Finally (We’re Back!)

At long last…
This weekend we took The Box (the RV trailer) back up to Sanderling, our 9,000+ feet mountain lot in central Colorado. Here is how the weekend went.

I had taken Friday off as a day of vacation (as did Pam). We had The Box ready to roll shortly after 9:00 AM and off we drove. The trip went smoothy enough – not a lot of road construction slow-downs – and we arrived at Sanderling by around 1:00 PM. After leveling The Box and unpacking a bit, this is what our parking spot looked like:

The Box at Sanderling, June 5th.

Note the overcast skies. There were rain showers on and off both Friday and Saturday. Sunday was nicer but it started to get windy about the time we had to leave for home.  Evenings were brisk; although temperatures were above freezing at night, it was still necessary to run the furnace.

As expected, it was a busy weekend. Friday was mostly set-up and walking around the lot. We were surprised; a major wind storm must have passed through and there were a lot of snapped-off branches and some aspen leaning at sharp angles. I had to cut the top off one of the”circle” aspen just to get The Box positioned at the top of the driveway.  Must have been a very powerful microburst, by the looks of the downed aspen it occurred while the trees were budded.  We lost large branches of many mature evergreens in this event.

Saturday I headed to Lafayette, a town north of Denver. As part of our new master plan, I had decided to get a 275 gallon cistern to use to supply water to the trailer. This is a work-in-progress and will involve getting a trailer to haul the cistern into Fairplay to get filled. Here are a few photos of us unloading the cistern into temporary storage – our on-lot shed:

Cistern is a food-grade IBC tote.

Pam helping me unload the cistern

Once a smaller utility trailer is acquired we will have the tank filled (Fairplay sells bulk water), place the water tank upslope of The Box, and use gravity to fill the in-trailer water tank. Stay tuned – more on this project in future posts.

Pam brought flax and poppy plants along to plant in the circle:

Pam planting her flax starts in the circle

I tried out a new toy, a powered pruning saw that I had purchased at an auction and gotten running.

Jerry using new toy to cut dead branches. (Photo by Pam.)

These saws can be purchased new for around $460.00; I have about $40.00 tied up in this one. It is a Maruyama ( pronounced “morey-ama”) multi-cutter and the product line includes several attachments. I have the chainsaw-pruner head, which will come in handy for helping to clean up The Lot.

Here is another shot at work with the pruner, also including a pile of broken limbs from the windstorm:

Jerry working the pruner behind a pile of snapped-off tree limbs (Photo by Pam)

Another errand this weekend was securing our annual burn pit pass. The burn pit is the local method for disposing of downed and dead wood and encouraging forest fire prevention in the mountain subdivisions around South Park.  Future weekends will include driving piles of slash and junk wood from the Sanderling lot to the pit for disposal.

Not all work and errands this weekend, though– we spent some time just enjoying being back in the mountains again. Pam suggested the following shot, taken this Sunday (June 7) morning:

Pam and Jerry enjoy the view from The Lot

All -in – all it was a good weekend: The Box set up on the lot, a few tasks completed, and a few other projects advanced. It’s good to be back in the high country.

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

Pam’s Two Cents Worth:

I am always amazed at how much work it takes to organize and stock The Box.  We forgot to bring a few non-crucial items this time, on the whole we are stocking a bit lighter than in the past.  Here’s hoping the local mouse population doesn’t find The Box this year!

The mountain dog pen fencing is now fixed well enough for the dogs to be penned occasionally.  Last year a deer (? – we think) ran into the fence at speed and really made a mess of one side.  Fence repairs are adequate for the moment; that area of the property may be used for a car port in the future as it’s fairly flat and accessed off the driveway.  The dog pen will likely end up elsewhere and have to be taken down and put up again anyway.

Happy Trails.