I DON'T KNOW WHERE TO BEGIN....

As we were driving down to the cabin on Saturday afternoon, Jim took my hand and smiled and said, "It's another amazing adventure..."  He says this each time we start to drive to the cabin... I didn't have a clue what I was in for...

We got into Hatch, Utah at about 8:30, and decided that before we did anything else, we would check into our motel.  We tried a new motel again, this one was called Hatch Station...  small, and I mean, really small rooms, small bathroom, very clean,  but, two queen beds, we figured we were in good shape...

Got up this morning, terrible backache, but moved forward...  We needed to go to the hardware store in Duck Creek to get some silicone caulk so we could install a couple of windows in the basement.. We drive to Duck Creek, see a couple of prong horn antelopes standing on the side of the road... minding their own business...  was kinda cool..

We got to Duck Creek,  and realized that the hardware store was closed... ok... I guess we're not going to silicone in the windows for now..  Spring hours = closed Sundays, Summer hours = open Sundays!  We move forward.

We picked up a bunch of stuff from storage to put in the conex, even though we can't find the keys to the conex... giggle...  We had them last fall - just don't know where they went to.  OK, so Jim lost them, so we cut the locks off.

As we were driving into the cabin property, I see a little tint of yellow down the hill... Walked down the hill, and you know what???  Those stupid deer didn't get all my tulips... I must have planted a couple of hundred bulbs a year and half ago, and those stupid deer ate all the flowers AND the bulbs... But, with these little yellow faces appearing, I was thrilled that a couple of the bulbs survived...

We get to the cabin and it's really a beautiful day... windy, but sunny and bright and comfortably warm.  We decide to put the 4 x 5 window in... All goes reasonably well - I held the window, Jim put screw nails in to hold it in place.

We then decide to put in the window well...  Now remember, it's really, really windy out...The window well is 66" x 48" and Jim says it's like working with wet pasta noodle that weighs 50 lbs....  The edges are razor sharp, but the top has a plastic covering over it, that protects you...

So, here's Jim, poor thing, trying to man handle this wet noodle up the wall about 4 feet to get it into place... Not gonna happen...  he then decides to get the backhoe and lift the window well  up and hold it in place.

I am scared out of my mind.  As Jim is driving the backhoe beside the house, the back wheels are sliding and the whole backhoe is  sliding on the hill like crazy... I called a couple that we met from down the hill, Ron and Mary, and asked for their help...

In about 5 minutes Ron and Mary pull up on their little John Deere garden cart/golf cart thing to help... Thank goodness they showed up...  it still took a couple of hours to get the window well in... What a job...!

In the meantime, the 2nd window that we were going to install, was blown over by the wind..  We were freaking... but, amazingly, it didn't break, and after the window well installation, we installed one more window...

After Ron and Mary left, we had to get the backhoe back into place, and we went through the problem of having it slip and slide.. again, I was in heart failure mode.

Jim had to cut the locks off the conex, and get the stuff from storage into the conex... grrrr...

We try to get out of Panguitch by about 4 or 5 in the afternoon,  but, had so many problems and issues, it was after 8 when we left... grrrr...

We're leaving the property, and it's just about sundown, and our favourite neighbours stood to say goodbye.. actually, the three of them were standing there wondering what we were doing on their turf and why we were there...  We haven't been properly introduced - still at the staring stage.. Giggle.

Got home close to midnight, and on my goodness are we tired... and covered in sand...  another amazing adventure.

Jim and Cheri

LET IT SNOW, LET IT... NO!!!

As our weekly Manzanita post begins, let me say... we are glad to be alive.

We decided to make a trip down to Manzanita to first of all, see what the conditions are like and see if we can actually get up to the property yet, and if not, drop off a load of supplies into storage in Panguitch.

We got a late start on Saturday afternoon... we couldn't find asphalt emulsion anywhere.. We went to Home Depot in Provo and they didn't have any...  so, we called Home Depot in Lindon, and they had some, so we had to backtrack to Lindon to pick it up...  I have been checking the weather report for Alton all week, and it said that we were going to have a little rain on Saturday morning, but it would clear up by noon, and Sunday was going to be 50 degrees and sunny... So, we figured, we had a good chance to get up to the property on the mountain.

So, we set off driving, and get about 20 miles north of Beaver, when it started to snow... just a little bit.. by the time we got to Beaver, the snow was so intense...like we couldn't see 50 feet in front of the truck, so we followed an 18 wheeler.  But, the snow stopped while we were at a gas stop in Beaver, so we figured we were in good shape to go on...  No luck..(When Jim came out of the gas stop, he had a bag of chocolate chip and macadamia nut cookies with him.. I asked him if he needed a snack and he said that if he was going to die in a snowstorm, he was going to go down with cookies....  giggle)

 We got back on the road, and the snow started again, to the point that we were following another 18 wheeler because the visibility was just about nil.. Our headlights froze over and we were driving maybe 20 miles an hour on I-15...for 20 miles...  We thought that it might be a little bit better when we got to the Panguitch cut off.. and nope.... got worse.. The big problem here was.. mountains. We had to drive on a couple of mountain passes to get to Panguitch (Hwy 20).. and it was terrifying...couldn't see a thing, and because you're on the top of a mountain, there is absolutely no place to pull over.  When we could see the embankment on the right side of the road, we knew we were getting too close to the side, and when we heard the tire hit the bump, bump, bump divots in the road, we knew we had crossed the center line....anxiety and panic was intense..

When we finally got into Panguitch, it was freezing cold, but totally clear... we were like, what?  The snow stopped 5 miles north of Panguitch.  It took us seven hours to do a normally three hour drive.

Got up this morning, had breakfast, and decided to try to make it up the mountain to the cabin site... After last week with all the mud and water, I figured there was no way we would make it up there... But, we brought a four wheeler with us - with the key this time!, so I figured, it nothing else, we could four wheeler up..

And, guess what... the road were clear and dry... We drove the truck and trailer right up to the property.

Our job for today was to paint the asphalt emulsion on the side of the walls that were put up last year.  The back fill dirt is going to fill in up to these walls, so they have to have the waterproofing on them.. We have not been to the property since the walls were poured... the pictures we got last year were from the neighbor, so it was totally exciting to see actual walls!

We got the two walls painted with the goop as planned... it's truly nasty stuff...

Jim did the majority of the work because my knee isn't quite in any condition yet to be standing for very long...but, I did my best and then Jim took over... I wore gloves because that black stuff sticks and stains like crazy... The black walls don't show up very well on the south side pictures.

Jim did the he-man number and didn't wear gloves...

 

This is after he washed his hands... but, couldn't get the goop off his wedding band... should I be concerned?  Na. . .

The weather up the mountain was perfect for this job... was sunny, and mild...  It was nice just doing a little work with Jim.. just the two of us.. working on a project... I liked it...

Making memories - another amazing adventure.

Jim and Cheri

MEOW!

Well, it was our anniversary this week, so we decided to kill two birds with one stone... We have a trailer that we left on the property, and we needed to get it back to Provo, so we could take a glulam beam back next time... This beam has been sitting in my driveway for the past couple of years...With the framing of the cabin about to start, it's kinda important this support beam shows up.  So, it's time..

We left on Friday night, and spent the night at Panguitch House, in... you guessed it.. Panguitch...  Lovely little B&B... Middle of the night, Jim wasn't feeling really well, so we skipped breakfast..

We drove the truck down to Panguitch with one of the four wheelers in the back.. The plan was, to drive the truck as far up to the property as possible, and then use the four wheel drive, four wheeler to drive the rest of the way up, pull the trailer down to the truck, hitch it up, and then drive home.

Well.... in the middle of the night, Jim wakes up, (about 3 in the morning) and asks me if the keys to the four wheeler were in the truck... I told him that I put the keys to the four wheeler in the key box... in the house... in the hallway .... in Provo...  uhuh... we forgot the keys at home.

Well, I was a little on the frustrated side of life... But, we decided to take a drive up the mountain to see what the roads were like, and if our truck would make it through whatever snow and mud was there..

We got about 2 blocks from the cabin, and  were overrun with mud... and there was no way that we could make it any further.  We had no option but to turn back.

Before getting back on the road, we stopped at a little convenience store not far away.  I guess the cashier lady figured that I was a little ticked, and she asked me if I was ok... I told her the issue, and she said that her mother and step father lived in the same area, and she would call them..  Ten minutes later, we were meeting her step father, Wes at the turn-around point, and he drove Jim up to the property, and were hauling the trailer out!  It was fantastic!  Problem solved.

On the way out of town, we stopped to get some gas in the four wheeler, and the truck, and up pulled to the gas pumps and a couple of guys.. and all we could see were these huge paws in the back of their pick up truck... If this was a deer, it was the strangest looking deer paws I'd ever seen...  Jim and I are sitting there, staring at this thing, and realize that it had these HUGE paws...It was no deer... it was a cougar...I walked up to check it out, and this guy was meeting with the DNR official having a little convo about the tags .. I don't think I've ever seen a cougar up close and personal before.. I was talking to this guy, and I told him where our cabin was... apparently, this cougar's home wasn't too far away...  uhuh... he asked if we had a cat or a dog.. I told him we had a cat, and he advised not to let the cat out at night...  He said that a dog will bark and scare the cougars (cougars???) away, but the two cats will just have a hissing contest, and in the end our cat will be the loser...I knew there were deer and elk and coyotes and stuff like that up there... never thought about cougars... and we're not talking BYU!

I sent a copy of this picture to Brad... he said he was going to show the girls, but he knew the girls would ask if the cougar was sleeping...  um...well... not really?  He was just having a bad day.

I've made friends with a lady in Panguitch who sells fresh eggs... they're amazing...  stopped by her place on the way through, and picked up 4 flats of eggs for the kids, and still made it home in great time.

Was a quick weekend, and another amazing adventure.

Jim and Cheri..

Glass follow up

Well, the work on the windows is continuing - slowly but surely.  I started cutting the yellow glass for the sunflowers and found that it was an absolute nightmare...  It is so thick and uneven on the underside, that cutting and breaking it is impossible... I'm going to have to grind it down to the sizes that I need...  But, apart from that, I'm ready to start building...

We will all have to put up with glass in our hands, and glass in our feet for a little while longer.

Cheri

..and it begins

Well, today was the first day of cutting glass for the bathroom windows in the cabin....it was actually a really interesting experience.

Here's the pattern I made for this project...  The pattern is sunflowers... I had to outline them in red, so I could see them through the glass... So, the red parts are actually going to be yellow...  There's a larger piece that goes on the left, and a smaller piece on the right...  and some kind of beam or part of the wall that goes between the two...

I have worked with glass for years, and put lots of stained glass in a house that we built years ago... But, since having shoulder surgery last year, I realized today, exactly how much hand strength I had lost.  I scored the first piece of glass, and tried to break it to absolutely no avail.  Was kind of depressing...But, I guess practice makes perfect, along with a pair of pliers, and I got the first 25 pieces cut... If you see a number, that piece has been cut...

My hands and shoulders are sooo sore right now...  I don't remember them hurting so bad in the past.

My favourite saying, when dealing with glass is... "It's not IF you are going to get cut... it's WHEN..."  and that was true to form today, also...  Giggle..

 

The adventure continues..

FREAKIN' EXCITING!

Well, a couple of weeks ago, we were all excited about the walls being poured.  Our contractor sent us some pictures of the forms being set up, and that was pretty exciting to say the least.  Now I never thought I would get so excited about concrete....

Well, today we got more pictures.. the walls have been poured and the forms have been stripped away, and now... WE HAVE WALLS as well as a basement floor.

And we didn't even get to write our names in it!

It's beginning to look like a cabin!  Next will be the steel, but that won't happen till spring.  Oh Santa hurry up a get here so we can count down to spring.

I love this adventure!

Cheri

DEJA VU

Well, this past week, we decided that we needed to make one last trip to the cabin before the snow set in.

We made it through all the Thanksgiving festivities, and Temple Square, and on Saturday morning, we loaded up the truck and the trailer and headed to Panguitch.

We decided to take another load of insulation in the trailer and various odds and ends and put them in the conex - waiting for spring.

The drive down to Panguitch was reasonably eventless...There was major head winds, but nothing that would stop us.  I have a flu kind of thing going on, but I figured as long as I was in the truck and it was warm, all would be good.

We got into Panguitch about 5 and decided to head directly to the property because the weather forecast was calling for snow showers on Saturday.

We made it to the property about 5:15, just as the sun was setting and it was getting majorly dark.  The roads up to the subdivision was reasonably clear, but as soon as we hit the outskirts of the foot of the mountains, there was snow... lots of snow...  We decided to just drop off the trailer with the insulation and go back and unload this morning.

Well, about midnight last night, the wind picked up more, and it started to snow.. and I mean, really snow.  We slept in, and were greeted with a hearty good morning from.. snow... Not good.

We needed to meet with our contractor, and we did so at about 1:00 in the afternoon at Tod's, which is a little gas station/cafe just up the road.  Travis got there, and it was decided that Jim and Travis were going to drive up the mountain in his DuraMax truck, and I would wait in the cafe.  That was fine by me.

They were gone about 45 minutes.  Jim says there was about 6 inches of snow around the concrete work, it was bitterly cold, and the road was covered in snow.  Travis, our contractor, is supposed to finish the concrete walls this week, and we'll be done for the year - planning on starting up in the spring when we have a thaw.

On the way back home, we got about as far as Scipio, and the traffic came to a complete stop.. we hardly moved in about 3 hours.  We tried to call to find out what was happening, but had no cell service.  I texted Brianne and Brad and asked for them to find out what was going on... Apparently, the road was at a stand-still due to snow and ice, and there was a major problem with snow removal trucks... So, we sat, and sat, and sat.  When we finally started moving, it wasn't any faster than about 5 miles an hour.  After about 2 hours, a highway patrol officer pulled up behind us, and parked his car sideways across the highway - stopping all traffic behind us.

The road was incredibly icy.  Cars were slid into the ditches, or just parked on the side of the road - people refusing to go forward.  After about 2 hours, we saw 3 snow plows running tandem on the southbound lanes - we, were in the northbound lanes.

Incredibly scary.  Incredibly tense. I told Jim that it reminded me of when we went to New Mexico and got caught in a snow storm and spent the night on the side of the road.

After sitting on the road, for hours on end, let's just say, nature was calling, and nobody could answer the call.  And, wasn't just us, but every man, woman and child and dog on the highway.  It really was quite comical.  The conversation was, "What the heck are they doing... they pulled over... oh... never mind"...  The part that made us giggle was, Jim and I are both wearing fluorescent yellow jackets with reflective tape on them... absolutely not the right clothing to be on the side of the road with and trying to be inconspicuous with....

We saw one car that had run off the road - the front left wheel was hanging over the side of the ravine, and the other three were still on ground.  Scary!

After 9 hours, of a 3.5 hour trip, we made it back to Provo - safe and sound.  Terrifying drive, and thank goodness, the last one this year!

The amazing adventure continues... but, now is on hold for spring to make an appearance.

Jim and Cheri