For the past couple of months, I’ve been enthusiastically sharing updates on our utilities.  First, we had electricity at the barn, which allowed me to power the trailer.  Then, we got a new power pole and the electricians showed up to run a new, main supply wire to the house, which set us up with a temporary outlet so I didn’t need to fire up the generator to run my power tools.  I had DirecTV set up, and then we struggled with customer service agents (who just don’t seem to have mastered the English language yet) to get all of the local channels here.  The well needed a new casing, wire and pump, but that was up and running after two crews spent nearly a whole day working on it so we could run hoses up to the trailer for water.  And, of course, we had the phone line installed, which gave us a landline and Internet service.

I’ve been a little less enthusiastic about the monsoonal rains and the unusually high rainfall Colorado has experienced this year.  Mostly, it just impacts how we plan our days: anything that requires being outdoors needs to be done in the morning, while it’s dry, before the storms hit in the afternoon (every afternoon).  Along with the rains come thunder and lightning.  In fact, according to a local news report, there are over 30,000 cloud-to-ground lightning strikes in El Paso County to our east (Colorado Springs) and Teller, our own county, each year.

How do these two subjects relate, you may wonder?  Last Sunday, we sort of took the day off.  It was absolutely beautiful in the morning; warm, dry and clear with gorgeous views for miles.  We basically just hung out until late in the afternoon, when Sandi decided to go to town for a few groceries.  I stayed home, intending to work on planning our upcoming trip back to Washington.  Very quickly, the sky began to darken, the rain began to fall, and within a few short minutes, it started to hail.

This was my view during the first few moments of the storm.  If you look closely, there’s even a small river running past the truck already.

As the storm grew, so did the intensity of the thunder and lightning.  I was frantically trying to shut everything down when I saw a flash, heard a loud thunder clap, and felt a sort of jolt go through me, all at the same instant!  I wasn’t entirely sure the trailer hadn’t taken a direct hit.  Oh, and all of those utilities we’ve worked to get turned on so we could enjoy a little modern comfort and convenience?  Gone!  No power, no TV, and no Internet.  The hail had piled up against one of the barn doors and forced enough of a gap underneath that a good portion of the floor flooded, soaking several boxes we had stacked inside.  Fortunately, most of our household goods weren’t affected, but it sure made a mess.  The hail in shady spots didn’t fully melt for three days.  A day or two later, we discovered that we couldn’t get the well working, either.

I took the truck down to the road to get Sandi, since she wasn’t able to get her car all the way back up our driveway.  The power company got the electricity back on late that same night, and Century Link sent a tech out with a new router a couple of days later.  Our satellite receiver is fried, but they sent us a new one.  Unfortunately, they sent it to our Chehalis address, so I guess we’ll be bringing it back in a couple of weeks.  Apparently, it also took out both of the HDMI ports on our TV, so we can’t get the DVD player to work, either.  The well guy came out and ran some tests before deciding the pump was damaged and would need to be replaced.  Unfortunately, they don’t have a repair crew available until Monday at the earliest, so in the meantime, we’re hauling water up from the Ace Hardware store in 6 gallon water jugs.  They’ve been nice enough to let us fill the jugs from their hose.  We can still take showers and wash dishes, we just have to work for it a little more.  On the upside, the pump is covered under warranty, so we were thrilled to hear that.

This has been a trying week, to say the least, but I think we’re on our way back to where we were before the storm, though we weren’t able to watch the ‘Hawks last night.  As far as the house goes, we’ve made some real progress there, too.  Our new electrical panel passed inspection, so we have working lights and outlets inside the house now.  Our 1000 gallon propane tank is full, so we can use our new furnace and hot water heater.  The chimney was inspected and cleaned, and Digger Guy came out to look at the septic tank again and promised he would be starting on Monday.  It’s the last piece needed to get all of the systems in the house turned on and working, so we’re hoping he’s true to his word.

We’ve made some great progress inside, too, but I’ll save that for my next post.

For those who have been wondering, we’ve made a big decision, football-wise.  Since we’re in Colorado, we figure we can root for the Broncos occasionally.  That’s not to say we’re planning on becoming fans, exactly, but what could it hurt to support the home team?  So long as I don’t have to wear anything orange and so long as they aren’t playing the Seahawks, obviously.  At least we don’t live anywhere near San Francisco.  I can’t imagine how anyone actually cheers for the ’49ers.

Which leads me to our latest little setback.  I think I mentioned that I had a satellite dish for the RV that was tied in to our home DirecTV service for all of the cable channels, while I was able to get one of the local network stations using the antenna.  So, there we were on Sunday….  tuning in to watch the Seahawks’ first pre-season game.  Since our base service is still out of Washington, all of the local, Seattle channels still show up on our menu, even though we can’t watch them since we’re so far away.  Everyone else here in Colorado was watching the game on the NFL Network, so we tuned in, too, only to find out that the game was blacked out for us because it was showing in the local market on channel 13.  Remember how I just explained that we don’t get the local channels?  Yep, no football for us last weekend.  Sandi spent 3 hours on the phone yesterday talking to a wide variety of customer service reps trying to get our address changed so we can watch “local stations” here, but by the end of the day, we didn’t have any satellite reception at all.  A tech came out this morning and got us back up and running, so the great football drought of 2017 is officially over.

We’ve been making some real and visible progress on the house, which is a great feeling. We’ve also had a bit of a reprieve from the rains, which has certainly helped, too.  The past three days have been dry and pleasant, save for a very brief drizzle each afternoon, so opening big holes in the side of the house hasn’t been quite so dicey this week.

We removed the 6′ wide, glass front door today and added some framing to narrow the opening to accommodate vinyl, 5′ wide French doors with the blinds inside the glass.  It took us a little extra time to complete since a piece of the floor needed to be repaired and we moved a floor vent over about 12″.

     

Before and after shots.  We ran out of steam this afternoon, so we’ll piece in the vinyl siding on the left side of the door tomorrow to finish it up, but we really like the way it came out.

Yesterday, we finished the mudroom entrance by adding a new entry door and replacing one of the broken windows.  It means one less piece of plywood on the outside of the house and the glass really brightens up the space.

                   

We’ve begun framing a new entry closet and in the next few days, we’ll be making a few changes to the kitchen so we’ll have the space ready when the cabinets arrive.

Still no word on the cat, though we continue to check the shelter’s website everyday, hoping to see her photo in the ‘Recent Arrivals’ section.  While we were treated to more of the same monsoonal rains that caused damage and minor flash flooding in the area, it seems that the rain is finally letting up a bit.   Our mornings are predictably cool, clear and beautiful, and we’re still experiencing those ominous clouds to the west every afternoon, but lately, they’ve passed to the south with just a sprinkle to keep us on our toes.  Some of our bigger puddles and the muddy spots on our driveway have been drying up, so getting around is a little more pleasant.

Unloading the U-haul turned out to be incredibly easy, thanks to a website address we found on a sticker in the truck.  We were heading across Utah, or some other, equally desolate stretch of highway, when we began kicking around a plan to get the truck unloaded, get our belongings stacked and stored, and get the truck returned within the time we had available.  We both agreed that the effort and labor involved was not something either of us was looking forward to.  Fortunately, U-haul has a network of companies all over the country that will come to your house and either help you load or unload for a pretty reasonable fee.  We signed up on-line and followed it up with a phone call.  The next morning, on Monday, two very enthusiastic guys arrived about 9:30.  I had backed up to the barn, opened the doors and stepped out of the way.  The truck was empty after just an hour and a half and we were able to return it by noon; a day early. Our backs didn’t hurt, nothing was broken, and we were only out $140.

I had been thinking that our electrician and the furnace installer would be here on Tuesday, so I’d have Monday afternoon to get some last minute things done.  I guess I wrote the dates down wrong because the furnace and the rest of the duct work was finished by the end of the day on Monday.  The electrician got most of his work done on Tuesday and we actually have power to a few of the outlets and lights in the house now.  That piece of the puzzle should be complete by the end of this week.

For those keeping score, that means we have a working well, a hot water heater, a furnace, and a new power pole, meter, and electrical panel.  All of our doors and windows have arrived, we’ve ordered our kitchen cabinets, and our chimney is supposed to be inspected and cleaned later this week.  So, what’s still missing?  We still don’t have a working septic system.  Digger Guy told me before I left for Seattle that he’d have it done while I was gone.  According to the email he sent me the other day, he didn’t feel comfortable putting his equipment on our hill with all the rain and wet ground, so he’s hoping to get to us “soon”.  Maybe this drier weather means we can soon put a check mark next to that project as well.

We had to spend two days last week running back and forth to Colorado Springs to pick up doors, windows, and appliances, so we haven’t made a lot of actual progress on the house, but this is a new week!  Only one new door is installed, but the rest of the doors and windows should be in by the end of the week if the weather holds and we don’t run in to any new problems.

I don’t have any photos for this post, and really don’t have anything interesting or fun to share, but this should bring us up to date.

 

 

The past few weeks have been incredibly busy.  I flew back to Seattle on a Friday night and, since I got in so late, I went straight to the hotel.  By Saturday afternoon, Sandi, my mom, my sister, and my niece had all joined me so we could catch the cruise ship on Sunday.

As an aside, there were two ships docked in Seattle that day, both boarding at the same time and both following roughly the same itinerary for their 7-day Alaskan cruises.  Our trip was terrific, but the other ship was the scene of a homicide,  delays caused by the resulting FBI investigation, and another death due to a heart attack.  There is no phone or Internet service on the ship unless you pay extra for it, so we didn’t know anything about it until we checked our phones a couple of days later and found several frantic messages wondering if we were okay.  We were, and as I said; we had a great time.  We got to spend time together, ate very well, enjoyed our port calls, and have some fun, new experiences to remember.

For those who haven’t done one of these trips, I highly recommend it.  This was our third cruise and the second visit to Alaska.  It’s not cheap, but you unpack once, visit several different places, and they take very good care of you.  I’d prefer if there were fewer people, but that’s just me.

We got home a week later and dramatically shifted gears.  We had begun packing and sorting some time ago, but it was time to get serious about it.  Mom stayed to help pack boxes for a few days and Jack and my girls showed up to help load the truck.  Speaking of the truck….  we had a tough time even finding one to rent.  We went on-line to reserve a U-haul and the site told us there were no trucks available until September.  There’s no point describing all the phone calls and e-mails that followed, but we eventually reserved a truck with Penske and later managed to find a truck through U-haul for almost $1,000 less.  We ended up cutting into that windfall a bit at the end of the trip, but I’ll wait to explain that.

While we packed and loaded, we also smoked almost 100 pounds of pork shoulder.  Aly wants pulled pork for her upcoming wedding, so I ran three different batches.  Each batch was four large shoulder roasts, smoking for about 14 hours.  We pulled it at night before going to bed and then vacuum sealed it all so it can be ready for the reception.

We finally ran out of time and space and needed to get on the road.  I had scheduled the furnace guy and the electrician for the next week, so we really had to be in Colorado by Sunday night.  We hit the road on Friday evening and headed south.  We stopped at a rest stop just before we got to Portland and decided to try ‘walking the cat’.  She rides pretty calmly in the car in her little carrier, so we figured the trip would go pretty well, but we didn’t know how potty stops might go.  Sadly, we found out just an hour into our trip.  Sandi set her down just as a semi pulled in and scared her to the point that she panicked, managed to roll out of her little harness and bolted for the tree-line.  The brush was very thick, the thorns and stickers were very sharp, and it was quickly getting dark.  It broke our hearts, but after searching for an hour and a half, we didn’t have much choice but to get back on the road.

The next 1500 miles went very well.  We spent the first night in Pendleton Oregon, and made it to Kemmerer, Wyoming the second night.  Along the way, we learned that we had a signed contract for our house, so that took a little pressure off our shoulders.  This is the second time I’ve driven away from an empty house and sold it from the cab of a U-haul.

The last half mile is where things sort of fell apart.  While the weather in Washington has been hot, clear, and dry, Colorado has been experiencing record rainfall during this years’ monsoon season.  In fact, we hit rain as soon as we left Wyoming and entered Colorado.  As we approached our driveway, I was focused on the on-coming traffic lane, pulling wide to make the right turn, and just didn’t realize how much of our driveway approach had been washed out by all that water.  The front wheels made it, but the rear wheels dropped into the newly created ditch and the rear bumper landed on the pavement, which basically meant we were high-centered from the rear.  U-haul advertises that they have the lowest loading decks in the industry.  That’s helpful when you’re hauling heavy boxes and appliances up the ramp.  It’s less helpful when you need the clearance to get up your driveway.  It was dark and raining and we were blocking both lanes of the county road.

We met a couple of Cripple Creek police officers and a Teller County deputy who showed up to help with traffic control while we waited for the tow truck.  All of them were very helpful, concerned, and seemed like good guys.  Keep in mind, we were in a 26 foot, fully loaded truck towing a trailer, so a regular “little” tow truck wasn’t going to cut it.  We got one of those big wreckers they use to tow semi trucks.    The driver was great.  He pulled us out from behind and got us back on the road really quickly.  We went up to the gas station and turned around so we approached from the other direction.  There was enough of the driveway still intact from that direction that we were able to make it rather easily.  The tow driver went up the hill first just in case we got stuck so he’d be able to pull us up the rest of the way.  It turned out that we didn’t need him, but it was sure reassuring knowing he was there.  We parked, paid the bill, and finally relaxed a bit that we had made it.

A couple of final notes for this post….  the bill was nowhere near as high as I was expecting; $262 seemed really reasonable considering the circumstances.  There was no damage to the truck and the damage to my trailer can be repaired very easily and cheaply.  Also, we got ahold of the city on Monday, and their plan is to come out on Friday and replace the plugged culvert.  Fingers crossed.  Oh, and no word on our cat yet, though we’ve filed missing pet reports with Clark County Animal Control, the local Humane Society there, and the company that monitors her micro chip.  They were going to put out a live trap and let the rest stop hosts know to watch for her.  We’re hoping she turns up soon.

To be continued……

 

 

 

Several months ago, my mom sold her house and decided to move into a really nice rental where she doesn’t have to worry about the yard, shoveling snow, or maintenance.  The other bonus was that she had a few extra dollars left over, so I suggested she go and do something she’s always wanted to do.  I suggested she take a cruise, partly because we had just taken ours over Christmas and had a terrific time, and partly because if she was travelling alone or with a friend, most everything is taken care of for you.  The conversation went on and the next thing you know, her cruise is now our cruise.  Sandi and I hadn’t planned on taking another one quite so soon, but I think it’s going to be a good time.  My sister and niece are also going, and it just so happens to be the very same ship we were on just seven months ago.  It’s now sailing the Alaska route out of Seattle, so the familiarity should be nice.  Plus, we’ll be on the boat for mom’s birthday, so we can all celebrate together.

When we were living in Chehalis, the logistics of sailing out of Seattle sounded a lot less daunting.  After we made all the initial reservations and arrangements, we found our Colorado property and things changed a tiny bit.  Mandi and Casey will be up for a visit tomorrow morning and then I plan to catch a ride down to the airport with them in the afternoon for my flight to SeaTac.  We’ll be on the cruise for a week and then we’ll be finishing up the packing and moving.  If all goes according to plan, we should be pulling in to Cripple Creek with everything we own in just about two weeks from now.

Given the remoteness of this property, I’m a little nervous about leaving our fifth-wheel, our vehicles, my tools, etc., so I’ve been working hard to get a small measure of security in place.  I talked before about building the fence and gate, and I’m pleased to report that after four days of fighting rocks and dodging lightning, I have a finished project and a little more progress to share.

The ‘before and after’ photos were taken about four months apart, and give me a real sense of accomplishment.  I’m hoping it will also give me a little peace of mind while we’re away.

 

An alternate title might be “An Unplanned Day Off”.  Since I fly back to Seattle on Friday, there are a couple of things that really need to be taken care of first.  As I mentioned in my last post, the most important job at this point is the construction of a gate down at the bottom of the driveway.  To that end, I got up nice and early yesterday, loaded my tools and the fence posts into the truck and by 8:30, I was hard at work.  My hope was to get the holes dug, get the posts in, and call it a day before the afternoon rains and lightning started.  It really helped that the storm held off until after 5:00, but the ground is so rocky here that digging took far longer than I expected.

I tried to get a rock out of the last hole, but eventually just decided to leave it there and dig beside it.  I finished the last post as it began to rain and headed back to the trailer for a shower and some dinner.  I missed lunch, but I had worked straight through the entire day and was quite proud of my accomplishment.  My Fitbit even sent me an email telling me what a great job I had done; over 20,000 steps, 9 out of 9 hours of activity, and the equivalent of over ten miles walked.

When I went to bed last night, my plan had been to get a good nights’ sleep and then finish up today.  I still need to cut all of the posts to an even height, attach the two, 8 foot gates to the main posts, and then put up the twenty four, 12 foot rails.  But, when I woke up, everything hurt and I just felt exhausted.  This wasn’t just a little tired, or a ‘gee, I wish I could have slept for an extra 20 minutes’ feeling.  The physical activity and sunburn just knocked me out.  So, I decided I’d “take the day off”, regain a little energy, and get back to it tomorrow.

Did I mention my propane tanks went empty last night?  That means I didn’t have any heat all night and when I got up, there was no hot water.  Oh…..  and I apparently failed to completely latch the freezer last night, so everything inside was pretty well thawed out.  Our draw check took three days to clear the bank, so since the funds weren’t available last week, I missed the Friday payment deadlines on two credit cards we’ve been using to buy supplies.  And here I thought Mondays weren’t supposed to rear their ugly heads at us retired folks anymore.  I sat and paid bills and then, since I couldn’t cook anything, I headed to town for breakfast, then stopped off at the Ace to fill the propane tanks.  I came back up to the house and hauled out the generator so I could plug in the well pump.  I have almost 300 feet of hose running up the bluff to the trailer so I can fill the fresh water tank.  That process only took fifteen minutes or so to complete and then, just as I finished, the plumber showed up to install the hot water heater.  I got him started and then headed to Victor, another small mining town about 7 miles from here to do my laundry.

There is another, larger laundromat in Woodland Park, but it’s about 45 minutes away, it’s not very clean, it’s full of sketchy laundry-doers, and many of the machines are out of order.  The dryers that do work have odd stains inside and some even have mysterious stuff stuck to the inside of the drums.  The facility in Victor is certainly smaller, but it’s clean, the people (when there are any) are friendly, and the equipment all seems pretty new.  If you’ve ever had to wash your clothes in a public laundromat, you might understand when I say that the clothes just somehow seem to come out cleaner at the Victor laundromat.  I guess it will work until we get our own machines installed.

Hey, we technically have water, there’s a water heater in the house, and the electricity should be working tomorrow.  We just need to get everything tied together and connected, so we’re certainly getting closer.  A visit from Digger Guy with a new septic tank would be great so the water has someplace to go, but so far…  I haven’t seen him.

The bills are paid, I have clean clothes, the propane tanks are full and back where they belong, the fresh water tank is full and the water heater in the trailer contains somewhere around 6 gallons of piping hot water.  I feel refreshed after taking the day off.  The Motrin probably didn’t hurt, either.

Several of my posts have dealt with the challenges we’ve encountered trying to get the water turned on, getting Digger Guy out to replace the septic system, or getting power to the house.  As frustrating as these have been, I’ve tried to treat this as my job; trying to get the house into a livable state so our time in the fifth wheel is kept to a minimum. That means spending at least part of nearly every day down there working on one project or another.  I’ve had to take time out now and then to go into town to wash clothes, pick up lumber and supplies, go to the bank, and eat a real meal occasionally, but there are definitely some changes taking place.

Along those lines, several people have asked to see progress photos, and I guess that makes sense, but so much of my time has been spent tearing out drywall, mouse-infested insulation, trim, and a little bit of framing, and making trip after trip down to the dump to haul away all of the debris, that it doesn’t feel like I have a lot of changes to show for my efforts.  The office, for example, is now stripped down to bare studs and ceiling joists.  It’s de-moused, and after four cans of expandable foam, I think most of the pathways in have been sealed off.  With a little luck, the mouse hotel is now closed.

I’ve spent a lot of time in the kitchen, too.  I hadn’t planned to work in there today.  I had planned to work on the gate and fence at the bottom of the driveway.  We need to be able to lock the gate and restrict traffic up the hill, especially while we’re gone.  I don’t want anymore random visitors, dumping or thefts.  I put the two main gate posts in the other day and the concrete is set now, so I decided I’d devote today to digging the other six holes and setting the rest of the posts.  Unfortunately, it started raining again as I was finishing the first of the remaining post holes.  This may not seem terribly important.  After all, I’ve spent 30 or so years in Washington where rain is rarely a reason to stop working or change plans.  But, here’s the thing:  the ground here has a lot of rocks in it and the rain here brings lots of lightning.  How do these two things relate to one another, you ask?  That’s the very question I was pondering as I leaned on my 5′ iron breaker bar trying to catch my breath and decide how to spend the rest of my day.  It was then that I realized that hanging on to a big, heavy lightning rod might not be a great idea.  So, I worked on the kitchen today.

The kitchen had an L-shaped counter with lower cabinets, a small, oddly shaped pantry, and an 8’x 4′ island with a range and small prep sink.

Once I got the island out, we were left with the plumbing and range down-draft motor in the middle of the kitchen.

I had to cut out a portion of the floor to access the copper pipes, wiring, and pvc pipes that served as both drain and vent.

The copper pipes are now capped off, and the pvc has been tied together to eliminate the upright pipes.  The pantry to the right of the photo has been re-framed to enlarge it a bit, and a new piece of plywood in the floor and the kitchen is now a nice, clean new slate.  We’ll have the new window, appliances, and cabinets in a couple of weeks, so we’ll be able to start putting everything back together and give us a working kitchen real soon.

So, there it is…..  some progress.

It’s not really a question.  It’s more of an introspective, really.  Anybody that knows me will tell you that a few days’ growth of whiskers or a few stray hairs tickling my ears will make me feel scruffy and send me searching for a razor.  My dad had two hairstyles.  He wore a flat top through high school and kept it for the majority of his Navy career before he let it grow a bit and combed it straight back.  Despite being a child of the seventies and spending much of that decade in Southern California, dad insisted that I keep my hair cut short, as well.  I got teased a bit, but that first hair cut in Basic Training was a whole lot less traumatic for me than it was for many of my fellow trainees.  Regular haircuts were the norm for the years I spent in the Army and then afterwards, during my career as a police officer.  To tell the truth, I found that grabbing a handful of hair was a much more effective way to control a combative suspect that trying to use one of those ‘wrist control techniques’, and I never wanted anyone grabbing my hair in a fight, so I continued to keep it cut short.

The point that I’m trying to make, is that since I retired and we embarked on this new adventure, I don’t really have any reasons to maintain some of those former habits and practices anymore, and it feels a little disorienting.  I no longer have a parent or boss dictating my grooming standards, and I don’t really have a schedule that has to be kept.  This area of Colorado seems to be quite an eclectic mix of styles and personalities, so societal standards are pretty much wide open, too.  A quick trip to the grocery store in our little town is likely to find 60 year-olds wearing dreadlocks, and 70 year-olds wearing dirty, tie-dyed shirts.  Though I have to wonder…  have they been wearing the same clothes since the sixties, or did they resurrect their old style once they retired and marijuana became legal?  After so many years of being told what to do, how to do it, when to do it, where to be, what to wear, etc., I now have the freedom to make whatever decisions I want…..  I just don’t have the experience or the courage to branch out much.  I don’t really need a beard to prove to the world that I have a Y-chromosome, like so many of those goofy looking hipsters these days, so the answer is, this scruff needs to go.  Given the large, hairless patch on the top of my head, I can’t see dreadlocks or a ponytail in my near future, either.  Changes may come as I struggle with these decisions, but it likely won’t be in the grooming department just yet.

Enough of that…..  I doubt that anyone cares.  It’s only Wednesday and a lot has happened this week.  We got an offer on our house in Chehalis, which was exciting, but it was quite a bit lower than we were willing to accept.  We countered, but they immediately rejected it, so I don’t think they were very serious in the first place.  We have other showings scheduled and interest has been good, so hopefully another offer will come in soon.  A crew showed up here on Monday and finally installed the new power pole near the barn so that power could be run down to the house.  It’s been connected, inspected, and energized.  I now have a temporary power outlet to use until they get the panel inside hooked up next Tuesday.  By this time, next week, I should be able to turn the lights on inside.  The hot water heater should be installed on Friday and the new furnace and ducts should be in by next Wednesday.  I picked up our first draw check from the bank yesterday, so we can pay off the credit cards we’ve been using to purchase building materials and appliances, so that’s pretty big.  The best news might be that I found a place to order the last window that I need.  It’s a 72″ x 36″ picture window with grids that I hadn’t been able to find anywhere in stock or available on-line.  It turns out that the hardware store in Woodland Park can get it within two weeks at a very reasonable price.  While I was there, I loaded the truck with plywood and sheet rock (I paid for it all…  I didn’t just “load up”) and then rushed to get back up here before the afternoon storm came in.  I just made it, but didn’t have time to unload it all, so I parked the truck in the barn so the sheet rock wouldn’t get destroyed by the rain.  Since I’m the only one up here, I’m guessing it’s still there and still needs to be unloaded.  I should probably get to work.

 

This past week has gone by very quickly.  Casey, Robert and the grand kids came back up with their trailer to spend a few days camping with us and then Joe & Meghan came up with their kids for a day.  We had a chance to shoot guns, eat a lot of food, enjoy a few great campfires and even managed to get a little bit of work done.

Robert tore down all of the ship-lap pine in the living room that we didn’t want to keep and in the office ceiling, I discovered the biggest mouse nest imaginable.  Let’s just say it wasn’t water damage on the ceiling.  That’s the good news…  I didn’t have a water leak as I initially feared.  The bad news, of course, is it wasn’t a water leak.  I think I would have preferred that to the dozens of mummified mouse bodies, the cache of grass seed, dried corn and dog food, and of course, the other ‘stuff’ you find with any rodent nest.  From just one rafter bay, I filled two, heavy-duty, 50 gallon garbage bags with the shredded insulation and all of that smelly, dusty debris.  After cleaning it up and spraying everything down with bleach-water, the odors seem to be going away.

Sadly, Sandi’s short visit came to an end yesterday.  I took her down to the Colorado Springs airport for her trip back to Seattle and I headed back up here to our mountain.  I miss her already, but we had a chance to firm up some of our plans for the house, we got doors and windows ordered, and it will only be a couple of weeks before I fly up for our Alaska cruise.  The week after we get back, we’ll be packing, loading the U-Haul, cleaning, and then driving down together for the big move.

I need to get a bunch of things done in the next two weeks; framing the pantry, framing the downstairs bathroom, ripping out the rest of the office ceiling, and installing posts and a gate down at the bottom of the driveway.  For some reason, we’ve had a couple of uninvited guests just cruising around the property.  A gate and a couple of signs should discourage some of that.  Driving up the road is a challenge….  nobody in their right mind is going to want to stop at the gate and walk up.  Plus, in my experience, burglars are just too lazy for that kind of effort.

I have a guy coming tomorrow for the furnace and water heater.  I don’t know what he’ll say, but I’m willing to bet there will be dollar signs involved.  And finally, we had a sighting of the elusive electricians we’ve been waiting for.

I know the photo is a little blurry….  after waiting so long for them to show up, I was trying to be sneaky and quiet so as not to scare them off.  But I have proof….  we now have the mast, weather head, and meter base installed on the house, so the power company can install the new power pole and tie everything together.  Once that’s done, I’ll have a temporary power outlet so I won’t need to rely on the generator anymore. Great news.

I’m not even sure where to start this morning.  Over the past week and a half since my last post, I’ve begun composing a number of entries in my head.  Unfortunately, between being really busy taking care of establishing my current living situation and working on our new home, along with the lack on Internet connection, I just haven’t put any of those ideas up.  I’ll try to get caught up here:

Moving day was Friday, June 23rd.  I had been staying at the local KOA and driving about five miles each way to the property to work.  It was working out pretty well, since the site had full hook-ups and the guest building had a small store and laundry room, but the weekly cost was going to become pretty prohibitive fairly quickly, and that was never the plan anyhow.  Besides, there was a big event in Cripple Creek that weekend and all of the spaces were reserved, so I really needed to move along.  Mornings up here are usually cool, clear, and calm, but that Friday was white!  Not snowy white….  more like cloudy white.  Closer to sea level, we’d probably call it foggy, but at this elevation, we were actually in a very thick cloud.  Visibility was about 15 – 20 yards and negotiating the mountain switchbacks and streets of our little town with my truck and fifth-wheel was quite a challenge.  Thankfully, there was little traffic, my GPS helped me see how the road ahead looked, and I just took it really slow.  I may have irritated a few other drivers, but with the lack of visibility, I couldn’t see them or their fingers if they were trying to signal their displeasure.

I managed to get the trailer parked, leveled, and hooked up.  Let me tell you, it’s a strange feeling realizing this was going to be our home for awhile instead of just a fun place to sleep on those occasional, weekend camping trips we’ve enjoyed so much.  That anxiety was heightened a bit since our little homestead wasn’t quite set up for full-time occupancy just yet.  I had 20 amp electrical service in the barn, and a nice, level place to park, but that was it.

The solitude up here is absolutely amazing.  We can see the lights of the gold mine off in the distance, but the only other lights we see are the moon and stars, and the noises are limited to the chirping of the birds and the occasional howl of the coyotes.  I’ve noticed such a marked difference in my stress level between my infrequent trips down to Colorado Springs for hardware and my return to the mountains when that stress just seems to melt away.  I just have such a tough time with all the people, the traffic, and the never ending movement and noise of all kinds.  I may get to some of that later.

As remote as we are, there have actually been a number of visitors.  Family (and friends) are always welcome, of course.  Casey, Robert, and Bristol came up for the day and helped with a couple of small projects (well, Bristol basically just focused on being a cute 2 year old.  It may be awhile before I can get much meaningful help out of her).  Sandi arrived Friday evening.  Her trip was three-fold; to bring Preston back from his Washington visit, to bring her car down, and to spend a week with me.  It’s wonderful having her here.  Being apart for a few weeks was tough and I missed her an awful lot.  Plus, it’s nice to finally be able to collaborate on this project together, at the same time, and in the same place.  As an added surprise, Aly was in the passenger seat as they pulled up the driveway!  We had hoped that she’d be able to come down with me a few weeks ago, but work commitments just didn’t allow it.  Fortunately, things changed enough that she was able to help Sandi with the drive and spend a day here with me!  This visit was far too short, but what a wonderful treat!  A big thanks to all who helped make it possible.

A few other guests brought some very welcome creature comforts.  The well guys couldn’t get the old pump out to simply replace it because the wire had slipped down and got caught between the pump and the casing.  To make a long story short, they left that first day and returned a couple of days later with two boom trucks and two crews to pull the entire works out of the ground.  Everything went well and we now have a fully functioning well, so we’ve added water to our small list of available utilities.

I was trying to use my phone as a mobile hot spot, but service can be spotty.  I had a local Internet company come up to see if we could get a signal with their service, but the antenna, which is less than a half mile away, is pointed towards town and away from us, so that wan’t a viable option.  After a number of calls, I was finally able to get a Century Link tech up here who ran a phone line into the trailer for me.  We now have a hardwired phone, reliable, unlimited Internet, and last night, I even figured out how to connect the DVD player to the router so I can access Netflix.

The Digger Guy showed up last week to look at our septic tank dilemma.  I think he’s going to be able to help and with a little luck, his other jobs will wrap up and he can get started this week.  In the meantime, thanks to a lot of time, patience, and numerous aggravating phone calls, Sandi was able to arrange delivery of a porta-potty (with weekly service).  It means I won’t have to haul the trailer down the hill every few days to empty the tanks.  It might seem like a small thing, but it’s a huge addition to our little homestead.

Robert helped me get the satellite dish pointed correctly, so I have lots of channel options.  I got the antenna on top pointed so that I can get the news and weather from one of the local stations, and I wired a 30 amp outlet so I can plug the trailer in.  The only thing I need now is an electrician who will a) answer his phone, b) return my calls, and c) help us get the house connected.  The guy we started dealing with seems to have disappeared.  We have some leads on more local electricians, so hopefully, Sandi can track down some help.

I apologize for the long post, but this pretty much brings things up to date.  I still need to talk about my meeting with the former tenant here, but that’s probably a whole separate post.