...On Our Way...

I think this fortune cookie has Jim's cabin building theme on it...  He sees what could be, I see a place with no running water...  But, I'm hopeful for the near future.

This past weekend was the first time since we've been snowed out that we've been able to get up the hills to the cabin.. Usually, it's been packed with snow, and then a couple of weeks of mud, and we just can't make it - even with 4 wheel drive.  So, here we go!

Last Saturday night we were there, I looked up and there was this ink black sky, full of stars.. Jim and I just kind of stood there and took in the feeling and the amazing sight.  When Jim sent me this picture, it took me back to those brief moments.

The big push that we have this summer, is to get the last of the four way building inspections completed.. BUT, this Nana wants the water brought from the street to the cabin and then a toilet, hot water, a bathtub and a sink hooked up....  We are longing to take a shower in the morning, and not having to drive 10 miles away to the bathroom when the urge hits!  Did I really type the word "urge"?  

One of the first things we did last weekend...  I don't know if there is a proper name for this thing, but I call it, "the square thing under the floor that hooks the drain to the tub"...  Jim knows what I'm talking about.  I didn't even know it was there, but magically it appeared... down in the basement with a few hits from a sledge hammer to break through the concrete, it appeared!  Jim thought it was going to be a little more difficult, but it broke thru quite nicely.  Jim knew it was there and a few whacks later. . . there's a place to hook up a bathtub.

The little round thing at the top right of this next picture is where the tub connects...  Nope, didn't know it was there...  Now all we need is a "P" trap!  And, I thought it was a "pee" trap...

 

Jim uncovered the whole thing, and built the inside walls around the bathroom so that we can insulate and actually build a little bathroom.  We decided to complete the first bathroom in the basement because...  I don't know why.. it just made sense...  Jim's says it will be easier to winterize the drains from there and not two floors up in the fall. I personally don't care where it goes in... as long as the water goes to it, and the commode flushes... If you haven't figured it out before, I would make a really bad contractor...

The bathtub has been resting in the great room upstairs, but, it now has made it's permanent home in the basement.  

And... here she is...  and, she's beautiful!!!  We realized that we didn't have the faucets, etc. for the bathtub/shower and sink, so, that was a purchase for this next week.  So, freakin' excited!

Jim was outside, and saw these footprints... Does anybody have any clue what beast made these footprints?  We have absolutely no clue... might be Sasquatch for all I know... Three toes, and no claw marks?  Not a deer, or a mountain lion?

It was about 20 years ago, I bought this granite tile to put into Brianne's bathroom, in a house me and the ex were building on the south bench in Provo... the bathroom was never finished, but I kept the granite because they were so pretty... It's kind of a peach/pink/grey/white mix and I remember going into the store and hand picking each piece to make sure it was exactly what I wanted.  Well, flash forward, and we are going to use this flooring in the basement bathroom. We did the math, and we have enough with a little to spare.  Each square is 20" square.  Jim wants to use one for a soap holder in the shower.  On the floor, I was trying to figure out if I wanted the grain to be going all the same direction or have every other of them going 90 degrees opposite... that's why the square on the bottom left is going the wrong direction... But, I think I'm going to lay them all the same direction... I just think it looks cool.

I love the parts where you can see that, at some point, the formation shifted, and it left a pattern... it kinda looks like there is a crack in the granite...  There's a story here, I am sure.

We met with the water company guy who is going to dig the trench for the water line from the street, on Sunday.  apparently we aren't allowed to do that.  The sub-contractor that they usually had do the work, unexpectedly quit on them, so they are kind of in a scrambling mode right now.  But, we're all going to deal with it.  Exactly the spot where we put the retaining wall blocks for our retaining wall around the jacuzzi area, is exactly where the water lines are supposed to come in from across the road, so we have a little job moving the block to do before the water line digging can begin...  We're thinking about 30 days out...

And, Sunday afternoon, the guy that we wanted to hire to build the rest of the deck, showed up.. gave us some great ideas on how it should be built.  He can't get to the wood work on the deck until October or so, BUT, he can do the footing/foundation work now.  This really isn't an issue because, Jim and I can do the wood structure.. it's the foundation that we can't do....  At some point, we are going to have to cut down a couple of trees to fit the deck, but, that's all in the future.

And, every time we leave the cabin for an extended period of time, we come back to some little varmit who got into the house, and couldn't get out... There is absolutely no food or water, so, they don't last long, poor things.  This year, it was two chipmunks that came to their demise... one upstairs and one downstairs... They must have been star crossed lovers that wanted to have a little bit of privacy... I hope they had a bit of fun.

Anyways, that's our news for this episode.  It was such a beautiful weekend.. a little cool in the evenings, but the days were beautiful.

... was an amazing weekend, and as usual, the adventure continues..

Love, Jim and Cheri