There are a couple of things to catch up on, but none really big enough for a dedicated post. I’m lumping in a bunch of stuff this time: medical, tractor, land hunt, and around the house.
Medical:
I saw the doctor yesterday and he says the nose is healing OK. I have to keep it greased with Vaseline or similar to help keep the joint between the skin graft and the rest of the nose pliable and not crusty. My next check-up is October 1st.
Tractor:
The 8N can now roll around again, thanks to a new ($374.00) rear tire.
New rear tire on the 8N
After the problems I had with trying to find a good used tire I decided to go new. The tire is on a used rim, as the original was rusted beyond use. I took the tractor for a spin – no brakes yet so utmost care is required – and took some yard and grass clippings down to a spot the town has designated as a dropping point for such items. Brake repair is next, but will have to wait for my next pay check.
Land Hunt:
Paperwork is progressing. There have been some small errors that have needed correcting. For example, the title company put the wrong purchase price on their forms. They had used the seller’s counter offer instead of our final offer. The credit union had double-entered one of our credit accounts, showing us with 2 cards and 2 balances instead of 1. That had to be fixed. Anyway, it looks like we are still “on” to close September 14. We are looking forward to it (let the finance circus be over)!
In the photo below, our lot is to the right of the primitive road break. Way back in the photo (middle-right) there is a pine tree, in front of the mountain, and our drive would go to the right of this tree. Photo was taken last February from the adjoining lot. There is not a lot of snow for that time of the year.
Lot 174 is to the right of this break
Name for the lot:
How does “Serendipity at Sanderling” strike ya?
Around the house:
I was playing with my old Canon digital camera and took a few photos around the outside of the house. One morning it had rained and I decided to take some morning glory blossom shots. Here are a few results:
Front yard and privacy fence
Another front yard photo
Raindrops on morning glory
Morning glory on fence line
We don’t have much planned for the next couple weeks, although I want to get out on another ATV ride in the Ouray area before the snow falls. The next big event should be the land closing, not very photogenic in itself but we will be back on Sanderling taking more “before” photos (and deciding where the porta potty should go…)!
I had a basal cell carcinoma, a form of skin cancer, removed from the end of my nose on Thursday the 16th. This turned out to be a bigger deal than I though it would be.
The Doc had to “numb” the nose with a local, then cut out the carcinoma. I waited for about an hour and a half for the lab results. The Doc missed some the first time around, had to cut a little more. Another hour wait and the lab thinks the Doc got all of it this time. The surgical process included cauterizing some capillaries to help reduce the bleeding. Nothing like that smell, believe me.
Now to close the hole left by the surgury.
I have a Burroughs skin graft in place to cover the pit left by the removal of the carcinoma, which was actually a small tumor. Stiches. I dislike getting stitches, even if the area is under a local. 2 layers of stitches. The removal had left a pit about three-eights of an inch in diameter and below the bottom layer of dermis. The Doc took some skin off another part of my nose, put it in the pit where the carcinoma had been, and stitched me up.
In a week I will be back in the Doc’s office and have the dressing removed. He may have to sand down the skin graft edges to make the joint with the surrounding skin more even. Oh Joy! The top layer of the graft will probaly turn black or grey as new capillaries grow from the bottom up and the top layer of skin will most likly be dead before the capillaries get that far. Prognosis is 3 – 4 weeks to heal, then a while longer for the scars to fade.
I realize this is not major surgury or even close. Still, my nose hurts. Its giving me headaches. Sleeping – I sleep on my stomach – stops every time I roll over and hit my nose on the pillow. Taking a shower and trying to keep my nose dry is interesting, but it can be done.
Pam helped by cutting down a large Band-Aid and putting it over the white gauze and tape that decorates the end of my schnoz. The brown color is a little less obtrusive. I went to work with the Band-Aid in place.
Jerry and his taped-up nose
Moral of this tale: Don’t wait, as I did, or the problem just gets bigger and more painful to fix.
This past Sunday I took my ATV (The Griz) to Ouray, Colorado. Ouray is rich in mining history and I have long wanted to explore the Jeep trails in the area. In addition to the photos in the narrative I have included a photo gallery at the end of this post. As usual, clicking on an image will open a larger version.
Jerry and The Griz entering the Yankee Boy Basin
There were three places I wanted to get to on this trip: Yankee Boy Basin, Governor Basin, and Imogene Pass. I had looked at my maps and planned to visit Yankee Boy Basin first then work my way back through Governor Basin and Imogene Pass. This would put me closest to the parking area at the end of my ride.
Note: Gear on The Griz included a grey soft cooler carrying beverages and lunch and a yellow camera case on the rear rack. My tripod (in a green sleeve,) baseball cap, and small carry-all bag are on the front rack. My helmet sits on the seat.
The day dawned bright and sunny but with a chance of afternoon showers. I unloaded The Griz and started up the road to Yankee Boy Basin. Due to mining activity that continues in this area, mostly for gold and silver, the lower part of the road is in good condition and can be traveled by passenger cars. It quickly becomes a shelf road, though, narrow and with little room to pass. Here is The Griz at a popular photo spot:
The Griz at a wide spot in the road to Yankee Boy Basin.
Not much further up the road you come to The Overhang where the road passes below a large rock outcrop.
Road goes under “The Overhang.”
Very shortly you start seeing remains of the large mines and ore milling operations that operated in the area. Most date from the 1870s into the early 1900s. Here and there a few bits and pieces of buildings and equipment remain. Much of this is on private land and cannot be approached for a closer view. Take a look at the photo gallery to see some of these remains.
I will say that wildflowers in the area were blooming in some profusion. I don’t know the names of these flowers near the Torpedo Eclipse Mill but they sure looked great!
Summer flowers near the Torpedo Eclipse Mill.
I worked my way up the valley and eventually arrived at the top of Yankee Boy Basin. From here a couple hiking trails take off including one that goes to the top of Mt. Sneffels, one of Colorado’s “fourteeners.” (Fourteeners are peaks that are over 14,000 feet in elevaton.)
End of the road, Yankee Boy Basin.
Objective #1 for the day met, I backtracked down to the turn off to Governor Basin. Similar to Yankee Boy Basin, the Governor Basin area was rich in gold and silver deposits.
Governor Basin route sign. It was getting overcast by now.
Old mine tailings dot the area. One mine had a modern bucket loader and compressor parked near the mine entrance and the entrance road was blocked by a locked gate, all indications the mine is currently being worked. The guide book I was using listed this mine, the Mountain Top Mine, as being open to visit but obviously things have changed in the last 2 years since publication. Not unusual given the rise in the price of gold. A couple other mines showed similar activity. Many of the claims in the area are privately held and periodically worked.
Wild flowers in this area, which is above timberline, were great. Although the sky was getting dark the flowers were still vibrant. Here is one of the meadow areas I passed.
Wild flowers carpeted the meadows in Governor Basin
With objective #2 met I headed back toward the turn-off for Imogene Pass. On the way down it started to rain lightly. By the time I made it to the turn for Imogene Pass it was raining moderately hard.
The road – more like a trail – to Imogene Pass was the roughest trail of the day. Later I found out why: The better road goes through a mining property and is often gated. The “alternate” road basically follows a power line easement. I came back on the better road as, on this weekend, the gates were open.
I stopped and put on my windbreaker in an attempt, mostly sucessful, to stay dry and continued up the trail. I counted on the rain stopping a bit later as that is the pattern of mountain storms, and eventually the rain did stop and the sun returned although filtered by a few remaining clouds.
I have to get back here again. There are numerous waterfalls along this route and I did not get to take them all in. (The route to Yankee Boy Basin also had waterfalls; you can see photos of them in the gallery.)
I made it to the top of the pass, looked around, and headed back down. It was getting late in the afternoon and I wanted to look over some mine ruins I had passed on the way up and find a place to eat a late lunch.
The Griz at Top of Imogene Pass
Although I was now drying out and had enjoyed myself a great deal, it was time to head back to the car and pack up up for the trip home. On the way back to the parking lot my phone buzzed indicating I was back in cell phone coverage. I had a call from Pam: Our land offer had been accepted! That was a great delight to hear.
I got back to the parking lot, loaded The Griz, and headed out for the 2.5 hour trip back to DeBeque. I was very tired when I arrived home even though I had only ridden about 40 miles total. With all my photo stops and lunch this back woods trip worked out to an average speed of 5 miles per hour. Much of the trip was done in low-range 4-wheel drive giving me about 15 miles-per-gallon fuel economy.
I really enjoyed this outing. The afternoon rain made for less than ideal photo opportunities and I would like to get back to shoot some better photos. There are other routes in the area to ride as well. I could spend several days here and not get to all the trails shown on the back country maps.
Although the area is remote it is popular for Jeep tour operators and off-road folks. I saw dozens of Jeeps, ATVs, UTVs (those are the side-by-side rigs that look like overgrown golf carts) mountain bikers, both pedal type and motorized variety, and hikers. Lots of help around in case of a breakdown or other problems. The roads were better than I expected except for Imogene Pass. High country trails, flowers, waterfalls, mining history…my kind of trip. It was a good day!
Normally I carry just my little point-and-shoot Panasonic camera. This time I carried an older Canon digital camera equipped with a mild zoom lens as well. It has been a while since I dealt with F-stops and shutter speeds, but I want to have more creative control over my photos and the Canon seems a good way to get there. There are photos from both cameras in the gallery. Although the Canon EOS 10d is rated at only 6.3 megapixels, low by today’s standards, for web photo use it should be OK.
We made an offer. The seller made a counter offer. We made a counter offer. The seller agreed to to our offer, but made a change in the contract to split part of the closing costs. We didn’t know how much this was until today (Monday) and it turns out our half would not exceed $90.00. For this we needed a new contract? Given the new information we signed the dotted line. Closing is tentatively set for September 14, depending on how fast the bank can process our loan application.
What a relief! Now our planning can start “for real.”
Speaking of loan applications…
It has been a while since we went through the process, but it doesn’t seem to us that a loan app should be so involved. Much of the application is boiler plate as we are only buying land, but still we need pay stubs, tax returns, lists of assets (short!) and list of liabilities. We had been pre-approved but the bank (actually a credit union) could not “officially” process the paperwork until we had a signed contract. All this stuff is available through a credit report so I guess it is just a matter of the bank seeing how honest we are in filling out the forms.
Now we submit our paperwork and wait. I am off today but will take everything in tomorrow to make copies before I mail off the originals.
No answer to our offer yet. Seller has until 5:00 PM tomorrow (Sunday) to respond. In the mean time I did speak to a contractor about putting in a drive way.
Holy smoke!
$1,800.00 per day for equipment plus materials (culverts) that may be needed. 2 day minimum. Soooo we are looking right around 4 grand to just be able to drive onto the lot! (Not including the County’s drive way permit fee, of course.) This would not get us back to a home site or include any retaining walls or materials to build them.
High end, for all the goodies including decorative retaining walls, $12 – $15K depending on where we would identify a building site.
I am in the wrong business.
Here is a plat map of the property. Look at lot 174 which is the lot we want. This type is known as a ‘flag lot’ because the entrance to the lot looks like the pole of a flag.
Our proposed lot is number 174. Click on this image to bring up a larger version.
The drive would come off the road and make a left turn to get into the lot proper. It is this ‘pole’ entrance that makes the driveway so long. Distance from the road to the corner where the lot opens up is about 190 feet. The “52.16” is the width of the access alley, which is part of the lot and not an easement. Park County requires a 15 foot wide drive at a minimum so there would be a buffer zone between this lot and lots to the left and right.
The $4K I mentioned earlier would just get us the first 200 feet or so, from the road up to the first corner marker – the “pole” section of the lot. Depending on where we would site a house or shed the drive would have to be extended. I might be able to handle an extension with rental gear. A skid-steer loader (Bobcat) goes for about $265.00 per day. I have only 1 previous experience running a Bobcat but I think I could handle it.
The problem is that the entrance has to cut through a couple small ridges and be lowered to the height of the road, requiring an excavation of around 6 feet below surface level. I am not sure I could do it with rental gear. I may take a long probing rod along the next time and see if I can determine if the ridges are decomposed granite with some rocks in them or if there is a ridge of underlying rock. If I find the first condition I may try punching in the drive myself. If the second, then hiring a contractor would be the only way to go.
All of this is moot, of course, if the buyer rejects our offer. We will know tomorrow.
All photos were taken by Jerry or Pam unless noted. Click on photos to bring up a larger version in a new window. Close that window to return to the post.
Clicking on the enlarged photos will zoom in on the cursor location. (Most browsers.) This gives you the opportunity to see additional detail that might not be apparent in the smaller photo.
I hope you enjoy reading this blog and looking at these momentos!
~ Jerry
