What a Difference a Month Makes

Water and snow and heat

Yes, we have water! The amazing sisters fixed it last month and it still is working. The pumphouse was quite cozy. The light had burned out so we put in a new one and turned down the heater. It also hasn't been as cold and the snow is melting. There are a few bare patches but still plenty. The official photographer has photos she will post.

Note on the heater: The control on the heater indicated the battery was low. It doesn't seem to work without batteries (2 AA). We replaced them and it is fine. But we should add to our annual checklist for the fall to replace the batteries so they don't run out in the winter. This is the second winter they have run out.

The frozen soup is now gone, as is one of the beers (whose supply is gettin perilously low). But we did leave oatmeal and toothpaste. Someone should take in AA batteries, there arent many around.

New Friends, Good Relatives, and the Scientists

Ann and I had a fun lunch at Shaver with our cousin Patrick Emmert, SCE Forester. We learned that the Scientists are studying the Pacific Fisher, a wolverine like mammal, not a fish. (oops)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fisher_%28animal%29


Keeping watch over the Central Sierra Forest the USFS has 3 Law Enforcement Officers based in Prather. With the same enforcement powers as the Sheriff, Highway Patrol, and Fish and Game Wardens they catch thieves, speeders, and poachers all in a single bound. Cody is young, cute, and charming and here's his contact information, but he says to call 911 in an emergency.

A good snow year, so far

http://picasaweb.google.com/janestew100/January2011DinkeyCreekCabin?authkey=Gv1sRgCMa08eaKs6i4nwE#

Want to know how high the snow was around the cabin? Ever seen the swimming hole below the bridge at Dinkey Creek frozen? How does one make water if the faucet doesn't work? and more...
Check out this link to see lots more pictures.

Liquid Gold

The light bulb had burned out and the GFI outlet had been triggered to shut off power supply to the items plugged into the outlet, namely the heater and the heat strip for the water pipes. No heat in the pump house = no water in the cabin. Wednesday night we replaced the lightbulb but the heater and heat strip still didn't work. Thursday morning the heat from the 60 watt bulb had warmed the pump house air enough to thaw what was frozen thus returning water to the pipes, and cabin. Make note: if GFI outlet has switched off if it's red light glows. Conversely the red light on the heat strip glows red when it has power. The wrong red light was glowing at first, but after pushing the reset button in the middle of the outlet the correct red light (on the heat strip) glowed.

Victory! Water!

Those Emmert girls did it again, figured out the problem in the pump house and fixed it. The secret to the success will be posted tomorrow. Suspense...

Back to the more mundane, we need more oatmeal and toothpaste and yikes there's only 3 Bud Lights and 3 Sierra Nevada beers.

Spry old ladies shovel snow

Electricity, yes. Heat, yes. Telephone, yes. Wifi, yes. Water, no. Not a drop inside. So what did we do but walk back down through the knee deep fresh powder and shovel through 6 ft. of new snow to get into the pump house. Lightbulb working, yes. Heater working, no. Heat tape working, don't think so. What's the deal? More investigation tomorrow. In the meantime we earned a couple of beers, melted some snow, heated up some frozen soup, and downed a few aspirin. Thermometer outside says 28 outside, cozy inside. Time for bed. Don't see any evidence of little four legged friends inside the cabin but lots of little footprints outside on the porch going to and from the woodpile. Sweet dreams to Ann and Jane tonight.