Draining the log cabin

To drain the log cabin:

Step 1. At the pump house, turn off the water to the log cabin. Do that by turning the middle lever to the horizontal position



The drains when there is water to the log cabin






The water to the log cabin shut off. Note that now the middle lever is horizontal


Step 2. Go back up to the log cabin and open all the faucets, they stay open The faucets include

- the faucet by the woodpiles,

- the faucet on the porch,

- the faucets in the sink and shower and most importantly,

- The two drains in the back

























I drained the water heater too but father said I needn't do that

Step 3. Go back down to the pump house and open the drain. It is the leftmost lever and should turn from horizontal to vertical. A lot of water will run out the drain outside by the door. It will eventually stop. After flooding the area. That is all the water in the line.



The drain from the log cabin is now open. Note that the bottom left lever is now horizontal



Water draining from the line to the log cabin



Step 4. Go back to the log cabin and flush the toilet and scoop out all the water in the toilet bowl and the back tank. The little paper cups and/or a sponge are good for the last part

Step 5. Pour antifreeze (stored under the sink) in The toilet bowl,The sink drain andThe shower drain

Leave all the faucets and the drain open until the water is turned on again in the spring

Rains, sun shines, rains, sun shines....

We arrived last night at midnight and throughout the drive along Hwy 5 we could see the coolest lightning far far away. When we arrived to the cabin it was 60 degrees (at the bottom of 4 lanes it was 80) and once we entered the cabin, it was a very nice and cozy 72 degrees.

We woke up this morning to bright blue skies, followed by rain packed clouds that moved quickly, then nice ble skies again, then rain again, then sun again.... you get the picture.

Very lucky and relaxing to be here this weekend!

Nature at work

Who has been digging? It definitely isn't Jalapeno or Willie and I doubt Al Pacino or Juan would do this much rooting around. But something has done a lot of pawing around the squirrel holes to the west between the campfire site and the big pine tree. Coyotes??

And Manzanita is definitely persistent. This is the growth from a root where we cleared it on the path between the cabin and the old fire site. If we can get this growth in the road that was just cleared, it will fill in fast.

Married just in time

It is a good thing Andrew and Becky got married when they did. This big tree fell across the road to the wedding site sometime after the wedding but before our visit over the weekend. It is clearly very rotten, as you can see from the view where the rotten roots broke off.

The cabin in summer

If you look through the blog, there are no photos of the cabin in the summer. The light was wrong to take my favorite view, but here are two others for the record.

Shopping list

Before the snows, we need
laundry detergent (any kind)
liquid dish soap

Anytime we can use a new potato peeler. The current one is even duller than the knives, if you can imagine.

Yep, it is a highway

We made a quick trip up to see the outrage. And yes, I am outraged. We definitely have to have the road closed and also get some trees planted to replace all those damaged or torn out. Fortunately, no one was on it when I walked down it.

I am impressed at how much paving is still on the road after so many year. I don't know when it was built, but it was closed in the early 1950s.

Dinkey Creek still has a lot of water. About like June in a normal year. At Lower Dinkey, water is still trickling over the rock that we used to slide around in the middle of the swimming hole. But a brave swimmer could now go in and not get swept away.

Thanks to whoever took away ALL the recycling.