Can We Say... Tongue and Groove?

The 2nd week of October was absolutely beautiful.  Mornings are not my favourite... not even close, but I woke up about 6 and was just amazed how spectacular it looked outside... colder than all get out, but spectacular views.
 

I'm not sold on getting up early in the morning, but I am sold on the views....

Well, we bought a new waterheater and took it down to the cabin.  We haven't replaced it yet cuz there are a dozen other things that are much more important to get done before the snow flies.  We didn't have a problem with a return, (I guess a 2 year old water heater is supposed to last just a little bit longer....) it's just a time issue right now.

As Hallowe'en is coming up, I read about an activity I was intrigued with.  It was a float down the Provo River on a "Pirate" boat.  It was probably set up for kids, but Jim and I decided to go and it actually was kinda fun.  The captain of the boat was a young woman, and it was powered by... ropes...  Was interesting, until she took a fall, but it was really quite fun.  Here's my Jim in front of the pirates treasure map.

Jim got a call from work about half way through the ride, and he paused from talking to the technician, with an "Arrrrrh!"  The guy on the other end of the phone was probably like... huh?  Made me laugh.

And, the first hockey game at the Delta Center was this past Monday.  They still don't have a name beyond, "Utah Hockey Club" but it has proved to be a hit.  I had a co-worker who went to the game and said it was total fun.  Maybe it had something to do with the $120k worth of beer that was sold in one night.  Jim and I will be going to see the Toronto Maple Leafs play The Utah Hockey Club in March.  I am totally excited.

We picked up the first couple of loads of tongue and groove for the ceiling on Friday and Saturday... Oh my... is that ever hard work, and I think I probably didn't do as much heavy lifting as Jim did...   It's placed in the pick up, piece by piece... 

This was the first day, when we both still had energy.  After the first load, Jim and I got back to the cabin and we both said..."I need a nap"...

Saturday morning, we had to unload the truck so we could get another load.  It's times like this that I am glad we have a boom truck to lift things up... and over.

This is really heavy work, and even though we use a truck to lift, it was dense enough to lift the front wheels of the boom truck off the ground.  Was kinda scary to say the least.

This is actually the third load which is 16' lengths.  We can't fit them in the back of the pickup, so next week, Jim is going to go with the bucket truck and the trailer we use for the backhoe, and pick them up that way.

Once hoisted by the bucket, we landed the pile of wood onto the balcony and then put them into the loft for later use... Again, freakin' heavy work...

2nd week... yes, I was really busy and didn't get around to writing on the blog....

The week started out with me finding this little table for the cabin and two plant caddies for my citrus trees in Provo...  The little end table is just perfect for the cabin, but my lime tree and my lemon tree are not liking the cold temperatures while they are living outside... I think they like the Calfornia climate better... So, I got these two caddies, and the citrus are now living happily in the livingroom!  I still have to get one more caddy for my little maple tree....

 

The wheels will make it easier to move the trees around the livingroom.

I have decided that after last weekend, I shouldn't be going to the cabin any more this year... it was a little frosty last weekend, and because I have pneumonia that kicks up every fall, it's time to stay in warmer temperatures.  And, I'm really glad I did...  Friday morning, Jim woke up to this... After last week when it was so pretty, a couple of inches fell during the night, making the cabin, cold, cold, cold.

Looks pretty, but it's really cold... especially when the only heat we have is with the wood burning stove on the hearth...

Looks kinda Christmassy...

It started melting during the day, which resulted in.... mud, mud, mud.

A couple of years ago, we had the same situation, so I bought this boot scraper and I am sure Jim appreciated the effort.  He said the amount of mud that stuck to his boots made it really difficult to walk.

It's like it got worse as the days went on...

But, the cabin stayed cold...

There was a little problem with the wood burning stove... Jim and Ben heard noise coming from the stove pipe and figured it was a bird that got inside the pipes...  They lit a fire trying to encourage it to fly out, but aren't sure it actually left, or met it's maker before getting out.  They think the bird must have built a nest in the pipe and then got caught... The nest is blocking the smoke from leaving and I think Ben was going to see if he could knock the nest and/or bird out this week...  It's always something.

I was out on Saturday and finally found the colour of stain we wanted for the inside ballusters.  We found every other colour under the sun, except the one we wanted.  I found only 4 cans and bought them all.

Friday, the guy at the sawmill  loaded the 16' tongue and groove and Ben and Jim brought it to the cabin... Actually, the road was so muddy, they couldn't get the truck and trailer up the hill, so, it's at Ben's cabin down the hill until they can drive the truck back up.  

And, the work on the conex continues.  We have until the 31st of October to get it cleaned out and removed before the non-existant, non legal "HOA" fines us.  Long story, we never signed up for an HOA, but we are now told we are under their authority... Big fights going on...  We don't pay for the HOA, didn't sign anything about an HOA, but are told they have formed a "quorum" of majority owners, and they are going to rewrite the rules... We purchased the property because there was NO HOA... We hate HOA's... But, the conex (that we had permission to have) is almost cleared out, and it should be moved by the 31st... here's hoping.

Part of the wood and pipes that were in the conex were loaded into Ben's trailer, and now are living safely in his empty chicken coop... you remember... the chickens and rooster had to vacate their home because the stupid HOA changed the rules...  It's insane.

And, here's the wood's new home.  We just ran out of space in the cabin's basement, so until it finds a permanent home, this is the temporary residence.

I absolutely love this picture...  I don't love the snow, but the overall picture looks calm and serene...

And, Jim had another trip to the emergency room this past weekend.  He was putting the trailer ball on the boom truck, and while he was tightening everything down, the wrench slipped and he went flying.  He said he had a hard time breathing, and his right side was really painful, so he went to the hospital for x-rays.  Nothing terribly broken, according to the hospital, but they said that he should come back to Provo and have and MRI.  He bruised his ribs and his lung, still is in pain, but is slowly but surely 

recooperating.

Funny story... has nothing to do with the cabin, but it's had me giggling... Jim and I went grocery shopping a couple of nights ago - Maceys in Provo... I had just been to the orthopaedic surgeon and I was feeling a little rough, and Jim worked super hard over the weekend, and his knees and hips were bothering him, so both of us were in the electric carts... As we drove into the store, the front end supervisor, whom we know really well, says to us, "Hey you two, no playing bumper cars in the store.."  I kinda laughed and said that it wasn't me who plays bumper cars, but it's Jim... Jim denied the whole thing and blamed me...  Was kinda cute... As I'm picking out vegetables, Jim drives up and bumps into the side of my cart a couple of times and both of us are laughing...  As we get to the check out, the assistant manager leans over to me and says, "I saw you two playing bumper cars......and Jim hit your cart..." Really made me laugh that we were caught on store video being juvenile... 

With all that, the adventure continues,

Love, Jim and Cheri

• Cabins are where firewood and memories are made.

.... the Deer Whisperer....

 Well, the fall is here, the trees are changing colour, and the deer are making friends with my Jim... On Sunday evening as we were packing up the car to come home, Jim very quietly called to me, and asked me to come outside... and this is what I saw....  Mama deer, and three little babies.  Jim sat down on the bridge, and they made their way closer and closer to him... mama was not afraid... but the babies were a little skittish. . .

After a couple of minutes, they got big and brave - maybe it was strength in numbers, and they came really close to Jim and he shared several chocolate chip cookies with mama... she didn't mind at bit...

They were not afraid of Jim, and after the bunch of them came right up to the cabin, I've decided that Jim is the "Deer Whisperer"...  We were trying to hurry and get driving home, but after the deer made an appearance, we slowed down considerably and just visited.. I am hoping these are not the deer that ate all my flower bulbs... grrrr...

We bought another upper cabinet for the kitchen... We're almost done with that set of purchases... We decided we were going to get a cabinet and while we were driving to the store...  The decision was made and I was frantically placing the order on my phone.  As we were pulling into the parking lot, the order was completed and I got the confirmation number... It said it would be ready for pick up in 1 - 3 hours... I thought we were hosed, but just a minute or so later, I got another confirmation saying it was ready... 

And, here it is in the back of my Kia Soul..  The whole process took less than 5 minutes!!!  You would not believe the different things we have transported in this car...  Giggle.

The work of cleaning out the Conex is still going on, and the guys really put in two days of intense work this past weekend...  They got rid of a lot of stuff, and put a lot of stuff in the cabin.  I didn't remember we had all the ceramic tiles for the basement kitchen, and tons of miscellaneous this and that - that is going to be needed to complete the cabin... It will be nice to have that project over with...

But, this is what the inside of the Conex looks like now... Still quite a bit of heavy work to be completed... we have until the end of October - which seems to be creeping up on us quickly.

And, we seem to have sprung a leak in our water heater.  A couple of weeks ago, Jim noticed a little puddle of water around the base of the water heater and did some investigation...  It's was a brand new water heater when we got it a couple of years ago so it was puzzling that it was leaking.  We could not remember when we bought it, so I had to go back a couple of years on this blog to find where we bought it and installed it... and it was 4th of July weekend 2 years ago.  Jim went back to the place we bought it at, and there is an 8 year warranty of the water heater so, they will replace it.  This water heater cost us close to $2000.00 so I was in a little bit of a panic, but glad it's still warrantied and it's not like the warranty on the shower curtains... Delta's warranty means nothing... they don't honor it... These guys do... so, we are thankful.

I couldn't sleep past about 6 o'clock in the morning on Sunday, so I got up and turned on the tv... over in the corner, there was a little rustling, and when Jim got up, I told him that I thought we need to put a couple of live traps out because I think we have a mouse or chipmunk in the corner... He told me, it wasn't a mouse, but it was a bird, but he had opened the doors and thought it flew out... When Ben came over, we discovered, it had not left... and it was hanging out on the ceiling fan in the loft... Ben opened the loft doors, and the woodpecker decided he was going to hang with us a little longer and didn't want to leave... All I was thinking was along the lines of bird poop all over the loft... But, after a little wait and me planning the woodpeckers demise, he got a clue and left... really was a big freakin' bird...  

And, I bought some black walnut slab pieces this past week.  I thought they were really beautiful and I want to make some door signs with them... I am not sure what I would put on them... so, if you have a cute suggestions for something for Christmas/Thanksgiving/Summer/Whenever, let me know... I love the walnut wood, but, for this application, I'm blank.

Many, many years ago, I met a girl in Toronto who turned out to be my bestest buddy... She was an Osmond loving groupie - which I truly to this day don't understand, was so elegant and beautiful - just totally out of my league.  I didn't have a clue why we were friends and have told my husband and my friends that I always thought she took pity on me... We both were dating guys named Jim, I was her maid of honour at her wedding, and she was maid of honour at mine, and we both had daughters we named Crystal.  We have laughed and cried and stressed over so much together for years..  I never knew why I was a part of her wedding, as I thought there were others that were better suited.  Through the years, we have remained friends, and it seems whenever I am down and out and just about ready to give up, Lynn feels my pain over the miles.  The past couple of months have been challenging for me, in many ways... last week, a little package came for me from my Lynn... three little pumpkins that made me smile and laugh and remember why I love this woman... They now sit in my office as a reminder that I can make it through... Thank you, dear friend...  You make my heart smile.

Also this past week, I had a friend of our family from Toronto pass and Jim and I went to the viewing.  I sent flowers from my family... didn't know what to order... But, turned out beautiful.... amazing fall colours but the most wonderful thing was the cat tails... I think cat tails, and pussy willows have always reminded me of Ontario in the fall...and I think every Canadian kid has had sword fights with cat tails, and stuck pussy willows up their nose, and also licked something frozen (because it looked pretty) like the metal buggy guides outside the grocery store and had their tongue stuck... that one hurts...  It's just a part of being Canadian...

The next day, I sent a message to the family, just asking how they were doing, and this is the reply I got from one of them... made me smile...

Doing great thanks … it was so nice seeing you last night. Thank you for coming. Plus, Celine saw a flower arrangement and said, “that has to be from a Canadian” (because it had cat tails). It was from your family

On that note, I will end this week's episode of the blog, wishing everyone a Happy Canadian Thanksgiving, (October14).

Oh, and tomorrow, October 8th, is the opening day of hockey season... And, my Leaf's will be playing Montreal on Wednesday.. Let's go Leafs!!!

The adventure continues...

Love, Jim and Cheri