Month: August 2017

There is a fair amount to cover this time; the last trip to The Lot was full of work and was topped off with a trip over Boreas Pass on the way home. Let’s get to it!

First of all, when I opened up The Box on Friday night there was no evidence of additional mouse problems. All the traps I had left set were still intact and baited. I had taken up my shop-vac to do more cleaning; this was accomplished with the aid of the generator on Saturday morning. A cleaning spray infused with bleach was used on all surfaces to make sure they were as clean as possible. Hopefully this will be the end of it!

I was solo at The Lot but managed to get two areas cleaned up. Both involved a lot of walking/carrying as I could not get a cart or the ATV in place to help. One area was uphill from The Grassy Knoll and the other was behind and uphill from my stump-converted-to-a-bench on the left side of The Nook as you look uphill. Here are a few photos of the wood and brush piles I created. More brush, less wood — which I had expected as I viewed these areas.

Brush/wood pile at left side of The Nook.

Brush/wood pile uphill from The Grassy Knoll

I had also added to Pam’s wood pile which is on the edge of Homestead Acre:

Homestead Acre brush pile

The next time we both go up to The Lot there will be a lot of chipping to get done!

Next task was to spread the final load of chips, this still left from Felicity’s visit, which took a bit of effort as it had been raining and it is surprising how much water those chips had absorbed. They were quite heavy but the task was finished; one more thing to mark off the “needs to be done” list.

Sunday afternoon looked a bit threatening for rain and a few light showers came and went. I decided to make the trip home by going over Boreas Pass. (You may remember that Pam’s mother’s ashes were spread at the top of the pass per her wish.) Wildflowers brightened up the roadside and there was even a bit of fall color along the way. Seems much too early for that!

Here are some photos of the flowers and color along the route. I don’t know the names of many of the blooms but recognized some asters.

Colors were vibrant against the cloudy sky

Reds, yellows, and blues predominate with a few whites here and there.

Fall flowers (late August) in full display

I was surprised to see bits of aspen fall color appearing:

Early fall aspen colors

The  current auto road mostly follows the old rail grade but a few stretches diverge. Here is a photo of a rebuilt section of the original railroad that crossed Boreas Pass, bring mining supplies into Breckenridge and hauling precious metal ores back to Denver for processing.

Boreas Pass rail line, rebuilt, to show people what the line would have looked like in places.

It was a weekend that involved a lot of hard work but also included some rail history and fall colors. I would say it was a great weekend!

That’s it for now. Thanks for looking in!

Pam’s Two Cents Worth:

Fields dropped off the summer litter of kittens at the shelter today, hopefully to soon find their adoptive homes.  I spent some of the morning cleaning the cat room and doing cat cage laundry (always laundry). Antonio, the big orange feline who is the permanent resident of the cat room, says he is glad the kittens are gone — but he misses the entertainment. For the first time in many years, I did not feel sad to have the litter leave.  After all, the five were over three months old and their energy levels — very tiring. Goodbye litter #27.

Happy Trails.

We drove to The Lot on Saturday, August 12, intending to get a lot done. Unfortunately, when we opened the RV, we found mice had managed to find a way in.

An inspection of the bottom side of The Box located a spot where the mice may have entered; a piece of corrugated plastic that seals the bottom had broken away from the screws that hold it in place leaving a gap large enough for mice to enter.

While Pam began to clean the inside of the trailer, I drove into Fairplay to buy some large “fender” washers to put under the heads of the screws. Upon returning to the The Box I was able to remove the screws, put the washers on them, and put the screws back in place. This closed the gap and, I hope, closed off the entry way.

Jumping ahead in the timeline…I put out traps and caught 5 mice over the course of Saturday night/Sunday morning. (Last trap sprung at about 3:30 AM.) Neither of us got a lot of sleep, and when we left on Sunday I left the traps in place. We will see what gets caught (if anything) when I go up for my next working weekend.

Typical field mouse

So, due to the mice delay we started working on the property later than anticipated. Much was accomplished, though, as we loaded the trailer with wood to bring home, spread chips on the Birdhouse Ridge walking path to finish it, cut more standing dead trees, and moved the chipper to a new location. (The chips were from chipping during Felicity’s visit.) While I was cutting trees Pam collected and stacked a large pile of brush near the chipper. Homestead Acre is looking pretty good!

The goals for next trip include cleaning up where I cut the trees — getting all the limbs and tops in a pile ready for chipping. There are some chips left to spread; these will go on an area that seems to be washing out a bit. Another area, just uphill from the Grassy Knoll, has a lot of dead trees down on the ground. Most of these cannot be salvaged as they are rotten and will need to get cut and piled for future chipping. A few weeks ago I had cut several small dead trees around Pavilion Point; these trees will need to be hauled (by hand) out to an area where I can get to them with my ATV and cart so they can then be moved to a chipping pile. Lots of leg work and hauling is on tap for my next working weekend. I just hope that mice do not have a role!

In family related items:

My mother may return home due to financing issues with the care center; it remains to be seen if an arrangement can be made to keep her at the center. I don’t believe she can live at home, unassisted, any longer even if she wishes to do so. My brother, Jon, is executor of the estate and is working on this problem. Finding in-home help is both difficult and expensive; my mother does not have a large estate to pay for expensive care. We do not want her to use her assets down to zero and have the state step in and dictate her future. It is a quandary.

Locally, our bridge replacement project (in the city where both of us work) has entered a critical phase: the old bridge that crossed the Colorado River and was the main artery into Glenwood Springs has been shut down pending removal and replacement with a new, larger, modern bridge. For me this means a long delay in getting to and from my office – an hour delay during off-peak times is now normal, with much longer delays at peak times. While I can get most of my work done from remote locations there are some things that require my presence in the main office. It is going to be an interesting 95 days until the new bridge is placed in service.

Road closed, bridge out: Glenwood Springs, Co.

Pam is affected by the bridge closure as well and has arranged to work more days from home, cutting down the need to get to her office at all. She will come in from time to time to get a new load of paperwork and drop off the completed work – this requires a physical transfer of paper forms and records – but fewer trips to the office can only be a good thing while the bridge is out.

So life goes on, both the good and the bad. We have the physical work at The Lot but also have the mental and emotional pull of family and friends who are having end-of-life issues. We are not unique in facing these, but finding our way forward can be a challenge.

That’s it for now. Thanks for looking in!

Pam’s Two Cents Worth:

My friend-since-childhood, Mary, died this week due to cancer. The world will be way less fun now that Mary is not in it. I will miss her constantly going forward.  Calm seas and fair weather as you travel on, my friend.

There had better not be any more mice in the RV at Sanderling.  They are nasty little buggers.

Happy Trails.

I had planned to go to The Lot this past weekend after work on Friday; had the ATV on the trailer and the trailer hitched to the truck but the truck refused to run on all 8 cylinders. The “Check Engine” light was blinking indicating ignition problems.

A quick check under the hood did not reveal a simple solution so I returned home. I looked up the engine error code and found a spark plug failure was indicated.  Now, on this engine, a 5.4L Triton,  this could be a problem; trying to remove the plugs often results in them breaking off. A special tool is then needed to remove the broken plug(s.) I was not eager to take on a replacement job but after checking with various shops and getting a few price quotes I decided to tackle the job myself.

Aided by a neighbor’s loan of a couple tools I do not own, I was able to remove the first spark plug. It appeared to be a factory-original plug, rated to go 100,000 miles but the truck has over 168,000 miles on it. If that is the case then the spark plugs had lasted well beyond their design parameters.

Ford F-150 old spark plug

Pam encouraged me to change all 8 plugs so I bought a new set from the local NAPA auto parts store (almost $20.00 per plug) and went to work. Service shops have a rack that they use when they need to work over the engine; I had to kneel on the front bumper.

Replacing the 8 plugs took me over 6 hours. First you have to blow the area clean with an air hose, then you need to remove the coil on the plug. Then you have to remove the plug, a process that can take time depending on how stuck the plug is. I worked slowly and carefully so as not to break a plug! Then you install the new plug, replace the coil (each plug has its own coil) then re-connect the wires you had to remove to get the coil off the plug.

As I worked toward the back of the engine the task became more difficult as room to maneuver tools gets tighter and tighter. Eventually I did get all 8 plugs replaced, cleared the error codes using my code reader, then took the truck for a drive. The F-150 ran well and no error messages were returned. I consider the work a success!  Heck of a way to spend my birthday, though.

Otherwise it was mostly a routine week with only minor news to report. Our friend Kathy came and picked up a load of wood, we have had rain several days this week, I’ve begun a major network upgrade at work, Pam is particularly busy at her job as it is the start of the fall semester and the Registrar’s Office is really hopping.  All pretty typical stuff!

We hope to get up to The Lot this next weekend and spend time clearing brush and bad wood. Fall is not that far away; we usually shut down operations around the first week of October. That gives us about 7 weekends and we probably will not get up every weekend at that. We’ll have  to get a lot of work done when we do get to The Lot if we want to hit our cleaning goals for the year. These were not extensive, mostly Homestead Acre and the surrounding area, but I would like to get a couple more loads of wood for Kathy to use in heating her rescue building over the winter months.

That’s it for now. Thanks for looking in!

Pam’s Two Cents Worth:

The kittens are scheduled for their spay/neuter operations next week.  They will recuperate with me a few days, then (hopefully) the shelter will have room for these three-month-old babies.  Their mom, Rambler, was successfully spayed and released last week.  I’ve seen her at my outdoor feeder a few times; Rambler is thrilled to be free.

The cancer fight for my friend Mary in Florida is not going well. She is in month 16 since the diagnosis, and the cancer is starting to spread.  Chemo is no longer effective.  My sadness is ongoing; I think I’ve been grieving for my friend-since-childhood the entire 16 months so far.

Happy Trails.