..still moving forward.... in a wet sort of way . . .

 Along with building, we are also moving  things, little by little, from the house in Provo, to the cabin in Bryce Canyon... This weekend, it was the headboard from our spare room.  Jim said he was sick of his pillows, (and let me re-iterate, there are now 6 pillows on the bed)... falling behind the bed... So, hopefully, the headboard stops that issue.  I think the headboard looks so pretty in this room.

And, we also got a headboard for the queen sized bed up in the loft.... little things like this, make the cabin feel a little more homey...  The headboard is pretty plain, but I like it...

The main floor shower that was "yellow boarded" last week, was covered in red guard this week... I don't know much about this, but Jim says that this stuff makes sure that water doesn't leak through the seams...  There's a mesh stuff underneath the red stuff, and then the process is repeated... But, you don't repeat and wash....  (ok, that was like a dad joke there... lame...) but, there are several layers of the red guard and the mesh... and again, you let it dry...  It doesn't look too pretty, but it's going to be all covered with the tile, so, we're good.

The inspection from Kane County is tomorrow (Monday), so, I'll have to let you know how it goes in the next blog..  Apparently, we fill the bottom of the shower with water, and then let it sit for a while and the inspector hangs around to see if it leaks out... If the water level remains up the whole time, we pass.. if not, we start again...

UPDATE!  Needless to say, the inspection on the shower failed....  Jim put less than the required amount of water into the bottom of the shower, and within 2 minutes, it ran out onto the floor, into the bedroom, into the kitchen and flooded out the bathtub in the basement... sigh... "Into every life a little rain must fall..."  Jim called the contractor and he's waiting for the guy to call him back...  

Update:   The contractor is coming back to fix the problem with the shower on Saturday... Jim also talked to Kane County inspection department... Jim was going to make an appointment for them to come back, but they suggested we get the problem fixed, fill it with water, and if it doesn't leak, to call them and make the appointment.  The inspector also said that a whole lot of these showers fail inspection - so, I guess we're not alone.  We don't know where it is leaking from, but, from the pictures, you can tell, it really is!

And, I found out today, that the construction industry is not making green board for bathrooms any longer.. it's all being transitioned over to yellow board... Apparently, they have a better alternative to green board...  Still, it's all gyprock  in my brain...

Jim has been working like crazy to get the area for the Jacuzzi dug out and ready for delivery.  This next weekend, we are planning on putting in the retaining walls around "Galt's Gulch" - that's the space right next to the cabin.  It's going to be a huge and difficult job... But, the retaining wall has to go in before we can put in the bricks that we have been collecting for years.

This is where the jacuzzi is going to go...  Jim had to take out one more tree this weekend, but it was in really bad shape - half of it was dead, so he did not transplant it... But, the tree that we transplanted last week, seems to be doing well.

Below, is where the retaining wall is going and the bricks..

And, on Friday night we went to the store to pick up the tile for the failed bathroom, and Jim had some plumbing questions for the guy working there....  As I was hanging around, I saw these Allen & Roth faucets... there were 5 of them on an endcap but there were no prices on any of them... So, we took it to customer service, and we were told that they were discontinued, and they gave us 30% off the price... We were stoked.  This is going into the downstairs kitchen... We have a couple of other Allen & Roth pieces in the cabin - primarily cabinets for bathrooms... they're really pretty...

And, in my travels over the weekend, I found this clock... something about it appealed to me..I didn't know how Jim was going to feel about it.. But, when he got home on Monday night, I showed him, and he really likes it.  I am thinking that I am going to put this into the mainfloor bathroom...  I really have this issue with always knowing what time it is... and, this will add to the collection.

And, I bought a walking stick for this cutie face..  I believe it was hand made, and I like the eagle on the top of it the most.  Jim agreed with me - it's his kind of item...  If you didn't notice, Jim is smiling in this picture... or, at least, as he says, he's smiling on the inside...  Giggle..  (this guy truly and totally makes me smile... and, after all these year, I still love him something stupid...)

Jim is a little depressed over the shower situation, but the adventure continues and we're moving forward.  We'll get it fixed.  

Jim and Cheri

LOTS AND LOTS OF STUFF HAPPENING!

 We are so moving forward on so many levels!  The big announcement this week is that the main level bathroom is in the process of being finished.  The toilet went in a week or so ago, and this past weekend, the shower stall was started.  It's not finished yet because we have to have an inspection by the Kane County Building Permits people, but that is scheduled for this coming Monday.  After that, we can have the tile installed!  I picked out the tile this past week... actually, I went through three different styles, until I found one that I LOVED instead of just liked.  Thank goodness Jim puts up with this lady changing her mind on a regular basis...  But, we found it, loved it, and started to buy quantities!  When I went to buy the horizontal accent tile, I found out that it is being discontinued, and we had to go to two different stores to get enough.. But, we got it, and now, it's a waiting game for the inspection.

So, here it is!  The small crisscross looking pieces are the middle horizontal accent section at shoulder height.. and the tile piece above it in the picture will go everywhere else in the bathroom area... including the shower ceiling... I really like the two together.  I really love that there is that orange colour, similar to Bryce Canyon.. It's warm and looks amazing.

AND, this is the 2nd set of tile that we picked out... I liked it, but, I didn't LOVE it... and, I really wanted to LOVE it...

I had absolutely no clue how this happens, but Jim did...  Actually, under this cement is this rubber membrane that runs up the walls about a foot... I have absolutely no idea what it's for, but, it's there, and then it's covered with concrete about 2 inches thick.  There's a special drain that goes together to seal everything.

And before you put up the walls, part of the process is to insulate....

..and then cover it in "Yellow Board"...

...and, that's the special sheet rock that goes in bathrooms in America... I thought there was just regular sheetrock and then greenboard for bathrooms, but I learned that there is yellow board...it's used when you have tile to go on the walls.. It's a concrete based wall board and there's a finish on the one side that has a texture to it, that the tiles sticks to..  Very cool.. I had absolutely no idea.  (And, I'm doing really well writing this part of the blog)...  I usually call sheetrock, Gyprock... I think it's a Canadian trademarked term...I just remember my Dad purchasing Gyprock when we were building our house in Brampton...  I keep calling it Gyprock, and thank goodness Jim is Canadian also - he understands me, most of the time.... See, it's yellow!

One thing that I figured out from sleeping in the cabin, is that I don't sleep very well without a little bit of noise around...  It's so freakin' quiet, that I can't sleep... I know that sounds a little weird, but, it's really true.  So, my sweetheart installed a ceiling fan to make a little noise and, magically, I can sleep.  Without the sound of the ceiling fan,  I was hearing every creak all night long and it was keeping me awake...  I am so used to Provo noise from trees moving outside our bedroom window, to fire trucks and just "sounds" that makes the incredible silence deafening.  Jim says that he loves it, and sleeps like a rock... Me, on the otherhand... not so much..

Ok, isn't this about the cutest set of fan blades ever?  I love them...

One of the creatures that is really, really in abundance at the cabin is birds.. apart from the dead ones that seem to appear on my great room floor on a regular basis, there are lots and lots of bluejays, and woodpeckers, red tailed hawks, and squirrels who identify as birds... I am sure they think they are birds, because they raid the bird feeders on a regular basis...  But getting back on subject, I bought a couple of humming bird feeders, and amazingly, a whole swarm of different kinds of humming birds showed up in one day.. They must talk among themselves.  And, there's some snarky red ones that chase all the other humming birds away...  Every once in a while, the other humming birds get a turn at the feeder and it's amazing to watch...  I had to take about 20 pictures of these guys to get a good shot of ONE... they move, like really fast!

We tried our hand at transplanting a tree this past weekend.  Between where the jacuzzi is going to go and the road, there is a patch with no trees.  We have tried to grow little saplings, but, they don't seem to survive.  I am told that with the high elevation, only certain trees will grow.  We have a whole lot of desert oak, and this one pictured below, is in the way of where the jacuzzi is going to get placed, so we moved it up the hill to cover in that space from peering eyes coming up the road.  We have more to go. . .

Here's Jim digging the hole for the transplanted tree's new home!

And, this shows the tree getting a ride in the bucket of the backhoe.  I don't think this tree expected a ride this weekend... But, I guess there's a first for everything.

...and, here's the new home.

It was a little scary for Jim to dig the tree out... it's on an angle next to the driveway and backhoes don't much like to work on angles.  I stood outside while Jim was digging because it looked like he was going to tip over.. I was having a freak.  I had my cell phone with me, with 911 dialed in ready to go... I figured that I would be ready if anything major happened... And, just as it got scary, my phone ran out of battery and turned off.. I was freaking...  But, thank goodness, everything worked out as planned, the backhoe didn't tip over, and the tree was transplanted.  We gave it a really good watering, and it's been raining a little bit this week, so I hope the roots will take hold and the tree will survive.

And, you know that little booboo we had with rain water coming through the basement wall?  Well, it got cleaned up this weekend...  I had to purchase a metal scraper to get all the mud broken up and scraped, and then Jim vacuumed the mess up...  I finally washed all the floor tile and wiped down the ones that were already installed, and it's looking better.  I didn't get a picture of the finished product, but trust me, it's nice and clean..

We have running water in the cabin, but no sinks hooked up yet.... so, this is how I washed the tiles that were covered in red dirt/mud!  One for washing, one for rinsing, and then I put them on a chair to dry in the sunshine.  And, if you notice, my washing stand is set up on the BBQ grill...  ingenious!

And, yes, I bought four more pillows...  They're a little on the fluffy side of life, BUT, they'll work... I told Jim that I needed to purchase a bed skirt, and he just looked at me with THE look, and the pursed lips...  I think he thinks I'm overdoing it...

With all that, the adventure continues...

Love, Jim and Cheri

...One More Bathroom!!!

I received the cutest little message from my son, Brad this past week.  He and his family recently moved to Alaska - sad grandma face inserted here...  But, he called and said that when he and the family got home the other night, they found a welcome party of three moose waiting for them.  I thought it was so cool just in itself, and then he said that he had sent me a picture.... And, this is the picture he sent - the three moose were the three rocking mooses that Jim had made years ago, for the grandkids.  Apparently, the shipping container with all their belongings showed up, and when they opened it, the three moose were waiting.  The kids were thrilled, and this grandma was thrilled also! (For each grandchild's 1st Christmas, Jim made a rocking moose...something about our and their Canadian heritage coming through here... only one moose has a name, and that's Ben's moose, and the moose's name is... Henry... Henry must weight about 75 pounds and is made of walnut wood... Even if you put all the mooses together, each grandchild seems to know exactly which moose is their moose...  smiles.)

...  we'll come back from Memory Lane now, and start with the cabin...  After one very uncomfortable night on the couch, we moved the Queen sized bed from the main floor up to the loft, and purchased a King sized bed for the main level bedroom.. Poor Jim had the job of moving the Queen bed upstairs, and it wasn't particularly pleasant.  

But, after persevering, and a few eye opening words, the job was completed, and the new bed in it's new home.

I bought this spread with the pillow shams and a small accent pillow to make it look "cabiny"... You know how I love mooses... and, I couldn't resist this...

But after one night with this particular spread and pillows, Jim and I came to the same conclusion that, I must have bought a Queen spread instead of a King because... JIM HOGS THE COVERS... and I spent a lot of the night with just a sheet over me...  Jim has this idea that he has to roll up in the covers like a burrito, which leaves one of us with no blankets...  BUT, the bed size is perfect and we won't be sleeping on the couch any longer.. unless one of us falls asleep while watching tv... seems this is the way it goes more often than not... (Jim insert, she hogs the pillows.  We had three and she needs a minimum of, you guessed it, THREE!)

I did have a spare spread in the cupboard, and I double checked, it is a King sized spread, so I switched the spreads out...  Jim told me that this week, we need to purchase more pillows (thank goodness he has finally seen the light on this one!!!)...  The pillows that were there, were a little on the weak side of life.  But, the spread now fits perfectly!

And, the big, big, big news for the week - the main floor toilet was installed!  Jim initially connected the commode and the bathtub in the basement - it was the logical choice due to proximity to where the water came into the cabin.. BUT, in the middle of the night, if you have to get up, you have to go down the stairs to the basement, and then walk you way through this maze of building materials to get to the bathroom...  wasn't working for this cowgirl... So, Jim said his first project for the weekend was to install the 2nd toilet on the main floor.. and he did, and it works...  Coy christened the 1st toilet, and I christened the 2nd toilet.. so, it's a done deal!

Look... water in the bowl!!  I was telling Brianne today that I feel that my life has been severely reduced... I now talk about installing toilets and using the toilet and how exciting that part of my life is... I seriously have no pride left...  Giggle.

A couple of weeks ago, my bathroom (her bathroom!) at the house in Provo, was out of bathroom tissue.  So, I asked Jim to bring me a package...  He came down with a package of about 20 rolls... Now, my bathroom is a really small bathroom..  But, he wanted to make sure that I don't run out any time soon...  There was absolutely no room to store 19 rolls...  so, I put the bag in the sink...  The next morning, I was getting ready for work, and opened the cabinet under the sink, and out fell.... 19 rolls of bathroom tissue...  So, in honour of all those rolls under my bathroom sink, I bought a 10 pack for the cabin and stored it under the sink to be...... (the grocery store didn't have a 20 pack..)

With all the wild fires in California, our air quality is in the gutter.  It's kind of weird, but the smoke layer doesn't smell like fire in the least... but, it sure is messing with seeing the mountains and it's actually covering up the sun...  So, here's the mountains and the sun at Bryce Canyon...

Being this was my first official weekend sleep over at the cabin, I decided to cook an amazing dinner.  But, we didn't have any pots and pans, so everything went on a very small BBQ grill.. But, it worked.   When I was at the store buying all the stuff, Jim wasn't quite sure what I was going for... 

But, when it was all done, he was thrilled...

..check out that cheeky smile...  He was thrilled... We had our little feast on the deck of the cabin, at sunset...  it was lovely...

This is something that I never noticed, until this weekend...  There are two shower heads in this shower stall...  And, they are on the ceiling...  And there are two sets of hot and cold valves... How cool is that!!

And, here's a 2nd little thing I didn't notice in this bathroom...  When I was building the window, I used more opaque pieces...  But, about halfway through the building process, I switched the glass on the leaves to a clearer type, that was a prettier colour...  The windows have been installed for a couple of years now, but this was the first time that I was on the deck, and the lights were on in the bedroom, across the hall from the bathroom... Jim was in the bedroom, and when I looked through the window, I could clearly see him... through the window...  um... so, when someone is in the shower, or in the bathroom, anyone on the deck can see into the bathroom... ya...  wasn't supposed to happen like that... so, I've got to think of a solution... Maybe a white shower curtain across the window when the shower is being used.

Because bathrooms are being finished, we put in the cabinets and started to pull out the sinks for the various bathrooms...  We realized that we have three glass sinks, and several porcelain sinks...  I  chose one particular sink for upstairs in the loft, but then it was decision making time between the other two glass sinks... I chose the one on the right for the main floor bathroom... And, we chose a white porcelain sink for the downstairs bathroom.  They are all sinks that are mounted above the counter..  I love them.

And, we are slowly but surely cleaning out all the stuff out of the storage building..  This week, we took out this trim wood and hand rails, and dropped it off at the cabin..  Little by little...

And, Jim worked a little bit on the siding, this past weekend...  It's been so hot outside, that working on siding and such is difficult... So, late afternoon, Sunday afternoon... a few more pieces went up, and it's looking beautiful.

It's not going to be forever, but the adventure continues. . . .

Jim & Cheri

..it's getting exciting!

 Lots of things are beginning to happen, and I am thrilled.  As I said last week, I won't believe anything until I see it.. and guess what... I see it!

To start off with, we were driving to the cabin, and Jim pointed out it has rained so much in the past weeks that the fields are so green and then I made a joke.  I said, "Those cows in the field are... underlie tickled"...  Kind of a Dad joke... groan... But, it made Jim laugh, so go with it!

About 2 minutes up the road, we came across cowboys - herding the cows.  I don't think I've seen anything like this in years, and it really was impressive.  This is a dad, or at least I'm assuming this is a dad, and his son.  Really was nice.  There are probably 100 or so cows in the field.

Jim and I both took Friday off work and had decided to drive to the cabin on the Thursday night.  It was going to be really late that we got into town and we got a hotel room.  The bed was super hard, in my opinion, but, the room was nice....  We slept in a little bit on Friday morning, so we kind of took our time getting to the cabin.  

The first thing that I do when I get there, is always check for some lifeform that is no longer a live form...   sort of like, mice or birds, or chipmunks - some of the other intruders that we have found.  I looked around and Jim looked around, and nope... no creatures... but, as I sat down on the couch, I saw this bird.. dead... behind my glass table.... seriously?  We still can't figure out where these birds are getting in.  We thought we had sealed everything up!!  Apparently, they know better than we do, and they aren't spilling the beans... I still don't know what kind of bird this is... but, she is really pretty... Maybe they come in during the day when we have the doors open?

(On Saturday night, we were downstairs, and there was this little flutter of black wings fly past my face...Jim and I both saw it, so I wasn't hallucinating... We looked around and couldn't find it afterwards.. I think it was a bat.... Jim thinks it was a moth... I'm almost afraid to go looking any further.)

Outside the first thing I noticed was that the trench to the front of the cabin is covered up, and only the plastic pipe and cable/wire was hanging out a bit.  Progress!  Jim had to do a little work on the water line - I think he said he had to get a crimper to crimp the buried line to the house pipe, and then it would be ready to bring the water into the bathroom downstairs...

Jim borrowed a crimper from a friend, and, we thought it was going to be a straight forward job to bring the line into the cabin.. BUT, no, he found that what he told would be a quick job, was a little more complicated... He was told that the buried pipe coming in from the road was a 3/4"... but, it was bigger than that.. So, we had to drive to Orderville which is about 25 minutes away, to get a one inch size fitting.  We got back on site, and found that, it didn't fit either.  Not 3/4" but something between 3/4" and 1"... So, Jim used his spidey powers to figure out what to do, and decided to use a hot air blower gun to soften buried hose, slide it onto the receiving new brass fitting, and then crimping it with a one inch crimp ring.  That's exactly why I married this guy... He's like McGuyver in disguise.

And, sooner than later, WE HAD RUNNING WATER AND FLUSH TOILETS!!!

It's not every day that I would post a picture of our toilet, with water in it, but this is truly memorable! 

Lowell, Brianne and Coy were working with us this weekend, and Coy was the first to christen the potty.  When he was finished, he came running up to Jim and hugged him and thanked him profusely for making a toilet... He was so excited that there was a flush toilet!!  It was very real, and very heartfelt.... and, I thought I was the only one excited for a flush toilet.

On the way back into town on Friday night, there were so many deer just grazing.. absolutely not phased by the cars driving by.  It was really pretty to see... so calm, so serene, so relaxing...  And look at the racks on them.  I'm not quite over those stupid deer eating all my flower bulbs, but, I've calmed down enough years later, to appreciate how pretty they are.

As I said, the Thursday night, we stayed in a hotel, and, because we were having problems getting the water into the cabin, we decided to stay the 2nd night in a hotel also. Different room, same rock hard bed, same terrible night's sleep... They must have moved the bed knowing I was coming back.  But, Saturday night, was going to be my first night sleeping in the cabin...  We've had one bedroom set up, complete with beds and sheets, and a closet and really basics for Jim...  So, I felt reasonably comfortable it would be ok for the both of us...

Another of the big projects this visit was attaching the sewer plumbing in the cabin, to the septic tank   We realized that the pipe was still a little high at one end, and it needed to be dug down because as we all know... "S**t runs downhill".  Lowell did all the digging work on this project... and, to add insult to injury, it rained on and off all weekend.  So, Lowell was outside, in the rain, digging.  Then, repositioned the piping, and covering it up...

As he started filling in the trench it started raining and he took a break.  Here's what he had when he came back.

I still don't think that Coy knows exactly where he's sitting.... Giggle.  We are so grateful that Lowell helped us out.  Since the beginning of this project, 10 years ago, neither Jim or I, are are strong as we used to be.  Thank goodness, we have an amazing helper.

Saturday night came, and Lowell and Brianne and Coy went to their hotel room.  Jim and I stayed at the cabin.  It was about at that point, that two of us realized we don't fit comfortably in a queen sized bed.  AND, Jim sleeps in the middle of the bed!  (No he doesn't. edit by Jim) We have a California King at the house in Provo and it's very comfortable, even though Jim always complains that I have too many pillows on the bed, and I hog the blankets... This is a lie (No it's not - Jim edit) ... Jim and I have separate blankets.  He's still sleeping under a quilt and a blanket because he says I have the air conditioning too low and he's freezing his butt off.  I have a very light blanket because the bedroom always feel hot.  I even turn on the ceiling fan (You can imagine Jim freezing - edit by Jim).  And, I do have several pillows on the bed... Since having my knee problem, I always sleep with a pillow under my knee, and a pillow under my shoulder and I like two pillows under my head.. makes sense to me...  BUT, that bed was waaay too small.  So, I decided to sleep on the couch at the last minute. I'm still trying to decide which was worse... the bed in the hotel or the couch in the cabin...  Sooooo, on Monday night, we went bed shopping, and purchased a king sized bed for the cabin.  We are going to take it down this weekend.. We've decided to take the queen sized bed, and put it in the loft, for now.  Jim thinks that Coy would love having a big bed and the whole loft to himself!  I agree.

Sunday was set aside to finish off the plumbing, and to start putting in the furnace.  Though the men aren't quite sure how to put a furnace in, they're learning a whole lot.  They placed the main furnace and the air conditioning unit, and then the plenum over top of that... and, even had enough time to put a few feet of duct work in.. I am absolutely thrilled.

We still have a 2nd, smaller furnace to install for the basement apartment, but that's going to be a "in the future" project.  The main focus, is to get the big furnace and the air conditioner installed.

We are many steps closer to getting our four-way inspection completed... I saw this project get worked on with my own eyes, so I believe, and it's a fact that they are being worked on!  Giggle.

During one of the rain storms, Jim realized that the majority of the group wanted a change of plans on the placement of the jacuzzi and that area even though the project manager didn't....The Jacuzzi is supposed to be delivered in about a month, so we are going to have this area completed soon... or at least, the pad for the jacuzzi needs to be poured and the underground electricity in place.  That's on the horizon...

So, except for a really uncomfortable bed situation, a lot of work got completed... Tons and tons of thanks to Lowell and Jim for a job well done.

As always, the adventure continues.

Jim and Cheri