The Week Ahead

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!