.... kinda depressing...

 I swear, I'm going to cry... We had the Kane County Building inspector show up on Friday for another try on the inspection on the shower.. and guess what... it's failed.. again..  It's starting to get really depressing...The sub-contractor is supposed to show up next Saturday to make ANOTHER repair, but, seriously...?  At least it's not the major flooding like we had before... this is just a little bit, but we can't move forward on finishing the shower, until this problem is resolved.  The inspector says he thinks the problem is with the drain because there is dripping in the basement off the drain pipe.  I personally don't care WHERE the problem is, I want it fixed.. now.

In my quest to have a completely working bathroom, Jim mounted a big mirror in the main level bathroom... It was at this point, that I realized that the cabinet and the matching mirror were more black than Mahogany, but I'm ok with it.. I love both...  and, I can even curl my hair in the morning without having to walk across the room to a little medicine cabinet!  It's amazing!!  Thank you Jim...

When we drive to the cabin from Provo, we always stop at Joe's Market in Panguitch and get some groceries.  It was last Friday that I saw this sight in the parking lot.  I have never in my life seen something like this, (except on tv on the Beverly Hillbillies) which is  a truck with compartments for dogs - in the back.  I walked up to them, and they seemed friendly.. Jim tells me they are hunting dogs.. well, thank goodness they didn't chase me up a tree or something...(not much chance of me climbing a tree...).

Jim tells me that hunting season has started... I don't know exactly what they're hunting, but hunting dogs none the less.

And, speaking of animals, we went to a subdivision HOA get together on Saturday, and found someone had brought their pig.. Again, a very nice pig.. and I am so digging the pink bow.  They served refreshments for everyone... The glass I got was 80 proof bourbon, water and sugar... Um... wasn't expecting that...

When we got to the cabin on Thursday night, I told Jim that I thought it was weird that someone (something) had cleaned the outside of the BBQ that was on the deck.  When we left, I didn't have time to wipe the outside of the barbecue down, and there was a little grease spatter on the base... and it was all gone.  I thought it was weird, but not too concerning.. it had rained a little bit and I thought that maybe the rain got to it.  We were putting the key in the lock and opened the door and there was a really funky smell at the front door... we looked all over the place thinking it was a dead mouse or chipmunk or bird that had got into the place and died.. couldn't find anything.. When the inspector came the next morning, he asked us if we had a cat because he could smell cat pee right at the front door.. We don't have a cat... After he left, we continued to look for something inside, but I took the time to clorox and hose down the front door and deck, just to get rid of the "cat" smell.  Well, when Jim went downstairs, we figured out what CAT was at our door and helping us clean.  It was a cougar... because, his tracks were all over the patio area... it had rained a little bit, and you could see his foot prints all in the soft dirt... 

Notice there's not claws!  Cougars tuck their claws in when they walk.

Apparently, after he cleaned the BBQ, he was a little ticked off that we didn't leave him any more snacks, and sprayed out front door..  so gross.. so, the inspector was right.. it was a cat, just a little bigger cat than we anticipated...

The digging on the area for the patio and the jacuzzi continues.  So many decisions and it's really starting to get old.  We have this jacuzzi that is supposed to be delivered in the next couple of weeks and we are far from ready.  But, the digging continues.  Lowell, I think, really likes working on the backhoe and he's become super proficient.

Jim took to moving retaining wall block.. it's super heavy work, but we need it around the patio and the jacuzzi area to keep the mountain back.

And,  you see all those bricks around the tree... they had to be stacked so that the backhoe could make it into the spot to pick up the big blocks...

And, still a lot more digging to do on the patio area.. We took out a couple of trees and started putting the blocks around....

Monday morning... such a beautiful sight from the upstairs loft... calming...

And, we still have a few humming birds hanging around... We found out that they don't like the feeder on the left - they prefer the feeder on the right.  I thought that it was because of the red colour, BUT, it's actually the plastic flower where their stick their beaks in to get the food... the feeder on the right has multiple openings that look like yellow flowers, and the one on the left has but one.  Do they have to be so picky?

I was standing on the deck looking down at the big blocks and I saw these weird looking things beside the trailer.. When I went down to look closer, I saw that these were a cluster of big mushrooms.. so weird.  I was so afraid that these were "Destroying Angels" and for the life of me I can't remember what they are called..  Lowell pulled them up and said they were super heavy - like they were filled with water, and the next day, they were all shriveled down to nothing...  They looked like a cluster of bombs looking down from the deck...  strange.  We decided to treat them as poisonous just to be safe.

And, Jim started working on the doors for the main level bathroom and the closet beside it.  We purchased these doors several years ago from a 100 year old school that we being demolished.  The door that is going on the bathroom says, "GIRLS" on it, and we are putting the one that says "BOYS" on the door for the closet - that are next to each other.. I kinda liked it.

I am hoping this weekend goes better than the last.  The stress level is just too intense and there are just too many tears...  Jim, at least, has been going down to the cabin every weekend all summer long... I have not made it as much, but it totally wears you out physically and emotionally.  We have been talking this week, and are changing our game plan, so I am hoping the change will be beneficial.

The adventure continues.

Jim and Cheri