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