Monday, November 10, 2014

Poaching Ponds and Photos


 Seize the moment and grab a tree when we can. This spot is just before turning into our road and we weren't the first to thin out that thicket of fir trees. Looks like 2 other trees were cut in the last year or so. We thought we might put up a notice directing activity over to the USFS side of the road. The frog pond has some water and snow is still in the meadow all the way upstream. I just love this dramatic old snag surrounded by oaks.

Black Oaks and Golden Leaves



Take this Colorado, we have fall color right outside the cabin window. During the summer the oaks recede into the background but in the fall the south west hillside shows it's stuff.
Unfortunately the other stuff, Raven stuff, persists. Cleaned up the deck and windows and put down more boards but the roost needs to be blocked off. 


Tuesday, October 7, 2014

Visitors around the Cabin

Some large bird is again perching on the rafters over the porch on the south side.  Among the white splats are pellets from some big bird. Note the little bones sticking out.  I was hoping they would be owl but after some research, it appears ravens also produce pellets. Mr or Ms Raven is a more likely visitor since we've seen them around the cabin before.


In addition to the birds, Smokey the Bear or a relative left a calling card on the trail to the pumphouse not far from the propane tanks.  Willy guarded it for us while I took these photos.  No other signs.  Probably just passing through.


Ready for Winter

The log cabin is drained with antifreeze in the drain traps, the new door on the pumphouse is insulated, the heat tape is plugged in, the firewood is back on the porch, etc. It was a busy 2 days but all is ready for winter.  Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!!!





Sunday, August 17, 2014

After Friday

We came back from the creek and the outside was spotless - ready for guests on Saturday.  The bats are on the front below, sheeting above, paper on the west bedroom and all the bats off under the porch.  Good progress



Friday, August 15, 2014

After Thursday

Work started on the front. They are apparently doing one side at a time and say the front will be finished by Friday evening in time for a big weekend with lots of company.  The original plan had to been to work Saturday but they won't.

After the first day they have all the bats and trim off the front and siding on below. They also sprayed a bunch of wasp nests that were under the eaves up above. Hard to see from the ground but there was one bigger than a softball and several smaller ones. Fortunately, most were empty.


Unloading

It is heavy material and can break so unlike wood, they could not slide it off the truck, but had to hand carry it.
Interestingly, two of the workers helped build the cabin originally.  Their father, Rick Rice, was the subcontractor for Ron Mattison who supplied all the carpenters.


Work has started on new siding

On Wednesday, Aug 13, the contractors and new siding arrived.  A crew of 3 is pounding away on the front of the cabin.  They are taking off the old "bats" and putting water proof paper and new concrete-based, woodpecker proof, sheets that look like plywood over the old plywood and then putting concrete stuff bats on top. So it should look the same without the holes and warping bats on the south side.

But first we had to empty the front porch, which Lou and Ann did to get our exercise Wednesday morning.


The wood is waiting to the side to be put back after all the work is completed.

Sunday, July 27, 2014

New DSL model and router and battery backup

It may not be faster, but maybe more reliable. We have a new DSL modem with a built in router from Ponderosa telephone. We have the fastest DSL service available.  But should they ever bring the fiber optic cables here, we are set with a fast router.

We also now have a surge protector with battery backup. With luck, this setup will keep our wifi from going off 36 hours after we lock the gate and drive away, leaving it with no one to reset it. The password is the same as before.

Visitors

We came in Wednesday, 7/23 and found pictures of visitors on the webcam.  Four legged and two legged. The four legged solved the mystery of what made noise on the porch at night when there was no Willy to make the noise.  A squirrel. The two legged were more mysterious. Four women and since the camera was pointed low to see the four legged critters, we mostly got feet and leg shots.  But after posting a couple of photos on Facebook, Janice Bay came to the rescue and told us it was Carole Shawver and friends. We had invited Carole (through Cissy VanVleet) to come in and get manzanita. So she did. Mystery solved.  And now the camera points to the entrance so we can see whoever drives in. And hopefully Lance Fink cutting down the dead trees.



Monday, July 14, 2014

Living With Nature


    

Our little log cabin has withstood the elements for almost 30 years now but it's under attack by carpenter ants. Round one, will the Grants Ants do the trick?  Did we successfully block off one of the mouse entry holes? What type of flooring should we use to replace the old vinyl that we removed? Stay tuned...
Peter and Cissy Van Vleet, wish we had a fire circle picture to commemorate our most enjoyable evening.

Monday, July 7, 2014

July 4




 Over thiry years ago we started taking pictures on 'the rock' at the fire circle. The top picture is from about 1985followed by this year's picture.  But wait, that's only the family picture. Ann and Jane reverted to their childhood and had a splendid reunion weekend with their Pine Logging childhood friends and neighbors Barbara, Gene and Peggy Bryan. No monopoly marathons or jeep rides, but we did swim in the creek and roast marshmallows. We would have roasted hotdogs too, if only..  50 years later the Bryan/Emmert friendship was as if it were yesterday. How did we miss taking a 'rock' picture that didn't include all of us, Kathy, Phoebe, Arnold - and Paul? Next time.




Saturday, May 24, 2014

All Of Our New Friends and Neighbors


About those decorations on the south side of the cabin covering big holes, this is the culprit our camera caught in action this morning. A Williamson's Sapsucker? A Northern Flicker?  The rat a tat tat starts at dawn, and this time of year dawn comes early.
About Fred and George, movement high up on a south side rafter caught our eye Friday morning - one, two, no - five little chipmunks peering over the edge of the support beam for the roof. Over the course of the day they ventured out - retreated - ventured out again and eventually climbed or climbed and fell down to the deck and scampered to their favorite retreat, behind the sliding door shutters. Following close scrutiny and intense research the consensus is that they are Lodgepole Chipmunks. They're sharing the deck with the red squirrel, grey squirrel, and birds nesting in both the east and west side rafters, and of course the woodpecker and bats or ravens. That guano has been cleaned up - again.

Sunday, March 30, 2014

SNOW


SNOW   
Ann, Lou and Jane drove in on bare ground Tuesday seeing only a few patches of snow under the trees.  But then overnite it snowed and by Thursday am we had this beautiful scene.
The weather station works again and now so does the rain gauge. And also we have a webcam so we can see the snow. Although Jane bought a package of 2 webcams, only 1 seemed to work.  After HOURS of trying various ways to get it working. 
So all is well. More snow is on the way, which is a good thing.

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