Three Day Weekends are... the BEST!

 

A new week has started and there were two items that were going to be the emphasis for this weekend - the railings on the deck, and the Tyvek.. So, here we go!  Jim and I both took Friday off work, so we had extra time to get to work!

The guys started with the railings.  I don't think Jim really cared to get this project started, but he knew how much I wanted to see how the balusters would look, so, he and Ben put up one side of the deck... And, they look amazing.

It took a little redesigning on how I wanted them to look, but eventually, it was just perfect - at least in my guess-estimation  After the first section got put on, we realized, we had put the squiggly piece in the center on upside down, and it had to be taken down and flipped around.  That was done on Sunday morning, and now it's beautiful...

Another project came up, the wood burning stove that was to go on the hearth in the great room. This stove weighs about 1000 pounds I swear, and two guys just could not lift it.  So, they employed the boom truck to lift it up to the deck.

Jim started by cleaning the window and touching up the outside to make sure it was evenly black... This stove has been in storage for a couple of years, so it really needed a good cleaning.

Then, they hoisted it up with the boom.  I wasn't really sure the boom would hold it, but, we found the boom is tougher than we knew.  The boom lifted it off the trailer and up onto the deck.

And, here she is.. suspended in mid air.

...and safely on the deck.  The guys put her on a furniture dolly, and wheeled her in the great room and the plan was to put her onto the hearth..

And, this is where it starts to get interesting.  In the picture below, you can see the little furniture mover under the stove.  The guys wheeled the stove up to the hearth and were going to tip it sideways and slide her onto the hearth.  Well the stove didn't like that so much, and she fell forward - taking a piece of rock from the hearth with it...  It isn't a huge piece of the hearth, but enough to make us all take notice seeing the piece on the floor.. But, that wasn't the exciting part....

When the stove landed back on the furniture mover thingie, one of the wheels went through the floor... leaving this behind...

Oh crap! . . . But, all is well... Jim says it can easily be fixed...  The stove is going to be put into place on Tuesday, and hopefully, a couple of big, strong, guys can help Ben get her into place.

The next big project of the weekend was getting the last of the Tyvek put on the front of the cabin so that we can get the siding put on before winter comes.  We had to get the deck built before the Tyvek could be put on...  and you can see why...  The peak of the cabin on this side is 3.5 stories in the air, and it couldn't be reached from the ground, even with the boom truck. So, the deck had to go in, and then the 16' ladder could access it.  Thank goodness, Ben likes all this rock climbing stuff, because Jim wasn't about to climb up there...

Jim spotted the ladder, Ben climbed the ladder and stapled the Tyvek on, and Cheri stayed in the house with her stomach going flip flop..

Ben says that the key to all this, is just to not look down..  My theory is, don't climb up.

..... not this cowgirl...There is absolutely no way I would be climbing that ladder...

The job got completed and the inspector is supposed to come by on Tuesday to tell us yes or no to move forward.

And, here's the welcoming committee!  We usually don't see the cows wandering around, but this last weekend,  there were so many blocking the roads... And, they just don't get a clue... they take their time and just mosey off the road whenever they feel like it..  It's like it's a stare down between me and the cows...  

And, here's the continuing saga of my squirrel/chipmunk pumpkin carving experiment.  Here's the pumpkin when I put it out on the deck last week...

Here's the pumpkin on Friday morning when we got up and out of bed... I knew it was a little chewed on when we arrived on Thursday night, but it was too dark to get a picture.

This is what it looked like when we left on Sunday evening.  This pumpkin is apparently tasty!  Every time we went out the front door, there was either a fat squirrel, or several little chipmunks having a feast.  Jim was sitting on a chair on the deck in the early morning, and he watched several squirrels and chipmunks go back and forth, devouring this pumpkin.  It's been an interesting experiment.  

I was talking with Brea last week and she was telling me how scared she was because Alaska was going to have tornadoes.  They had similar problems with weather at the beginning of the year, and it shut their power down for 4 - 5 days.  So, she is afraid... And, I told her I had something even scarier - something to get her mind off the subject and calm her down..... I told her that I had three crickets in my bathtub at the cabin.. She screamed and said that was definitely more scary!  It's all in perspective, I guess.  Giggle.

And, a little more work was done on the deck... the most important was sealing it so there is no damage done over the winter.. I love these pictures...

And, you know what...?  When a handsome man asks you to dance on the new deck of your cabin early in the morning, of course you say yes..

Love this guy something stupid....

The adventure continues,

Love, Jim and Cheri

Doe, a Deer... a Female Deer...

 And . . . , a new week has begun!

...Planted the Forsythia, and the damned deer stripped all the leaves off them again, and have left them to die... I am so annoyed... Who came up with this stupid "deer resistant" crap?  And, this was after just a couple of hours... Ben drove by to check on the plants and give them a little water, and this is what was left...  We are going to have to put a little miracle grow on them, to try to resurrect them... grrrr...

The little orange flowers and the roses survived... And, the Russian Sage the deer are not fans of either - thank goodness...  Deer - not my friends.

Here's the little jerks that were on the road as Lowell and Chance were leaving.. There were 8 - 10 of them just waiting for us to leave... There was even a mama deer and two babies crying for her.. again, as she packed her face...  Baby fawns were not happy and Cheri was not happy either...  Ben keeps telling me that I should take a BB gun and scare them away.. I was thinking something a little larger that would take care of the problem permanently...  Like something with Smith & Wesson or Winchester or Ruger written on the side...

My aspens, as you can see to the bottom left of the deer picture, have been perfectly protected and the jerks can't get nibbles.

We have a roofer lined up to put the stove pipe through the roof, and to build the cupola in the next couple of weeks.  So, we figured we should get the wood burning stove from storage and get it situated on the hearth.  We had a little trial run with it - started a fire, and it burned amazingly well. We are planning on painting it black so it's like every other wood burning stove on earth.  When the roofer calls and says he's ready to start our project, we'll be ready.  It was fun and Lowell and Chance were with us this weekend - all the heavy lifting jobs that we needed help with, got taken care of.

And, the Tyvek job continues.  We were hoping that we could get it all tacked down by the end of this weekend, and have the Kane County building inspector drop by and give us the ok to put the siding on, but, we didn't get that far.. We're making progress slowly but surely.

Ben had a little helper this weekend, and they work well together.  Chance is learning a lot about working and getting paid and minor things like that...  He's a terrific worker.

We were trying to get the Jacuzzi to fire up last weekend, and this week, Jim and Lowell were successful - after a 60 minute call to the hot tub technician back in Springville, Utah... Apparently, when the guys came to install the hot tub, they ripped a couple of electrical lines out of their receptacles - like the outlet that turns on the heater... and, even though we could get the water to bubble, we couldn't get it to heat.  Problem was solved, and, by evening it was 94 degrees... Now, 94 degrees sounds pretty tempting, but, when it's 50 degrees out, with wind, it gets chilly after about 15 minutes... Jim and I took that challenge, and had our first experience in the jacuzzi at about 11:00 at night.  As said before, the first 15 minutes were great - until we adjusted to the water temperature, and then it was a little shivvvvvery..

Jim bumped up the heat to 105 degrees and by next morning, it was amazing...  

Funny story...  We are sitting in the hot tub, and looking at the amazing stars - and they are absolutely amazing...  As I'm sitting there, something floats by and I let out a scream... I am thinking that one of those stupid squirrels or chipmunks has climbed into the water and drowned... I push the mass away, and realize.. it was Jim's bathing suit... Seriously?  I look over at him, and he's laughing and has what my father called, "A skunk eating sour bologna" grin on his face... Last week it was, shiny hiny, and this week it's floating bathing trunks...

I saw a little blurb on Facebook and this guy was talking about how much he hated carving pumpkins for Hallowe'en.  But, he had an idea... he carved out a mouth and eyes, put peanut butter in the holes and then left it on the porch for the squirrels and chipmunks to carve...  It looked pretty interesting...  I put one out on Saturday morning, and Sunday morning, the peanut butter was gone, and the bottom of the mouth was gnawed on... When we left on Sunday afternoon, some of the inside guts were gone, and the mouth was chewed on... So, after a week, it should be interesting to see how the experiment progresses.

And, there is a 2nd part of the deck that needs to get finished before the inspector comes...  The main deck is to the front of the cabin. The 2nd part of the deck is to the side of the cabin... But, there was no connection between the two parts of the deck.  So, the guys had to build a corner to join the two so that he can walk around and see the Tyvek.. So, that was part of the project on Sunday.  

We realized on Saturday night late, that we were one Simpson hanger short to complete that project.  Jim called the hardware store in Orderville to ask if they had any of the size we wanted, and, was unable to get an answer.  The guy that was working there, was new, and didn't have a clue what Jim was talking about.  So, Jim decided to drive the 30+ minutes just to see.  When he got there, he was looking for the Simpson hanger that he needed and he couldn't find any... So, he chose one that wasn't exact, BUT, was close.  As he was leaving, there was a table in the middle of one aisle that had clearance stuff on it.. On that table were two of the Simpson hangers that Jim needed...  And, they were buy one, get one free... So, he picked up both of them, and one worked perfectly..

Brianne saw this picture, and says that Jim looks like the foreman...

Jim thinks they need supervision.

And, this is where they stopped at the end of the day!

One of Chance's projects this weekend was grinding all the remaining cement and red crap off the floor and the walls of the main floor shower...  It took quite a while, and there was pink dust over everything in the bathroom, but he finished it perfectly.

Poor Chance, he had to stop every little bit because his hands and arms were aching..  He had to use an angle grinder on the whole project.

But, he did a great job.  The next step is up to Lowell and Chance to put the cement floor back in, put the  drain in the shower, and put the vapor barrier on the floor and the walls...  Then, we check it for leaks, and if it doesn't leak, we make another appointment with the building inspector...

Last Christmas, I bought Jim this antique desk.. I thought it would be beautiful in the cabin...  Lowell, Brianne and Chance met me at the seller's home, and took it apart and carried it down a spiral staircase and put it in the truck...  When Jim received it, Lowell had put it back together..  Now, this desk weighs about 300 pounds... she's a sturdy girl...  We took it to the cabin and it's lived in our great room for the last  9 months.  The problem is, with all the construction going on in the great room, it was getting dinged and we wanted to protect it.  So, we decided to move it under the tv that was behind the couch... The only problem, it's super heavy.  So, Lowell and Chance got the legs back on it, and picked it up and moved in.. something that Jim and I had a problem doing.  

So, now, it's safely tucked away, protected, until we choose to move it again.. to another room...

It's a beautiful piece of furniture... I just didn't realize what it weighed when I bought it.  Giggle.

I don't know why, but this was really different type of weekend for me... We usually have the same routine for weekends.. I get off work early, go home, pack the truck, and drive to the cabin and work crazy (actually Jim and Ben do) and then we drive home...  But, this weekend, Jim and I were talking, and I told him that I feel that all I really do when we go to the cabin is take pictures, cook meals and wash dishes... And, he expressed to me how important I actually was.. and, I really needed to hear it.. Love that man..

Well,  we're making progress and the adventure continues...

Love, Jim and Cheri

...Shiney Hiney?

 

We start this week with a mama deer... She had decided to grace our jacuzzi with her presence... and, with that,  let us hear her baby crying for her... uhuh... it was the middle of the day, and mama deer was hungry.  While we could hear baby deer calling for mama, she was stuffing her face with fresh leaves... and, baby just had to wait...  priorities...

Friday was Grandparent's Day, and Jim and I were invited to have lunch at Treeside Acadamy with Coy.  Coy was excited beyond belief!  We were just thrilled we were invited.  Coy picked out the menu and Jim and I showed up at the school... with a bouquet of balloons and lunch!  He was beside himself..

Lunch couldn't have been more fun!  Just ask Coy!

And, treats for dessert were definitely a highlight!  After we had lunch, Coy had to take me around and introduce me to all his friends, and teachers.  That was absolutely fun!

And, Friday, I got a high five from my son, Brad and the grandkids from Alaska!    It was a wonderful Grandparent's Day!

I learned that Miss Mahayla was going to her first dance on Friday night.  When did she grow up?.. She used to be my tiny Chickaphant, and now she's a young lady...  Oh My Goodness!

On Thursday night, before we set sail for the cabin, Jim told me that we needed to purchase some "shiney hiney"... I didn't have a clue what he was talking about, BUT, Home Depot did not have it... but, we needed it.  I had written it in my book the week before (I write everything we need to take back to the cabin for the next weekend, in a book and we refer to it all the time....).. So we go to Home Depot, but, no shiney hiney..  Jim said that he thought he had some at home but didn't want to use it, but... it wasn't quite what he wanted, but it would do...  He said that the stuff he needed had to be bent on one side for attaching siding... And, he would have to bend it by hand with just pliers.... I'm still not figuring out the shiney hiney thing... and, Jim would just smile and not explain...

Earlier in the week, I had planned a little surprise for Jim... A couple of months ago, a friend of ours was selling a box and pan brake... it's a machine that bends sheet metal...  It was in California and we were having a devil of a time trying to get it back to Utah.  It's super heavy, and we just couldn't seem to find anybody to transport it.  In talking to Ben, he agreed to take a quick trip to California, pick up the brake and bring it back to Utah, put it in the Conex and it would be a surprise for Jim.  22 hours later, the brake was in the Conex and we were waiting for a stubborn, unknowing Jim to go to the Conex and discover it.  Ben and Kelly took a little detour to the ocean to cool off a little bit from the 105+ temperatures in California but, many thanks to the two of them for helping!!!

Finally, Jim discovered the little gift, and after telling Ben and I that we were sneaky, and conniving and several other phrases, he thought it was an amazing gift.  He told me that I really was the "project manager" and I effectively solved the problem...   And, he was immediately going to take the "shiney hiney" and use the brake to bend the edge...  It turns out, it's not called "shiney hiney" it's actually called "shiney 90".   Um... It's a piece of metal flashing that has a 90 degree angle bent in it... And, Jim just let me keep calling it.. shiney hiney.. I think my hearing has a problem, because I am almost positive he called it.. shiney hiney....  Uhuh.... Thanks, Jim.....

A couple of weeks ago, we had ONE chipmunk in the cabin, and I caught it, disconnected it's tail accidentally and put the little critter back outside..  Well a week later, another chipmunk appeared in the cabin.  I bought some live traps set them on the main floor and in he loft. When we got back this past weekend, there was this little guy in the loft trap.  Ben took him down the hill and released him... BUT, on Sunday afternoon as we were sitting in the livingroom, out walks a third chipmunk or maybe the second one returned, .. Seriously.. Don't you guys get the idea you are not wanted or invited?  So, we reset the traps with peanut butter and hopefully, this guy will be gone in a week.  We don't have a clue where they are coming in, but we are determined to get rid of them!

I've started working from the cabin on the weekends.  It started over the long weekend.  I was at month end at work, and my workload during that time is so intense, I dare not take time off.  But, the IT guy at my work installed all my programs on my laptop and this was the first time I actually did a month end, at the cabin, on my laptop.  It works fantastically well. The only problem was.... I initially had my work station set up on the island, and I didn't have a chair tall enough.  So, I put a box on the chair, and a pillow over top the box and sat on that for a few hours.  The only problem was...my butt fell asleep, which in itself was a weird feeling, but month end got completed perfectly.  (I took the Thursday and Friday off work, which gave Jim and Ben the extra days to work on the cabin, instead of waiting for me.. It was perfect!)  And, Jim offered to help me with my butt!  Giggle.

The work continues on the deck.  The guys are starting the 2nd side of the deck... it's a slow process, but it really looks beautiful.  Jim counted the number of screws that were going into the deck with just these few boards, and the number was 297.  A whole lot of screws go into making the deck really secure. 

Here's the final product at the end of the day!  Nine boards, eleven floor joists, and 297 screws.

We have been replacing the tyvek that the original contractor put up.  It was such a poor job that it failed county building inspection for quality of product AND application.  We weren't particularly happy with this guy...  We've had this happen a couple of times... subcontractors come up, do a crappy job, and when the inspector comes and fails their work, they ghost us and don't fix their work.  This is exactly what happened with the tyvek.. So, the tyvek is being replaced... It's kind of a tricky job because it's really high up... Once we get the inspection done, we can get the siding put on and we'll be one step closer to getting our four way completed.  See why we needed the deck finished first?

We have to rip off the crappy stuff (the white stuff) and replace it with the good stuff (green stuff) (Made in Canada!).  

It looks so much better now.  

And, here's Jim working, working, working...

And, here's the big announcement this week... WE GOT THE JACUZZI WORKING!!!  I was so excited, I skyped with a whole lot of people...  And, took several people on a skype tour of the cabin.  It really was exciting.  When you read the blog, you see bits and pieces.  When you skype you see how each piece fits in with the others and it's really amazing.  So, if you got a skype call on Sunday, you were one of the few...  But, if you want a skype tour, let me know and I'll set you up!!!

With the propane line in, we needed to cover up the trench that was dug to run the line in... It's been so rainy out, and the trench kept filling with water, and it was a little difficult to get the backhoe in there to fill the hole because of the mud.  Jim finally got a part of the trench covered this past weekend..!

And, I'm attempting to grow some plants on the slope above the jacuzzi.. I've planted some Quaking Aspens, Forsythia, Russian sage, Roses and Blanket flowers.  We wrapped the trees because I know the deer really like the aspens... After the first night, the forsythia were snacked on, so Ben and his son wrapped them with chicken wire and hopefully that will protect them a little... Fortunately, the deer couldn't get to the aspens!

These are the blanket flowers.  The guy I bought the plants from said that if I cut all the little dead blossoms off, they will bloom like crazy, and sure enough, they did!

Here's my forsythia BEFORE the chicken wire... All these plants are supposed to be deer resistant, but apparently, nobody told the deer.

The Russian sage is so pretty - and apparently, the deer don't like either the taste or the smell.. I don't care as long as they don't eat it. I think Russian sage sort of looks like Texas Bluebonnets...  So pretty.

Jim dug the holes for the trees and the plants, and Ben did the actual planting.  I am hoping we have the plants adequately protected and they'll survive.

On that note, I'd say we had a really productive weekend.

Until next time, the adventure continues,

Love, Jim and Cheri