Moose and more....

Have you ever had an experience, that when it was all over, you said to yourself, "I will never forget this for the rest of my life"? Well, Jim had one of these experiences, and, I'm sure, he will NEVER forget it...

Wednesday morning, Jim send me a little picture of a cast iron antique doorstop - moose and two little otters.  It was really cute, and considering some of the moose pieces I've seen and the fact that we need doorstops on all the exterior doors, this was above and beyond amazing.  I contacted the seller, paid for the piece with VENMO and was going to pick it up after work in American Fork.  Jim called me about 4:00 pm and said that he was heading up north, and he would pick up the piece.  I gave him the address that the seller gave me, and away he went.

About 20 minutes later, Jim calls and says that he thinks I gave him the wrong address because, it's definitely not the right house.  I double check the address, and he double checks the address and finds that the GPS changes the North designation to South for some odd reason.  Then, he recounts what happened.  He said he pulled up to the house and went to the side of the house, where we were told the piece was going to be, and it wasn't.... we're social distancing here still, so this was supposed to be a non contact pick up..  Unable to get to the piece, he knocks on the door, and a little old man comes to the door, stark naked... and I mean, completely...  Jim is trying to keep his cool, and divert his eyes, asks the man if he's at the right house to pick up the moose doorstop, and the man apparently doesn't have any idea what is going on... Jim is still in complete shock.. the man wants to be friendly and talk, Jim doesn't.. and the man must be lonely or - no shame  - no hurry to get back in the house....  Jim gets back in his truck and calls me... I am laughing hysterically.. and, Jim says to me, "Are you laughing at me"?  I tell him I'm not, but actually am to the point I'm all but crying...  So funny....Thus, an experience he will NEVER forget...

You have to admit, the little otters are super cute... 

I think after this story, the rest of this blog is going to be boring..

We drove to Coalville on Thursday evening to pick up another load of brick for the patio...  I swear, those bricks are getting heavier and heavier all the time.  I had the job of picking up the brick and heaving them over the fence - Jim's job was to pick them up walk to the trailer and put them in...  After 75 bricks, I thought I was going to die, but, I wanted to fill the trailer, so we were going for 50 more.. which ended up to be 65 more...The patio is going to look really pretty, but, oh my... the the ground sure is a long way down...

Here's the pile of bricks... and, the fence said bricks had to be pitched over....

And, here's the bricks as they were pitched on the ground on the other side of the fence....

And, finally, all pretty and lined up in the trailer... They remind me of cobblestone roads in England...  I think I need to take another vacation to England, to really check out the roads... and, then then, maybe, a quick trip back to France.. What 'cha think, Jim...?  Crickets chirping. . . .

Funny thing happen on the way home from Coalville.  The day before Jim thought he heard the front brakes squeaking on his truck so he changed out the brake pads thinking it would solve the problem.  When we set off for Coalville we could still hear the squeaking.  Turns out the noise was coming from the rear.  Once we loaded up the brick, we left Coalville about 9:00 pm for home, and drove into Heber.  When we got to Heber, we decided that because we hadn't had dinner, we would hit the Wendy's drive through and get a burger.. As we were driving into the Wendy's parking lot, Jim hit the brakes and his foot went to the floor...  not good... lost our rear brakes..  We still had front brakes, but we were about to go through the canyon.. for about 25 miles - up hills and down hills.. and, if we made it through the canyon and didn't end up in the lake, we'd have to make it through several stop lights in Provo... Was really a nail biting experience.  Jim was really, really solemn, so I decided to just talk to try and ease the tension... and, I'm blabbing on about some stupid murder series I was watching on TV the night before.. I don't think it helped Jim too much, but, it kept me reasonably calm... plus, it was dark and I couldn't see the edge of the drop off... hmmm...  We drove real slow and made it through the canyon just fine, and actually hit all the green lights going through Provo.... We had Lowell on speed dial - figured if we didn't make it home and call him within an hour, he could call someone to fish us out of the lake... and, if everything absolutely failed and we couldn't drive, he'd come pick us up.. But, we didn't even need to call him...  When we got home, Jim made a comment about me "blathering on"...  I got nothing further to say about that statement... giggle...  Needless to say, the back brakes got fixed today, and we'll be off to the cabin tomorrow morning...  gotta unload the brick...

We got a late start on Saturday - still had a little work bleeding the brakes to complete before we headed out... we had a nice drive, even though I did fall asleep for most of the drive...  Poor Jim - I'm like a little kid - I get in the truck and promptly fall asleep, and Jim has to drive all the way and doesn't even have a chance to hear my melodic voice... uhuh...

We got to Panguitch, and checked into the Quality Inn...  With no running water at the cabin, I'm still not a fan of spending the night there without a bathroom...  Here's our welcoming committee....

I'm not quite sure what this little beast is - but, I know for a fact, it's not a opossum or a chipmunk.  Jim thought it was a prairie dog, but, I am not sure what they look like.

We made it to the cabin before dark, dropped off the trailer and just had a few moments to chill before heading off to dinner at the Big Fish restaurant... just a nice, homey kind of restaurant..  kinda nice and low key.  Got to the hotel and had a solid night's sleep... I don't usually sleep very well away from home, but I must have been tired enough to fall asleep quickly.  I have been suffering with an ear ache and sinus infection for about a month now, so having a little sleep is amazing.

On the way out of the hotel in the morning, we had a "farewell party"... it's so nice to be loved and appreciated by the locals...

These little beasts aren't afraid of anything... Cars and trucks pull up right beside them, and they aren't phased...

It was overcast and a little rainy at the cabin, so we did more work inside than out... and, probably more sitting around and just talking and listening to the rain on the roof... I told Jim that I thought that when Lowell goes to the cabin with Jim for the weekend, they get all kinds of work completed.  When I go, it's more of a relaxing time... And, it was kind of rainy, so, we just sat and relaxed...  this was the view outside.

..and this was the sight inside the cabin.  Those legs are so white!

There were a whole lot of things we wanted to get completed this weekend... some of them got started, others didn't even get attempted (it actually was my jobs that didn't get started)... But, Jim did really well in his list of jobs... one of them was to put the wire mesh over part of the hearth so that the rock can start to be cemented in...  Here's the beginning of the project...

 

Thank goodness for power tools!!

And, another job Jim wanted to get done was put more outlets in the mainfloor bedroom... The whole job didn't get completed, but, he did get two more outlets wired in!

Sooooo pretty!

My jobs were to unload the brick out of the trailer, and clean out the RV so we can get it off the property... Well, the brick didn't get unloaded and we left the trailer on site, BUT, the RV did get cleaned out... with Jim's help....  it's time for Beluga to find a new home.

So, that's about it for this week... small accomplishments, lots of fun, lots of relaxing..and, another amazing adventure..

Love, Jim and Cheri

..the difference between the men and the boys.....

 The old saying goes, "The difference between the men and boys, are the size of their toys..." or, "Everything I learned in kindergarten, I used today..." came into play this weekend, as an 18 wheeler flatbed truck of blocks was delivered, and the two boys played with them for several hours...

These blocks are to be used for the retaining wall - 30 were delivered on Saturday, and we need two more loads... They are coming from Salt Lake - and, all I can say is, I wouldn't want to be the trucker hauling this load... 

Here comes the truck roaring up the hill...

Prepping the storage area for the 4' x 2' x 2' blocks

...Lowell connected up the blocks on the trailer, while Jim lifted them up with the backhoe and placed them onsite...  Even with everybody working together, it took 2.5 hours to unload the 30 blocks.

 

..and here's the pile of blocks these boys were playing with.. Lowell said his thighs were sore Sunday morning...  personally, I would have bagged working the next day, and just come home...  Jim said he sat down on the couch Saturday night and fell asleep pretty early...  Lowell turned off the TV and left him asleep on the couch...

The blocks will need to be put into place.. at a later date.

The boys standing in their play area... or, should I say, MEN?

After working like crazy on Saturday, and totally wearing themselves out, Jim and Lowell worked on putting the rest of the can lights up in the great room... First of all, they had to move the scaffolding from the one side of the room to the other side of the room... and install the cans, connect the wiring, add the light bulbs and then turn the lights on!!..

Lights On

and off...

and, a view from the loft... I love it...  gets more and more exciting every time.

And, do you remember the family of quail that were in the backyard a month or so ago.. well, they're all grown up, and living in the front yard now!!

In my attempt to stock the cabin with all things good and wonderful and tasty... I decided to buy a bread maker, because the thought of fresh baked bread first thing in the morning, with home made jam, puts me over the edge.... This, in my mind would be the ultimate.  I already have a jam maker (and Coy and I have made strawberry and peach jam here at the house in Provo), so I don't have to buy one of those... But, getting little kids to make some homemade butter for said bread and jam, might be a fun activity!

And, again, on this quest, I thought the kids might enjoy some cotton candy - as if kids don't have enough energy, I thought a little sugar might help them along...  giggle.. 

I was talking to Melody two weeks ago, and she stated that she makes her own yogurt at home.. less sugar, fresh fruit, and I thought that getting a yogurt machine would be a great idea... 

And, these are usually used for making pierogies, BUT, I thought making hand held apple or cherry pies, might be wonderful to eat late in the evening... Again, it's a sugar issue... or maybe it's a pie issue.. I really don't know.. just thought it would be fun..

And, like every family in the world, we lost the cabin's channel changer for the TV...  Jim called me and asked me where it might be.. I didn't know... the kids had it...  giggle.. So, I called Melody - she didn't know... So, we figured it would show up sooner or later... Jim and Lowell checked under the cushions, and under this and that... couldn't find it... Later in the day, after they had given up hope, it was found, on the tool table buried under tools... giggle... Just proves we are a normal family...

Brianne said something this past week that totally warmed my heart... She was writing on Facebook about what to do on the weekend and stated that she wanted to go to the family cabin, but changed her mind... What's this family cabin?  Made me smile... this is exactly what we wanted - a place for family.  She's caught the spirit...

I was asked today when the cabin is going to be done... don't know for sure... hoping to have the four way done by the end of this season, and we'll figure the rest out next year!

The adventure continues...

Love, Jim and  Cheri