And, yes, we made it... for more than a one day trip!!!

Yes!!! We made it down to the cabin for  more than just one day!!  I checked the weather report, and the whole weekend was supposed to have moments of being overcast, but Saturday and Sunday were supposed to be in the 70's.  This is what the deck looked like when we got there....

And, this is what it looked like when we left!!!  

 

 We drove down south on Thursday night, and spent Friday, Saturday and Sunday just working.. It was a lot of work, but we figure we have a lot of work to do this summer, so we need to get started!

With Jim's arm still kinda of out of commission, I was really looking for jobs for him to do that didn't make him lift his arm over his head, and protecting his shoulder.  Jim and Ben call me the project manager, so this was my job.  The first suggestion I had was to put the hardware in place in the main level shower.  Jim handed me the instruction and called them, "Girl Papers" and it turned out we really needed that girl stuff... Jim had a little problem getting everything to fit together when he realized that one of the screws was not tapped... and we had to go into town and purchase the a tap.. But, in just a little bit, he had the job completed.  One step closer to having the bathroom finished.

And, here's both faucets installed.. I think it looks great!

The next was putting the shelves in the corner so we have some place to put shampoo/conditioner etc.  

Ben's job this weekend was starting putting up the insulation in the loft.  He does a great job! We bought him a painters suit and mask just so he doesn't get insulation itch, and he wore it well.  I sent this picture to his wife Kelly, and she thinks he looks hot in it...  I think it must be construction worker admiration!!

This is where Ben started....

..then went down the left wall... and then switched over to the closet...

So, one whole wall is completed.  The next room upstairs to get insulated is the loft bathroom. We don't have to insulate any interior walls.. so, his job will be figuring out the insulation around my stained glass half circle windows.  He does great work and we are so appreciative to have his help.

We stayed the three nights in a motel in Panguitch - just because it is still too cold at night to stay in the cabin...  On our way back on Sunday morning, we were greeted by four of the local congregation.  You can see two of them here (actually a butt and a head of the 2nd one) and only the one stayed to say hello before running off..

Mid afternoon on Sunday, it started to sleet and hail... It was super windy all morning, and then this happened... and, it got super cold really quickly.

...which forced us to take drastic measures and start the wood burning stove.  It provided a little bit of much needed heat.  The loft was super warm, the rest of the cabin was still pretty frosty..

Through all this, Jim continued to work in the bathroom... We decided, rather, I decided earlier in the week that we needed to get the glass shower doors and get them installed... So, this is the beginning of that project.

Jim needed Ben's help with this one...  But, between the two of them, they got the shower doors installed.  This picture shows you the pattern of glass I chose.  It's called Rain..

And, this is what the finished project looks like.  Jim says there is still a little bit of finish work to be completed, but, that will be the next trip.

I didn't get a picture, but the van, this week, was chuck full of... insulation.  We had like 13 rolls of insulation that we took to the cabin... I think the next project is taking gyprock down to the cabin...  Thank goodness we have a van while our pick up is out of commission for a while..

We have met some of the most interesting people since starting the cabin.  This past weekend, we met a couple from Australia... the husband was in his 70's and the wife in her 60's - both retired.  They are taking three months and driving all over the USA.  They just had to come see our beautiful Bryce Canyon.  Their final destination is New York.  So, interesting.

We were having breakfast in Panguitch on Sunday morning, and while we were paying for breakfast, a lady saw my wallet, that has little Canadian flags on it, and she asked where in Canada I was from.  I told her Ontario, and she and three of her companions were from British Columbia.  They belong to a hiking group and were hiking.. Bryce. Very nice group, except for the fact that they are Canucks fans... They were hoping the Canucks bring the Stanley back to Canada... personally, I'd love it if the Leafs could pull a win for game 7... but, history, I believe, is going to play a part in this one...(update - The Leafs lost game 7 in overtime... sad face...)

Jim went to see his shoulder surgeon yesterday, and they were not particularly happy with him.  He had taken his sling off because he said his shoulder was feeling better, and the medical assistant was not too pleased with his decision....... He's supposed to wear the sling for another 2 weeks and then start physical therapy... But, he did have the stitches taken out, and his incision points are looking good!

With that, this edition is complete, and the adventure continues.

Love, Jim and Cheri

Part 2 - the next weekend... this was a quick visit, so I am putting last week's edition together with this week's edition... 

Pulling into the area, we are always greeted by a deer or two.  This week, we were passed by several herds!  The first one we saw, I tried to get a picture, but I was too slow getting my cell out of my purse, and they all ran away... This time, I was prepared and between Jim and I, we got a couple of decent shots...  I still hate these animals...  To make it worse, we have a couple of deer that live somewhere around our house, and my little maple trees that I am trying to grow, had all their leaves stripped off them one night...  I was not particularly pleased...

We bought the posts that go at the bottom and top of the stairs and Jim, decided that this would be ok for him to try and install them.  This is the bottom of the stairs that go up to the loft.

And, here's the post...  We had to reposition it from where it was going to be... Jim had to cut through the bottom of the stairs to set this piece into a better position... But, he did it, and I think it looks great.  It just needs to be stained right now so that it matches the cabinets.

Jim also worked on hooking up the water to the sink in the basement bathroom... We purchased the sink and cabinet last year, so this is the first chance in hooking it all up and get it working... I am stoked.  I told him this was exactly what I wanted for Mother's Day...  It's fantastic!  ( I didn't get a picture..  because, what kind of picture do you actually take to show the water is hooked up....  crickets chirping here....)

We had a local police officer, Bill Hooser from Santaquin, Utah get killed a week ago.  I am not totally sure of all the details, but he was hit by an 18 wheeler and the driver fled the scene.  He was memorialized with a heart with a thin blue line across it on the side of the mountain. We drove by about 10:00 pm on Sunday evening, and saw it...

After all the work that Ben did on the insulation, he had some travelling to do the next week, so we didn't see him.  His wife Kelly sent me this picture the next weekend... apparently, it wasn't allergies or a cold, or asthma that Ben had, but pneumonia and he was admitted into the hospital.  We went to visit him the next night, and he was in good spirits, but really needed to take some time off to rest, relax and heal..

Part 3 - I know, I know....  I'm a busy woman...  We didn't go down to the cabin this weekend.. we went shopping instead - my favourite.  Right about now, Jim is groaning.

I saw these lights and I love them.  They are going to be installed above the garage.  The green matches the roof on the cabin, so it will come together nicely.  These are about 3' long - so they are a good size.  I bought three of them... Please excuse our grass.. it doesn't look so hot right now, BUT, we did just go through the winter, and we need to give it time to grow.

We're back purchasing insulation.  Jim's truck is having repairs done, so we had to put all our purchases in the back of my Kia.  I don't think a Kia is made for transporting stuff, but we had no other choice.  

We were at Home Depot getting the insulation and buying some of the stone for the walkway and the outside shower, and I saw that some of the boxes of stone had been broken open... The boxes weren't really great any more and it makes it difficult to transport. Jim and I were talking to one of the managers when we were checking out, I mentioned it to him.  He told me that if I wanted the tile from the three boxes, he would discount them 80%.  I was excited.  So, I got the three boxes for a total of $27.00 and I was absolutely thrilled!  And again, they're really heavy, but they were transported in the back of my Kia.

And, I found this decorative piece... It's stained glass and absolutely beautiful.  I am not quite sure where I am going to put it... maybe around the jacuzzi, but when it gets a little warmer out, I'll be making that decision.  It's about 2' wide and hangs on wrought iron.. and you know how I feel about wrought iron...

These two spotlights are going to be over by the jacuzzi... Probably pointing up through the trees... but, again, until I place it and check it out, I don't know for certain.

And, these two lights are going to go at the end of the driveway.  I really want something to show the driveway a little better.  We have motion detector lights around the cabin, but you have to get a little closer to the door before they turn on.  So, I think this will be a good idea.

And, we bought the shades for all the windows in the great room...And, there are a lot. Right now we just have random curtains covering the windows.  These are motorized shades that will open and close with the click of the remote... So, it's more to our liking.

And, the last piece we bought was a ceiling fan for the upstairs loft.  There is a ceiling fan there now, but it's not quite what I wanted in there -  we put a ceiling fan in there just too get some air circulating.  This is more of what I wanted.  We had to take one of the blades off to fit it into the Kia... it was waaaay too wide, but without one blade, it fits.   The blades are bamboo... I couldn't resist.

Just remember... all this stuff fit into one little Kia...  Giggle.  Jim was talking about getting rid of my Kia and getting me something else... The only problem is... I really like the Kia Soul.. It's about 14 years old now, and I've got a whopping 120k miles on it... And, I still love it.

And, here's my sweetheart, still coping with having to wear a sling.  He's just passed the four week mark after surgery and is supposed to be starting physical therapy soon.  He is so annoyed with this stupid sling - just tired to being so restrained.  But, I am glad he had the surgery and is on his way to recovery...  Love that man.

Well, three weeks of cabin blog is complete.. Sorry for it being so long, but... I have no other excuse than I'm busy.  I'll try to keep it under control going forward..... but, I can't make promises.  Giggle.

Take care- on to another amazing adventure...

Love,

Jim and Cheri

"Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts."  Winston Churchill

Closer, Closer, Closer.....

Well, my dear sweet husband has made it through three separate surgeries in the span of one month.. it hasn't been easy, but he's been a trooper... The last surgery was this past Thursday, orthopedic, and even though he was trying to figure out how to avoid going under the knife, when it was all said and done, he is glad he had it done.  He's feeling a whole lot better and the pain he has been suffering from, for the last year or so, has been relieved.  He has to wear a brace for the next 4 weeks and then physical therapy, but, he's feeling so much better.  This picture was taken before the 3rd surgery, but it seems like his shirt conveyed his feelings about life perfectly...

I cooked Jim a special breakfast on Sunday - that was the first day he actually felt like eating something... so, it was a plateful and a bit, but he said it tasted amazing. I don't know if it was because he hadn't eaten very much in the proceeding days, or it actually tasted good.  In either case, he's on the mend... Food is a celebration and I am celebrating my Jim.

and, this is what his t-shirt actually said....  Giggle.  I saw this graphic and couldn't resist..

Jim bought me a couple of knives for my brand new cabin kitchen...  He found these knives and I love the set... they are intricately carved and just look beautiful.  I think they will be an amazing addition to the kitchen.

We were out and about a couple of weekends ago, and we found this siding.. the price was incredible, so we bought 25 cases.  This siding is going to go on my glass studio below where the cabin actually is.  I have always wanted a studio - I've been working on the kitchen table at three different houses, so this will be an amazing treat.  It's a couple of shades different than the cabin, but I think it's going to be amazing.  This picture looks like it is almost a grey, but it's actually a brown..

Jim pulled this picture off the security camera that is above the balcony.  I was concerned that my little table and chairs was going to blow off.. But, as you can see, they survived the winter nicely.  And, you can see that the snow is finally melting!

We have cameras all around the cabin with motion detectors...  Every once in a while we see Ben entering, or we see snow blowing that sets the detectors off... Then, every couple of months, we see something completely different.  Jim showed me one of the cameras yesterday, that showed a big spider walking across the camera...  It's probably a tiny little spider, but on the camera, it looks huge...  Totally freaks me out.  Giggle.

He must have been out for the midnight air...

We were driving down south this weekend, and we stopped in Beaver, Utah to take a potty break... on the way out of the store, I wanted to take Jim's picture in front of the beaver carving...  he obliged... and then....

...two young men walked up and said they wanted to have their pictures taken with Jim also.. We didn't have a clue who they were... But, we took the picture and here they are.  We don't know their names, or anything about them, but, they were nice... that's about it.. Made me giggle.

Every time we take a trip, it seems our van is packed to the gills... And, again, this was the case.  This time, between the two front seats, was the stair railings for the cabin.  It went from the very back, to the front windshield!

The rest of the van was packed with siding... 

...lots and lots of siding.... and a warm jacket or two!

Jim was at Habitat this past week, and the manager, Kyle, said he had something for me.  He went back to his office and came out with this doormat.  I thought it was appropriate, and very nice.

And, if you have been following... you probably have figured out that we made it to the cabin on Saturday.  We have been following the weather reports and even though it was a little rainy on Friday, the roads were dry enough to get up the mountain by the time we got there on Saturday afternoon.  Ben and his daughter helped us unload the van as Jim isn't quite healed from his surgery and we so appreciate their willingness to help...

All the "stuff" from the deck is in the living room right now.. such as the deck chairs and the planters and the umbrella.. But, I think there is not going to be any more snow, so those items should be making an appearance back on the deck soon.  I'm not quite sure when we are going to go back - That's a question for Jim's shoulder to answer.

I found this on the counter in the kitchen.. Apparently, someone left an unopened can of pop (soda) on the counter last fall and it exploded when the temperature went below 32 degrees... Kinda a mess...  But, manageable.

With that, our adventure continues, and we are waiting for the next trip!

Love, Jim and Cheri

"You can't create chaos in the lives of others and expect peace to come to yours."