Wildlife

Next up - maybe a Spotted Owl or a Pacific Kingfisher.

Autumn Changes

Window information

The windows are under lifetime warranty.  Should there be any problems in the future, the contact information is
Sierra Glass & Screen
366 W Hanford Armona Road
Lemoore, CA 93245
559-924-4488
Cell # of Ron's contact Victor is 559-805-8240

Appliance Information

 Come to find out GE washing machines and clothes dryers have different fuses, depending upon the model. So, say the dryer stops working the Appliance Repair service needs to know the model of the appliance. Well, here's the information for our appliances.  See you on the next visit Mountain Appliance Repair.

August in the Woods

Arriving on the evening of Aug 7 and making the last turn on our road before arriving at the cabin - oh no! wait! that's a log across the road. Actually it's the top half of a rotten old fir tree. Aha, not to worry because someone has blazed a trail around the log. Thanks Ron Matteson for not only replacing the failed, foggy sliding glass doors, but breaking in the new road around the tree. More thanks to Patrick who brought his chainsaw and cleared away the tree for us on Friday.

Gooseberry season has arrived. Burn piles from logging have covered up our usual gooseberry harvest spot up behind the meadow so we kept going up the same road and found gooseberries, the UC Merced climate study site, yellow jackets, and Patrick who was part of a tour visiting the UCMerced project.  Here is Janice Friesen Bay knocking off the berries for stage two in the gooseberry syrup making process.

All Dried Up

July 4 weekend and not a drop of water in the frog pond, not to mention no frogs in sight. This is the stream and pond that was kept so we would always have a permanent water supply. The water wagons for the loggers used to fill up here all summer. I don't remember ever seeing the pond completely dry and especially not at the beginning of the summer.  Comparison photo to follow later in the fall

Happy July 4th

Happy July 4th from Jane, Paul, Lou, Ann and Willy. All of whom spent the holiday here.  In typical Emmert fashion, Ann and Jane relaxed by powerwashing and putting a coat of preservative on the deck. Lou and Paul were a bit more relaxed.  The deck does look better.

Van Vleets joined us for a fun dinner on the 5th. There were 9 of us at the old fire circle, but no photos.

Tank Traps

The back road is now closed. It is unlikely that anyone will go over these barriers and unattractive to even walk behind them.  It was "ripped" about 50 yards behind the barrier on each end -- clear to the first turn on either end. That is not meant as a challenge to someone to try. Just an observation.

Willy is showing how high the barrier is by the gate.  Someone else is in front of the one at the bottom, which has a big pit behind it.  We suspect some bulldozer operator had a fun day digging.


There are also a couple of dead trees that were taken down as practice by someone on the fire crew who needs the practice to get his next grade level.  So more than one person got to play that day.

9volt batteries

Bring more 9v batteries

Bring cold cereal

We are  down to the last bits of granola.  Whoever comes next, bring cold cereal.  There is lots of oatmeal but that is about all.

Not much action

Only someone taking a picture of the camera and Willy checking out the area.

Our new trail camera

Today we will see if there were any overnight visitors

Another spring day

Another beautiful spring day here that feels almost like summer. There is a new(er) computer and a wild life camera here now. We will see what we get photos of besides willy and I testing it. To remember. The outlets in the east bedroom did not work. It turns out the breaker was tripped. It is one very near the bottom of the long panel. So look all the way down. The breaker shows red when tripped. A good clue if someone looks for it. Now we get light to read by and a blanket warmed bed

Attempted Nest

This attempted nest was not by a hummingbird.  Fortunately for us (not the critter), the nest attempt failed. 

Very early summer

May 2, and I drove clear to the cabin on an almost dusty road. No snow at all except one tiny patch, probably gone today, near the meadow.  It is where we got the snow to chill the beer for the big wedding 2 years ago.  All is well here.  I brought birdseed and will fill one of the feeders to see if anyone comes to get it.

No sign of critters in the cabin but someone large tried to build a nest in the eaves behind the fireplace.  Remnants of it (big sticks and lost of poop) on the porch.  If I can figure out how, I'll post a photo from my iPad.

Dinkey is low for this time of year. Lets hope it keeps running all summer.

I'm staying another night. Food willbe an adventure. Since I wasn't sure about staying and thought I'd have to walk in, I didn't bring much with me. There is plenty of bread and bacon in the freezer and stuff in the pantry so I'll survive. I'm glad I brought a few oranges, which I am rationing, so I don't get scurvy