now!".

 

Break time for a snack.

And, guess what?.... The electrics are going in!! This is a big step in getting the four way inspection completed... The four way is the major hurdle to complete and we are hoping it gets done this summer... The four way includes the structure, plumbing, electrical, and furnace/air conditioning.. we have the structure passed off and the plumbing, and on to the electrics!!! We have been working to get the furnace and duct work completed, but are having a little issue with contractors... I don't think our job is big enough to take interest in...So, we have started researching buying a furnace ourselves and doing all the work without a contractor... We have a small furnace already for the basement apartment, and are looking for a larger one to heat the upstairs... We have this idea, that just maybe, anyone staying in the little apartment in the basement will want heat.. go figure. After the four way is completed, we move on to the insulation and sheet-rock... this cowgirl is stoked!  How many plug outlets are in the typical home?

Before Jim and Lowell go to the cabin each week, they always stop at the grocery store in Panguitch and buy supplies, like snacks and fruit... little bits and pieces to get them through the next couple of days. On Saturday morning, they purchased some bananas. They left them out over Saturday night. When they got up this morning, there were little chew marks on the banana, and they immediately figured we had mice. We have worked really hard to keep mices out of the cabin..... they started working, and from under the couch ran... a chipmunk... Apparently, the men were interrupting the little guy's breakfast! Go figure..

As always, the adventure continues.

Love, Jim and Cheri

.... deck... hearth... and one little booboo!

Again, don't know where to begin... everything is moving along so quickly - it's exciting!

To start out with, let's talk a little bit about the booboo... Last year, we had a little booboo with the truck and the trailer...and, the truck ended up with a little dent that only Wylie Coyote could appreciate...  Giggle...  At Christmastime, I bought Jim the Wylie Coyote decal for that little booboo, and I think it looks amazing.

  

This past weekend, the truck endured a 2nd booboo.  Jim came home and said that the truck got a little smushed and I'm still not sure what happened..  Something about Jim backing up and hitting a tree or something... not sure.. But, it doesn't look like a Wylie Coyote moment.. Maybe, it's a Moose and Squirrel situation.  I'll have to investigate more.

One of the first projects I really wanted completed this weekend was the groundwork for the hearth.  It takes a little bit of doing and Lowell was just the guy to accomplish this task.  Jim told me that after they cleared everything stored on the hearth, they had to put down a layer of fireboard and then some kind of wire mesh so that the rock will stick to it.  So, here's Lowell, putting down the fireboard.

 ..and, poof.. it's done... must have been easy...  giggle.

The next step is putting the mesh down, and then placing the rock on the hearth and up the wall and then cement it in... I think the placing the rock so that they all fit together is going to be my job, and I am totally excited.  We have that caramel coloured quartz for that project.. Jim has been cutting the rock little by little and I think, at this point, we have enough to start this job.

 The hearth job was worked on  in the afternoons when it was too hot to work outside.. BUT, in the morning, Jim and Lowell worked on finishing the overhang for the covered deck. 

 

 

Lowell had to get onto the roof via the bucket truck - he said it was an exhilarating experience.... adrenaline filled.  That's not quite what I would call it.. and, in actuality, there is no way in hell I would be up on that roof... not happening... ever.

Doesn't seem that he minds it too much...I guess in 2 weeks, Jim'll get him back up on the roof some more... It just looks mighty hot up there....

And, below, is a picture of how the cabin looks at this point...  I've had several people ask what stage it's at now, so here ya go... I think she's a beauty... I've told Jim that I want an arbor/trellis at the beginning part of the bridge, and a corresponding trellis at the top of the stairs going down to the Jacuzzi area...  And where exactly is that at, you ask?  If you look at the little bridge, the first arbor will be at that first step, and if you look to the let where the bottom of the ladder is... that's where the stairs going down to the Jacuzzi will be, and I would like a trellis right there...  Jim just kind of looks at me with that, "Seriously, Cheri" look on his face, so I am confident it will happen and look amazing... because he loves me!  Giggle..  (Jim told me a little funny the other day.. he said the meme went as follows, "My wife said she wants a kitten, but, I'm the man of the house, so we got a kitten"...  Made me laugh... Hopefully, this is how it's going to be with my trellis').

So, that's the news for this week... didn't really buy anything cool for the cabin, BUT, did make some amazing progress...

 The adventure continues...

Jim and Cheri