TRYING TO BEAT THE SNOW...

Well, we are winding down this season... we're kind of in a little bit of Indian summer right now...but, we are expecting this can change in a split second.  It is swinging back and forth from warmish to coldish.

Jim has feverishly been making trips to the cabin with a load of this and that... we are trying to empty out at least one of the storage buildings this year.. and it's been a challenge.

With the van full of.. stuff... Jim had to make a stop at the hardware store in Panguitch to buy some plywood and cement board for the hearth... we found that the price varied from about $10.00 a sheet to $19.00 a sheet for the cement board... quite a difference for identical products.  The only problem was getting all the stuff needed into the van..  he got creative.. giggle.  Notice the tie down running in one door and out the other side and then the tail end stuck inside while the window was rolled up to hold it in.

I think you can see a 4x4 post between the seats.. I didn't go this past weekend... it was really coldish, and I was home having a pajama party with the grandkids... So, Jim ventured off by himself.

With the cold weather coming on, it's imperative that we get as much siding on the exterior as possible.  We don't have help on this project, so the only one available is.. Jim... sad face..  The first picture is what the siding looked like BEFORE Jim started working this weekend, and the 2nd is after a few hours..  He's doing an amazing job.

Around the windows has proved to be a little on the tricky side.. There's a teeny, tiny little space between the window and wall - Jim said he didn't really know how to do this, but he figured it out.

The fireplace is an ongoing project.  Jim got the big rock in the corner wired into place this past weekend.  He couldn't go any further without purchasing a few more lag bolts and lead anchors... guess what someone forgot to buy.. giggle.

But, here's what the cabin looks like at this point... The green space on the wall in the upper right corner is where my stained glass windows are going to go.... haven't got them back from the glass shop yet... waiting, waiting, waiting...  grrrr...

Lots of work.. lots of decisions... lots of love...  the adventure continues.

Jim and Cheri

HooDoo?

When I was a little girl, many, many, many years ago, (as my brother Eldon would say...) our family took a trip into the US, driving through Montana and Wyoming... I remember certain experiences vividly...( I know I've told this story before, but just go with it.. it's MY blog...  giggle)  I can't remember what state we were in, probably the state of oblivion or boredom, but we came across cowboys, on horses, herding cows.... we had that experience again this past weekend...  We were driving to Koosharem, Utah which is about an hour north of Panguitch, Utah (southern Utah)... We were driving through a canyon totally enjoying the scenery, when we run into a dust cloud and hundreds of black steer (maybe they were bulls or maybe cows... I didn't really check that closely......) but they were walking down the road towards us and then right next to the van... it was amazing!  I roll down the window to take pictures, Jim rolls down his window to moo at them, and, guess what.... they moo back!.. and drool... giggle... then, out of the dust comes... cowboys... real live cowboys... not those squeaky clean, country singing types, like George Strait... but, dirty, dusty, horse riding' cowboys...(don't hate me, I have nothing against George Strait.. just a little too clean for a cowboy...)  One of them rode right past my window with a "Howdy, ma'am"...  like I'm city folk or something... it was great!!!  They even had dogs, 3 to be exact, and they're not sit on your lap kinda dogs, they're actual working dogs...  Amazing!

Was an amazing sight and brought back wonderful memories.

Onward ho, we tried out a new motel on Saturday night - the Hoo Doo Hideout in Hatch, Utah, which is about 7 miles from our cabin.. We had been watching it for the last couple of years... it wasn't in operation for years, and then we saw a sign go up about the cafe being open, and then motel rooms... So, a week ago, we tried out the cafe, and it really was delicious... At that time, we decided to book a room for last Saturday night... very, very comfortable.. I always judge a hotel room by how it compares to my bed at home... and, this was really nice... (Jim always laughs at me because whenever I crawl into bed at home, I say, "Oooooh, I love my bed"...  and, I really do.)

Jim has been working on the balcony off the loft - getting it all waterproofed and ready for winter.  This past weekend, he got the deck completed, and I think it looks amazing. Here you can see him covering the joist that sticks out from the cabin so that, in years from now, water doesn't get in and rot them... he put on vinyl roofing material to keep the water off.

After they were covered, the decking part goes on... I can just imagine myself sitting out here, in the morning (not too early morning... I don't do mornings very well...) and drinking orange juice and eating croissants... reading a newspaper from the weekend before - being that we don't have mail delivery here, or newspaper delivery...or pizza delivery... giggle.

Jim also did some timber work... Here he drilled out the big 8X8 in the middle of the cabin and bolted it into the saddle that fixes it permanently.  He said it was very satisfying to tighten up these big bolts knowing it was an integral part of the structure.  I'm good with it.

One of the projects that we are most anxious to get going on, is putting the hearth and rock walls behind the wood burning stove.  Jim had to cut a corner out of the front right hand corner of the base so that a big rock gets set right there in the corner... the rock weighs about 150 lbs. and should look very dramatic.  Here's the front corner cut out before he set it back down into place.

He also put the angular wall on the stairs for the cement board to attach to.  You gotta have cement board on before the rocks are attached...  I'm learning a lot in this process, even though I really don't want to be building another cabin in my lifetime...  this adventure is enough for this old girl... So the rock wall will go across the right hand wall and then down the angular wall next to the stairs.  The hearth is that wooden platform.

I think it looks amazing and I am super stoked. We already have the majority of the rock ready to go, but, we're still washing and scrubbing a few rocks in the dishwasher, and taking them to the cabin.. I didn't realize we had so many rocks still next to the driveway...  grrr..

Through all this, I still love that guy I live with, he loves me, that's all that matters, and the adventure continues.

Jim and Cheri

IT'S NOT ALL ABOUT STAINED GLASS!!! Check it out!

Oh my... such a busy week/weekend...  I guess I am going to start with a post that I put on facebook earlier in the week... so bear with me...

"Every once in a while, you have one of those moments, when someone validates what you do... and the feeling is amazing... I have always suffered from extreme self doubt/worth... and, sometimes it's absolutely crippling... But, this morning, after the longest time working on my glass project, I took the finished piece to the glass shop to be insulated and framed... the gentleman that I call my "mentor", saw my work, and called it, "exceptional".. For literally, all the blood, sweat and tears that went into this project, to be called "exceptional" by a master, is so amazing... Fantastic start to my day... Thank you, Andy, you have no idea what you did for this stupid little Canadian this morning... Thank you."

Jim has been so patient while I have worked on this project - it's been a difficult year for me, and, trying to motivate myself to get the project finished has been a HUGE challenge.... Jim has been amazing...

I was in the glass shop this morning, because we need the 2nd window insulated to be identical to the 1st window... we took in all kindsd of measurements for Andy... let's just say, we'll be taking the 1st window back from the cabin and into the glass shop next week.  I am glad that Andy is as picky with the glass as I am.  He wants them to match perfectly.  

So, here it is... this is the backside of the glass, but you can see the detail, never the less.  

There's quite a bit of scribbling on the pattern and the glass as it gets completed, and before it goes to the glass shop, it needs to be scrubbed down... Jim always takes a scrubby and buffs up the lead work so the discolouration from the flux is gone...  All part of the process.

And, here's the piece that it will be beside it in my bathroom..

A couple of years ago, we found these 10 amazing tin ceiling materials.. we weren't quite sure what to do with them, but I loved the pattern.  I believe that it came out of a hotel somewhere in the midwest.  Well, Jim had this amazing idea that we should use it as a backsplash in the kitchen, and I think it's a great idea.  So, we pulled out a piece, cleaned it off, and took it over to a powder coat guy to make the colour more uniform.  Initially, we thought that we would do it silver, but, in thinking about the situation, we came up with the idea that we want it to be powder coated a cream/light yellow colour, to match the antique stove that's going into the kitchen... We got one piece done in silver, and I'm not particularly crazy about it.  We need to go to storage and pull out the stove, remove a piece and match it.  Here's the tin before the powder coating...

The pattern is amazing..

... and after...

I'll post a picture when we get the cream coloured powder coating done..

Last week, Jim drove down to the cabin to pick up this little gem.. it's a stove for the front room... it's a little bigger than the one we already had, and it has the glass and brass on the front, so we decided to buy it... the only thing that I think is weird is.. it's a teal blue..  I told Jim that I thought we should sandblast it back to the black, but, he kinda likes the blue...  He says it would be unique... but, all I can think of is that orange piano that used to be in my parent's living room.. my dad thought it was unique...  me - not so much.

When we were driving to the cabin on Bryce Woodlands Road, we drove up on a cow/bull/steer that was laying down in the ditch.  I don't have a whole lot of experience with bovine, BUT, I know if they are laying down in a ditch, and not moving when you drive by, there's a problem.. I told Jim that I thought the animal was probably sick or broke a leg or something.. sad face.  We drove up to the cabin, and started working.  It wasn't much after this that Jim needed me to go into town and run some errands.

So, I'm driving down the hill and about 100 yards from where the downed animal was, I see three pick up trucks back to back... trailer in the middle, and oddly enough, there was a picnic table on the trailer.  And, then, I hear a blast, and a spray of something.. could be blood.. could be smoke.. don't know, don't care... I slammed on my brakes and screamed.. It felt like I was in the Napoleon Dynamite movie, (where the school bus pulls up just as some farmer shoots a steer.. and the whole bus screams...) not fun...

When I finally regain my composure, I drove by, and sure enough, they shot the cow... and they were trying to get it into the trailer.. I was totally freaked... and then ..went into town, and on my way back, I was looking for the splatter on the road... there was more than just splatter... they field dressed the animal and it was piled on the road..  so gross...  (I took a picture to show Jim... he was not impressed either...) . . . . country living.

Now we are continuing to purchase a few pieces of furniture for the cabin.. this week's purchase was a Grandparent's chair...  I love it.. and it will fit one papa and one grandbaby perfectly for story telling or book reading!

With much effort, we placed this in the living room...and the Papa was put in the living room also...

A couple of other pieces we had stored that finally made it to the cabin were:

A vintage General Electric radio

The radio went into the loft - and the next piece transported up to the loft was:

I purchased a set of bells this past week also.. I want to put these by the Jacuzzi... I don't know why I liked them... they just looked different and unique... not orange piano different, just lovely...

But, for now, they are sitting in the corner of the main floor bedroom.

We went down to the cabin on Friday night, and Saturday was absolutely beautiful for working.. Sunday, we woke up to rain... and, with the rain, comes the mud, and with the mud, comes for unhappy builders...  You know how I love my Crocs... well, the Crocs and I were not best friends on Sunday... Jim took these pictures, and said that between the Crocs and my socks, I look like I should be committed... giggle...  (LOVE LOVE LOVE my Crocs)

And, I thought I was stylin'...  Giggle.

Jim has been working feverishly getting different parts of the cabin completed.  Sunday he worked on more of the electrics - started in the main floor bathroom.. he's worked on the kitchen before, he got the wiring in there completed... We were discussing the electrics, and Jim is going to start working on one side of the cabin and work towards the living room... So, next up, is the main floor bedroom!  I'm stoked..

..he's so smart... I don't have a clue about this stuff... I know enough not to put a fork into the toaster when it's plugged in, and that's about it..

We dug out the copper post caps that go on the deck, and got them installed.. found out we are REALLY short and will have to make a little trip to Home Depot for about 12 more... again..

..they are solar, so, they'll light up at night... As we were driving home last night, Jim mentioned that the deck was all lit up at this point... was kinda nice.

Well, between glass and grandpa chairs and steers, it was an interesting week...  The adventure continues.

Jim and Cheri

WE'RE IN THE NEWSPAPER!!!

A couple of weeks ago, we were contacted by a reporter from the Provo Daily Herald - they had heard about our cabin building adventure, and wanted to interview us...

So, last Saturday, we met at a local restaurant and talked about our cabin... Here's the results!

The article is accurate, except for one little point... Anybody who knows me, knows that I have four brothers and no sisters - so, the part where it talks about my sister remodeling the basement of her house - not true!!!  It was my sister IN LAW, Carole!  Did an amazing job..!

https://www.heraldextra.com/news/community/charities/habitat-for-humanity-restores-help-build-home-made-cabin/article_69b6060a-d0f2-5eb0-aea5-720a310cb275.html?utm_medium=social&utm_source=email&utm_campaign=user-share

For the last six years, Jim and Cheri Streeter have visited Habitat for Humanity ReStores roughly every other week in order to build their dream cabin in the mountains.

ReStores are independently owned by Habitat for Humanity affiliates. These stores accept new and gently used appliances, furniture, home accessories and building materials as donations and sells these items to the community for reduced prices.

“We found them by accident,” Cheri said. “We were driving through Orem and saw a building being demolished with a rock facing I wanted. We pulled up and saw a sign that said everything was going to the ReStore.”

All ReStore donations are evaluated to make sure that they are in usable condition.

“There are a lot of contractors that are turning in unused items at the end of a job,” Jim said. “These are high quality materials that sometimes have never even been used.”

The Streeters have found all their windows, doors, light fixtures, electrical wiring, bathroom sinks and most of their furniture at ReStores. Their refrigerator is an industrial quality Kitchen Aid they found for a fraction of the retail price.

“Our stores provide affordable materials and helps people in the community to complete their home repairs or renovations without risking their financial security,” said ReStore manager Rachel Cantrell. “Our items can be 25-75 percent off retail prices, depending on the item and how long we’ve had it.”
For the Streeters, these prices mean that they are well underway with construction on a dream cabin without going into debt.

“We are making a dream come true and Habitat is really helping,” Cheri said.
Not only are prices low, but all proceeds from the ReStores go into furthering the mission of Habitat for Humanity. Proceeds are used to help build strength, stability, self-reliance, and shelter in local communities and around the world.

“The fact that we are supporting them in their cause is incredible,” Jim said.

Besides a great cause and prices, the ReStores in Utah County keep waste out of landfills by promoting the reuse and recycling of unused building materials.

“When we started this project, we wanted to be as green as possible,” Jim said. “We wanted to reuse and recycle materials and the Restore has been an excellent resource.”

Cheri and Jim Streeter have been avid supporters of Habitat for Humanity ReStores, and they have converted their family to use them as well.

Their son recently had a toilet break in their home, and they convinced him to not use a plumber. Instead, he went to the local ReStore and bought a toilet. He was able to, with a little help, successfully install the toilet.

“One great thing about Habitat for Humanity is if you have a question, someone there will be able to help you answer it,” Jim said. “We are by no means experts, but we have been able to do what we have because people have been willing to help.

In addition to their son, Cheri’s sister, without any prior experience, decided to renovate her basement. It took a year longer than she intended, but she completed everything herself.
“When you get a taste that you can do home projects, that opens up a whole new world,” Cheri said.

ReStores provide the affordable materials and advice that can really help people attempting their own projects and repairs. They enable people to accomplish projects in their homes or small businesses that otherwise may have been too expensive or advanced.

Regardless of your experience, ReStores are the perfect place to start a planning your next renovation project, whether for your home or your small business.

“The donations are the driving force of Habitat for Humanity as a whole,” Cantrell said. “Without donations, we can’t sell or use donations, and that impacts our ability to build houses and carry out other programs.”

Just this year, ReStore donations will help build six homes and support at least a dozen critical home repair projects. More donations translate to more families served and more homes repaired.
The Orem ReStore is located at 340 S. Orem Boulevard and the Spanish Fork ReStore is located at 253 Arrowhead Trail.

To learn more about the local Utah Valley ReStores, hours, and locations, look online at http://www.habitatuc.org/restore.htm. To donate, volunteer, or for more information, visit http://www.habitatuc.org.

So, that's the news... giggle.

We were coming back from California on Monday, and took a little detour to the cabin - to drop off some stuff, and get a couple of measurements...   This is what we saw coming through Duck Creek..

The only way to describe this is, cold, cold and more cold...  The cabin didn't have the snow, but it was totally frosty...especially with me wearing shorts, a t shirt and sandals... I know...

Cheri's Heart was half way covered in snow... but, was still as lovely as ever.

The adventure continues...  Jim and Cheri

Imagine if you will....

Imagine if you will, (in my best Rod Serling voice), you are located on a remote mountain top, working on your cabin at 9:00 PM on a Saturday night.  The air is still, not a sign of human life for miles.  You are alone in your presence as well as your thoughts.  While working on installing electrical wiring you in inadvertently drill a hole cleanly down through the top of your index finger knuckle stopping just short of the bit exiting through the palm of your hand.  In a micro second you pull the drill back out and ask yourself "did I just drill through my hand or did it glance off to the side?"

You hold your hand up and notice a stream of blood exit the hole and fill the tightly held crack between your index finger and middle finger.  Yes you did it.  And the palm of your hand is turning purple as well.


Now what do you do?  Immediately turning all the lights off because you might not be coming back, you lock up the building and try not to panic as you start start your vehicle.  It's a 20 minute drive to the nearest hospital.  A short phone call to your spouse confirms the local hospital is "in plan".  Now all you have to do is avoid the deer on the road as you speed to your destination.

The paper towel you wrapped around your hand appears dark and feels wet in the darkness of the drivers seat.  You should have brought a second.

Adrenalin fills your blood stream, your heart rate increases, ever so slightly and your elevated blood pressure confirms the panic in your thoughts.  I hope I didn't just loose the use of my index finger.   OK, OK it wasn't that bad.  Yes I did drill a 3/16 inch hole right down through the center of my knuckle.  The emergency room folks X-rayed it and didn't find any particles in my hand.  The drill glanced off the bones and merely separated the bones as it made it's way down to the palm of my hand.  I was instructed to see an orthopedic surgeon tomorrow to do a full investigation.  But my finger still works just fine.  It hurts, but it works.    Jim Streeter

Jim doesn't usually write these blogs, but his intro was so good, I couldn't resist!

The electrics that he was working on, looks perfect - and, we're one step closer to power - more than just temporary power.

With all his struggles and pain, Jim did an amazing job...

Flashback.... We have been plagued with fires in Utah this summer - mainly in southern Utah.. But, fires have come close to home this time.  The fire we are most concerned about isn't at the cabin, but in Spanish Fork Canyon, which is about 15 minutes from our home in Provo.  On his way to the cabin on Saturday morning, Jim took a couple of pictures...

As you can see, the mountains are completely covered with smoke.  Our air quality is not great - and it smells like the whole state is BBQing!  Hopefully, firefighters and emergency personnel can get these fires under control.

As usual, the mountain is full of deer, just waiting to show off..  This was the deer Jim saw at the neighbour's cabin...  So beautiful.  When Jim was coming back from the hospital on Saturday night, he said a deer stepped out in front of the truck, that had antlers about 2' above it's head... said he was magnificent.

Our plans with getting the plumbing installed got postponed, but we are ready for the plumber to show...Not what I imagined to be on my beautiful table, but it works!

And, my amazing purchase this week was a hall tree.  I have been looking for one for several years now - something not huge, but with a mirror, and hooks for jackets.  I found one!  And, I love it.  I think it will fit in perfectly with the other furniture.

Isn't it pretty?  I am really pleased with the find.

And, finally... no explanation needed...

Our amazing adventure continues...  Jim and Cheri