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The last couple of weeks have been fairly routine- for the summertime: “Went to the lot, cut firewood, chipped brush, etc…” Here are a few updates and photos taken along the way.

Chipper:
I moved the chipper over to our new path through the Aspen Grove and chipped some brush. No easy task, as the chipper weighs 1700 pounds and is not very “nimble.” There is  plenty of brush to work through; the chipper will be in its current location for several weekends worth of work.

Chipper in new location on the path.

Firewood:

Here is a photo of a typical load of wood after it has been cut and is waiting along our driveway for our friend Kathy to pick up. This pile is about 2/3 of a cord:

Typical load of firewood

The above load has since been picked up, but another load waits in my utility trailer.

Load of uncut firewood

The load is shown here with the tie-down straps removed; for transport I use no fewer than 4 separate straps to keep everything from falling off. (Pam says the outside cats consider the cut and uncut wood”Wood Disneyland.”)

The Lot:

Because of the South Park view from Pavilion Point, we get a number of people trespassing on the Sanderling acreage – they usually come in from the ridge above. Pam thought these signs would help cut down the traffic over the upcoming Labor Day weekend:

Pam’s custom Keep Out sign: Don’t disturb the SNAKES

We’ve never actually seen any snakes in the rock outcroppings (under this sign).  If there were any, they would be rattlers, but I don’t think they live at 9,000 feet elevation. Pam figures people who would walk on private property will not pay any attention to a “Keep Out” sign but they might pay attention if they thought they would suffer a snake bite for their trespass.

Around the house:

Foster cat Sollette is getting pretty comfortable in the house. She now mingles freely with our other inside animals, both feline and canine.

Sollette relaxing on a pet bed. (Photo by Pam)

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

Pam’s Two Cents Worth:

We drove over Boreas Pass this weekend and I communed with Mom. It has been almost three decades since her ashes were dispersed up there, and Boreas Pass has seen some changes in the interim.  Considerable conservation activities have occurred at the boarding house and log cabin, plus railroad signage now describes the historic activities that took place at this location. Mom is always with me, but particularly on Boreas.

Happy Trails.

I had taken Monday and Tuesday (August 6 and 7) as vacation days to be able to spend some time working at The Lot. The path I previously cut through the side of the Aspen Grove opened a lot of area to work in.

Since I had stockpiled quite a bit of salvageable wood to convert into firewood already, this weekend was not about new cutting. Instead I concentrated on clearing and stacking brush  along the path. (You can see  some of my brush piles in the photos.) I did bring home another trailer full of wood and plan one more load before the end of the season. That will give our friend Kathy the quantity she needs to get through the upcoming winter.

Salvage wood, foreground, and burn pit wood, center back. Other brush further down the path.

Wood and brush to right of path

Pam had driven up with the dogs on Sunday and stayed over to Monday; this gave us a chance to chip some of the brush and bring home a couple of bins filled with chips. (Pam plans to use the chips around the house.)

The chipper is still up on Homestead Acre, quite a distance from the current work area. I hauled some brush to the chipper location, but I’m planning to move the chipper operation closer to the path where I’m currently working so I don’t have to handle stuff twice. We’ll have to see if this works out! It will require some judicious maneuvering with the Ford F-150, as the path for the new chipper location is not very wide and has a few bends in it. Plus it will mean backing the chipper up a slope. Should be interesting.

Back home in De Beque we had a bit of an event; our irrigation pipe broke at the connection location near our driveway. The four inch pipe sent quite a bit of water out over our lawn and up and under the driveway itself. In fact, the driveway cement slab tilted down just a bit and is no longer level with the sidewalk. That will make shoveling snow interesting.

Drive and sidewalk now off by about 1/2 inch

The town did a pretty good job of repairing the break and had the neighborhood irrigation water back within two days. (The incident occurred Saturday and the pump was shut off; the town completed the repair on Monday.)

Town guys working on the irrigation line in our yard

Otherwise, it has been h-o-t. The local record for the most consecutive days with temperatures over 90 degrees was 63 — we have blown by that mark and look to have at least another week of 90+ temperatures. This summer will go down as one of  the hottest on record. We are also in an extreme drought zone this year.

Our friend Kathy picked up another load of wood from our driveway, and I am about half-way though cutting the last load I brought home. I think there will be one more load after this for Kathy to retrieve. Then I will concentrate on the chipping  that needs to be done up at Sanderling. I would like to get those piles of brush chipped this year, and work on spreading the chips on the Sanderling footpaths.

Kiddo Update:  Daughter Felicity just arrived in England for an extended house sit. While there, Felicity hopes to take part in a Jane Austin Festival in Bath (in September). Pam sewed up a Regency-era costume and I mailed it off to Felicity this week. We’ll have to wait on photos to see how well the costume fits and looks on her. Back in the USA, Toby is working on a plan to purchase the house he has been renting in South Bend, Indiana. Now there’s an example of “adulting.”

There were two anniversaries last week; I celebrated my 66th birthday and Pam and I celebrated our 44th wedding anniversary. Yes, I know…we are getting older than dirt!

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

Pam’s Two Cents Worth:

What a nasty summer from hell this has been — good thing I’ve been at home to keep the cooling equipment going!  The absolute best purchase this year was the multi-room air conditioner.  Without it, I know the animals and I wouldn’t have been nearly as comfortable indoors.  The evaporative (“swamp”) cooler we used in previous years wouldn’t have been able to keep us cool during these 100 degree days.

Occasionally a reference to a famous relative of mine shows up in one of the local newspapers (this time, the Aspen Daily News).  Although only distantly related to Harriet Quimby on my mother’s side, I find it so cool to say I can claim kinship (in any way) to this aviation pioneer.

This Day In History – August 1, 2018

Happy Trails.

It has been a couple of weeks since I last posted; very busy weeks they were for me! I attended a motorcycle rally and spent some time at The Lot. Here are some of the details.

This years’s motorcycle rally was held in Gunnison, Colorado, only about 158 miles from home. I arrived Thursday with my camping gear and a few other attendees were already there, including the rally organizer.

The itinerary called for rides on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, then return home on Monday. This worked out pretty well, with rides over many of Colorado’s high passes and a stretch along the Black Canyon of the Gunnison. On Monday a friend and I headed off to the Great Sand Dunes National Park before heading home (my companion was heading to Grand Junction for the night).

About a dozen guys showed up for some or all of the rally. Here is a photo of the Friday group at the top of Monarch Pass:

XS 11 Friday ride group.(Photo by a passerby.)

The rally organizer is at the left side of this photo, Howard Bonser. Harry and Joe are in the foreground, I am at the top off the sign, and Russ and Jeff are at the right.

Here is a group photo from the Saturday ride which included a stop at the top of Independence Pass:

XS11 members at Independence Pass, July 14, 2018 (Photo by Jeff H.)

I did not take a lot of photos this time but did manage a selfie at Great Sand Dunes National Park:

Selfie at Sand Dunes Park.

I arrived home Monday night, then it was back to work on Tuesday. The rally – almost 1,400 miles total – was a great success and I enjoyed the rides and the company.

This past weekend I spent at The Lot, going up for an overnighter on Saturday. I finished cutting a path through the woods near the east side of the lot, opening it up for clean-up. While I don’t like cutting live trees, the only way we would be able to access this part of The Lot and be able to clean it up was to have access for the ATV and trailer, so a path was needed. I tried to put it where the fewest trees would have to be removed.

Path through the aspen grove on The Lot

After completing the path, I loaded up another trailer-full of logs to bring home (and eventually to cut into firewood). I also did a little chipping; Pam wanted a few more chips to use around the yard at home. My work time was interupted by a two-hour shower, very welcome in this dry summer!

The next couple of weeks should be routine (work + maintenance chores), then I do have a long work weekend planned for the first week of August, taking off  August 6 and 7.

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

Pam’s Two Cents Worth:

Global warming deniers should be living on the Western Slope of Colorado this summer.  Normally, at this point in the year, the high desert around us experiences an average of 4 days with temps over 100 degrees.  Counting today, we are at 13 days of over 100 degrees (not consecutive) and tomorrow is predicted to be #14.

Our Arizona friend Hank realizes what kind of heat this is.  Dry heat, right? Dry heat it may be, hot-hot-hot it is.  When the wind blows, the hot moving air almost takes your breath away. Ugh.

The irrigation water for outside watering is still coming through the yard faucet (apparently the ditch that supplies the town hasn’t dried up yet).  So I continue to water the grass (every other day) and the flowers (pretty much every day). I promised myself I would try to keep the Mary Lynn Memorial Garden going through the worst of the high summer.  So far, so good.

Outdoor cat Uno enjoys a warm evening by sitting on the OC-3. (Photo by Pam.)

Happy Trails.

I had taken the week of July 4th (July 2 – 6) off as vacation time. Quite a busy week, as it turned out; I made two trips to The Lot and worked in an additional ATV trip. Here are a few photos and highlights of the week.

The  first trip to Sanderling followed a typical routine; I had taken the ATV and trailer, and proceeded to fill the trailer with a load of firewood logs. I enjoyed a cooler (52 degrees) evening in the mountains. However, smoke from the Weston Pass forest fire (still burning as of this writing) was clearly visible from The Lot. (Colorado has seven fires burning at the moment, the state is super dry this year.)

Smoke from the Weston Pass fire seen from the Sanderling driveway

I came home on Tuesday, cut the firewood on Wednesday, the 4th of July. Thursday evening I was back at The Lot for a 2nd time. Friday was my ATV trip day; I had decided to return to the North Fork of the Swan River (located east of Breckenridge). I was on this route once before and enjoyed the scenery. My guide book included a side spur and indicated this was a good photo spot (not really accurate, as it turned out) and I wanted to explore the photo option.

The North Fork trail traverses a lot of mining history and gets well above timberline. However, the trail is rough with LOTS of rocks and one steep section that is a real challenge. Over the years the trail has degraded from constant use and was more difficult to travel than I had remembered. The results were worth it, though, as I enjoyed capturing the following photos:

Mountain goat – Wise Mountain

Mountain goat kid

Small herd of mountain goats

Not far from this herd of goats was the top of the trail:

High point – North Fork of the Swan River trail

Along the trail I encountered many wild flowers, including blue columbine, and several small streams.

Mountain stream

Wildflowers along trail

Columbine and paintbrush near Wild Irish Mine

Signs of previous mining activity abound in the area; I found this vintage wash plant near an old mine shaft.

Remains of old ore wash plant

Of the mine itself, only this sturdily-built 1-holer has survived:

1-holer at old mine site

Inside of outhouse

After the trip it was back to The Lot for dinner and a good night’s rest.

Saturday brought the only disappointment of the week. I had loaded up the utility trailer with ‘burn pit’ wood; this stuff is too rotten to salvage and too big for the chipper and included some stumps. However, for some disappointing reason the burn pit was closed! I had to leave the loaded trailer at The Lot and will try the burn pit when I next go up for a visit.

Load of burn pit wood

I had planned to empty the burn pit wood and reload the same trailer with firewood. The burn pit being closed changed my plans a bit. I did some tree cutting in the Aspen Grove area of Sanderling instead, then returned home late Saturday afternoon.

Tomorrow it will be back to work for me. I would rather be in the high country, not only for the scenery, as the cooler temperatures are most welcome. The high desert has been experiencing another run of triple-degree temps. In the mountains the high temps are 20 – 30 degrees cooler and night temps are in the upper 40s and low 50s, good sleeping weather.

Back on the high desert, Pam has put a lot of time and effort into the corner of our lot and it shows. This corner looks better than it ever has! It’s the Mary Lynn Memorial Garden part of our lawn; Pam has dedicated the maintenance and care to the memory of her friend who died last year.

Corner of our residential property

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

Pam’s Penny:

It’s H-O-T on the high desert.  Picture the animals and I huddled in front of the air conditioner, “enjoying” the third run of 100-degree days already this season.

Happy Trails.

Long-time followers of this blog will recognize the name: The Lead King Basin ATV trail has become one of my favorite rides and one I try to make once a year. This post will be long on photos!

We begin with some mountain scenics and water:

Mountain stream

Mountain scenic

Me at my lunch stop. (Not exactly a scenic!)

In addition to the mountain scenics and streams, flowers are a major part of the attraction. This year saw an abundance of blooming flowers including my favorite, the Colorado columbine.

Here are some flower photos.

Wild rose bushes in bloom

Butterflies on wild sunflowers

Not sure of the name on this one

Hillside of red trumpet flowers

Yellow mini-columbine

My favorite – Colorado blue columbine

No trip to the area would be complete without a short trip up to the Colorado Yule marble quarry where this stack of marble blocks is awaiting transport:

Blocks of marble at the Colorado Yule quarry

And, finally, the signature Crystal Mill:

Crystal Mill – 2018

There was quite a lot to take in on this single ride of less than 30 miles!

I have taken next week off as vacation and plan one or two trips to The Lot; more from there in the next post.

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

Pam’s Penny:

Just playing with the remaining kitten, accomplishing household and yard work, reading — staying cool during intense heat waves. The unemployed-until-retirement lifestyle is pretty low key.

Happy Trails.

The high point of the week was, for me, a ride on my ATV with other members of the Grand Junction ATV club. Destination: Battlement Mesa. (Rather than make the trip to Lead King Basin solo this weekend, I changed my plans to take advantage of a group ride.)

Battlement Mesa is a huge area, around 500 square miles, and contains numerous ATV and Jeep trails. I had ridden a few trails up there but knew there were many more I had not yet visited. When the club announced a group ride in an area new to me I made plans to make the ride.

Unfortunately I left my camera in the truck and had to rely on my cell phone for photos.

One disadvantage of group riding is that you can’t stop everywhere you want to take pictures. The ones included in this post were taken at stopping points for breaks and lunch.

Trail sign post

Group stops for a break

Vista view from lunch stopping point

Club members enjoy looking over the Interstate Corridor – Rifle to Silt – from this overlook

My ATV parked under a tree at a vista view overlook

What I was not able to capture were photos of the variety and profusion of wild flowers in bloom, including my favorite mountain flower, columbine. Also missed were photos of high mountain meadows with views of Vega Lake. I’ll have to go back and photograph some of these views!

We had 11 machines on this trip and the route was just under 40 miles long. One of the members suffered a flat tire on his rig which slowed us down; the cut could not be plugged (he tried) and frequent stops had to be made to put air in the tire. The result was loss of more than an hour on the return leg so I arrived home later than I had anticipated, but had called Pam when I came into cell phone range and let her know the situation.

Overall it was a good trip and one I will make again when I have the opportunity. The route does not have much for water features (a few very small streams) but it did show off mountain vistas, meadows, wild flowers in profusion, and would be considered a moderate trail; a few times in low range to climb hills and only once in 4-wheel drive and that only for about 50 feet.  It was a good outing.

In other news, Pam made a pie from the cherries she picked off our tree; if anything the pie turned out slightly sweet even with reducing the sugar content recommended by the cookbook. I will be picking the last of the cherries later today. Pam already has enough to make another pie or two (in the freezer).

Cherries – first picking

Maintenance item: I replaced the main drive belt on my John Deere riding lawn mower; that job took a few hours. The old belt, original to the tractor which dates from the late ’90s, was badly cracked and was making noise as it would around the pulleys. Hopefully the new belt will last as long as the original. The mower deck had to come off and various guards removed and I even had to unbolt part of the steering linkage, all jobs that require me to work underneath the tractor. I knew the job had to be done before the old belt broke completely and left me stranded in the yard, but I was not looking forward to it. I’m glad to have the replacement completed.

Pam will have a few comments about the foster cats and their moms, but for me, not much else  (other than trip above) happened this week.

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

Pam’s Two Cents Worth:

Mom and four kittens now out of the “cat room” so two less pens to clean.  Second feral mom to vet for spay this week, then release.  Remaining kitten Solette will be in-house for awhile yet. She is a spunky cutie, and I don’t really want her to go to the shelter, so will need to devise some other placement scenario.

Three feral kittens (they appear to be 3-4 months of age) made their first appearance at the back deck feeding station a few nights ago.  The beat goes on — I can never help them all.

Cherry pie is not really my thing; this pie was for Fields (cherry pie is one of his favorites.)

Happy Trails.

I stayed home this weekend, partly because rain was in the forecast and partly because there were chores to be done around the house. And, frankly, I needed a weekend off.

So I cut some firewood, mowed the lawn, went grocery shopping, bought my “full” load of gasoline (35 gallons using our fuel point discount from last month) and did a few other things around the house. This made it a pretty normal around-the-house summer weekend.

Our cherry tree is producing more cherries than it ever has; I may have to get out the ladder and do some picking! This is the end result of all those blossoms and bees earlier this year. As far as we know the fruit is good to eat. We never put any pesticides or spray on the tree. I’ll have to try a few and see how they taste.

Cherries on our tree

My main Saturday chore was cutting up that first small load of firewood I had brought down from The Lot. This load was made up of trees that had died in areas we had cleaned up in the past. With aspen being the predominant tree at Sanderling, there will always be some maintenance in cleaned areas, as a few trees die every year. New growth makes up for the lost trees pretty quickly.

First firewood of 2018

Our hollyhocks have begun to bloom. Normally the flowers are bright red but we have some that are a pastel yellow, a nice change.

Yellow hollyhocks blooming near our privacy fence

During the week there was a forest fire west of us in Utah (Colorado has 7 major fires burning at the moment) and the smoke made for some interesting “red sun” sunsets:

Forest fire smoke makes a “red sun” sunset

Next week I plan to make my Lead King Basin ATV trip, a highlight for me as this has become my favorite ride in western Colorado.

On the “this is life” front, my mother’s health appears to be deteriorating. She now has 7-day a week house care (not nights, though) and cannot get up if she falls, which has happened a few times. New is a hospital bed with side rails that will help prevent her from falling out of bed at night.

A neighbor lady, Jolene, has been hospitalized and is now suffering from early signs of dementia. She is 94. Her husband, Jim (89, I think, who is not in the best of health), is struggling to cope. We do what we can, and a few other neighbors have pitched in, but it’s not easy for them to manage. Saturday I mowed their lawn and did some weed-wacking while Jim was visiting Jolene in the hospital.

A few years ago, the details of aging and geriatric care would not have resonated with us.  What a difference now, though, as we look forward to retirement.  Illness and aging around us becomes a constant reminder that our time is coming, and to enjoy the health we have.  Life is made up of bits and pieces like these, some good, some not so good.

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

Pam’s Two Cents Worth:

On Thursday of this coming week I will note the arrival of the Summer Solstice. When I was working, the annual cycles of the Earth were very low on my priority scale. But this year I plan to totally enjoy the day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere with the longest light. Twilight around 9:00 p.m. is groovy.

Deb, I did order the Simply Soothing bug spritzer. Very satisfying to see the gnats approach me and then turn away.

Foster kittens are starting to be placed with “barn folks.” The litter of four never did warm up to humans much; they are now three months old and ready to get to work as mousers.  Feral moms are on schedule to be spayed in the next two weeks, then released back into the neighborhood.  This will leave Solette, the single kitten from the second litter, still in-house as we head into July. I am really tired of cleaning and maintaining [the current] four pens in the cat room.

Foster kitten Solette

Happy Trails.

I spent another three-day weekend at The Lot, working on clean up. I know this gets repetitive but, after all, it is what I do when I’m in the high country.

Each weekend visit I set a goal of how much area to clear. The borders are arbitrary; usually an imaginary line between a couple of trees or an outcropping. Then I get started, cutting downed and standing dead trees. This year I have not done a thorough job of piling brush to chip although I do make a few small piles here and there. After all, I need walking paths to make it easier and safer for me to carry logs to a pile.

If I go up on Saturday morning, Saturday afternoon is spent getting started. The second day I put in a long day and finish the bulk of the work. The third day I clean up in the morning, walk the property, and get ready to head home, normally just after lunch.

I’ve been getting just over a cord of wood cut each time; a cord of wood is a pile that is four feet wide, four feet tall, and eight feet long (128 cubic feet). I already have more logs cut and piled than we give away each year and have not chipped anything for the last couple of weekends. But that’s OK; Pam keeps telling me I have time to get this stuff done and not to push it so hard. (Pam worries about me running the saw and chipper when she’s not there.)

It’s time to spend the next few weekends at home taking care of maintenance chores. However, I’ve taken the week of July 4th off as vacation and hope to finish cleaning the area at Sanderling we call the Aspen Grove (where I’ve been working these last few weekends). I’ll have a load of stuff to take to the burn pit, stuff too rotten to salvage as firewood and too big to chip. Add a few stumps to the mix and there is a load big enough to haul. I picked up a burn pit pass last weekend; the burn pit opened the first weekend in June. It’s open mainly Saturday hours.

Not all my mountain time is spent working, however. I like to sit in my chair and look out over South Park, plus enjoy the views from various points on the upper part of The Lot — including Pavilion Point and Squirrel Rock. There have already been a few nice sunsets to appreciate. No campfires this year, though. The entire state of Colorado is very dry and open fires have been banned. Some forest service lands have been shut down completely: no camping, no hiking, no recreation of any kind. Signs on the road encourage people to make sure that safety chains on campers and trailers don’t drag and start roadside fires from the sparks. There have been several minor and a couple major fires already in the state.

This last weekend I was reminded that Sanderling is in an open range area. In the morning a cow was munching some of the grass that has grown up along the edges of our driveway. It didn’t seem very concerned about me or the car.

Cow on Sanderling driveway

Not that this is exciting stuff, but I do enjoy my time at The Lot. It gets harder and harder when it’s time to leave; I don’t look forward to returning to work and dealing with computer (or operator) problems as much as I used to. And, of course, it’s much cooler in the mountains than it is on the edge of the high desert in the summer!

Here are a couple more photos taken over the weekend:

Purple mountain sunset

Iris still blooming

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

Pam’s Two Cents Worth:

I spent the last few weekends working with the feral cat moms and the kittens. The four kitten litter has been weaned, and their mom is scheduled to be spayed next week.  The single kitten from the other litter just started weaning this week.  I really want these feral moms o-u-t, and I’m sure after two months of confinement, the feral moms feel the same way.

Happy Trails.

I spent the last two weekends, which included Memorial Day, at The Lot. These were the first overnighters of the season.

Memorial Day Weekend: While there I met a new neighbor and was not impressed. The guy (Greg) is camping out in a tent (no permits, one is required by the County) and was partly on our property. He reminds me of a burned-out druggie. Not politically correct, but he has a long beard, two dogs, and bought the lot without locating the corner survey markers. “I guess I’ll have to buy a chain saw” he says when talking about cleaning up the lot. And, oh yes, he says is on permanent disability with back problems. He wishes to build a full-time house on his 5 acres ( completed in 3 months.) No water, no toilet facilities, no tools, no shower….

I was not impressed and asked him to move his stuff, and dogs, off our property. We will see if he complies. If not I may have to take stronger action.

That encounter threw me off a bit but the weekend was otherwise good. I cut some wood, chipped some brush, got The Box filled with water and some provisions, walked the lot, took a short ATV ride, and generally enjoyed being in the high country again.

Here are a few photos taken over Memorial Day weekend:

Bringing ATV and chipper to The Lot

Cleaning around driveway

Vally on way to Webster Pass

ATV on Hall Valley trail

The second weekend, June 2-4, was a three-day event as I had taken the Monday off as vacation. (I plan to do this several times this summer.) Going up on Saturday, I saw that our new neighbor had moved some stuff off our property but not all. I again asked him to move his stuff to his own land. (He had set up a line between two trees to use to tie his dog leashes to when the dogs are out of the tent. The trees are on our land.) I am not happy about this development.

Still, it was a good working weekend. I began clearing part of The Lot we call the Aspen Grove. Lower on the lot, this section is not quite as steep as The Nook and other upper areas. (The Aspen Grove was one of the first places we worked and thinned trees when we started on this piece of property five years ago.) I cleared quite a bit of area but now have to haul the logs out and gather up the brush to be chipped. I estimate I cut about a cord and a half (two full trailer loads) of logs to convert into firewood. Considering we do about 3 cords of wood a year, this weekend’s work represents a good start on the summer’s activities.

Wild flowers are blooming, including wild iris. These always bring a smile to my face. They are mostly located in the ditches and fields leading up to The Lot, not on our property itself, as the deer would simply eat them. A shower on Sunday night was welcome as Colorado has been very dry and any moisture is appreciated. Monday all the flowers were out in full bloom, quite a colorful sight as I was driving home.

The same storm left a layer of fresh snow on the mountain tops. The views from The Lot were very attractive in the morning sun with the blue sky behind the peaks. I took the opportunity to walk the higher parts of The Lot and take in the scenery before I started the day’s planned work.

I stopped by the Indian Mountain Community Center and picked up my burn permit for the year. While we will chip quite a bit of wood, there are some stumps and larger pieces of wood, not good enough to salvage, that are too big for the chipper. This stuff will go to the burn pit for disposal. During my work I accumulated several more semi-rotten logs that fall into this category, which will probably justify a burn pit run next weekend.

Here are a few photos from the weekend of June 2 – 4:

The Box with fresh snow on mountain backdrop

Logs for firewood far and near

Telephoto mountain view across South Park

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

Pam’s Two Cents Worth:

We knew a piece of property was for sale adjacent to our upper property line, so the “new neighbor” should not have been a surprise.  The guy is a flatlander from Kansas, and has not a clue as to how one survives at 9,000 + feet; even in the summer there are challenges.  I’m most concerned about his dogs being so close to our RV location, particularly when our dogs come up to the high country.  And, the human excrement he is no doubt leaving in all sorts of interesting places for JoJo  to find will not be an addition to our mountain experience.

There are now neighbors on pretty much all the Sanderling boundaries, with the exception of along the rock formations at the back of The Lot.  More neighbors in the area could mean additional folks who might respond in an emergency — should Fields experience one when he is operating power equipment solo at Sanderling (chain saw, chipper). Mostly, more neighbors means more noise and garbage.

Happy Trails.

It must be summer…I took The Box (RV trailer) up to The Lot/Sanderling last week and will be spending this Memorial Day weekend there. Last week’s activities were mostly centered around getting The Box ready: restocking food, clothing, bedding, checking the mechanicals, getting propane tanks filled, and flushing the RV-specific antifreeze out of the water lines. I hope The Box is ready for the season! Our driveway looks a little bare now that The Box is not sitting there but it does make getting in and out of the garage much easier.

Weather at The Lot was still a factor last week; while I was trying to put water in The Box’s fresh water tank it started to hail and there were a few snowflakes mixed in. I left about half the water in jugs under the RV and will have to put it in this weekend after I arrive. Here are a couple photos of the trip up with The Box:

Snow present at the top of Hoosier Pass

Snow-capped mountain from Hoosier Pass

While getting my first load of water these deer were seen near the road:

Deer near the community well

The white spots in this photo (below) are hailstones that fell, keeping me from filling the The Box’s fresh water tank. I went into The Box to wait out the storm but it didn’t quit before I had to head home.

White hailstones mark the passing of a spring storm

The chipper will go to Sanderling this weekend. I put a high altitude kit in the carburetor (for use over 5,000 foot elevation). It seemed to help when we chipped up the Cottonwood tree branches a month ago; now we’ll see how well it works at 9,500 feet elevation.

Around-the-house news:

Pam has spent many hours cleaning up the front corner of our property and the Mary Lynn Memorial Garden spot. Weeds and a type of vine take over quickly and are hard to remove, particularly the vines. Pam put in some flowers in flower pots; the results look great.

Corner of our lot after Pam’s attention

Bugs, particularly gnats, are a problem this year, more so than in the past. We don’t know why but the little buggers are quite the irritant when we work outside. Their bites do itch. Insect repellents don’t seem to be effective; we have tried Backwoods Off and other Deet products with no discernible results.

On a bit of a side note, last year we received some very sweet and tasty peaches from a neighbor’s tree. Pam kept several pits and planted them in a container, leaving it outside over the winter. One has sprouted, much to our surprise. We’ll see if it survives and if so, decide where to plant it.

Peach tree sprout

We received the larger window air conditioner I had ordered (10,000 btu capacity) and I installed it in one of the dining area windows. While our roof-mounted swamp cooler unit still works, it’s wearing out (very noisy) and should be replaced. Given that we can take the AC unit with us when we move but cannot take the swamp cooler,  we decided to go the AC route instead of putting $500.00 plus into the cooler (which is mounted on the roof and hard to access for repair or replacement). Temps are supposed to be near 90 this weekend so Pam will give the AC unit a good workout.

New LG brand AC unit

Our trimmed-back Cottonwood tree is leafed out and we have noticed some new sprouts starting to grow from the remaining branches. It will take several years for those new sprouts to fill in for the limbs that were removed, but it’s good to see the tree is not on the “way out” after limb surgery. Purchase of the AC unit was tied to the loss of foliage on the Cottonwood.  The living room windows (behind the tree) face west; the blazing afternoon sun in the high desert heats the house up unbearably without the shade we used to depend on.  Hopefully the AC unit will be a more aggressive cooling mechanism than the swamp cooler was.

Our Cottonwood as it looks now

One final note. You will now see a link to my blog’s Privacy Policy from both the blog’s main page and from the About Us page. The new GDPR rules and regulations apply to any site where people can leave comments so I thought I better put out a policy. It is based on a template and a little awkward but you will get the idea. Please read if you have any interest in this sort of thing.

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

Pam’s Two Cents Worth:

I’ll be staying home with the feral kitten litters this holiday weekend.  At 8 weeks (the four kittens) and 5 weeks (one kitten), all of the babies are beginning to eat solid food and drink water.  Although still nursing, their nursing days are numbered.  The transition period from mom’s milk to kibble tends to be tricky and can result in dehydration and diarrhea if not monitored. I guess I will be the monitor.

The first weekend at Sanderling is a cleanup weekend anyway.  Fields will walk The Lot, pick up any garbage and debris that has blown in during the winter, clean the weeds off the driveway, fill the hummer feeder etc.  (I assume sitting in his chair and gazing at the mountains will be worked in there somewhere. ) I’ll miss the frothy spring green of the aspen leaves this time around.

Drive Safely.  Happy Trails.