Author: admin (Page 40 of 66)

As I mentioned in my last post, I was on vacation the week of October 3 – 7. During that time multiple tasks were finished, including: 1) Brought The Box home from The Lot, 2) Repaired the garage door, 3) Cut last of firewood, 4) Winterized the swamp cooler, 5) Put new filters in the furnace and vacuumed out the furnace vents, 6) Replaced an 8-foot section of our privacy fence after painting it with wood preservative, 7) Put new rear brake rotors on the Toyota, 8) Changed oil and filter in the Honda, 9) Painted the utility trailer bed and fenders after replacing some rivets in the fenders and replacing the tongue jack mount, 10) Washed the Toyota and the F-150 truck, 11) Mowed lawn, 12) Started winterizing The Box, 13) Took the window air conditioner our of the window and stored it, 14) Went into the garage attic, threw some stuff away, and swept the garage, 15) Cleaned and tested the Alladin brand kerosene heater I bought at a garage sale this summer (it works!), 16) Used our fuel point discount to buy 35 gallons of gasoline, 17) Was called into the office to work on an e-mail problem and fixed that (Web mail site would not start.) and finally 18) Worked on an old Banker’s lamp. Additionally, our friend Kathy came over and picked up the last of her firewood so that task really is done for the season.  And one morning I was able to build a fire in the fire pit and enjoy a cup of tea in front of it.

I need a vacation from my vacation.

And at that there are several projects I did not get to, including removing the leaf mulcher/shredder from storage and getting it ready to use this leaf season, starting the snowmobile and getting photos of it for the “For Sale” listing on Craig’s List and in the local paper, getting RV antifreeze in The Box’s water lines, and working on the Gilson lawn tractor that is normally my main snow plowing rig in the winter. (Needs to have the flywheel replaced.) I could use another several days off to get all this done!

The job I was least looking forward to was working on the garage door. Over the last couple of months the door was getting harder and harder to operate and the side rollers would come out of the rails. This was very frustrating plus not a little unsafe. I looked on-line to learn more about garage door maintenance and adjustment; the result of this (plus a visual inspection) was a diagnosis of worn or bad cable pulleys located at the top of the garage door frame. The pulleys attached to the door springs appeared to be OK.

The pulleys are not expensive (around $5.00 each) but have cables running over them; these are under some tension, less when the door is open, more when the door is closed. When the shop I called could not make it out on the appointed date I decided to take on the replacement myself.

Replacement pulley (stock photo.)

With the door propped open I was able to remove the old pulleys, one at a time, and replaced them with pulleys I had purchased at Home Depot. The tension on the cables was light and I was able to put the new pulleys in place without much trouble. One pulley was definitely bad; it would no longer rotate on its bearings. The other I replaced just to be on the safe side even though it seemed to be OK. While I had the ladder out I adjusted the top brackets to allow the top door panel to rest closer to the door frame, closing a gap which should help keep the garage a little warmer in the winter. (It also looks better.) I was able to move two small brackets to new locations which enabled the door locking mechanism to work for the first time. I lubricated all the pulleys and rollers; the result is a door that works better now than at any time during our occupancy of the place, now over 10 years. In fact you have to be careful closing the door so that it does not come down too fast. All in all this turned out to be a very successful repair job and I was relieved it went as well as it did.

Top door cable pulley (upper left) and spring pulley; I replaced both top door pulleys. (Stock photo.)

Of the other jobs not much to be said; replacing the 4 foot by 8 foot privacy fence panel was the hardest due to the panel’s weight. The old panel had pickets that were curling up or broken and needed to be replaced. Changing out the entire panel was the easiest way to take care of it. Many of the other jobs – swamp cooler, window AC, furnace – are routine jobs that need to be done every year. The rear brake rotor replacement on the Toyota RAV4 was a bit messy but not difficult except for trying to loosen the bolts that have now seen 160K+  miles of use. A hammer was involved.

Much was accomplished but it didn’t feel like a vacation.

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

Pam’s Two Cents Worth:

And now I have four days of “vacation” built around the upcoming weekend, during which I will attempt a thorough housecleaning, probably wrap the window inserts in plastic (most of our windows leak air), and locate the winter coats/boots/hats again. I have the cat heaters ready to put in the garage, and will likely need to locate yet another cat heater for the back deck (kittens are still coming to that feeder, will be a hard winter for them).

But – the weather has been glorious this week, absolutely stunning Fall temps featuring cool (but not cold) nights and temperate days.  I plan to enjoy those too.

(Stock image)

Happy Trails.

Our 2016 summer season at The Lot has come to a close. As I write this there is fresh snow on the sides of the Mamm Range within eyesight of our back deck. It won’t last long – we are in a a spell of below-average temperatures – but it is still a bit of a shock. Back in the Como area (the town nearest Sanderling but a bit lower in elevation), the weather report shows at or below freezing temperatures for the next four nights. It’s time to bring The Box home.

October 4: Bringing home The Box

I had been at The Lot over the weekend to finish the last bits of wood pickup; I took a load of stumps to the burn pit and brought home the last load of firewood for 2016. There were a few evening rain showers but the days were very enjoyable. Here is a photo taken on Saturday (through The Box’s main window) of the aspen grove:

Lookin’ out my window

The Lot has quite a few pine and aspen stumps on it; many can be pulled out by hand. A few were larger ends of old trees that had fallen and these needed to be cut before I could move them. At any rate, quite a few stumps had been accumulating and it was time to dispose of them.

In many ways the stumps are harder to handle than the normal burn pit wood as they are bulky, irregularly shaped, and heavy. It was a job to get them loaded but removing them did provide sort of a final touch to Birdhouse Ridge and other areas we had cleaned. There are still many left for future trips!

Which leads me to today (Tuesday), when I brought The Box back from the mountains.  The trip home was uneventful but I did drive through snow flurries from Fairplay to Vail Pass, a distance of 60 miles or so. Here and there some snow was sticking to the forest floor and side of the road. Normally this would be the height of the “color” season (which typically runs into mid-October) but everything appears to be advanced by a couple weeks; winter is fast approaching.

Trailer repair update: A couple of posts ago I mentioned I had worked on the utility trailer, replacing screws  in the stake bed sides with 1/4 inch bolts. This modification has worked out very well; with several trips to the burn pit and a couple loads of firewood brought home since the upgrade I have not had to do any maintenance as I had been doing when the screws were in place.

On to maintenance: Our garage door has one, possibly two, bad pulleys in the system. This has caused problems opening and closing the door and has, of late, been getting worse. I will be replacing the pulleys which is not an expensive job but involves working with the door’s springs and cables, something I have not done in the past. I hope to not have to replace the entire door so we shall see if this repair enables us to get a few more years of life out of it.

Speaking of doors…

When Pam re-arranged the third bedroom to give the foster kittens more room, she purchased this cat door on-line and had me install it in the laundry room door. The indoor cat feeding dish and cat boxes are now in this area and the cat portal keeps the dogs from entering.

Cat portal installed in laundry room door.

So far it is working well; all the cats got used to the new arrangement without any problem. (Pam stained the portal to match the door.)

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

Pam’s Two Cents Worth:

We will have two of the kittens (Pieter and Ernst) from this summer’s rescue litter through October and possibly into November.  Mother Nature is not cooperating re: providing these little guys some action on testicle growth.  Bummer. Which is why I rearranged indoor cat facilities for longer-term house guests. The other two neutered kittens went to the shelter last week, and hopefully are adopted by now.

House hunting has slowed down.  I review new listings [in several cities], and monitor certain houses to see if price drops are forthcoming.  With the snow now showing up in the mountains, maybe some Sellers will start to get real about prices?

Happy Trails.

Last weekend we went up to The Lot for a rare (!) non-work day. The plan was to enjoy the fall colors, do some packing in preparation of towing the RV trailer home next week, and take a trip to view some properties Pam had seen on-line. The weekend was a success in all aspects.

During the trip up on Saturday morning it rained until we hit Vail, where the rain turned to snow flurries. The trees were flocked white and enough snow had fallen to begin accumulating on the forest floor. The fall colors, though dimmed by the weather, were still great to see.

We arrived at The Box under cloudy skies but no precipitation was falling. After letting the dogs run and having lunch, we left to view the potential properties, 8 of them in all. The best of the lot was a place in the Silverheels subdivision near Fairplay. (Address: 242 Silverheels Road, Fairplay, Colorado.) The property borders a lake, rare in this part of the country. Actually there is a set-back from the lake so the lot does not go all the way to the water but for all practical purposes – other than building – it is lake front property. We tried calling our local realtor contact in the Fairplay area (from purchasing the Sanderling property four years ago) to see if we could view the inside, but could not arrange to do this on such short notice.

The house itself is small and there is no garage, but the lot is five mostly-wooded acres (narrow – runs between the road and the lake) which still gives some room for expansion. With only one small bedroom down and a spiral staircase to get upstairs it is not the best layout for us, but water views compensate for a great deal of other drawbacks. The key here would be to see if the price goes low enough to be able to keep some funds for adding on to the house and to build a garage. The place is listed at $250,000.00 and has only been on the market a few days so Pam will be watching for price reductions if it does not sell quickly.

Silverheels house

Living room view through a window

Dry Lake from Silverheels lot

The other places were either properties that were steep, had junk on them or junky neighbors, or were in very poor repair. A few were forclosures and would have required major work to get into liveable condition. The asking prices reflected this as the lowest priced property had a starting bid price of $131,000.00. (You bid on a forclosure and your offer may or may not be accepted.) Still, we looked at new possibilities and enjoyed the outing.

We returned to The Box around sunset and had dinner. I made sure the furnace was working as the temps were going to get down to the freezing level. (The dog’s outside water dish had a layer of ice on it the next morning.) After dinner and talking about the various properties we had seen, we called it a day and went to bed.

Sunday A.M. was cold but the furnace worked OK with no real problems. I built a campfire while Pam took the dogs for their morning run. Then it was time for a leisurely breakfast and hot tea. We got out and walked the lot including Birdhouse Ridge and the grassy Nook areas we had cleaned out this year. The ability to walk our woods in the fall colors without tripping over dead logs was a good reward for all the hard work we had done. The day was perfect fall weather: sunny, bright, warming into the mid-60s with a light occasional breeze.

Colors on a fall day

We also started planning our strategy for next year–what areas we want to clean and how to access them. I will have to build a trail near the far side edge of the property to access the rest of the aspen grove; the proposed path will require minimal removal of live trees and get us access to a part of the lot that has a high concentration of both standing and down dead aspen trees. Cleaning out the area will probably take more than one summer but will finish an area we began cleaning back in 2013.

I am going to look around for a medium-size brush chipper, one with a capacity that can handle wood 6 inches around. Some of these pop up on the market in the $1,000.00 – $1,500.00 dollar range and I am going to try to sell my snowmobile to raise the money to pay for it. I am just getting frustrated with the Saturday-only burn pit schedule at Sanderling and the fact that it takes over an hour each load to drive to the pit, unload the trailer, then drive back to the lot. When you add in the time it takes to load the trailer this really limits how much junk wood I can get rid of any given week. If I can chip the slash on-site and use the chips for mulch or creating hiking paths it would not only speed the clean-up but also return some of the wood to the lot. Stay tuned to see how the search for a chipper turns out.

On the way home we traveled over Boreas Pass, as we try to do at least once every year. (Pam’s mother’s ashes are scattered at the top of the pass near an old boarding house and cabin.) Due to the bad Saturday weather the previous day and the excellent Sunday weather that day, the pass was very busy with people out leaf-peeping. Can’t blame them as this route features some gorgeous fall color vistas, but a couple places were downright crowded and had miniature traffic jams made worse by drivers not experienced in driving narrow back-country roads. Several drivers were so afraid of driving near the edge of a shelf road they were not able to move over, or place their vehicles so cars going the opposite direction could pass. It would be better to drive Boreas Pass during the week, but if you have no choice then you just have to put up with it.

Between Fairplay and Como this hayfield caught my eye and I had to try this “artsy” shot of the bales:

Fresh baled hay

The return home trip, under bright autumnal blue skies, featured some stunning color views particularly on the west side of Vail Pass near the Gerald Ford Golf Course. Even though the colors portend the coming of winter, this is one of the best times to be living in Colorado.

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

Pam’s Two Cents Worth:

Is it possible to feel at home with acreage, but not necessarily the house on the acreage? I kinda feel that way about the Silverheels property we saw last weekend.  The house is too small with a bad flow, work needed there.  No garage for Fields and his outside storage needs.  Quite the winding driveway down to the house location as well.  But that lovely aspen and evergreen lot that leads out to the lake is quite special.

A new retirement home location I will be examining into the winter is the Woodland Park area.  Woodland Park, a mountain town outside of Colorado Springs, is charming in a cowboy kind of way and we have always remarked on this.  Woodland Park hosts the regional hospital and most of the service providers in that neck of the woods.  Traveling there from De Beque and back in one day to do drive-bys – difficult. With The Box coming home from the high country (snow predicted next week at 9,000 feet), our “base” for exploring that part of Colorado will not be available. A challenge.

Happy Trails.

I have a few loose ends, left over from the last few posts, that I need to address and update.

House Hunt:

The “Grandma house” I noted in a recent post has, we assume, been sold as it is off the market. Not that we were seriously considering making an offer but it did have a certain attraction and we hope the new owners clean up the place and make it tidy.

We never did hear anything more concerning the Chu Chu Lane house that we made the offer on, but it also appears to be off the market as it no longer shows up in the realtor listings.

The Lot:

The load of firewood I brought home has been cut and stacked along our driveway and we are waiting for our friend Kathy to come and pick it up. Until then the fresh-cut wood smell is nice to have around.

Most recent firewood

Foster cats:

Two of the four kittens have had their neuter operations and we are waiting for the others to get mature enough to handle the operation. Pam has re-arranged the cat room to give the kittens more play room, which they certainly seem to enjoy. Mom Juliana is also still with us, successfully spayed — the three altered cats are waiting for room at the shelter to open up. (The remaining two male kittens have testicles that did not descend, so we wait to see if Mother Nature will assist in that regard.)

Wheeler Lake:

I have created a Gallery for the Wheeler Lake ATV trip; take a look! The gallery includes a 5:04 video that features overdubbing. I knew the wind was going to make for an unusable audio track so I am trying out a Yetti Blue microphone to do the overdub. This is my first attempt and I find the lack of background noise a bit odd but at least the sound track is quite audible.

New Stuff:

This weekend will be quite busy, with a trip planned to The Lot to pack up The Box in preparation of bringing it home the first week of October. (I have scheduled some time off for this task.) The “color” in high country aspen leaves should be at max this weekend and we hope to enjoy viewing the fall colors. Forecast high for the area is 52 with nighttime temps getting to the freezing point. Its time to shut down for this year.

Weekend plans include driving by some potential retirement properties near the towns of Fairplay, Lake George, Florissant and Divide. We have not driven through this area much since we found Sanderling four years ago – it’s a four-hour distance from De Beque. However, a property search turned up several “potentials” that might be of interest. Per our regular routine, we will drive by the properties and if a property looks interesting enough we will contact a realtor for an in-house tour. No reason we can’t also enjoy the fall colors along the way!

In other news, I attended the Sheriff’s Office annual Appreciation Dinner last Saturday, an event which kept us home for the weekend. Attendance is as much political as social but I did win a $25.00 gift card from Target.

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

Pam’s Two Cents Worth:

I’m looking forward to seeing the fall colors at Sanderling; I missed them last year with my bursitis acting up then.  Blondie will need her doggie coat with temps near freezing – b-r-r-r. I also am interested in seeing what the housing search turns up.  My main complaint of house hunting in the Montrose area is plenty of irrigation water but no trees around the houses. The irrigation is used to keep the pastures green.  Not exactly what we are looking for.  Prices are super high in the Montrose market as well.  I have been quite disappointed.

Happy Trails.

Fall is arriving in the high country. The last two weekends have seen the start of fall colors at The Lot and one morning there was frost on the truck. Our work season is rapidly coming to a close.

The weekend of September 3 – 4 Pam and I were doing our clean-up work when Pam spotted this critter making its slow way along the ground under some pine trees. We don’t know what kind of caterpillar this is but it was quite active. (Note: Research shows this caterpillar to be in the cecropia moth family.)

Pine floor caterpillar

Here and there fall colors are beginning to appear. While we are still a couple weeks away from “peak colors” the change is unmistakable.

“Color” starting to show

While we were working we received a visit from another of The Lot’s creatures; this chipmunk paid us a visit.

A “Chippie” stops to figure us out

By the end of the weekend we had pretty good-sized piles of wood for the burn pit and firewood to bring home.

Load of firewood

The following weekend (September 10 – 11) I went up alone to complete the work we had begun. Several loads of junk wood went to the burn pit and a good-size load of firewood was loaded into the trailer and brought home. Next week I have a company event which will keep us home for the weekend and after that there will be only 1 more trip to The Lot before I bring The Box home for the winter.

I did work in an ATV trip on Sunday before I came home. The Wheeler Lake trail turned out to be a real challenge for me; round trip was about 12 miles but the trail had several challenging rock formations to get over or through. Notwithstanding these obstacles and the rugged conditions there were waterfalls and mining history in the area and I enjoyed the trip. It took longer than I had anticipated, though, and I was later getting home than I had planned.

Here are a few photos from the trail which begins at Montgomery Reservoir:

Montgomery Reservoir

Magnolia Mill

Falls near Magnolia Mill

The trail was a result of mining in the area; this shaft near Wheeler Lake is unusual in that it has not been sealed as the state has mandated sealing old mine shafts for safety reasons.

Old mine shaft near Wheeler Lake

There were other signs of past activity; this old cement mixer was used to help build a dam located up the trail from Magnolia Mill.

Old cement mixer used to help build a dam near Magnolia Mill

At the end of the trail is Wheeler Lake at an elevation of 12,200 feet. The Continental Divide is in the background and a nice waterfall drops into the lake from the left (west) side of the bowl.

Jerry at Wheeler Lake

Waterfall from Continental Divide feeds into Wheeler Lake

A very nice trip but it was challenging and tiring as well. A good internet page that has more trail details can be found at Trail Damage and You-Tube videos can be found by searching for  Wheeler Lake, Colorado.

I have some video that I’ve not yet had a chance to work on; the wind was blowing pretty hard so the audio will, probably, not be useful. We shall see!

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

Pam’s $.02

Pam says she does not have a lot to say this time but she is looking forward to viewing the fall colors on The Lot the next time we go there.

There are just a few notes to pass along this time; some are house hunt-related, some are Lot-related, some are just general.

Last Wednesday (late afternoon) we drove by several houses that Pam had seen on-line. All were in the Cedaredge area on the other side of Grand Mesa, a pleasant high country ride of about 1.5 hours distance each way for us. Some properties had excellent views but were off-the-side-of-a-side-road, not exactly what we were looking for, but since we were in the area….

One of the sites was an old small house on .6 acre. The plusses are water flowing through the lot and trees and some mesa views. Drawback is the house, old and small, but priced below $100K…it raised our interest.

Stream on Grandma House lot

Small Grandma House

Shed could be used for equipment storage

We think much could be done with the lot; just cleaning it up and mowing would do wonders for the appearance. Cactus in the front yard would have to go, though. If it was on larger acreage this might be a strong possibility; we could tear down the old house and build, or add onto the existing house…there are possibilities.

Another house had a circular drive, garage, shop, decks and views, but is listed as a 2 bed, 2 bath at $300K…over our budget limit but the place is octagon with beamed ceilings which gives it some character.

Front of Octagon House

Side of Octagon House

As we drove by the other Cedaredge locations, we decided we would not consider them for one reason or another, sometimes multiple reasons! One place had great views and a garage but it was off the end of a county road and shared a driveway with a neighbor. Another house also shared a drive with a neighbor, this neighbor obviously trying to start his own personal dump. Keeping in mind we are looking for a retirement home, one criteria is access to the nearest town on a year-round basis. Some places on the side of Grand Mesa look like access (particularly winter access) could be a dicey proposition. Anyway, the search continues.

Our hope is that as winter approaches the prices on real estate in general will drop to the point where a reasonable offer from us might be considered. Along those lines, the price on the rural Montrose home we had made an offer on and which was rejected earlier this month, Chu Chu Lane, had a price reduction from $309,900 to $299,900.00 so the price is heading in the right direction.

The rest of the news is pretty general. I cut the last load of firewood we had brought home and Pam and I piled it up along our driveway. Kathy Powers will come by with her pick-up and take the wood to her place. This load was unusual in that it was mostly pine with a few pieces of aspen, the reverse of our normal loads of firewood.

Jerry cutting load of firewood

Much of the load was small enough to cut with the chop saw; the rest was cut with my old Craftsman chain saw.

I had to re-do some parts of the home-made trailer. Originally I had put the stake bed sides together with screws, but these seemed to work loose and / or break when traveling over the very rough and washboard gravel road between our Lot and the burn pit. I replaced the screws with 1/4 inch bolts and will see how that works out with future loads.

This weekend I stayed home and did chores. Firewood cutting, trailer work, lawn mowing, changing oil in the Honda, and I volunteered to mow a neighbor’s lawn after his rider blew an engine. Jim (the neighbor) is using a walker to get around now and can’t operate a push mower so his yard was looking a bit shaggy. Jim’s son-in-law has a line on a replacement engine and Jim’s rider should be repaired by the next time his lawn needs to be cut. Jim and his wife Jolene are good neighbors and I don’t mind doing the extra work for them.  Someday I’ll be old and using a walker and might need someone to help me.

Pam is really busy at work; the start of the fall semester ia always a busy time but this year seems to be busier than normal. I’ve finished my major projects at work for the year so now can concentrate on lower-priority tasks that need to be done but are more routine.

We have seen some aspen colors changing in the high country and some of the taller peaks have had a dusting of snow; fall appears to be arriving a bit early this year and winter won’t be far behind. We hope to get another couple loads of firewood home and a few more loads of slash taken to the burn pit before having to bring The Box home for the winter. The next few weeks at Sanderling will be quite busy.

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

Pam’s Two Cents Worth:

What we are learning about Colorado Western Slope real estate (not in resort areas) is educational.  If the property in question is in the $100,000 range, it is either 1) an older home (pre-WW II)  “fixer” with limited acreage, or 2) a mobile home with perhaps one acre +.  The $200,000 range gives the buyer the hope of some upgrades and some acreage; the home is generally still 30+ years old but mechanical and/or aesthetic improvements should have been made.  In the $300,000 range, there are mixed messages.  At $300,000+, homes should have a master bedroom with en suite bathroom, at least three bedrooms and two bathrooms, kitchen and bathroom updates, a garage, and the yard should be immaculate (no junk anywhere).  However, realtors are convincing sellers that 1-3 acres of property attached to the home puts that listing in the $300,000 range, regardless of the amenities one is expecting inside or the tidiness of the home and yard.  Not so much for buyers.  And that’s where our problem arises.

See?  We have been learning something along the way during the last nine months after all.

Happy Trails.

It’s hard to believe it has been a couple weeks since my last post. It seems like I need to catch up —again!

There is not much going on with the retirement house hunt.  Since our last offer was rejected we have not really looked at any more properties, but Pam is putting together a new list of “possibles” – we will drive past and take a look. If any are promising we’ll contact our realtor and schedule an in-depth tour.

Our weekends have been very busy; the last two have been spent at The Lot continuing with our clean-up of Birdhouse Ridge. That task is very nearly completed; I have some firewood stacked up and ready to bring home, everything else is done. It is so nice to be able to walk around the Ridge without fear of tripping over fallen trees and all the standing stuff is nice and green. It takes a lot of work and that helps us enjoy the finished product even more.

Not content to sit around…we opened up a path to a new area to be cleaned out over the next few years. Access to this spot is adjacent to the area we call The Nook, uphill and to the right as you look out the RV trailer. We can see this area from where The Box sits so picking it as the next clean-up area is in keeping within our “line of sight” priorities. Slash was staged at this location one weekend; I then drove up solo last weekend and hauled out 4 loads of non-salvagable wood to the burn pit, then loaded up a trailer full of wood to be cut into firewood. It was a busy weekend!

I bought a new generator so I was able to run the Honey Wagon equipment and empty The Box’s holding tanks. Other chores including replenishing the RV fresh water supply (hand-pumping 28 gallons of water) and sharpening my chain saw chain. There are always housekeeping chores to get done and having the new generator let me do some delayed chores. We should now be good through the rest of the summer. Pam had relocated a few pine saplings (needed to be moved when clearing the path to the new clean-up area) so I watered the tree transplants as well. Last but not least, hummingbird nectar for the feeder.

Below are some photos (and one video) taken over the last couple weeks. The video was shot from the top of The Box…Pam’s idea…to show what Sanderling looks like in a 360 degree sweep. The clip has some lens flare – not the best quality – but I hope you take a moment to let it play.
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New Ryobi 5,500 watt generator

“Before” photo of area near The Nook

Slash destined for wood pit – first weekend

Trailer load#1 (of 4) for the day – second weekend

“After” photo of brush (almost) gone to burn pit

A sunset over South Park

So…it has been a busy couple of weeks, a state of affairs that will continue for the rest of the summer. Don’t be surprised if I don’t have a new post for another couple of weeks.

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

Pam’s Two Cents Worth:

Next month we celebrate four years since we purchased Sanderling.  It’s always amazing to me how much dead wood and slash is taken out of each area we identify – loads and loads and loads hauled off the forest floor and to the burn pit. (Even more if Fields has to cut down standing dead trees.)  The task seems almost endless, so it is a real pleasure to clear an area like Birdhouse Ridge and enjoy walking freely over that path, without impediment. No small accomplishment.

Happy Trails.

I have a few catch-up items since my last post, so let’s get to it.

Foster cats:

Pam has foster litter #26, 4 kittens and a mom cat, ensconced in our cat room. The kittens are fairly nondescript but full of energy. One had an incident where he hurt his back and was down for a few days; Pam hand-fed him (kitten’s name is Pieter/Pete) for a few days to make sure he was getting enough to eat. Pete is probably the most attractive of the batch although he is also the smallest.

Mom cat Juliana

Foster #26. (Pete is at right.)

Pam calls this batch the “House of Orange.” They require a lot of work but will be put up for adoption (including the mother cat) when they get big enough and have had their spay/neuter operations.

House hunt:

We made an offer on the Chu Chu Lane home but the offer was rejected. Apparently the owner did not take us at our word that our offer was the best we could do; the owner and her agent expected us to come back with a better offer. We already had planned to cash in one of my retirement accounts – not large! – to come up with the down payment and simply cannot raise our offer price.  A budget is a budget.

The owner indicated she may re-think our offer over the weekend and may put forward another counter so the deal may still survive, but we are not optimistic. Technically, we have rejected her counter-offer so the deal is dead but we will review another counter-offer if one is put forward. The search will continue if this deal does not work out.

Chu Chu Road home is styled as a farm building

The Lot:

More of the same story; I went up and hauled non-salvageable wood to the burn pit. We are working on clearing the area we call Bird House Ridge (after Pam put up several birdhouses in the area). Clearing this section is our goal for this year – two more months and the season will be over – and it is looking pretty good right now that Bird House Ridge will be checked off the list.

Our neighbor put in a well, cost was over $12,000.00 and the driller had to go down 400 feet. I would like to have a well on our property but we can’t both buy a retirement house and drill a well, so I continue to use the community hand pump and haul water in when needed.

My generator died; the shop says a winding went out and it would cost more than it’s worth to fix so I am back on the search for a cheap generator. I need one to operate the honey wagon kit I bought last year and to power electrical equipment (primarily my cut-off saw and chain saw sharpener) used at The Lot. More on this as the search goes on.

ATV Ride:

I took last Sunday off from working on the lot and rode my ATV in the Mosquito Pass area. South of Alma and north of Fairplay, this area is high in mining and railroad history as well as some mountain scenery. I have a long video on my ATV Video page (look for Mosquito Pass) but here are a few photos taken along the way.

North London Mill

Top of Mosquito Pass

Mosquito Pass road

White Columbine along the trail

Although I got rained and hailed on during the trip, it was an interesting 28.2 mile excursion and I enjoyed my visit to this area.  Last time on Mosquito Pass was decades ago – before the kids were born.

Note on the video: I’m trying out “wide-screen” (16:9 ratio) on this clip so it will be rather wider than normal. You may have to adjust the size to fit your screen; you can do this by “grabbing” a corner and re-sizing the window. I would like feedback to help me decide to continue the wide-screen version or go back to my standard size so please leave some feedback.

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

Pam’s Five Cents Worth:

The game that is real estate boggles the mind.  I even composed a cover letter to accompany this latest offer on Chu Chu Lane, giving an overview of our financial circumstances, and we still were not taken at our word that this was the best offer we could submit.  Did I need to go into the details of how we will carry two mortgages in the interim until the De Beque place may (someday) sell at a significant loss, with zero equity gained over ten years? Did no one else go through the recent recession?  To say we are bummed is putting it mildly.  Almost puts a person off the retirement house search entirely.

What we have learned – there is no “dream house” in Western Colorado we can afford, not even at auctions or estate sales. After having looked at types of properties on the market in price ranges from $100,000 to $200,000 to $300,000, our price point for a livable house is probably in the $265-$280,000 range instead of the lower-than-$250,000 range we had originally thought.  And for us to pay that amount means likely delayed retirement and/or me working full-time rather than part-time for more years.  Sacrifices to consider carefully.

But, putting it in perspective, my closest childhood friend in Florida is recovering from cancer surgery. House hunting is not life or death.

Happy trails.

This past Wednesday Pam and I and took time off work to meet with our realtor in Montrose and visit five houses. We had a better-than-average outcome; three of the houses would be quite acceptable but one stood out more than the others.

We began near Montrose, looking at a home on Highway 90. It was a “vintage” home that had a more recent addition but would require a lot of work. Worst part: sagging floor in the enclosed porch indicating foundation problems and a kitchen that would need a remodel before we moved in. (Pam called the kitchen “museum quality.”)

Hwy 90 house kitchen

We decided it would be too much work. Possibly in our younger days we would have taken it on, but not as a retirement project.

Moving on, the next house would be the best of the day although we didn’t know it yet. The house is located on Chu Chu Lane. Larger, more modern, the house is unusual in style and lacks a true garage, but it was appealing all the same.

Chu Chu Lane home is styled as a farm building

Kitchen is neat and clean (compact)

Some storage and covered parking is provided

Biggest drawback is the price as it is listed at $309,900.00. We are watching to see if the price drops in a couple weeks. If so, we may make an offer.

Then it was off to Jig Road for our next viewing. While the house was also neat and clean, as well as newer, the lack of any bedrooms on the main floor ruled it out for us. We just do not care to have to walk up or down to get to the main bedroom.

Jig Road home

I don’t have any photos of the next place, not because it was not nice ( it was) but it was in a subdivision with neighbors all around. Probably not a good spot for dogs and cats. Not really “our thing” any more after living in De Beque, as Pam puts it.

The final house of the day would be our 2nd most liked of the day. In our price range, it’s an older home with an addition, character and charm. And, how could you argue with the good vibes of an address on Church Avenue?

Church Avenue home

Living room addition. Other side features a working fireplace.

Kitchen featured an in-wall oven that Pam is looking for.

With two bedrooms and 1 3/4 baths on the main floor plus two small bedrooms upstairs, this place could be a contender. Drawbacks are no garage (but does have a separate craft building) and the neighborhood is decidedly low-brow. Privacy fence would be a must. Still, there is a charm about some older houses and this one, with formal entrance and arched room dividers, had it. The lot backs up to a very quiet river (can’t really hear it) and the bank is quite steep, rendering this aspect of the lot pretty well unusable.  It would give Pam her “water feature.”

All the houses had attractive and not-so-attractive elements. The Chu Chu Lane house would fit our lifestyle and give us the room (3 acres and separation from neighbors) that we are looking for and enough storage to get by for now. A garage would come later, along with a decorative pond. It’s also the lowest priced house in a very upscale subdivision, so neighbors would presumably not be junk collectors.  We’ll have to keep an eye on the price and, if the listing price falls, we may move ahead with an offer within our means.

ATV note: The long (13:55) version of my Hall Valley ATV trip is now on-line. If interested, go to my ATV Videos page and click on Hall Valley 2016.

Motorcycle note: I have created a gallery of photos taken during last week’s motorcycle rally. You can see it at Colorado 2016.

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

Pam’s Two Cents Worth:

Finding any property that both Fields and I can agree on is an accomplishment.  Chu Chu Lane met that criteria.  In addition to the higher price and financial implications of making an offer on Chu Chu, can we live with the name of that Lane – Chu Chu? It’s different.

At the specific request of my dog sitter, I’ve taken on another foster kitten litter (#26) and, true to form, one of the four kittens appears to have a life threatening health issue.  Now I remember why I stopped fostering.

Happy Trails.

Each year I try to participate in a motorcycle rally sponsored by a club member. This year the rally took place in Canon City, Colorado, pretty close to home.

Knowing this topic is not of great interest to many people I will keep the narrative short and fill in with photos.

We had around 16 people to begin with, but mechanical failures took out a few riders the first day. The core group was 8 – 12 depending on destination; some people wanted to visit different venues, typical of rallies such as this.

The primary destinations were Bishop’s Castle, a structure built by one guy over the last 50 years or so, and a ride to the top of Pike’s Peak.

We begin with Bishop’s Castle:

Bishop’s Castle

Windows in Castle

Every castle needs a dragon, right?

We had fun walking around, up, and through this place.

With this visit, rides through the countryside, and lunch on the road, Saturday was a pretty full day. Sunday was the Pike’s Peak ride.

Club members at the top of Pike’s Peak. I am at upper right.

Our guys and bikes, top of Pike’s Peak. My red jacket (left) is on my Concours.

I had ridden up on Friday and home on Monday. It was a pretty good weekend!

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