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.<\/p>\n
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… \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n
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 \u00a0and 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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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. \u00a0The 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.<\/p>\n
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? \u00a0Back to the trailer to start on Plan B.<\/p>\n
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 \u00a0cut 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.<\/p>\n
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