Weekend Warriors

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.