..I swear, there is always something happening... Giggle.

 

My daughter, Brianne told me this past week, that she absolutely loves sitting out on the deck just to watch the stars... I agree.  The sky is ink black and the stars look so close you could touch them...  And, with that, the next blog begins....

With the little booboos we had last week with the stove, they were solved this week, and it was put in place on the hearth.  And, we are thrilled.  Ben and his son came by during the week and put this sturdy girl in place.  

And, here she is with a little makeup on.  Every girl needs a little something to make her pop.  And, she looks beautiful.  We are waiting for the pipes that will go through the roof to be delivered.  We apparently had purchased the wrong size, so it's a waiting game now..

Jim's next hearth project was to seal the top of the cut rock just so dirt and muck from the stove doesn't stick.  So, he got out his little paint brush and carefully painted each stone.  

The sealant enhanced the colour of the stone, and made it more of a caramel colour.  I still think the rock looks like bacon....  just sayin'.

My job was to coat the fossils I am going to put into the outside shower...Some of the fossils were almost invisible, but with the sealer, they really came to life!

I have about 20 of these fossils, and they all look amazing now.

On Sunday afternoon, while Jim was nailing siding on the deck area, it started getting dark and overcast and then it started to rain, and moments later to hail.  And, did it ever hail!  About 1/4 inch sized.  And, the sound in the cabin, with that metal roof was all but deafening.  It covered both decks and the jacuzzi, and everything else on the property.  After about 30 - 45 minutes, it cleared up, and the sun came up, and all was forgotten!

And, I used an air fryer for the first time on Saturday night!  Jim told me that if you made it through COVID and didn't buy an air fryer, you were lucky...  Well, I bought it at the end of the pandemic, but, I have never used it.  So, Saturday night was the experiment in the kitchen.  Not knowing what the freak I was doing, I chose frozen chicken breasts, and pushed all the right buttons.  Well, they were a little overcooked on the edges, but Jim said the middle was good.  I think I need to buy a cookbook for this one.  (Actually, the edges were totally dry, but Jim was really being nice about it...)

The mountains around the cabin continue to amaze me.  This shot is particularly beautiful...  I am sure there is a pot of gold somewhere on that mountain....

Jim started Friday morning, measuring and cutting the first pieces of siding to be installed on the front of the cabin.  Oh, I forgot to tell you... we passed the County inspection on the Tyvek and the deck construction - so, the next project is finishing the siding...  

And, as the day went on, it got a little warmer, and off came the sweater, but the measuring continued.

Here's the first part of the siding...  Jim has done such a beautiful job - I am totally impressed...

This this is what was completed just before we went home...

Now here we need a little explanation.  Jim installed the vent piping for the hot water heater.  The water heater sales guy told him to install a louvered 3 inch dryer vent on the outside of the house and then place the 2 inch water heater vent pipe in it and then spray foam sealer around it.  Jim sprayed the sealer from the inside of the house and an hour later this is what it looked like on the outside of the house!  Somewhere in there is the 2 inch vent pipe - not venting anything..

So after he dug out the 2 inch pipe everything worked great.  Here's a shot of the completed installation.

Apparently, the Co2 was venting onto the floor in the basement - Co2 is heavier than air.....  We didn't have a clue there was a problem......  But, the chipmunk that has been living in the cabin found out...  He has totally disappeared and we are wondering if the got Co2 poisoning and... went on to a better life?  I am afraid to start looking...

And, this is what is left of the pumpkin experiment... just a couple of dried out pieces.  I think the squirrels and chipmunks must be too picky for this kind of food... giggle.

Sunday evening, as we are driving home, northbound, I-15.  We were about 10 miles south of Nephi, Utah (that's about an hour away from home....), going about 90 miles an hour because the speed limit is 80, and Jim believes that driving 90 is the new 80....  uhuh...  All of a sudden, this is this huge BOOM and the truck weaves back and forth.. I, rather excitedly, ask Jim..."What the freak happened"...  And, he calmly says, "I think we just got a flat"...  So, he pulls over to the side of the road, gets out and looks, and this is what he sees..  We didn't just get a flat, we blew the tire off...

So, here we are, in the middle of nowhere, in the pitch dark, not a light in sight, trying to figure out what our next move is...  Jim is in the bed of the truck and then the back seat trying to find the jack... Finally finds it, slides the spare lowering crank under the bed, because the tire is secured underneath and tries to get the tire down.. The crank, just won't engage... He's getting frustrated, as you can well imagine, and I call 911 to get Utah Highway Patrol for help.

About 10 minutes later, UHP shows up and this guy tries to get the jack engaged and the tire down also.. No luck.  And, that's about when his helpful ways ended.  He said that there was nothing else he could do and he drives off... Seriously...  Left us there stranded.  It is absolutely pitch black - open fields to both sides of us... Scarier 'n all get out...  The worst was the 18 wheeler that just about hit us...  uhuh...

And, just like when you can't program your tv or work your cell phone, I did the next best thing to do... Call the kids...  Brianne and Lowell were the closest, so I gave Bri a call..  After boohooing to her for a bit, she just said, "Mum, why don't you call Roadside Assistance through your insurance company?"  Well, we have had the same insurance company for 100 years, and NEVER used roadside assistance.  I didn't even know if we had it.  So, I call the company, and guess what... We HAVE ROADSIDE ASSISTANCE!  And, about 30 minutes later, this huge tow truck pulls up... loads our truck on the bed, Jim and I stayed in our truck, and the driver drove us into Nephi.  Now, Nephi isn't that big a place... actually, I described it as a convenience store, a motel and a lemonade stand... The lights on the wrecker truck were absolutely blinding, but we endured...

But, does the story end here.. Oh no...  We check into the motel next to the Big O tire store, and they were really nice (except the dust ruffle on the bed had questionable stains on it, that totally creeped me out... I'm trying not to think about it...).  The lady behind the counter says she saw a wreck earlier in the day right where we got the flat and maybe we ran over some of the debris.  Maybe?  

The sign in the tire store next to us says they open at 8 in the morning.  Jim called at about 8:03 and the sales person there said that they didn't have any tires for a Silverado truck... Um, excuse me?  A Silverado truck is not an exotic.  In fact, it's pretty common, but, they didn't have a single tire. But, he said he could get one brought over from Santaquin... one tire - $330... So, Jim started calling around, and found another tire place, and he found a place about two miles away, that had several used tires that would fit our truck - $35.00.. Seems incredible but they were nice enough to deliver it over to where our truck was... otherwise, we would have had to walk 2 miles to get the tire, and two miles back.  That just wasn't going to happen in my world.  When Jim went back into the waiting room at the original tire place, a different sales person was there, and he said that the original sales person was having a bad morning...  Um.. at 3 minutes after opening...  Uhuh...

Well, the tire got changed, and we went on our way in time for me to get to work by about noon, and Jim just remoted in from home.  It was the beginning of my month end, so there was no way I could miss the day... The guy who was changing the tire, or what was left of it, said that when we purchased the truck, they gave us the wrong jack - they gave us a Ford jack crank and not a Chevrolet jack crank... We didn't know - we have never changed a single tire in that truck in all the time we've owned it - Jim always takes the truck into the tire store before anything happens, and they look after the whole thing.  (And, we found out, the spare under the bed of the truck... was flat...)  Only in my world.  We haven't looked at it in years... Monday afternoon, four new tires were purchased and installed... so, we're back in the game.

On a better note... fall is upon us up on the mountain and the trees are showing their beautiful colours... The deer are still eating our trees, but, they are doing their best to survive.  The deer have not tasted my quaking aspens... yet - I've still got them protected, but my forsythia hasn't bounced back yet... sigh..

And, it was five years ago that I was working on the 2nd sunflower window for the cabin bathroom...  I was a little surprised to see this come up on my Facebook time hop... Five years younger, blonde, and still chasing the adventure of a life time...

Back then, Jim was trying his hand at soldering delicate little pieces of glass.. He did great!

..and, the finished project about to be installed into thermo-paned insulated glass!  Probably one of the most difficult projects I have ever tried..  It's not perfect, but it's mine.

I asked Jim if he would do the whole cabin adventure again, if he knew what was in store, and both of us kinda went... no...  It has nothing to do with the building process, but a lot to do with other issues...  But, the adventure continues, and, it's still pretty exciting.

Love, Jim and Cheri