Pica, Pica, Pica...

 Well, we'll start this blog edition with..... "rodents of unusual size"!  The past couple of weeks we've been at the cabin, as soon as we get into bed, and Jim starts to sing sweet melodies (this means he's snoring) I heard chewing upstairs in the loft... and it keeps me awake.  I was so sure there was some little beast up there and it was driving me crazy.  So, we decided to arm our live traps again... Last week, we caught one chipmunk, one squirrel, and another pica!  This first picture is the pica!  

But, the good thing is, the crunching and munching from the loft has stopped... The squirrel and the chipmunk are reasonably quiet... but that stupid pica is loud.  So, I'm glad they are all gone!  Just to let you know, we do not kill the rodents we catch... we relocate them... As much as I would like some herd of cats to eat them, Ben always takes whatever is caught, and relocates them... down the hill... off the mountain... to the farm... I really don't know - I just want them gone.

My little tree garden is doing reasonably well even with the heat.  It's been around 100 degrees during the day, and even though a couple of them are feeling a little wilty, we are doing our best to keep them alive.  These trees were planted to block the jacuzzi from the street.  You can see the jacuzzi down below the trees... So, I am hoping, in a couple of years, these little babies will grow big and strong and block questioning eyes!  I have aspens, blue spruce, white spruce and lilacs... So far, so good.  Two of the aspens have survived a winter already, so I hope they give inspiration to the other trees of the possibility of surviving heat as well as cold.  The fencing around them is to make sure that those stupid deer don't make a feast of the tender leaves....  sigh... between the squirrels, the picas, the chipmunks and the deer, I am about going crazy.

Our first grandchild, Mahayla has always wanted to learn guitar.  When they lived in Ogden, Utah, she asked Papa to get her a guitar to start lessons.  Well, Papa didn't want her learning on some crappy guitar and he got her this Martin backpacker guitar.  It has a unique look, and was the perfect size for a young Mahayla.  

Well, Mahayla is growing up, and she contacted Papa letting him know she needed a bigger guitar. They now live in Alaska, so getting her a guitar was going to be a little more of a challenge... But, Papa found her a good one, and we decided to have it shipped Fed Ex.   We couldn't find a box, so I took the guitar to my work, and the shipping department "Frankensteined" a shipping box.  I giggled when I saw it, but was totally impressed....

A week later, it showed up on their doorstep in Alaska, and our little "Chickaphant" was thrilled with her new acquisition.  And, it's the right size, a 1971 Japanese made Yamaha!  Mahayla plays guitar, and Brea and Ben play piano... Brea and Ben are our hockey players, also!  So, this is a VERY active family.  

And,  my son Brad is on the mend after having a heart attack.  He played a little bit of pick up hockey this past week.  He says he felt tired but really good afterwards, and is learning to listen to his body and resting when necessary, but he is well on the mend.  Thanks to all who remembered Brad and his little family in their prayers and thoughts... Much appreciated.

At the cabin, the insulation process is continuing... this past weekend, we drove down to the cabin on Friday evening, and stayed until Monday evening... Even with the heat, the guys did an amazing job and accomplished so much.  I know, the heat was really terrible to work in, and Jim wasn't particularly feeling well, but, the work continued...  This work was done in the great room.  This is the longest wall in the cabin.  And, it's now, just about completed.  This picture shows Ben working on the right side of the wall...

This picture is Jim working on the left side of the longest wall...

With the longest wall almost completed, they are now working on the prow side.  This is going to be a little more difficult with the insulation needing to go around the windows.  The longest wall side could not be completed at this point, because the television and the stereo are still set up...so, they need to be taken down before the insulation can be finished there.  And no, that saw goes outside when it needs to be used!

A guy at my work went rock hunting the past weekend with his kids in southern Utah and he brought me back a piece of obsidian for my grotto.  So, nice of him, and it will be a really nice addition to my outside shower.

We continued to do the clean up work on the shower - there still was a lot of little shards of glass all over the bathroom that my little feet seemed to find.  I thought I had it all until I had Jim check it, and he found more.  The biggest problem is that this shower is directly above the downstairs bathroom, and all these little pieces of glass kept falling down the drain, from the main bath into the bathtub downstairs... grrr...  And, there is still one little piece of glass that is stuck in the grate... can't seem to dislodge it.  But, I guess this is a job for another weekend.

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

Take care, Love, Jim and Cheri.

"Even miracles take a little time."

...My faith in humanity has been restored.....

 Well, the heat is about to kill us, but somehow, we have so far survived the summer.... There's still too many hot weeks predicted, so, I am, every day thanking the inventor of air conditioning... Willis Carrier deserves a place in the highest part of heaven... no question...

As said above, my faith in humanity has been somewhat restored...  If you have been reading the blog, you know what we bought about 32 pieces of sheetrock for the cabin.  The issue was that it needed to make it down TO the cabin on our little trailer.  Well, on Saturday morning, we decided it was the day to take it down.  It was already loaded, so we hooked it up to our truck and away we went.  

We got about half way, and I looked out the window and it looked like the back end of the truck was on fire - smoke was billowing out like crazy.  I am screaming to Jim at this point to pull over.  He pulls over and checks things out - apparently, in the 102 degree heat, pulling two thousand pounds of sheetrock, with your foot to the floor, was a little too much for our truck on the hills and the transmission fluid freaked out and was spilling over onto the muffler... causing all the smoke.  

So, there we were on the side of I-15 about 10 - 12 miles north of Beaver, Utah... So, there is like NOTHING around... not a call box, not a convenience store.. nothing... in the heat.  Jim thinks that we need to let it cool down and add some transmission fluid or something, but we have no way to walk that far.  We are sitting on the side of the road for 5 - 10 minutes and a white car pulled up behind us.  I thought it was highway patrol and was thrilled.  Then, I realize, the car had Idaho plates... not highway patrol...  This young man gets out of the car and strolls up to us... asks us if he could help us... We are stoked.  He offered to take us to the next town, which is Beaver, and would wait and take us back to the truck with some transmission fluid... Again, we're stoked.

We get into his car, and we're visiting as he drives... He says his name was Matthew and he was from Blackfoot, Idaho... he was a Marine driving to San Diego for his next deployment.  His father is a preacher at a  Four Square church in Blackfoot, he has a brother was in the Coast Guard, and this kid is 22 years old, not married...  So polite... We get to Beaver, and Matthew waits until we're done shopping, and then drives us back.  I offer to pay him and he doesn't want any money, but says, "I believe God puts you in the place where you need to be to help people".  I was totally taken back.  He was truly there to help us.  Even though he didn't want to be paid, I did pay him... I asked him if he had a card or anything so I could send him a care package while he was away, and he didn't, but just needed to get back on the road... With that, he drove off. 

The transmission fluid Jim purchased was just what was needed and we were on our way in no time....

When we get to the cabin, we're again, a little bit of a pickle, because we have all this sheet rock and really needed the help to unload it.  About 30 minutes after we get to the cabin, there's a knock on the door, and this young couple are standing there, offering to help us unload the sheetrock... The young man, Ryan is a building contractor, and his sweet wife is a nurse in Kanab.  And, oh my goodness.. they got on the program and unloaded that sheetrock in no time, stacked it in the cabin, and were done in no time.  Having the physical issues that Jim and I have, it would have taken us the rest of the day and into the next day if we tried to unload it ourselves... The sweetest, nicest couple ever, and we are eternally grateful for their assistance.  Our friends in Bryce Woodlands had called their friends asking for some physical help for the Streeters.

The next day, I got to thinking about these small blessings that showed up, and I thought I would try to find Matthew's family to tell them what their son had done for us.  I found the Four Square church in Blackfoot and sent them a message explaining what he had done.  And, Matthew's father is indeed a pastor at Harvest Four Square Church.    This is the reply I received:

Thank you so much for your encouraging words. As his dad, I (and his mom, of course) am very proud of Matthew and all he has accomplished. That sounds just like his character to have helped you like that. He doesn't look for applause. He just does what he knows his right and loving. I am glad he was able to help, and you got home okay. Thank you for making our day. A side note: Matthew's grandfather is in the hospital due to heart issues, and your words brought life to his heart (literally and spiritually) this afternoon. Thank you.

I was so thrilled and humbled to have this response.  Between Matthew helping us on the road, and Ryan and his wife helping with the sheetrock, my faith in humanity has been a little bit restored.

We had visitors in the cabin this weekend.  When we would go to bed, there was a crunching and gnawing sound coming from upstairs in the loft.  I told Jim the noise was driving me crazy, so the next day, Jim and Ben finished the decking on the crawl space above the main level bedroom... silly me, thought that would solve the issue... Nope...  The next morning, we found evidence of our intruder - we think it was a pica because he found a single sized container of applesauce and he helped himself to the snack. .... one little plastic container of applesauce.  So, I threw it away, bleached the whole island in the kitchen, and we set the live traps... we didn't catch the pica, but we first, caught a chipmunk, and just before we left, we caught a squirrel.  The chipmunk was just a little scared and didn't move around much, but the squirrel was really quite large, and was not a happy camper in the trap... He was trying to chew the metal cage.  Ben had already left, so we had to call him back to take the squirrel out to the farm...  That's something that I just don't want to handle...  Giggle.

Here's our squirrel visitor.... and....

...here's our chipmunk friend...

The insulation work continues... My construction workers, Jim and Ben, completed the insulation in the loft this past weekend.  I am absolutely thrilled.

There was a little repair work that needed to be completed - our framer really did a terrible job and there has been lots of places that needed repair...  before putting up the insulation, these places had to be fixed...  

And, insulation continued in the main level bedroom...

And, remember how I said we were stranded on the side of the road, in 102 degree temperatures?...  When we got to the store in Beaver, I went into the restroom to splash some water on my face... I was all sweated down, and feeling miserable... I looked in the mirror and this is what I saw...  I went out in public, with the side of my hair standing up.... and, two guys, Jim and Matthew, didn't say anything to me...  It makes me laugh now, and I must admit, looking at myself in the mirror, I did have a laugh... I put this picture at the end of the blog, because I didn't want it showing up as the lead picture for this entry... I still have a little bit of pride left... Giggle.

And, no... I'm not going to enlarge this one...  Giggle.  

With that, the adventure continues..

Love, Jim and Cheri

Side Note:  My son had a little issue a week or so back... he woke up at about 3 in the morning with chest pains... he wife took him to the hospital and it was determined he had a heart attack - at 36 years old.  I am so thankful for those who took care of him while he was in the hospital, and prayed for his recovery.  He is going to be off work for a while, but is recovering nicely.  This mama is not ready to give up one of her children quite yet.  Thankful for modern medicine, doctors and nurses who have expertise, and his wife and children who are taking care of him.

"One day, you will tell your story of how you overcame what you went through, and it will be someone else's survival guide."