Category: General (Page 51 of 64)

This past weekend we went up to our Sanderling lot with the goal of getting the RV back up to the top of the circular drive. This meant moving a lot of gravel.

I went up on Friday evening to open the trailer and found another mouse had made it’s way into the trailer. Pam was not pleased. We did get one mouse in a trap I had set and will see, on the next trip, if there are  more of the little mungers foolish enough to go for the peanut butter I used as bait.

Friday night was busy; I moved the trailer down to the Sanderling cul-de-sac so I could work on the driveway, went over to the community well and picked up a load of water, and unloaded the John Deere riding lawn mower. The latter is equipped with a blade; I thought I might be able to move some gravel with it. More on that shortly.

John Deere rider with blade on way to lot

Pam came up on Saturday, arriving around 12:30 or so. I had started the day by taking another load of dead wood and brush to the burn pit and was getting a second load ready to go. After a quick lunch and dropping off the 2nd load of brush we began spreading gravel. The goal was to get the drive in decent enough shape to be able to park the RV at the top of the recently extended drive.

The weather was gorgeous. Cool enough to work comfortably and beautiful partly cloudy skies. On the down side, both of us began to suffer from upset stomachs and we didn’t have the energy we normally have (little as that is at 9,600 feet!).

Pam raking gravel on driveway

Using the John Deere proved to be only partially successful. It does not have the traction and power to move much gravel, though I did manage to level some major humps in the road and level a spot for the trailer to sit. The tractor served well to pull our dump cart up and down the drive; I used this combo to move quite a bit of gravel from the thickest areas down to the dirt part of the driveway where it was needed.

Jerry with tractor and cart

After several hours of raking and hauling on Saturday, we called it a day. Sunday we weren’t feeling any perkier, but as we were nearly done with spreading enough gravel to move the RV — we decided to put in a few more hours of labor. Here is the result of all that work:

RV (The Box) at the top of the circle drive

We did it. The trailer can now sit, on gravel, at the top of the drive. I should have taken a photo of the view from inside the trailer – I will remember next time – but the view is excellent.

Shortly after this, much too short a time to enjoy the results of our work, we had to pack up and head for home. Pam left in the Honda with the dogs and I followed in the truck after closing things down and locking up. I did, however, spend about 45 minutes just enjoying the view and walking around the lot.

I wanted to see how much of the drive and shed we could see from Pam’s Pavilion Point. Not much, as it turns out, not really worth a photo. The shed and drive are pretty well hidden by the leafing-out aspen, although part of the drive and the top of the shed can be seen.

Top of shed from Pam’s Pavilion Point

After getting home there’s always so much to do; unpacking, laundry, other chores. Cramming in all the ‘normal’ tasks into either Thursdays (before I go up to the lot on Fridays) or Sunday afternoons is a real challenge, particularly if you are not feeling well.  But…we’re really pleased we can get the RV in and out on the graveled driveway extension.  One month after breaking ground on the driveway extension in the cold and blowing snow, the RV is parked where it should be on the Sanderling lot.  Whew.

The next project is putting in the dog run. We paced out a general location and size; next couple trips will have the goal of cleaning out the dead wood in that area and actually putting in the posts and getting the woven wire in place. Two gates, one at each end of the run, and the previous 8 x 10 enclosed dog pen will all be part of the installation. The run will be rectangular so the dogs can actually run in it if they wish.

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

Pam’s Two Cents Worth:

Most of the view from the dining room window of The Box is actually featured above in one of the photos — it’s pretty much behind me in the photo where I’m raking gravel on the driveway. I didn’t really notice the glorious mountains (much) when I was raking gravel, but that is the view.

We have neighbors.  Jessie, the Latino guy who owns the 3 acre parcel next to us, allowed a bunch of relatives to use the property to party, drink, target practice, and let their dog run around on Saturday.  What a noisy bunch, disturbing the quiet of the woods.  Sigh.  The 6 acre parcel (whose flag lot driveway parallels ours for the first 200 feet) now has a new owner too.  Those owners were tent camping on Saturday night, and were very quiet.  (Probably cold, too, I wouldn’t tent camp up there.)

Spring in the high country:  frothy green on the aspen trees, the impossibly blue Colorado sky, snow covered peaks in the distance, puffy white clouds, temps at 68 degrees and plenty of sunshine.  Priceless.

Happy Trails.

Wow. A lot of work was done last week on The Lot.

I had taken vacation time Thursday and Friday; Thursday I had 28 tons of gravel scheduled to be delivered and our 10 x 12 foot storage shed was to be delivered on Friday. Like most projects, nothing went just as expected but there is always Plan B.

Here’s how it went in photos.

Gravel trucks, two of them, arrive with our 28 tons of gravel

First truck starts dumping at the top of the circular drive

First truck finishes unloading. Note how uneven the gravel is spread

Second truck dumps load “down” driveway

Trouble…note large piles of gravel not spread evenly

I had hoped to have to do very little hand spreading of gravel. Instead I was left with an impassible driveway. My plan had been to start working on leveling the area for the shed, scheduled to arrive the next day. Instead I had to spend hours working out the ‘riffles’ left by the gravel trucks so the shed truck could actually make it up the drive and get close to the work area. (This had repercussions, as you will see in the next segment.)  Thus endeth Thursday.

On to Friday.  A late call from Sunset Buildings informed me our shed would be built on-site instead of being delivered as a pre-built unit. OK with me; all I want is a finished shed.  Here is how that went down.

Two guys and my shed components on a trailer arrive at the top of the drive. Note how much gravel I have spread

Floor done and back wall in place

Sides up and front wall going into place

Front cap going up

Rafters going in

Roof sheeting in place

Shingles going on

Shed done at end of drive

My lack of time to prep the shed area and dig out the shed’s pad resulted in the shed being about knee-height above the drive. Quite high.  A ramp will need to be built to get stuff in and out easier.

Moving the gravel around will be a major bit of hand labor. It will take us many hours of shoveling and hauling to get the gravel where we want it – in the thickness we want.  But, as Pam pointed out, there is the rest of the Summer to get this done. The gravel spreading  just means a lot more work than I had counted on, and grunt labor at that.  At 9,000+  feet.  Bummer.

The only other two tasks on this year’s high country  agenda are putting in a dog run and continuing to clear out dead and downed wood. While I would prefer to have The Box (RV trailer) at the top of the drive, it can sit for some time where we had it all of last year.

I am happy to have the shed in place. I’ve already left the generator, 2-wheel cart, shovels, water jugs, solar panel, and a few other items in the shed, items I would normally have to haul back and forth. I know we’ll get a lot of use out of the on-site storage.

Eventually I’ll be glad I ordered the gravel as well. It’s just hard to appreciate it at the moment.

For the record, the shed guys get started at about 9:30 AM and finished just before 6:00 PM. In addition to lunch there was a pause to let a late afternoon shower pass through.

So Thursday was Gravel Day, Friday was Shed Day (although I spread gravel while the shed was being built), and Saturday was Burn Pit Day.

Getting a start on the first load destined for the burn pit

I managed to get 4 large loads to the pit before calling it a day. I was very tired and my shoulders ached . The three days of labor had taken their toll. It was getting hard to bend over, pick something up, and straighten up again. Originally I thought I would take off Sunday morning on an ATV ride but instead, and partly because of bad weather in the forecast (snow on Hoosier Pass), I shut down The Box, loaded the ATV on our aluminum trailer, and headed home.

Much project work was done those 3 days, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, but every project seems to generate spin-off  projects  — in this case building a ramp for the shed and spreading gravel. Progress is progress, though, and the delivery of the gravel and shed mark the completion of our major projects for 2014. Next up: putting in a dog run.

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

Pam’s Two Cents Worth:

The weather doesn’t actually look that bad in the photos, but I’m told there was both rain and a rain/snow mix during the festivities.

Murphy’s Law appears to be in full effect for mountain projects this year.

Happy Trails.

Last week was one of those Colorado often sees in transitional seasons. Monday and Tuesday nights were at or below freezing; Pam covered our delicate plants in hopes of saving the developing blossoms. (They seem to have come through OK.)  The high country received more snow. Yesterday (Saturday) the temp was 84 degrees and low to mid 80s are forecast for the next week. The Lot had below freezing temps all week and only over the weekend did the night time temps remain above 32 degrees. It’s still Winter weather in the high country and we can still see snow on Grand Mesa. Such is Spring in Colorado.

From an event perspective the week was pretty quiet. Next week will be way more active as I plan to take a couple days off during the work week and head up to Sanderling. We have contracted for some gravel for the driveway extension – 28 tons – and it will be delivered on Thursday the 22nd. I need to make sure gravel is spread OK and prep the spot for the storage shed, scheduled to be delivered on Friday the 23rd. This will entail quite a bit of shoveling and leveling and getting a layer of gravel down on the 14 ft by 14 ft spot where the shed will sit. I also need to position some large pavers to use as corner and middle supports for the shed. The shed should have 1 – 2 feet around both sides and back of it for drainage and clearance, so even though it is 10 x 12 the pad needs to be a few feet larger. Saturday morning I will begin hauling brush over to the burn pit. It’s going to be a very physical few days and I hope I’m up to it at that elevation.

Around the house, the lilacs are nearly done but the irises have just begun to bloom. I fixed a small leak that had developed around the furnace vent on the roof; the old silicon sealer  had come loose so I removed it and re-sealed the spot with some rubberized stay-on goop I found at the hardware store. I hope that takes care of it. Yard work and shopping takes up a lot of a weekend day and today I need to change oil and filter in the Honda. Pretty mundane stuff!

I am going to close by putting in a few more photos of building the driveway extension.

Drive takes up part of the old “wilderness road”

Mid-way up extension

Part of the drive done at this point.

(Note: I did make another pass to made the road more level.)

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

Pam’s Two Cents Worth:

Transitions.  Space heater in the bedroom early in the week, fan going in the window last night.  Flannel pajamas part of the week, cotton pajamas the rest of the week.

Transitions.  Our oldest cat, Mira, has begun the slow decline toward death — actually expected any time these past years as she wasn’t predicted to live until six years old and she ‘s now almost twelve.  As Mira loses body weight and tries to control her elimination functions, my hope is she curls up and crosses the Rainbow Bridge in her sleep sometime in the next weeks or months.  Taking Mira to the vet to be euthanized  is so much more traumatic for everyone (vet included).

Transitions.  The upcoming Memorial Day weekend is a time for remembering transitions.  A bittersweet holiday at best.

Happy Trails.

Temperature in the teens and snow in the air. On Sunday, April 27, I headed up to The Lot. I needed to open up the trailer and get ready for the backhoe to arrive the next morning. Opening the trailer meant hand-pumping water, starting the furnace and refrigerator, and  seeing if all systems still worked. I had the generator going to charge the batteries and give me some electrical power for lights.

Mice had gotten into the trailer, causing quite a mess. (Pam will have more on that situation later.) I cleaned as well as I could for the moment and called Pam and let her know to bring up disinfectant when she came up on Monday, then called it a night. Note: I drive down the road about 5 – 6 miles to get into a good cell phone coverage spot to call Pam. Rarely is there cell coverage at The Lot, although once in a while that does happen (not often enough to be reliable).

Monday morning it was even colder and the snow was heavier, enough to put a white coating on Sanderling Court. I made a quick trip to Fairplay to pick up a few items, including hardware to seal the gap where the mouse had gained entry. (A plastic panel under the trailer had broken and fallen away. I was able to re-attach the panel and eliminate the gap.) Then I headed up to to Hwy 285 to wait for the United Rental truck to show up with the backhoe.

The rig arrived around 11:30 on the back of a large flatbed trailer.

Backhoe arrives

Quite the machine

With no instruction, the truck driver unloaded the tractor and left. I got right to work.

The next set of photos was taken by Pam on Tuesday —  she had arrived with the dogs late Monday and had been cleaning mouse poop and bagging laundry the previous day. By Tuesday I was working on the most difficult part of the driveway extension –  the rock wall and crushed granite area.

Getting started on the extension

Digging out rocks

Note the rocks I am digging out of the roadway – those babies were huge and almost a job-stopper. Temperature was in the low 20’s; I have on my stocking cap and heavy winter coat. At times we had snow showers.

Using the bucket to move material

Along the way we had a couple of lighter moments. One morning we wanted pancakes but had no mixing bowl so we made one out of an empty water jug:

Water jug turned mixing bowl

The fresh snow on the mountains made a striking site as this telephoto shot shows.

The Mosquito Range from our lot

We changed plans a bit – never did use the culvert I bought – and made a circular driveway near the top of the gulch (creating a cul-de-sac). The original plan had been to continue going uphill into what we call the saddle area, but the circular drive plan made more sense as it would allow me to pull the trailer to the “top” of the drive and out again without having to back the trailer at all.

Here is a shot I took shortly before I left. At this point I still had some hand shoveling to do.

RV at the top of the circular drive

I did not get all the photos of the drive I should have, but I was getting very tired by the end of the week and here I still had hand shoveling to do. I unhitched the truck, finished some hand work, then went through the process of re-winterizing the trailer. Pam had headed home with the dogs on Saturday; I left for home Monday morning, May 5th.

You can see, just behind the hood of the truck, the space I excavated for the storage shed. It will be delivered May 23rd. Before then I need to get some gravel down on the driveway and am working with a local gravel pit to get that done. 3/4 inch washed rock goes for about $12.00 per ton plus a $100.00 round trip charge for a truck capable of handling 14 tons. One of the gravel pit guys is going out to Sanderling this Monday to get some idea of how many tons of rock we will need (and can afford).

Overall I was satisfied with the work I did. The circular drive will work out well and is just big enough to park the RV and still be able to get the truck unhitched and down the driveway. Another advantage of the circle drive is proximity to the areas needing clean-out of dead and downed wood; getting the aluminum trailer closer to the work area will speed up the process.  Eventually, the circle drive will also allow (big) truck access to the spots where I think the well and septic will need to be installed.

By the end of May gravel will be down and the shed will be in place. That will complete several of our major projects for the year — completion of the driveway extension, pad for the RV, pad for the storage shed, delivery of the shed. Other than lot clean up, we’ve reluctantly concluded there will likely be no other major projects in the works for this year. It would be nice to get a well drilled but the nearly $9k price tag means we’ll have to save for a year to be able to afford it. That’s why we have a 5-year plan. 🙂

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

Pam’s Two Cents Worth (or maybe Ten Cents Worth):

How cold was it?  Too cold for Blondie to come out from under her blanket until mid-week.  She had to wear her doggie coat [again] to go outside in 18 degree weather, not her favorite piece of apparel. Blondie was not amused.

Blondie under her blanket

How cold was it?  The batteries would only power the RV furnace until the wee hours of the morning, Jer had to go into the cold and start the generator to recharge the batteries early each a.m.  Br-r-r-r.

How cold was it?  Too cold to leave the “slide” out all night, cold air circulates under those extensions and there’s no insulation under there.  B-r-r-r.

How cold was it?  Too cold to open the windows and air out the RV after I started spraying bleach on all the mouse turds that had to be cleaned and disposed of.  Hanta Virus is carried in the West by mouse droppings, so I had to use bleach, rubber gloves and facial covering while working under the cupboards and on surfaces.  The mice seemed to enjoy the bathroom the most, although we had nothing stored under the sink in there.  Mice even chewed on the hand soap.  I hope someone had a stomach ache (“I’m forever blowing bubbles…”).  I can now easily distinguish mouse turds from regular dirt and seeds.  Not a skill I hope to use frequently.

A comment on Big Boy Toy operation:  There’s a reason heavy machine operators are paid the big bucks.  Backhoes are dinosaurs to operate and they are dangerous.  As the spotter and designated “911” caller, I alternated between worrying if Jer would survive when the backhoe flipped over the embankment, if we could pay for the damage to the backhoe after it flipped over, and finally both.  My thoughts were, “Fields, what did you  get us into?”  The driveway transitioned from a lovely crushed granite base to plain old dirt; the dirt-based length of the driveway extension is what prompted the need to order rock from the gravel pit.  And the soft dirt was a major problem in trying to negotiate with a heavy backhoe — no footings, big ruts and lots of tipping.

When the storage shed is delivered – presumably on  a flatbed – then we’ll know if the driveway is wide enough and firm enough.  We already know it’s expensive enough.

If there is another major expense this summer, it will likely be investing in a battery farm to store power from the solar panels and keep the furnace running all night.  Maybe even enough power to run the microwave.  There’s a thought.

Happy Trails.

Tomorrow (Sunday)  I will be heading up to our mountain property for a week of work. The backhoe I rented will be delivered Monday morning, and that will kick off the season’s main project, extending the driveway. I hope I can re-master the operation of a backhoe; I have not operated one for a couple decades. Hopefully a week will be long enough for me to complete the driveway extension – which will be around 600 – 700 feet long and built into the side of a hill. Other items on the agenda include leveling two flat spots in the saddle area, one for the RV and the other for our shed. Once this is done I can arrange for the delivery of the shed and will re-set the trailer on it’s new location.

Pam will be coming up with the dogs and will be there part of the week. She will have to return home mid-week and come back up again toward the end of the week. It is going to be a hectic schedule. The fuel companies will love us.

This trip will require opening  the trailer and getting it ready for habitation. I will need to get water, fire up the furnace, install the new solar panels, and generally get the trailer re-stocked. Pam has a list of food and clothing we will need to take and I plan to go shopping a bit later this morning to get the food items we need. Since we did not leave any liquids or freezable items in the RV there are quite a few items we need to restock. And, it may be too early yet to leave fluids in the RV anyway, so many items we take up and don’t use will need to come back this trip.  Good thing we are taking two vehicles!

I  picked up a culvert from a shop in Grand Junction. It is 20 feet long and 12 inches in diameter. The culvert will be installed in a low spot that the driveway will cross. In the 3 years we have been visiting this lot we have never seen water in this location but better be safe than sorry. Culvert cost  $215.00 with taxes. The backhoe rental, with delivery and pick up, came to just under $1,900.00. With fuel and other expenses this project should come in at around $2,500.00.

Our driveway culvert ready to take to lot

We bought a couple Diesel fuel cans and I will need to stop and fill them, probably in Breckenridge as I go through. The backhoe burns about 2 gallons per hour and should arrive fully fueled (37 gallons, by the spec sheet) so I should not have to worry about fuel for a couple days.

On the down side, the weather is going to be poor for the next week. Highs in the upper 30s and lows below freezing, and a chance of rain or snow most days. Not the best conditions, but who knew this would happen when asking for vacation time and making the rental reservation? We will make the best of it.

I will probably miss next week’s post as I will not be home until Monday the 5th and it will take me some time to look though the photos and video footage I plan to take.

Pam won’t be adding her usual Two Cents Worth, but asked that I update the status of the kittens born on our back deck on Easter. All three are dead, unfortunately, the last one dying late last night. De Beque is a “mean streets” kinda place for wild kittens, and even with human intervention the fatality rate is quite high.

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

Happy Easter, everyone.

Here is our Easter card compliments of Jacquie Lawson:

We hope everyone has a good day.

Yesterday we did a lot of yard work. Pam cleaned up around all the fence edges and I mowed the lawn and weed-whacked around the edges. It is nice to have everything tidy and to smell the fresh-cut grass. Along with grocery shopping and other routine chores the day was quite full of activity.

In the past I created my Galleries page so I could keep track of various photo collections including photos I had posted in this blog. The last week  I  created a different type of page, one with links to video clips. This lets me access various video clips from a single page. It makes it easier to take another look at these clips without having to find the blog post that contained them. Take a look and let me know what you think. The new page is Video and there is a link to it from our home page as well.

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

Pam’s Two Cents Worth:

It has been a week of death – and birth.

Isadora, AKA Izzy

Isadora, one of the moms that had kittens in our master bathroom last Summer, had to be euthanized this week as she was in acute kidney failure.  Only three years old and tame as can be, Izzy had at least two litters we know of (maybe more) in her short life. Someone had domesticated and dumped her.  Izzy’s story is everything that is wrong with animal rescue challenges in De Beque.  A gentle soul, Izzy was a quiet addition to our garage colony this Winter and will be missed.

This Easter morning I found one of the feral cats had given birth to a litter of kittens in the Dogloo on our back deck.  This particular cat has resisted trapping in the past, and I think it best to just leave her be.  No doubt she will move her kittens somewhere else in the next few days.

And so it goes…

Happy Trails.

This time of year is a transition period; we are not working the Sanderling lot and little else of note is going on. This makes it “interesting” to come up with a weekly post but I keep trying to generate some content.

It’s raining in the high desert today, which means snow in the high country above 8,000 feet. Our mountain property could pick up 6 – 12 inches of new snow out of this storm. The rest of the week, past Monday, looks good though, and we hope the snow melts off the mountain lot by the last week in April. Tonight (Sunday) and tomorrow have forecast lows below freezing; Pam is planning to cover some flowers but the rest will just have to survive on their own. Tulips are beginning to bloom and I see some daffodils blooming around town. Our daffodils don’t look like they will bloom this year – the bulbs may be spent.

In “lot” news, I’ve put in a reservation for a backhoe and applied for vacation for the week between April 28th and May 5th. We are going to get the driveway extension done that week (one way or another). Should be an interesting endeavor! I went through United Rentals as they will deliver and pick up the backhoe to the lot, for a fee of course, but I don’t have the Big Boy Toys to haul such equipment over two mountain passes. We will have to pick up a couple of diesel fuel cans to bring fuel out to the lot. Nearest fuel station is about 25 mile away in Fairplay.

Closer to home, I took the ATV out for a ride yesterday. I wanted to ride through the area that was burned a couple years ago and see how, or if, the recovery was going.

Much of the area has developed a covering of grass but little else. The photo below is typical of this:

Burn area – spring 2014

The little patches of white, seen on the right side of this photo, are flowers.

Wildflowers #1

Throughout the ride I was struck by the number and varieties of wildflowers already in bloom. This makes sense as the high desert receives only about 8 inches of rain per year, and the flowers use the spring moisture to good advantage. Here are a couple more photos of flowers I saw during this outing.  (Our mountain flower identification book is in the high country, can’t specifically identify the flowers in the following photos.)

Paintbrush?

Wildflowers #3

So, even though I have ridden these areas before, there is always something new or different to see and I always enjoy getting out on the ATV.

As a follow-up to a note in my last post, friends Mary and Jeff are sending us photos from their trip to England. It looks like they’re having a good time, with a super-packed itinerary!

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

Pam’s Two Cents Worth:

Sis Becky tells me the Chicago relatives have been clued in to this post location, so here’s a shout out to Nancy, Bobby and Uncle Norm!  They should get in contact with Bro Larry, who can give them a guided tour of the MyHeritage site – lots of family photos and genealogy content has been catalogued by Larry at that site over the past few years.

Daughter Felicity is in Spokane, Washington at the annual Sweet Adeline competition this weekend.  Upon her return to Oregon, she closes her apartment in Beaverton and, a few days after Easter, begins her life as a “digital nomad.”  Felic has developed a blog to chronicle the next nine months as she travels, house sits, and attempts to make a living entirely on-line.  For those who wish to travel along, Felicity’s blog location can be found here:  http://www.blog.felicityfields.com/.

Happy Trails.