Feelin' a little... batty!!!

...building a cabin on the top of a mountain has us surrounded with all kinds of wildlife and we have really enjoyed some of them... Seeing herds of deer first thing in the morning, and cougars, and prairie dogs has really been interesting and fun... But, this weekend, we were introduced to a little creature we weren't expecting...  He doesn't say much, but has truly made an impression!!!

I've decided to call him "The Count" and he's sleeping in the ceiling joist of the main floor bathroom... He doesn't say much during the day - actually, he thinks he's hiding, BUT, at night he takes up living in the family room...Jim says that he might have come in when the cabin was opened up on Friday night, but they don't know for sure... Apparently, The Count likes the place, but doesn't know how to get out, or doesn't want to...  So, I guess, you could say, we're feeling a little... batty...

Whenever we are driving back from the cabin, we always stop in Fillmore, to fill the truck up with gas and get a bite to eat.  There are a couple of restaurants there... a Burger King, a Costa Vida, and a Chinese restaurant... The Burger King is the worst Burger King restaurant on the face of the earth... If you go through the drive thru... that is, if it's actually open, and they actually have the grill working, if you order a single burger, it will take at least 15 minutes to get, and there is always something wrong... If you ask for no onions, you will always get onion... if you ask for extra pickles, you get no pickles.  Jim and our plumber went through the drive thru last week, and this is what Jim got... a cooked beef patty, and the bun was burned black...  Seriously....Talk about flame kissed!

This has been the 2nd weekend that Jim and our plumber have spent the weekend at the cabin working, working, working...  I was talking to him this evening, and told him that he's in our blog, and he said that as long as I describe him as studly, incredibly handsome and muscular like Arnold Schwarzenegger, then it's OK... He's an amazing journeyman plumber and his expertise is more than appreciated.  Jim says he's never worked so hard in all his life trying to stay ahead of him, but the job is getting done amazingly well, and it's wonderful..

Jim and our plumber have been drilling holes in the floor and the ceiling so that plumbing pipes can fit through. Jim is totally covered in saw dust, and the pipes are covered.. At one point, while they were pulling the pipes through, Jim asked out plumber how you keep the saw dust out of the pipes... and, the reply was, "put a glove over the end"...  so, hey.. Jim followed orders..  

... and, here's my sweetie taking a selfie... covered in sawdust..  love this man!

You know, everybody has different opinions, whether they are political, or religious, or educational or horticultural... really doesn't matter... But, in this little Canadian girl's opinion... plumbing is about the sexiest thing on the face of the earth, at this point in my life...This first picture is how things started out at the beginning of the weekend.....

..and this is how they looked at the end of the weekend... it's brilliant and so amazing!!!

 I sent this picture to Bradley, and he told me that it's a really "crappy" job... giggle...  (Plumbers jokes...)

Apart from my husband, this is the sexiest thing I've seen in a really LONG time!!!

This next picture is the main floor bathroom and the wall has gone in to show where the shower is going to go...I am thrilled to think - shower...

Here's another shot of it!! The shower is on the left.

All I can say is... plumbers rock!  (Although, I really love our electrician... giggle)

And, there is another fire blazing in Cedar Breaks.  It's about 45 minutes away, but it seems that every summer, there is some kind of wild fire. Concerns me.

And, last, but not least, the welcoming committee was out in full force.  Jim says that they must have seen about 20 deer on the way out of the property Saturday morning at 7:30.  They are beautiful creatures...except when they eat my spring bulbs..  then, I'm thinking.. venison, jerky, etc.

I'm glad my Jim is home tonight, safe and sound.  I am glad the plumbing is going in, although I miss him terribly when he's gone.  And, this weekend, I haven't been feeling especially well, and I get a little weepy... So, I'm glad he's back.  But I won't take pain pills!

The adventure continues.

Jim and Cheri

CAN WE SAY.. PLUMBING?!!!!!

After a "vacation" in California (and I use that word "vacation" extremely loosely.).. we got back home on Friday, and bright and early Saturday morning, (6:30 am) Jim and our plumber were heading down to the cabin to attack the plumbing! (Actually, my kids call this the "butt crack of dawn"... and, I agree).  I am still not quite at the idea of spending the weekend at the cabin, when in fact, the majority of this weekend, I sat in my recliner and slept.

The first picture I received from Jim was where the loft bathtub was put into place.  I think it's wonderfully exciting and so beautiful...You can see so much of the valley from this window and putting the tub right by the window is perfect.  Hopefully a lot of the valley doesn't see me!  Curtains please.

You can see a little more of the marble look on the side of the tub in this shot below.. I love it.

And, you see that little metal circle thing on the floor.... that's for the toilet in the main floor bathroom..  There's black pipe connected to it!

These pipes are growing out the floor.  This one is for the kitchen sink on the main level.

Do you remember several years ago, we found a toilet from 1908?  Well, here it is again.  There is a polished brass pipe that goes from the toilet up to the tank, which is at the ceiling.  They were testing to make sure the brass pipe fittings all went together... and. they do!!!  This toilet is going to go up in the loft.

Jim put the chrome feet on the bathroom sink cabinet, and prepared it for the piping to come up from the basement. This is in the loft bathroom.

So, pretty.

We might be having to break the cement floor in the basement.... our plumber found that the black pipe under the concrete was put in incorrectly, and the way it is now, when my washing machine drains, it's going to overflow soap foam up through the laundry room and the bathroom floor drains... No Buenos...

It seems that in the Bryce Canyon area, every summer there are wild fires burning.  This is not Bryce Canyon, but a 70 miles north in Fillmore.  I haven't heard anything on the news that there is a fire, but, sure looks like there is...

And, last, but not least, several weeks ago, I was shopping and I saw this mug.  What interested me is that it's supposed to be all forestry with trees and animals and stuff... the only questions I have is:  exactly what kind of animal is this?  It has the head of some kind of cat, the body of a sheep or maybe a cow, and legs of a corgi...  I've asked several people, and we are all totally stumped...  Any suggestions?

So, if you can figure out what this "cat/cow/sheep/dog" is.. let us know.

Life is good, and the adventure continues.

Jim and  Cheri

..just a minor setback

I am writing this post not because I want to particularly remember this experience, but because I never want to forget.

Jim and I decided to take a little vacation to California at the end of August.  We packed the van, and drove, the first night as far as Vegas, spent the night, and then finished the drive by getting to California on the Wednesday afternoon... For two days, we had a most amazing visit.. just doing relatively nothing, and loving each other's company.  (Getting to California wasn't smooth sailing by any means... at one point, we couldn't get the van to slow down... the engine revving to 80 mph at one point.  Jim had to turn the van off as we were moving to get it to slow down.  We got into Barstow and found that the cruise control had failed and stuck... causing the engine to rev, and in the 103 weather, the whole engine to overheat... wasn't pleasant.  Jim disconnected the cruise control, let the engine cool down, added more fluid and we were back on the road).

We wanted to replace the canopy on the 5th wheel, and it was supposed to be an easy fix... Jim disconnected the canopy from the trailer, and it popped out, and fell on the windshield of the van... yep, breaking the window...

On Friday afternoon, at about 3:00 pm, I started having a slight pain in my lower back on the left side.  I decided to go back and take a nap and hopefully, the pain would go away.  I tried to nap for a little bit, but within 45 minutes I was in such excruciating pain, Jim decided to drive me to the hospital emergency room..  The hospital was about 15 minutes away, and by the time I got there, I was screaming in pain.

When the attendings were checking me out, my blood pressure was 218/97, my temperature was 103 degrees and all I could do was scream and pant...  The doctor gave me something for pain, and they gave me a CT scan to see what the problem was... At this point I was bringing up... In the scan, they saw a small kidney stone.  It had just left the kidney, and the doctors felt I needed a stent so that the stone would not block the ureter... On Friday night, I went to have the stent put in, but because I had been bringing up, I couldn't have general anesthesia.  So, they did a spinal block... worked great...Just before they started the surgery, because my blood pressure was so high, they gave me an injection to lower it.... It apparently worked really well, because within a few seconds, my bloodpressure plummeted to 55/35 and I was having convulsions...  I think I passed out because I don't remember anything until I woke up in recovery...

The surgery was supposed to take about 10 - 15 minutes, but instead, it took over an hour.  As the surgeon got into the procedure, the blood test results came back, and it showed that I had a UTI and was septic.  In visiting with him aftewards, he said that I had so much infection in the kidney, the surgery took more time because of the infection cleanup that had to be done..... and that was before the stent was put in.  The staff questioned me forever about symptoms.. did I have pain, did I have a fever before this, did I have urgency to pee...  I had nothing...  In recovery, I heard one of the doctors say that I was "Tacky"... and in my drugged state, I told him I was NOT tacky.. and he said I was.. and again, I told him that I was not tacky, and I have never been tacky... and it was the nurse who explained to the doctor that I was not tacky, but he should have said tachychardia.  So, no, I was not tacky, but I was tachychardic...  Giggle...  Words matter.

The main thing that the doctor said to me was that if I had not come into the emergency room with the kidney stone, I had a very small window where the bacteria in my bloodstream would have taken over, and my heart would have stopped.  So, within a couple of hours, I would have died..  that is sobering.

I was admitted that night, and for the next 5 days was pumped full of antibiotics, and fluids, I swear, gave gallons of blood.  I was put on three different antibiotics that went through my IV, the 2nd of which I was allergic to, and broke out in blisters up my nose, on my mouth and on my arms..My arms, at this point, look like a battlezone...

There were many times in the hospital, were I was so tired, and hurt so bad during this recovery period, that all I could do was cry... hospitals aren't really the place to go for rest.

I had an amazing support staff.  One doctor, in particular was from Ukraine, and every time he came into my room, he would call me "Luba" which is Ukrainian for my first name, "Love".  ... made me smile.  His first name is Ilya, and I immediately thought of that tv show from the 60's... The Man From U.N.C.L.E..... and the David McCallum character was Ilya Nickovitch Kuriyakin who was supposed to be a Russian spy...
I always wondered why this particular Russian Spy had a British accent...Well, this Russian was not particularly tall, very slender built, and blonde and had those cold, steel blue eyes just like my mother...  I had asked him why he left Ukraine and he said that he was born in Ukraine, but he was educated in Moscow.  He and his wife had a daughter who had cerebral palsy, and there were no fund available to look after her in Russia - so, they immigrated.

One phlebotomist should be a dominatrix - that woman was out to inflict pain - all at 5 in the morning.  Her theory is that she will find a vein on the first try - it might hurt, but she'll get it... Not my favourite.

I received texts and emails and messages and visits from some of the most amazing friends....  Michelle and Stephanie and Jim from California made visits, and in fact, Stephanie and Jim came to check on Jim and I both while I was still in the emergency room... Michelle, herself, was having medical issues and came to visit.  Beautiful flowers showed up from Ontario - such a beautiful, cheerful surprise from my bestie, Lynn... who always has my back... Thank you to all.

And, I got calls and skype messages from several people from my work, including my supervisor, Joy, the customer service manager, Tara, one of the sales guys, Barry, and the president of the company... these types of calls, buoy you up when you really don't know if you are going to die, or if you just want to die.  Much appreciated.

Every day, I got little messages from my children, Brianne and Brad with special messages from the grands...didn't have to, but sure was nice.

And, last, but definitely not least... my Jim...  this man is the epitome of patience, and understanding, and staying cool and calm during a really, really stressful time.  He spent the first night in the hospital with me, and that's when we realized that they cot they gave him to sleep in really was the pits, and he decided to sleep in the 5th wheel... He endured my demands, put up with my complaining... and, even laughed with me when we couldn't figure out what the hospital food was.  He showed up one night, after a particularly questionable hospital meal showed up, with mac and cheese, and a couple of pieces of grilled shrimp... it was celestial... I wasn't allowed to take a shower, so he so gently washed my face and hair in the sink, and made me feel a little fresher than just laying in bed...  Couldn't love that man more.

Jim understands when I need to sleep, makes sure I am staying hydrated, and is vigilant in making sure I take this plethora of meds on time.

I have a follow up with a urologist in the next week, when they are supposed to take out the stent and remove the stone....

In the last couple of years of my mother's life, she was plagued with kidney problems - that's why we are now looking into further testing to see if this kidney problem I have is genetic... But, a little frail lady, in her 90's having these problems... I do not know how she made it through.. Sepsis is extremely brutal on the body, and, with her battling it, several times, along with age and Parkinson's Disease, proves what a strong lady she actually was.

So, thank you to those who saved my life.. physically and emotionally...  I couldn't have done it on my own.

So, I am thankful for small miracles and small kidney stones... without them, I wouldn't not have been able to go on....

Today, Jim is at the cabin - we had planned for the plumber to spend the weekend working with Jim on getting the toilets and sinks up and running...  As I hear there are some problems and mistakes that someone else made, they are working to fixing those issues, and moving forward....  But, that is for the blog that will come next.

Before I forget, when we were pulling into Vegas on the return trip, we got rear ended...  sigh...You know, there are times when you just start waiting for things to happen...

Thank you for your love and support.  Cheri


Follow up:  9/23/2019 - I had one more surgery to do a little repair work to the kidney, remove the stone, and thank goodness, remove that beastly stent...  I feel 100% better... I'm still a little tired, but appreciative for all the help I received, and the support... especially Jim - he is a little on the crusty side of life, but I feel that man's love and support every single day.  I could not have made it through without him by my side...  Love him something stupid.

Cheri

MANDIRT!!

Another couple of weeks have passed, and we are still moving forward....

Jim came home from work about a week ago, and was all excited because, this thing that he ordered came in, and he picked it up... I kind of looked at it and was at the "um, what is it" stage.  It's not really big, but he was really thrilled...  I know it has something to do with the electrics, but beyond that... I'm at a loss...

This is where I leave a space on the blog, and I ask Jim to look at what I've written, and explain... So, whatever you see next, it's not me.. It's Jim..

Jim:  Take it away....This is the main 200 amp breaker that goes out in the meter base that's mounted on the front of the cabin next to the glass electric meter.  If there is a power surge or lightning strike this will trip and stop any damage to the electrical system in the cabin.  There you go Cheri.

Wow... that was easy...

The big project that Jim has been working on over the past couple of weeks is getting the plumbing situated and the water turned on.  We have the plumber arranged, but, because we are not on city water, we have to dig a hole for a septic tank.. that has been the big push lately...  One of us, and I don't want to mention who, doesn't want to have to drive the 20 minutes to the restroom, several times a day, any longer... Thus, the urgency to get the plumbing in.

Here's the start.  Stakes in the ground so we don't get out of hand with the digging.  LOL.

Jim was telling me that as he started digging the hole, there was a mouse that ran out of the brush nearby and into the hole, and his knee jerk reaction was to kill the mouse.. Well, he was sitting in the seat of the backhoe, and was operating the machine doing the digging... he was trying to follow the mouse, with the bucket, to kill it...  the mouse was a little faster than the backhoe, and it escaped... As he was describing this to me, I am laughing crazy.. just thought it was a little overkill trying to exterminate a mouse... with a backhoe.. Kind of like taking a machine gun to a pillow fight... and the pillow won!!!  Had me laughing so hard, I was snorting..  Giggle.

This gives you a little perspective of exactly where Jim is digging..

Yep.. this is the mouse trap...Uhuh... can  you imagine trying to kill a mouse.. with this?  I mean, seriously, with antics like this, how can you not love this man?

Jim is having issues with the air cleaner.  It captures water in the rain and makes the backhoe run rough.  He wants to replace it with something a little more modern.

Jim took a little break from the digging and went inside the cabin to rest...  he was skyping with me at the time, and I noticed all the dirt on his hands... had to have him take a picture....

This is man dirt.

The digging job was finished Sunday afternoon, and this is the result.  This hole is about 7 feet deep, and is 11 feet across...  it's a beautiful thing for a big cement tank that will fill it up.

Last summer, when we were driving to the cabin, we found a cow in the ditch that someone had hit with a truck.. At the time, Jim mentioned that he didn't know how anybody could hit a cow being that they really don't move that fast, and the road we drive on is a dirt road, and the maximum speed we drive is about 30 miles an hour... Well, today, he found out how you can hit a cow.  He was driving from Tod's Junction after a lunch break back to the cabin, and a calf "came out of nowhere" running into the road and then turned down the road in front of him.  It missed getting in contact with the front grill of his truck by about a foot...while Jim was slamming on the brakes and sliding all over the dirt road.

After trying to kill a mouse with his backhoe, I was glad that he was picking on a larger animal, with a smaller vehicle!  Giggle..

Life is good and the adventure continues!

Jim & Cheri.

Marvin Gaye and Kim Weston "It Takes Two"

The Drifters - Under the Boardwalk

Seriously... Seriously..... sigh....

Have you ever had one of those weeks, where all you can really do is just sigh at the end of it...  Well, both Jim and I just had one... At both of our places of employment, all hell broke loose, and, it was emotionally draining...   THEN, on Thursday, Jim is talking to Garkane Energy, and Kane County about switching our temporary power pole to the fixed meter base, on the side of the house and, we found out all kind of exciting things. But, that story is later on in this blog....So, running away to the cabin seemed to be the right escape.

A week ago, I got a call from our weird neighbor, and he said that he had something that we might like for the cabin... I couldn't imagine what - this guy is totally out there somewhere on another planet.. Well, he said he wasn't sure what it was, but, he thought it might be a bird feeder...  So, I walked next door and there was this gnarly copper and plastic looking thing, and sure enough, it was an old bird feeder.. and, it needed a whole lot of work.  The first thing I did was run it through the dishwasher.  You know, our dishwasher really is a multi purpose machine - it's washed everything from rocks, motorcycle and car parts to bird feeders...  The first pass got all the dirt and muck off of it, and then Jim dismantled it, and I scrubbed it down in the sink some more.

... and it turned out quite pretty.  The neighbor said that he believes it belonged to his parents, so we are estimating that it probably is about 60 years old. We can't find replacement parts, but, Jim did his best to reconstruct it, and it's now hanging in the garage.  I think it's crazy interesting, and will look amazing at the cabin.

Jim's BIG project this past week is building the bridge that crosses from dry land across "Galt's Gulch" to the deck.  This whole balancing act that we have to go through (walking across three 2x10's) just had to go.  I am always so afraid that the boards are going to break and I am going to fall head first into the gulch!  The project starts out looking really simple, and then gets a little more complicated really quickly.

Here's a shot of  the upper and lower boards to be glued together to form a curved beam, 

They don't look like much yet.

As Jim is working cutting wood and measuring and doing all these guy things that he's so good at, I had the task of holding the string or measuring tape... yep, that's my contribution.  But, about half way through the project, I notice that Jim has red on his fingers and I am so sure he'd cut himself and is bleeding all over the place... I am all in a twist over it, and he keeps wiping his fingers on his pants, but no blood is wiping off.. so, I figure it's bleeding like really crazy.. and he keeps wiping... well Jim soon figures out, that he was using a red marker to draw the lines on the board, and he got some of the marker on his fingers...  Thus, we made a trip to Home Depot, and I bought him some construction markers... and they are.. BLACK.

OK, three curved beams and a few things to hold them together and I'm getting the idea.

Jim didn't get all the bridge completed at the house - just enough to transport in the trailer.

And there's those pesky three 2X10's I've had to walk over.  Grrr . . .

.. and, he put more of the treads on the top when he got on site..

I told Jim that I wanted an arbor at the place where the bridge meets the deck, just above the gulch.. I think eventually, we'll get it done, but, for now, I'm just thrilled for the bridge and the two 2x10's that we've been balancing on, are gone... (those two 2x10's scared the heebeejeebees out of me whenever I had to walk over them...but I kept it inside and looked tough crossing them every time.  I swear, the gulch wanted to swallow me, I am sure...)...  I am wanting flowers growing up and over the arbor.. not sure what kind of flowers, but something warm and inviting... which I am SOOO sure is Jim's main objective... giggle... And deer proof!

I think it looks amazing.. What 'cha think?

When Jim was working on the bridge, he had to secure it from underneath... he told me that when he was in "The Gulch" he was singing the song, 'Under the Boardwalk'.  At the same time, I sent him the song by Marvin Gaye...'It Takes Two'.  Maybe he needed my help, maybe he didn't... BUT, I would have loved to be under the boardwalk with him, because it does.. take two!

We are slowly transitioning the cabin to a place where we can do cooking.  We have a microwave and a hot pot, and a little refrigerator, but, still it's not enough to cook a real meal.  When Jim got into Panguitch on Friday night, he bought some waffles and sugar-free syrup, and this was his breakfast.. ON MY MOOSE PLATES!  He said it was great with a cold drink of milk!

Jim's been working on the backhoe on and off over the last couple of weeks replacing the rotted out gas tank, and this past weekend, he tried it out for reals... AND, it starts, and works!  So, he started digging the hole for the septic tank.. I never thought a septic tank would be so exciting, but you have no idea!!!

It was about 2 weeks ago, I had this bright idea... We have had such a problem finding contractors to help us with different projects.  One of them was finding a plumber who was going to be available in our timetable.  I was at work, and I thought of an old friend of mine who has done work for us previously, but, I didn't have his phone number.  I did a search, and I found an address for him in West Jordan.  So, I wrote him a letter, and asked him to call me.  And, guess what - he did!  I told him what we needed and he asked to see a set of plans.  Because Jim works in West Jordan, Jim went by after work last Friday afternoon, and they checked out the plans, and discussed the project back and forth.  My friend, Rick, said that he would like to see the cabin before we moved forward.  He came down on Saturday, and walked the cabin with Jim, and made a plan...  I said, THEY MADE A PLAN...  They made a plan for.. PLUMBING... like toilets, and sinks, and running water.. that kind of plan..  So freakin' exciting.  He is going to do the work in September when his schedule calms down a little bit... We couldn't be more excited.

Jim stayed at the cabin from Friday night to Monday evening, mainly because he needed to meet with Rick the plumber on Saturday, but, also because he was meeting with Garkane Energy on Monday.  We found out that the temporary power pole that they put in... well, it was set up for an RV, not a house, and they weren't sure if they needed to dig up the road and put bigger wire in, or what they were going to do.  We were a little stressed all weekend thinking that along with the several thousand dollars we paid to have the power put in, would need to be all redone and re billed because they didn't do what we asked... Well, Jim met with them, and we found out that they did put the 200 amp wire in, not just the 60, and they don't think they are going to have to dig up the road... just move the wiring over to the house...  dodged a bullet on that one...!

And, we had another woodpecker in the cabin.  We aren't quite sure where they are getting in, but, once Jim saw him, he opened all the doors and invited the little beast to exit.  He did..  because, when they don't, they end up dead on my living room floor.  They are not the brightest, but, they can figure out how to get into the cabin, but not remember how to get out..

And, last but not least, please tell me this is a dog's paw print, and not something in the feline genre...  please... You see the toe nails are retracted and don't imprint in the mud.  That's a dog, right?

Our goal this summer was to have the four way inspection completed (furnace, plumbing, electrical and structural) and that is proving to be a challenge... So much work, not enough time and energy.  The adventure continues for us... gonna be working hard and long for as long as we can, and before the snow flies..

Jim and Cheri