I went to the lot this past Saturday to try and get our last 2 loads of slash over to the burn pit. Alas, there were not enough volunteers to keep the pit open all day so one load is all I was able to transport. Looks like the other pile of slash will have to wait until spring to be disposed of. All the leaves are off the trees – fall has come and gone in the high country – and there was a bit of snow on the ground in shady spots. I did a bit of other clean-up work, had lunch in the RV, and then headed for home.
Leaves are off the aspen.
The remaining pile of slash is at the lower-center part of the photo. With the leaves off the trees, we can appreciate how much of the lot we cleared this year, but there is still so much to do!
Pam’s “fall home upgrade” project continues; we moved the computer station around a bit. We had kept the previous configuration for many years so you know what the floor looked like when we started moving the desk, 2-drawer file, and other furniture around. Yep…enough pet hair to create a small kitten. New arrangement looks good, though, and should work better than the old one. Pam still needs to locate a small table to complete the set-up as she needs space to spread out paperwork when she works from home. Table needs to be narrow and no more than four feet long, not a common size, and will take a bit of shopping to find one with the correct dimensions.
Ebony’s kittens are starting to move around and get out of their box. They are singularly common-looking black cats and it remains to be seen if they can develop any personality traits that might set them apart from other kittens.
One of Ebony’s kittens
Speaking of kittens…
I was going through some archive video and came across a couple cat-related clips taken with my old Flip recorder. Here is a 49 second vide clip featuring two of our house cats, London and Antonio, from 2006:
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I have a few of these that I will include in my posts from time to time. I hope you enjoy them.
Our son Toby should be here later this week for a visit and to take in the Notre Dame – Air Force game on Saturday. After that Pam and I are planning a Halloween trip to the lot (weather permitting) to make sure everything is OK and do some clearing on the path where we hope to extend the driveway next spring. We would like to extend the drive a couple hundred more feet and get closer to the saddle. This would get the RV more into the woods — our RV pad would then be less exposed from the road. The extended drive would enable us to get to the upper portion of the lot for downed wood removal. And, last but not least, an extended circle drive would mean no more backing the RV uphill after taking it to clean out the tanks.
Back on the deck in De Beque, we have built small fires in the fire pit a couple times. It’s nice to have a fire to sit around on weekend mornings and enjoy a cup of tea. Due to fire restrictions and so much to do we never had the opportunity to sit around an open fire at Sanderling this summer.
The days pass and life goes on. Some trees are dropping their leaves in the high desert but not enough to get out the mulcher and get started on lawn raking. Temps have improved a bit; most of the upcoming week will be in the low 60s and above freezing at night, but a couple ski areas have opened and winter is not that far away. (I did get up to the roof to replace missing shingles over the weekend, a task mentioned previously.) Now is the time for me to stop procrastinating about some needed but long-deferred dental work. I’m not looking forward to those sessions but they have to be done.
Next post should have details from Toby’s visit.
That’s it for now. Thanks for looking in!
(Note: Pam said she does not have a Two Cents Worth comment for this post.)
We are home this weekend taking care of chores and finishing small projects. Here is what we have been up to.
Last Friday night we delivered our last big load of firewood to Kathy Hall. While we will probably be up to the lot a couple more times this fall we probably won’t be bringing home loads of wood, just some wood in the back of the truck, so this is the last major load of the year.
Load of wood in the truck
Fully loaded trailer
Pam came up with the idea to put vertical pieces of wood around the perimeter to increase the load capacity of the trailer — else we would have had to make two trips. Over-all we delivered between 2 and 3 cords of wood to Kathy this year. This wood will help keep the kitties warm in their rescue building.
A home visit by a potential kitten adopter late in the summer led Pam to formulate a “home upgrade” plan for this fall, as she realized the place was embarrassing and dumpy looking. So far she has purchased a new hallway runner, a couple of rugs, a new cover for the couch, and yesterday I picked up a fire pit from Tractor Supply (upgrades the deck?). A few more purchases are planned, and coupled with a major re-arrangment of existing furniture, the house will have a new look for fall.
New fire pit
We also bought a Keurig (K-cup) brewer. I have had one at work for years courtesy of the company, but Pam thought it was time to have one at home as well. We are not coffee drinkers but like to have tea, hot cider, and hot chocolate on hand. I think we will get a lot of use out of this purchase.
Otherwise it is more of the mundane. I winterized the swamp cooler, went to Walmart to pick up cat supplies, washed the truck by hand, did the normal auto routine (oil levels, washer fluid, tire pressure checks), put away the fans and brought the heaters down from the garage attic. I spread the last of the grub killer and lawn fertilizer before I put the spreader away. Today I need to change the Honda oil and filter, clean the mower decks, and paint the snow plow blade that is mounted on my little red Gilson lawn tractor. (The paint is a super-slippery type designed for snow blades.) Maybe I’ll even get back on the roof and replace several shingles lost in one of the summer storms.
Ebony’s kittens have their eyes open and are just starting to move around a bit. I’ll have a few photos of them in my next post.
Sinbad the Cat has gone missing, along with another adolescent kitten that was living in our garage. We know a couple other cats are missing – flyers in the Post Office and people out looking for their cats – and suspect foul play but have no proof. It could be Sinbad was picked up to be a house cat as he certainly was friendly enough. We hope that was the case. Not knowing what happened is hard for Pam.
There has been snow around us but so far none down at our level. Below freezing temps at night are now pretty common. Weather people say we are having below average temperatures and the extended forecast shows this trend continuing. We are not ready for winter and keep hoping for a spell of Indian Summer. Pam has been covering some of the flowers and plants to try and keep some color around the house. How much longer this will be feasible is in doubt, but it’s nice to still have some Mums and other flowers still giving us some color.
Leaves are beginning to fall and I suspect I’ll have to start raking and mulching in the upcoming weeks. Our neighbors have already left for their place in Arizona (which they do every year), and I take care of their leaves as well. It’s a busy time of year.
Our son Toby had plans to be out for a visit near the end of the month, near the date of his birthday. He and I would attend the Notre Dame – Air Force football game in Colorado Springs, but we haven’t heard if Toby has firmed up these tentative plans. We’ll have to wait and see what transpires in that story.
The truck had been running poorly and the engine light had been coming on. I bought one of those code readers and eventually found one of the O2 sensors had come unplugged. Fixed that and the truck is again running fine. Code reader was $18.00 from Amazon; the local Ford dealer wanted $118.00 (1 hour of labor) to hook the truck up to their system and trouble-shoot the problem, so I figured I saved $100.00 by doing the work myself.
So, life goes on. Pam is entering a slower part of the college calendar as far as transcript evaluations are concerned, and I just finished a major project of getting our Rifle Sheriff’s Office Annex wired with fiber-optic cabling to our internet provider. (Connection went from 4.5 mb to 500 mb.) Now I can get started with other projects that were dependent on getting the high-speed connection in place, but those can wait a week or so. So, for both of us, there is a lull in the action. It won’t last long, but we hope to enjoy it while we can.
That’s it for now. Thanks for looking in!
Pam’s Two Cents Worth:
When the Habitat Recycle store has better furnishings than anything in your house, it’s time to upgrade a bit. What with puppies and kittens running around the place the last 5-6 years, I’ve been letting “style” slide. The mobile is clean (wet mopped with Pine-Sol every other week) but shabby. And not shabby chic. So I decided just because we live in a mole-on-the-bum-of-Mesa-County type town doesn’t mean we need to descend to being low-lifes ourselves. The refurbishing is greatly overdue and, in the scheme of things, won’t cost as much as mountain land, an RV, or a truck.
The fall colors are at their high point here in Colorado. Cold has also come in the form of snow and temperatures below freezing, temps in the teens in the high country. This set off a scramble for me to get to our lot and winterize the RV trailer.
I had driven up with the Honda on Wednesday, October 2, as I needed to turn on the RV’s furnace. A few days later, Saturday the 5th, I went up again with the truck to finish the winterization tasks and bring home a load of firewood.
Winterization of an RV includes taking the trailer to the dump station and draining all the holding tanks. I drained the hot water heater, fresh water tanks, and used the built-in water pump to put RV anti-freeze in the water lines. All “freezable” items, food and bathroom, were removed and brought home. A few other items were brought home as well, such as coats and sweatshirts. When we go to the lot again we will just have to bring a few more “things” along with us, but I think the cold temps have pretty much put an end to any major work outings.
The highlight of both trips was viewing the fall colors. Below you will find several photos and a video (run time 7:15) of the fall colors around and on our lot.
Sweep of color down to South Park
View from RV trailer is excellent
View from RV trailer main window
Aspen along “wilderness road”
Our tree-lined driveway
(Incidentally, the driveway was formally approved by Park County this past week, one year after we applied.)
Leaves starting to fall off trees
These next two photos show the difference between where we have cleaned up the down dead wood and trees and where we have yet to work.
Note dead and down trees on ground. This is the “before” photo
“After” photo. Note cleaned-up ground under the trees
I shot some video around the lot. Here is a 7:15 clip taken over both trips.
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Pam says I am getting a little out of hand with videos, so let let me know if I should continue to include them, if you don’t view them, if you have trouble viewing them, or any other feedback you think appropriate.
That’s it for now. Thanks for looking in!
Pam’s Two Cents Worth:
I was going to drive up to Sanderling (with the dogs, in the Honda) this weekend and join Jer at the lot, but the hard freeze in De Beque required me to stay home and make sure the plants/kittens/outdoor cats stayed warm. Early weather reports also predicted snow flurries over the mountain passes, and I’m not much of a winter snow driver. As it turned out, no flurries and I may have missed the golden aspens in the grove we’ve been working on all summer. Maybe next year.
Sinbad, the outdoor adolescent kitten we just paid to have neutered, disappeared this week. Why is it, just when you spay or neuter an animal, it either disappears or gets hit by a car? When the sadness of rescue (death and disappearance) is not balanced by the joy (births and adoptions), it’s time.to.quit.
What’s this ? The City of Glenwood Springs has, for the last year or so, embarked on a beautification program. Part of the project includes painting scenes on building walls and overpasses. This whimsical work or art is actually on a railroad support which is part of a span over the Roaring Fork River. Most of the panels are more true-to-life, depicting outdoor scenes, horses, and other western-themed icons. This particular panel can only be seen from the walking path along the river, a path I often take on lunch time walks. I like the walks and the mural.
It has been a busy summer, but the first freeze has come and gone and there is more snow on the mountain tops. Fall colors are at their peak. Summer has ended, fall is here, and winter will be here before we know it.
This is, in many ways, my favorite time of the year. The autumn-blue skies with the vivid aspen colors contrasting against deep-green pine backgrounds makes for great views. (The leaf-peepers are out in full force.) The aspen on our lot are beginning to change colors but are not yet at their peak color; that will probably happen this week. A trip over is planned for this upcomming weekend.
I did make a solo trip to Sanderling over the weekend of September 28 – 29. Three more loads to the burn pit and another load of wood brought home, plus turned the furnace on in the trailer to keep it from freezing up at night. Weekly forcast shows a warming trend – cold came early this year – and we hope to have another month before we have to winterize the RV. Winterizing will mean pulling the trailer over to the dump station, draining all the holding tanks including the fresh water supply, removing all the food and bathroom items that might freeze, and making sure all the water lines are blown dry. Process will take several hours.
In my previous post I had a video clip of the morning sunrise on a cloudy day. This time, for comparison, I took a clip of a sunrise on a clear day.
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Ebony’s kittens opened their eyes this past week. All black except for a few stray white hairs here and there, they will be harder to adopt – distinctive kittens go more quickly – so Pam has decided to give them extra socializing attention in hopes they will be so adorable their color won’t hold them back.
Speaking of kittens, in addition to Ebony’s four, Pam has two kittens from the shelter, both on meds, in our “cat” room. Another neighbor who fosters kitten had to be gone for the weekend so we had three of her kittens with us. Total of nine kittens in the house for the last few days. Good thing we had stocked up on cat liter. The five older kittens are all very social and like to be held and petted and are pretty attractive cats. Add to this total our seven and Ebony and we had seventeen cats in the house over the weekend. That’s a full house. Mix in the three dogs and you have a menagerie.
Our County animal control officer, Aimee, calls Pam “The Crazy Cat Lady.” This may be true, but Pam hopes, as most rescue and foster care people do, that some day this work won’t be needed. However, as long as people don’t spay/neuter their animals and then dump them when they become inconvenient there will be cats running loose. Four litters this year were from two domesticated cats who were dumped. Pam was able to rescue two of the four litters but just one of the non-rescued litters added four more cats to the outside population. (The mom cats Pam has rescued have been or will be spayed before being released to the outside world again.) Not ideal, but we do what we can to provide food and shelter and medical care to these outside cats. Pam will try to trap the four kittens over the winter and have the vet spay/neuter them.
If there is an entrance exam to get into Heaven I suspect one question would be “How did you treat your pets?” I believe a number of people would flunk the quiz based on their answer. At least from De Beque…
I’ll end this post with a few photos from my last ATV trip into the Colorado mountains.
Lake City side of Engineer Pass
Bull Moose along Cuba Gulch
That’s it for now. Thanks for looking in!
Pam’s Two Cents Worth:
Wanted to give a shout out to Tabitha’s mother who apparently reads this blog regularly. She no doubt wonders why two old folks would buy land at over 9,000 feet elevation. Or why anyone would have seventeen cats in the house over the weekend. Then again, being Tabitha’s mom, she might understand about the cats.
There is a lot to blog about this time. On September 14th I made a one-day solo trip over to the lot and did more work. The next week I was on vacation from work for three days and took an extended ATV trip in the Ouray (pronounced you-Ray) area on two of those days. Finally, Pam and I went over to Sanderling to stage more wood for removal. Last Wednesday new kittens arrived, Pam’s 24th foster litter. Mom cat’s name is Ebony and her kittens are all black just like her.
That’s a lot of ground to cover.
Trips to the lot are now falling into a pattern of getting loads of brush and slash over to the burn pit and getting some firewood home. My solo trip was no exception, except Pam requested I bring home some rocks to be used in our berms. So, after a long day’s work, I finished by picking up 10 rocks to bring home. Pam was delighted. I was tired.
I had driven over on a Friday night. Saturday morning was overcast and cloudy so I went up to Pavilion Point and made this video. (Running time is 2:31.)
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Not much else to report from that trip. Our last trip, this past Friday afternoon – Saturday, was more of the same. (I did find the key to unlock the 2-wheel cart.) We returned via Boreas Pass – Pam had not been on the pass this year – and we stopped to take this photo of aspen along the road turning color:
Boreas Pass, September 2013
Jumping back a few days… I had traveled to Ouray (pronounced you-Ray) Colorado for a two-day (Sept 18 and 19) ATV outing. I wanted to ride the Alpine Loop which consists of Engineer Pass and Cinnamon Pass. I had ATV’d part of Engineer Pass last year but had not completed the loop. Both pass trails start from Highway 550 south of Ouray and end in Lake City, Colorado.
The first day was overcast and had late afternoon rain, not the best travel conditions but not bad enough to prevent the trip. Thursday was much better, partly cloudy and dry. I enjoyed my trips on both days.
Rather than including a gallery of still photos I am including this long (12:36) video that covers parts of both Engineer and Cinnamon passes.
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It was a good outing and I enjoyed both day’s travel. There are many more ATV trips in the Ouray – Silverton area that I hope to get to next year.
One or two more photos not including in the video:
Aspen turning color, Engineer Pass, Sept. 18
Jerry with old mine hoist, Mineral Point area, Sept. 19
Ebony’s kittens:
Ebony and her kittens
That’s it for now. Thanks for looking in!
P.S.
We are not in the flood zone that has made national news. Here in the western part of the state we have had a lot of rain, and flash-flooding at one point closed I-70 a few miles from home, but nothing like they had on the eastern part of the state. Thanks to all who called or e-mailed to check on us!
Pam’s Two Cents Worth:
I am ready for the wood cutting summer to be over. Too many “pulls” on my time and energy – full-time job (I’d prefer to work part-time again), all these pregnant cats with kittens, and four-hour-each-way drives to the Sanderling property. Jer can’t really be safely left on the lot solo with the chain saw. There is no one in shouting distance if he injures himself, and cell phone coverage is spotty up there. Staging wood and slash one weekend when I (and the dogs) accompany Jer, then the next weekend he takes the solo trip with the truck and trailer to haul slash to the pit and wood home – that routine seems to be working.
One kitten from the previous litter died this weekend at the vet (the fuzzy white Siamese-mix), and one that was adopted from that same litter is sick but hanging in there (the long-haired orange one). A bacterial infection – it could have been picked up from Izzy, from the animal shelter, who knows – is the cause of the distress. Such sadness when the little ones cross the rainbow bridge so soon.
Ebony’s newborn kittens are Mink, Mole, Sable and Seal. I think there are three boys and one girl. Ebony knows exactly what to do, this is her second litter this year.
We did fit in the Mountain Laurie/Boreas Pass visit, as you can see by the photo from the Boreas Pass Road. Some years Mom’s presence is felt at the location where her ashes are scattered, some years not so much. A beautiful day on Boreas, but the spirit of Mountain Laurie seemed to visit me at Sanderling in the form of a hummingbird earlier this summer. If you believe in such things…
So I am sitting here trying to find a way to make this post a bit fresher and more personal than is my norm. How about a day-by day commentary? OK…let’s give it a try.
Friday: I had taken the day off. Thursday night one of my gold crowns came off. First stop on Friday is the dentist. He was able to work me in between appointments so I didn’t have to wait long, maybe 20 minutes or so. He re-glued the crown back in place. Went shopping after that for groceries and supplies. The ventilator fan in the bathroom had died and I stopped at three different stores looking for a replacement. Didn’t find one, the original is round and all the stores had were square units. Suggestion from Home Depot: Look on-line. Great. Until I can find one the bathroom will get a little steamy when we shower. Not showering is not an option… 🙂
Returned home, had lunch, then packed up the truck and headed up to the lot. Packing can be time consuming as I need to load and strap down the ATV, pack the ramps, load all the “stuff” needed for that trip, hook up the trailer, and make sure I have everything else I normally take such as my camera gear and a full water bottle. Then it’s off to face the holiday traffic. Pam normally has most of the “stuff” organized for me otherwise we probably would not have clean linens or food to eat when we get to Sanderling.
Arrived at lot, opened up trailer, transferred all the “stuff” from the truck into the right places. Trailer is a bit “closed in” but the cool mountain air soon cleared out the stale air. Unloaded the ATV and got the trailer set for the next morning’s work, then dinner and into bed for a night’s rest.
Saturday: I get up, have breakfast, hop on the ATV and hook up the trailer. Drive down to the spot where we had piled up brush to be taken to the burn pit. Load the trailer. Go back up the lot and attempt to get the 2-wheel cart into service. The last time out we had decided to work on cleaning up the higher parts of the lot. No way to get the 5 foot by 12 foot aluminum trailer higher into the lot. Plan of attack: Use the 2-wheel cart to haul stuff down to the trailer. I don’t know what it is with me and keys, but I did not have the key for the padlock I had used to secure the 2-wheel cart. Crap. Loaded more slash by hand into the trailer until I had a respectable load and took it to the burn pit.
Ever had an “it was meant to happen” moment? I had gone back to the RV to get a 2nd bottle of water as the day was beginning to get warm. Coming out of the burn pit I stopped to thank the volunteers who man the gate. One lady asks me if I have any extra water so I hand over the spare bottle. Turns out she had lived near Grand Junction and knew where De Beque was. Who knew? Back to the trailer to start on Plan B.
Plan B: cut a road through the edge of the aspen grove that will be wide enough to handle the ATV pulling the trailer. I got started on this and was working away when Pam arrived. I decided to cut this path for two reasons; first is that I could not get the 2-wheel cart in service, but mainly I decided I didn’t want to have to handle everything twice more, first into the cart than out again and into the trailer. Loading directly into the trailer made much more sense and will be well worth the loss of a few aspen for a road cut. The other advantage is being able to get the trailer closer to both slash and firewood, eliminating trips back and forth that using the 2-wheel cart would have entailed. I hope this new arrangement works out well. If not then there will be another Plan B.
Wilderness Road
We proceeded to cut standing dead wood and small green trees in order to clear our “road through the wilderness.” Attention was paid to clearing dead wood from near the saddle area. I used the ATV to skid the salvageable wood down to the trailer. (See 44 second clip below.) We had a respectable load of wood by the time we were done for the day.
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Pam had opted to come to the property on Saturday for a very good reason: Two of Izzy’s kittens were going to be adopted. Pam had been in contact with a lady from Glenwood Springs who was looking for a pair of kittens. The potential adopter had seen photos of the kittens, had viewed the kitten video I posted a few weeks back, and visited De Beque to see the litter. She decided to take the Siamese-looking kitten, Freedom, and the gold/orange kitten, Liberty, as kittens tend to do better when they have a playmate about their own age. Since the adoption is through the Friends Of Rifle Animal Shelter, Pam made arrangements to deliver all 5 kittens to that facility on Saturday morning before heading up to Sanderling with the dogs. The shelter will arrange the adoption after proper vetting has occurred. We are delighted to get these first two adopted and hope the other 3 will quickly share the same fate.
Izzy’s kitten Liberty
Izzy’s kitten Freedom
By the time the road was done on Saturday afternoon and all the firewood retrieved, we were beat. Pam made a nice hot dinner of corned beef and potatoes accompanied by fresh fruit and home-made chocolate chip cookies. Then it was time to relax, talk, plan the next day’s activities, shower, then off to bed.
Sunday: The clouds had started gathering and we knew that by afternoon rain would set in. After a few hours of work on the road -widening it – we knocked off for the morning. Back in The Box, the propane tank had been used up and I switched to the other tank. After a good lunch of eggs and left-over corn beef and potatoes, washed down with hot tea, I drove to Fairplay to get the propane tank refilled. Turns out my tank has not been “re-certified” recently – has to be done every 5 years or so – and no vendor in Fairplay would fill my propane tank. Great. I’ll have to find a place that will do a re-certification before I can get the tank filled. Not going to happen on a Sunday or Labor Day so the tank will come home with me.
By the time I returned to the RV Pam had pretty well completed getting stuff ready to return home. We took a walk up to Pavilion Point, let the dogs out for a last run before their 4-hour trip, and managed to get everything loaded into the car. Pam started for home with the dogs just as the raindrops were beginning to fall.
It rained sheets, accompanied by thunder and lightning. I stayed inside. Rain kept up for about half an hour then stopped. I began filling the fresh water tank to replace the water we had used during the last two visits. Over to the community hand pump to get water. I filled the tank then made another trip to fill my empty water jugs. Sixteen extra gallons are now sitting at the rear of the RV ready to use the next time we visit. As I was doing this the rain began again, but no thunder and lightning this time, just a nice moderate rain that kept up for a few hours.
Realizing my work day was over I made myself a hot dinner (tuna and cheese on toast) and had a cranberry-orange muffin for desert. After doing dishes and getting cleaned up I called it a night.
Monday: I slept in until 7:30! Nice. Then it was breakfast and begin packing the truck and shutting down the RV. I loaded the ATV, found a place to carry the propane tank, and hooked up the aluminum trailer. Plan for the day was to get in an ATV ride before getting home. Was not going to happen.
I am in the truck heading for Breckenridge when the phone rings. It’s Pam. “The Honda won’t start, it’s dead in the driveway.” ATV trip goes away and I head straight for home. Arrive in De Beque in early afternoon. Battery in the Honda is dead and won’t take a charge. Off to Grand Junction and Walmart for a new battery. Since I am making the trip anyway I might as well do some other shopping. Get home, unload everything, put new battery in the car. Honda fires right up with the new battery installed. I fry up some hamburgers for dinner then check my e-mail. Nothing major except a note from my sister Kitt who has some computer questions. I answer as best I can then shower and head for bed. I am very tired.
And that was my Labor Day weekend.
That’s it for now. Thanks for looking in!
Pam’s Two Cents Worth:
All I can say is, thank goodness I drove straight through from Sanderling to De Beque without stopping, or that dead Honda battery could easily have halted my return trip. Not fun, with three dogs in tow.
Izzy is still with us, waiting for her milk to dry up before she can be spayed and returned to our garage colony. Ebony, the petite black preggo who’s been showing up at the garage feeder, has now come into the house for the duration of her pregnancy. Foster litter #24 is in the hopper.
A rare weekend at home let me get a post going that catches up on a few topics. First, a shout out to sister-in-law Becky who just finished a solo 9-day trip to North Carolina. Charlotte, Statesville, and other towns were on her agenda and, due to numerous blog post photos, she was able to share her experiences with the rest of us. Personally, Statesville sounded the best. (“No Sushi, just fish fried as God intended…”)
Another shout out to brother-in-law Craig and his wife Dianne who are in the process of building a cabin near Bloomer, Wisconsin. They bought a 2 acre lot bordering a lake, have cleared a spot, and have begun getting the tests, permits, and other basics leading toward the building of a cabin. Good wishes to them!
Sinbad the Kitten is now Sinbad the (young adult) Cat. He likes to lounge on our deck and – occasionally – be picked up and petted. He is a cute cat, just too bad he did not take to being an inside cat. Here is a recent photo of him:
Sinbad the Cat
The firewood we cut has been delivered to Kathy Hall. She and a friend of hers helped us unload the wood and stack it near her house. Having 4 people working made the job go quicker, a good thing since the truck was half-way out in the road while we unloaded the wood. I figure we have delivered over a cord so far, about 3/4 of it on this load.
Firewood in truck and trailer waiting to be delivered
Another view of loaded trailer
Izzy’s kittens are getting more and more used to dry food and will soon be able to do well without Izzy’s milk. Pam is trying to accelerate the weaning process, as that would mean the kittens could be placed in the Friends of Rifle Animal Shelter, making way for the next prego cat that is currently in our garage, a black mom cat we call Ebony. We used to live in Rifle and drive pass daily on our way to and from work. Pam has worked with Heather, the shelter manager, for many years and I worked for a time with Heather’s husband, Jon, when we first moved into the area. They are good people.
A few “fall colors” are already evident. This is a bit early and portends an early fall/winter. Normally we don’t begin to see color until the first or second week in September. Late September and early October are usually the peak times of the color season, higher elevations turning color first. Last winter set numerous low temperature records and we really hope this winter is on the milder side!
A few weeks ago I replaced the spark plug wires and distributor cap on the Ford 8N tractor. It now runs nice and smooth on all 4 cylinders. (Old distributor cap had a broken terminal that was causing problems.) However, after taking it around the block, it looks like I need to re-do the rear axle seal on the right side; oil is already leaking out of the brake drum. There is also a gasket on the bottom of the transmission that needs to be replaced as it is leaking. Probably won’t get to that those repairs this year but at least the engine is now in good operating condition. Seal, gasket, and re-install the original air cleaner and that will be all the repairs I plan to do in the short term. More needs to be done but those 3 repairs will basically put the tractor into working condition. Then comes fixing lights, rebuild the steering system, replace rusting rear fenders, and other miscellaneous repairs. It will be awhile until the 8N is done to the level I want.
My thanks to everyone who sent greetings and cards for my birthday and our anniversary, both celebrated during the first half of August. (We are getting old…)
This past Sunday I was able to spend a couple hours riding the Middle Fork of the Swan River. (The last time I was in this area I rode the Georgia Pass [South Fork] and North Fork of the Swan River ATV trails.) This ride, plus updates on the lot and Izzy’s kittens, are the subject of today’s post.
I’ll begin with a few lot updates. Pam and I have been clearing dead wood and cutting up firewood. Pam was stung/bitten twice during our last outing as it appears that, with fall coming, some of the more aggressive insects are building nests low to the ground and under some of the dead wood we are planning to remove. We have to take a bit more care now and have armed ourselves with hornet and wasp killer in spray cans. We’ve made the decison to work higher ground on the theory that the bugs prefer the wetter areas of the lot and the higher, drier parts will have fewer nests. As such we will begin working the saddle area and upper parts of the lot.
This plan has some issues as there is not a good pathway to get the aluminum trailer into the saddle. Plan B…cut a small trail large enough for the 2-wheel dump cart to use and ferry the wood down to the driveway where we can load it into the trailer.
Our last load of wood was the largest single load we have brought home so far. Two evenings of labor and we had the logs cut into firewood, delivery scheduled for this upcoming weekend. A long Labor Day holiday will allow us to get more brush taken to the burn pit and stage more firewood to bring home. Temps have dropped into the upper 40 degree range already in the high country, a reminder cold comes to the higher elevations early in the fall, and at least one ski area reported a snowfall already. (Snow only lasted a day or so.) We need to get our wood out without wasting much time.
Load of logs from lot became firewood
Firewood ready to load and deliver
I bought a new chain saw to help the work go faster. My old (30+ years) Craftsman has problems and parts are not available to do the repairs, so Pam let me buy a new Jonsered 2245 saw. It has proven to be a nice upgrade.
I was at Sanderling this past weekend (solo visit) and put the new solar charger in place. I hope this fixes the problems with the solar panels not keeping the battery charged but we’ll take the generator with us on the next trip as backup. On my solo visit I hauled the trailer over to the dump site, emptied the grey and blackwater holding tanks, and topped off the fresh water tank. We should be good to go for a long Labor Day weekend visit.
Subject 2: Izzy’s kittens.
Izzy’s 5 kittens are at the “really cute” stage, exploring their world, wrestling with each other, and developing distinct personalities. All are very friendly with people and will attack shoe laces and pants cuffs if given a chance. We will try to get individual photos soon but here is a short (2:46) video clip of some play time:
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After finishing the “trailer chores” on Saturday, Sunday I took an ATV ride up the Middle Fork of the Swan River. The last time I was in this area (Georgia Pass) I had ridden the North Fork of the Swan River and had enjoyed the outing a great deal. I had seen moose, mountain goats, and some great scenery.
This trip was not quite as exciting (no moose) but I did see a few more mountain goats and lots of high country scenery. Afternoon rain cut my trip a bit short; I had no rain gear with me and above tree line elevations (pockets of snow were below me) getting wet means getting cold in a hurry. I headed back down the trail and received only minor showers until after I made it back to the truck and had the ATV loaded. I ran into pockets of hard rain on my way home. I’ll need to add a poncho to my ATV gear.
Here are a few photos of this outing:
Lower end of the Middle Fork of the Swan River
Cabin marks the Swandyke town site
Middle Fork, Swan River
Above timberline where snow often stays all year, about 12,600 feet
Big views from top of trail, looking west
End point for today but trail continues on
Mountain goats frequent the area
Side road #258 leads back to old mine
Highlight of the day was, again, seeing mountain goats up close. Here is a quick video (2:34 running time) featuring 3 mountain goats. Note how one is still shedding its coat while the other two animals look neat and sleek.
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Next big outing will be Labor Day weekend at the lot.
That’s it for now. Thanks for looking in!
P.S.
I have created a gallery for my California 2013 motorcycle trip. If you would like to view it the address is:
Kittens are their absolute cutest, for me, at 5 weeks of age. This litter just turned six weeks old, and are starting to be little s-h-i-t-s. The Rifle Shelter may be coming to my “rescue” and finding a foster for the current litter until they are old enough to be altered (male kittens must be 2.0 pounds to be neutered, female kittens 2.5 pounds to be spayed). I may need the assistance because it appears I have another preggo mom cat at the garage feeder. Yippee.
I have just a couple of quick notes this time. Our 2001 Honda Accord rolled over 300,000 miles this past week.
299,999 miles…
300,000 miles!
We bought the Hond as a used vehicle in 2004 and it had about 62,000 on it at that time. We have put nearly 240,000 on it in the ensuing 9 years without a single mechanical failure. The Honda gets regular maintenance, the key to its longevity, I think. Other than hitting deer twice – one time required body work and a new hood – it has seen steady daily service in all kinds of weather and road conditions. We had always kidded ourselves that if the Honda hit 300K we would get rid of it. Now we will try for 500K…
I have finished a Califoria Rally video that consists mostly of seacoast and wildlife clips. Running time is 9:41, fairly long, and be warned that there is a fair amount of wind noise on some of the clips. Lesson re-learned: always take a tripod and external noise-cancelling microphone, neither of which I did this trip. Still I think the clip is mildly interesting. Take a look and let me know what you think.
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That’s it for now. Thanks for looking in!
Pam’s Two Cents Worth:
I joke we should start to carry the title for the Honda with us. When it breaks down, we can then surrender the vehicle to the local junk yard (where ever it may be) and promptly purchase a replacement car.
Jer’s vacation to California was a “stay-cation” for me. Even though I was working that week, the dogs and I enjoyed our own schedule. It was too brief.
“Six Days On The Road and I’m a gonna make it home tonight…” Dave Dudley, Trucker Classics
Actually it was 8 days on the road this time. I left on July 24 and returned August 1. Destination: Santa Margarita, California (near San Louis Obispo) to meet up with other members of my motorcycle group, the XS11 Owner’s Association. Headquarters for this rally was a KOA located a few miles out of Santa Margarita.
I try to take one longer motorcycle trip every year. (Last year it was to eastern Ohio.) I’ve made the trip to California before as rallies have been held near Yosemite, Lake Tahoe, and Santa Margarita. I know many of people who attend these rallies and looked forwarded to seeing them again.
This post will be in two parts, as I took over 200 photos and several video clips. Due to wind and lack of a tripod some of the video is unusable and some of the photos are near-duplicates of each other. It’s going to take a while to go through everything and come up with a video montage and gallery. This post will have a few highlight photos; video will come in a later post.
The only thing I will say about the trip out is — it was hot. I stayed in Las Vegas the first night, and from there I rode through Bakersfield where I picked up Highway 58 which ends in Santa Margarita. I went through 160 ounces of Gator-Aid the second day. That is 5 each of the 32 ounce bottles. I travel with a small cooler strapped to the luggage rack. The cooler will hold 2 of the 32 ounce bottles and 8 – 9 pounds of ice. (I get ice every morning before I get on the road.) I generally start the day with 2 more bottles in a saddlebag. When I finish one out of the cooler, another takes its place. That’s the only way to make it across the hot stretches…hydration is everything.
It was a different story along the California coast. After I arrived and set up my camp I headed for Morro Bay…the forecast high was 58! An on-shore breeze coupled with heavy overcast made for cool temps. Felt good to me!
By Friday night another 15 people had arrived, including the rally host. Here is a photo of the gathering:
Friday night at the KOA Photo by Ray Matteis.
Not everyone who arrived planned to join the group ride; some were on other trips and had scheduled a stop-in to say hello and meet other club members.
Saturday morning was the ‘group ride’ and we headed for the coast. We stopped in Cambria for lunch and Ray Matteis took this photo in the restaurant:
Lunch at Cambria. L to R: Ed, Tom, Scott, Me, Tkat, Mike. Photo by Ray Matteis.
Here are a couple of “bike” photos from various stops on the ride:
Bikes at KOA
Stop along the California coast
With the overcast conditions it was hard to get good scenic shots, but I did get some animal photos. Seagulls, elephant seals, sea lions, pelicans, and other wildlife all came under the lens.
Seagull, Morro Bay
Elephant Seal males can weight up to 1,500 pounds
Sea lions north of Ragged Point
Pelican in flight
When the overcast occasionally lifted I could get a couple of scenic shots:
Pacific Coast Highway (Hwy 1) along the California coast
Wind surfer, California coast
After a weekend of riding, talking, and eating with club members, it was time to start for home. I had decided to return through Yosemite National Park and, if possible, spend at least one night there.
I came in through the southern entrance which is north of Fresno. Riding through the park is a great experience, but I also needed a place to stay for the night. One of the campgrounds had a few tent spaces left so I claimed a spot, registered, set up camp, then took off for Glacier Point. This scenic viewpoint is very popular with tourists and is a great place to see some of the park’s major features.
Half-Dome (Center) with Vernal and Nevada Falls to the right
The next morning I was able to drive across the park and make it to Ely, Nevada where I spent my last night on the road. I arrived home a bit after 5:00 PM on the 31st. It was quite the trip!
A few statistics:
2,920 miles total. 77.4 gallons of gas. Highest price for fuel: Lee Vinning, California: $4.90 per gallon of regular. Average price for fuel was $4.11 per gallon.
I did have a few problems with my trailer. I broke 2 fender braces at different points in the trip. These did not stop me but I had to rig up temporary fixes to continue. I had 1 flat tire, $10.00 to fix, in Barstow, California, and had to replace a part of the hitch when getting ready to leave Santa Margarita. That repair set me back about 2 hours, time which came out of my Yosemite stay. Still, nothing major, just irritating.
My next post will have – hopefully – some video clips taken during the trip and a link to a gallery that will have more photos for those who are interested.
Pam says I cannot close without including some video of Izzy’s kittens. At 4-5 weeks, they are starting to move around and are quite entertaining! (Running time is 1:54.)
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That’s it for now. Thanks for looking in!
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
