Casey Cabin

[MRSQSL]

Since we spend so much time working on the cabin instead of the car, I figured it wouldn't hurt (with a little urging from some friends) to chronicle our adventures in the off topic section.

We didn't work on the cabin last weekend since we were in HB so I'll just give you some highlights of what we've been up to.

When we first purchased the cabin, it had been vacant for about 4 years. The woman that owned it lost her husband. It was too difficult emotionally for her to visit the cabin - too many memories. Understandably, she let it fall into disrepair. Varmints made a home in the kitchen cabinets, in the beds, and pretty much everywhere else. The last update/remodel was apparently late 60's or early 70's as evidenced by the groovy orange shag carpeting. Even in a normal house this would be an eyesore, but in a cabin overrun by messy little furry creatures, you can imagine the dirt and smell and overall mustiness. Wall after wall of wood paneling wasn't terribly appealing either, but the icing on the cake was the ceiling. I don't know the official name for it and "thingies" just won't suffice here. I want to call it acoustic tile, but that may not be correct. Let's just say it was not attractive and definitely give you a woodsy mountain cabin feel.

Step 1: GET RID OF THE CARPET!!!!!!!!!!! Okay, that was actually step 3. Step one was to go through and get rid of all the things on the walls and odd furnishings that we didn't intend to keep. That was my job and it was pretty easy. Essentially everything was going. Step 2 was getting the beds out. This was not fun because there were dead mice, poo, pee and odd nesting materials under, over and throughout. Mike's strong, but even he couldn't move an entire queen size mattress by himself. I was forced to don some gloves and squeal while hefting my portion all the way out into the sun. Don't worry. We wore masks too. The mice in this part of the state can carry the Hantavirus. No thanks.

The carpet was nasty. I may have alluded to that. At first we tried vacuuming. Turns out her vacuum was malfunctioning and it actually blew years of pent up dirt out ONTO the carpet with quite an unusual extra odor. We brought up the carpet cleaner and thought we'd "wash" the carpet. That created mud and the realization that the thickness of the carpeting did not allow for actual cleaning. The carpet itself was not terribly difficult to remove (said the person watching rather than helping). The jute (I think that's what it's called) underneath was the big issue. Bleck. I cringe even now thinking back.

It took several weeks and several full trailer loads to the dump before we were able to actually spend the night inside. Prior to that we were either sleeping in the motorhome or staying with Dan (super awesome fellow FF owner that happens to have a cabin right across the street). Even with all that work, we couldn't use the kitchen. There wasn't enough bleach in the universe to make the piles of mouse poo in the cabinet disappear from my memory. We ended up pulling out the entire kitchen and redoing half of it. Half? Yes, half. The other half needs some attention to the foundation. If you put a marble in the kitchen, it would speed rapidly in a downward direction towards the back closet. I'm not sure if it would make it or if it would veer off in another direction. None of the cabin is level. It's a cabin, so I guess it isn't supposed to be. Anyway, we replaced the cabinets with hickory and the countertop is one of those cheap laminate ones from Lowe's, but it looks a little like granite (if you are nearly blind or squint enough). We replaced the refrigerator and put in an adorable little stove (20" wide). It's hard to cook without cabinets or countertops surrounding the stove and I managed to knock a hot pain of ground beef onto the kitchen floor once, but at least I'm not grossed out by mounds of mouse excrement.

We pulled up the carpeting in the drop down living room (where the excellent view is) and put in laminate flooring. Mike swore he would never do it after he put down our kitchen floor at our real home. That meant I had to do this room. He was forced to help with cutting, measuring and some brute strength here and there, but I mostly did it myself. Yay me! It was hard and painful and I'd never do it again, but it's rewarding to see it.

A couple weeks ago we decided it was time to open beam the ceiling so we pulled down all those nasty tiles which were apparently supporting 90 years of mouse nest/poo/urine. I didn't think the floor would ever recover, but it was surprisingly easy to get it all out. I mean, it was a ton of work and I was sore for days, but it wasn't permanently damaged. In the process, Mike discovered the wall dividing the living room and the bedroom wasn't really all that supportive and not terribly well built so he ripped it down with the intention of rebuilding a stronger wall. Turns out we really like not having the wall so our bed is now in the living room and I don't think we are going to change that. Some of the "studs" in the original wall didn't even touch...well anything. A plank of wood would come down until about an inch above the floor and just stop. It was hanging. It's something you'd have to see to believe, but none of the wood is consistent. There's an odd shaped plank of redwood here and some pine there and something that looks like it fell out of a tree nailed in over there. Nothing makes sense.

That's about where we stand now. The ceiling is open and it's so much nicer. We are going to insulate it and put redwood over. The center beam things will be strengthened and metal plates attached to hold everything together. See how technical that sounded? I should be a contractor. Last time we were up, we worked on creating a loft above the kitchen. It's hot up there. I hate climbing up and climbing down, but being up there working is fun. Mike actually trusted me to measure and install planks of redwood that he was cutting. Steve was transporting and communicating between us. It was really neat. I'm not as good at it as him, but not too shabby. Things were going really well at first, but then the diagonal cuts weren't quite right. I realized the pieces of wood weren't consistently 12" wide and that's what was making the gaps. I forced Steve to con Mike into measuring the width of each so I could measure more accurately. That helped.

I'm not sure what the plan is this weekend, but I think it involves electrical (and a trip to the library since they are having a book sale and I truly can't resist). The original electrical was knob and tube. We left some of it up for decoration, but Mike rewired the kitchen with "real" wire. Currently we only have power in the kitchen. Everything from there back is dead. We actually use a lantern in the bathroom at night and oil lamps and candles everywhere else. Ambiance. It gives the cabin a romantic feel. Yeah, that's it.

[frankeeski]

I'm exhausted just reading that Jules. Now that you are 'like a contractor and all" you can come to work for us. :)

[WIS89]

Mike and Jules-

Wow y'all, this is awesome! I know it is a serious pile of work, but the location of that cabin, the view, and the relaxing environment is a slice of heaven!

It is an amazing amount of work you have done in such a short amount of time, especially with two kids, jobs, and life's "stuff" going on. I remain truly impressed and inspired with all you do. Thank you very much for sharing the latest adventure with us.

Keep us the amazing work!

Regards,

Steve

[QSL]

I wanted to add some unique information about this property...

These cabins were built from 1922-1924 the best we can tell. The Area is called Big Pines and it was a recreation area developed by the city of Los Angeles (LA county board of supervisors) in the forest, not the USFS in 1922. It was advertised as a playground for Los Angeles residents. Its reported that more then 10,000 people would visit the area on any given weekend. Big Pines consisted of a Dance Hall, Lodge, Pool, rental cabins, Playground, Skiing/Sledding area, Zoo, and a hotdog shack.

The cabin we own is very special. It is ONE of 13 Cabins on the Flats. These cabins were privately held cabins and not rented out. Our cabin was owned by the superintendent of Big Pines. Most of the other 12 Cabins were owned by Los Angeles board of supervisors. This property was set aside for them and the cabins were built using building materials from LA county projects. The labor was prison labor. Of course the building and acquisition of these cabins was the source of a major controversy in the 1930's when charges were filed against some of the board members as well as the superintendent.

Some of the original cabin owners had a colorful background. One of the board of supervisors was very corrupt. Took bribes for a Dam that was built that ultimately killed 140 people was sentenced to san Quentin and when he was released, he visited terminal island prison for tax evasion. Of course his cabin is the biggest and fanciest. LOL

In 1942 Big Pines was handed over to the USFS.

Today, there is not much left of Big Pines. The famous arch was removed for a highway widening project that never happened. 2 of the main structures burned down in the 80's. However one was rebuilt to its original glory. Other then that, the rest is gone... Except for our cabins! The cabins have changed slightly over the years, but they are very similar today as they were over 90years ago. One thing that has maintained the area is the fact its considered "Historical". The outsides of the cabins are locked in time and you are not allowed to modify them in any way without approval first and whatever is done needs to be period correct.

Unfortunately, some previous owners of OUR cabin did not respect the spirit of keeping the cabins original. Sometime in the 70's someone changed out the windows to aluminum sliders (which we are in the process of getting approval to change to period correct wood) as well as remodeling the whole inside 70's style. Covering up REDWOOD using cheap thin fake wood paneling!!!!! We have been working hard to bring her back to her glory. By far we have the cabin in the worst shape due to neglect. But it won't be for much longer.

[QSL]

Picture of the Arch and Big Pines. Yea, thats about all of it. There were a lot of camping areas, but this was "town"

[QSL]

Here is a picture of our cabin in 1924. There are a lot more trees now!

[QSL]

Here is a picture of 2 other cabins in the trac in 1924

[QSL]

Here is a picture of our cabin this past winter. There is also a picture of the road that curves around our cabin.

[QSL]

Julie asked I post some before and and after shots of the cabin.

Here are some before of the living room / drop down living room

[QSL]

As of yesterday...

[68GT500MAN]

I like the snowshoes on the ceiling. This is quite the project, the before photo's do not include the smells Julie was describing.
Doug

[QSL]

Its a big project, but small cabin. So its very doable in small steps. Besides, you are not held to the same standard as you would be with your home. At the cabin... "its better then it was before" is good enough :)

[MRSQSL]

Wow, the before pictures look better to me than the after. Yikes! In person, it's the total opposite. If I knew how to add in smells, I wouldn't. That's just mean. :)

[QSL]

Yea, well those before pictures look way better then it did in person!!! Those pictures LIE!

[bwdziol]

As the neighbor across the street, I must say the Casey's have brought a new spark of energy to the McClellan Flats gang. These places beg for owners that "take part" in the repairs/renovation and the Mike an Julie duo are just that. So far they have been thru our latest NON winter but did see the effect of crazy flat land idiot snow players that think our front yard is their trash can. The Casey's dog "Taco" does a great job of keeping the intruders at bay. (and me to, seems to have a very short memory)
Since we are now a two Cobra town, we will be needing some of you locals (so cal) to come up for our local car show and help us make our mark. (August, don't have the date yet) I can put up at least one couple at my place. If you want to stay at the Casey's you will need to fight off Taco.

Dan Ziol
Plum Loco

[MRSQSL]

Car show is August 15.

This is Taco

41684

What Dan is very nicely trying to say is that we moved in across the street and won't leave. He's trying to make the best of the situation by befriending Taco who only knows who Dan is as long as Dan is sitting down. As soon as he stands up, it's a whole new intruder in Taco's eyes.

I doubt anyone will want to sleep in the living room with us, but we have tons of flat parking so we can easily fit oodles of Cobras in our driveway.

[David Hodgkins]

Road Trip!!

[MRSQSL]

Yay! Everyone should come up. Even if you don't want to spend the night, come on out. It's an hour from Corona if there isn't any traffic. I think it's just over an hour from Pasadena if you come the other way. Anyway, it's close to everyone so let's do this!!!!!!!!!!!

[MRSQSL]

The work this weekend wasn't as much fun as usual. I strongly dislike electrical work. It's not for the reasons you probably think. Mike loves electrical and dove right in. I was reading when I heard "Julie". Sigh. He needed me to hand him a tool. Okay. I put the book down and passed up whatever he had requested. I stood for a bit. Yawn. Back to my chair and book. A minute later. "Julie". This is how the entire weekend went. Don't get me wrong. He's working hard and I greatly appreciate everything he does. It's just that I get frustrated easily with this system because I can't really help and I can't NOT help.

On a happier note, Mike was able to get electricity to the living room. It isn't in the entire thing, but one corner. Also the loft is now wired up which made it easier for Steve to vacuum up there. My only real job (besides playing fetch) was to screw down the plywood up in the loft. It would be a lot easier if the stupid screws would stand up by themselves. I'd hold one and then let go as I pushed down with the drill, but apparently my pressure was uneven and the wood was as hard as a diamond. The screw would shoot off to the side and the drill would scream down towards the boards. ARGH! Plus, the roof is slanted and you can't stand in the loft so when I got towards the edges, I had to duck and reach out. I don't have the brute strength to hold a drill that far out and still apply pressure in an even, downward manner. It was mighty frustrating (not as bad as having to get up after opening my book every few minutes). It was also very hot up there.

I felt a little bad about not being more helpful so I decided to clean the garage/shed for Mike. He'll probably never find anything again because my system of organization can't possibly be the same as his. Tools that turn go here and tools that hit go over there. Tools that have blue handles up there. Green things over this way and so on.

A few months ago, Mike announced we were going to run power to the garage. Yeah, okay. I didn't realize what he was trying to impart to me is that running electrical means digging a trench and he fully expected me to be a part of that. I wasn't fully clear on why we couldn't drop wire on the ground and kick dirt over it. Done stamp. Mike took the shovel and dug down a little so we could all see what direction the ditch should take. Digging in a cool, moist forest seems like an easy thing, right? WRONG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The roots were a minor problem which we solved by going under or over. The real issue was the rocks. Did you know a mountain has lots of rocks in the dirt? No, really! Every few inches, a new rock would suddenly form. Steve (with all his youthful enthusiasm) spent a good chunk of time bending over and picking up the larger rocks for us. Imagine our surprise when one of the smaller rocks moved. Upon closer inspection, we realized it was a white scorpion. Oh no. I have a fear of "S's". Snakes. Spiders. Scorpions. I was out of that hole and hiding behind Mike in no time flat. A second scorpion turned up later that afternoon. Yeah, no thanks. I refused to touch anything without at least one pair of gloves firmly attached to my delicate fingers. What was supposed to take a couple hours ended up taking a day and a half and it also rained for the first time in a long time while we were working. Wet and dirty with sore muscles. Ugh. There is power to the garage and I appreciate it much more than if I hadn't been one of the diggers.

Another highlight of cabin life happened a few months ago as well. We had originally only been bringing one dog with us because the larger gets car sick and she loves to be outside so we left her in the backyard and would have people check on her. She's about 15 years old and suddenly decided she didn't like to be outside so now we always take her as well. She has gotten better about not vomiting in the car, so that's a huge perk. Anyway, when we decided to bring her we had to bring a larger bag of dog food. It seemed easiest just to get a really big one and leave it there. We packed up as usual that Sunday and off we went. The next weekend Mike grabbed his snow shoes to head out to the garage. As soon as his foot hit the bottom of the shoe, he jerked it back out. Further inspection revealed a large pile of dog food nestled in each crevice. Mike dumped out at least a half a meal for the dog. I grabbed my snow boots. Same deal, but not as much. I walked over to the dog food bag and found a large hole in the bottom where something, which I assume had four small legs, chewed through. It was friendly of the critter to redistribute the food and share so generously with our shoes, but clearly we had an issue. We feel like it may have been a chipmunk, but most likely it was a mouse. It just seems like the food was too large for a mouse to carry. We ended up naming the chipmunk Chip and would adopt it if it would let us catch it. They are so darn cute.

[MRSQSL]

It hardly snowed at all this winter, but oddly decided to snow last week. We arrived to a smattering of whiteness over and around the cabin. This also meant it was cold. 33 outside and 41 inside. Brrrrrrrr. It took forever to heat the place up now that we have so much more space up above. Good thing we brought lots of insulation for installation. Mike had hinted earlier in the week that putting this thin blingy insulation on the ceiling in the loft would be a simple and fun job for me. There wasn't any "mocking up" involved and it WAS blingy. I stupidly agreed.

Dan was supposed to come up earlier in the week, but he had injured his back lifting something he never should've attempted to lift on his own. I planned to give him a really hard time until I saw the poor man. Ouch. He looked miserable. I immediately put away my pointy laughing finger and put on my sympathy face. It was really nice having him around though. He is always good for a consult AND he informed us there were lots of firemen and fire engines down in the center of town for some show and tell sort thing. Mike jumped at the free hot dog part. I was already drooling over the fireMAN part. Oh yeah.

After hot dogs and hot men (sorry, I'll try to restrain myself in the future), it was time to finally get to work. I was getting very little guidance on this project so I figured I'd just use my best judgment and hope it all worked out in the end. The ginormous roll of insulation was 48" wide (or close to it) and the beams (don't laugh) were built at about the same width (or so I'd been told). It seemed all I'd need to do is measure the length from the highest point of the roof down to the floor of the loft in a diagonal pattern, following the ceiling. Mike suggested I add a couple inches extra just to make it easier to attach. Okie dokie. 109.5" so 111.5". I had Steve do the measuring because I can't get from the ladder to the loft floor without help. It's a tad too high for me (hate heights already) so I can't heft myself off the ladder and onto the floor without pulling on someone or something. I generally make Steve climb up first and then I latch onto him and drag my body onto the plywood. Steve is horrified that I'm so weak and pitiful. I'd threaten him by saying he'll be in the same situation one day, but he won't. Mike is tall enough that he can simply plop effortlessly from the top step to the floor. Jerk. My mom won't even try. I'm sure Alyssa will be able to do it easily because she's young and somewhat fit. Anyway, I managed to cut a long strip of the insulation and Steve hoisted me up into the loft.

I attempted to apply the thing to the ceiling, but it was really wide. I pulled out the measuring tape and discovered it's all a bunch of lies. The beams are not 48" apart. The measurement varies from 40" to 42" depending on where you measure (nothing is straight in a cabin). I tried to explain to Mike the issue I was having, but he wanted me to tell him how many extra inches were hanging over (this was before I measured). Ummmm...3? He said that was fine and just smash it in and fold it down onto the side beam things. He watched me struggle and declared it was more like an extra foot and I would have to put all the insulation on sideways instead. These seemed like an extraordinary amount of extra work. His stupid man logic is that it would save material. Fine. Whatever.

So now I'm sitting in the hot loft, in the dark, trying to figure out how to measure properly. My left brain fought with my right brain and I got distracted by a squirrel outside and by my finger and something on my foot. Focus. I finally figured it out and cut away. I held it up (technically mocking up - growl) and discovered it was a mess, but would probably work. Kinda brought back all the fat mat memories but without the icky black stuff. I should mention that during my escapades, Mike was removing old wood paneling and insulating the walls before recreating the sheathing using some shiny plywood stuff. His job looked much easier than mine even though he was using that bulky fiberglass insulation. He wasn't being forced to hold things over his head or lay down to reach back to the furthest regions of the loft. Jerk. We were sharing a tape measurer and the stapler. Not okay. We need to buy more tools. Of course the stapler ran out of staples on my watch, but my inability to climb up and down forced Mike out to the shed for reinforcements. I had a heck of a time loading the thing, but finally succeeded. I dislike stapling above my head. It takes a lot more strength than I should have to muster. The entire time I was talking to Mike "this is a bad idea. I shouldn't be doing this on my own. You are going to be sorry." The last wasn't a threat (maybe). He looked up and claimed it was fine. "Better than it was". I'm not really sure about that, but clearly he didn't want to partake in my adventure so whatever. I'll just freaking do it all myself. Sigh. I climbed back down and cut 5 strips at 43" each. 43" x 48". This is not the perfect fit, but it was necessary for my sanity. Steve was hanging out with his buddy outside, so I had nothing to pull myself up with. My mom suggested moving the ladder to the side so I could grab one of the rafters. I realized there was a block screwed down to the floor and maybe I could pull on that. I forgot to calculate in the fact that I have zero upper arm strength. My mom held the ladder so I wouldn't fling off, but was laughing so hard I thought she was going to fall down. She yelled for Mike who came over to shove my leg. It almost wasn't enough. There I was floundering on the loft floor like a fish out of water - on the brink of plummeting to the hard, unforgiving surface miles below. Mike may or may not have accused me of being pitiful. My life was flashing before my eyes, so I'm not entirely positive.

I got the whole loft ceiling coated in aluminum-esque stuff and was quite proud of my accomplishments despite how decrepit I felt and how unprofessional it looked. Mike was probably just relieved he didn't have to do it himself. Anyway, the next morning I was feeling rather stiff and sore and my head wouldn't turn as far as a normal human head should be able to. Dan was hunched over and sort of limping around and I was beginning to look about as agile. He was in much better spirits (probably the pain meds) than I. Dan headed back down to the flat lands and Mike decided to do some other stuff. He had managed to get electricity to another couple outlets and even mounted a TV on the wall. Yay!

It was getting to be time to head back down the mountain. I had packed and cleaned and done whatever I needed so all that was left was to load the truck. I grabbed a couple of bags and turned to walk out. Something happened. I don't know what, but it wasn't pleasant. Pain shot from the center of my upper back to my left shoulder and up to my neck. I managed to get the stuff out to the truck, but that was it. I couldn't move my arms without pain or my head. It hurt to walk, stand, sit. Mike and Steve finished the loading and I looked pitiful trying to ride home without moving any muscles. Happy Mother's Day. Ugh. Mike made dinner and Steve made some amazing cheese bread. Alyssa arrived home with some chocolate covered strawberries she made. Yum. Everyone was very nice and I felt better the next morning, but still had lots of pain. I took some Advil and that helped. I've been improving daily. I'm pretty sure my back was exhausted from all that overhead work and the lifting was just too much. I won't be doing any ceiling insulation. The rest will be done by one of Alyssa's friends that agreed to help out (we are paying). Thank goodness!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[QSL]

Some pics!!!

[MRSQSL]

Great. No pictures of my back breaking insulation work. Whatever. Oh and that's not Taco. That's the big dog. I'm going to see if I can find before and after pics of the kitchen. At least that part looks better. I don't understand how the recent pictures look so much worse than the before ones. Sigh.

[MRSQSL]

I think I found some.

4193141932

[68GT500MAN]

Julie, It is so much fun to read your adventures, you should put them together in two books. How to re-model a cabin and How to build a coupe! I thought that Mike would show a photo of your work on the ceiling.
Doug

[MRSQSL]

I think you mean How NOT to Remodel a Cabin and How NOT to Build a Coupe. Hee, hee. Mike doesn't take pictures of me or my work much anymore. I'm not sure if it's because he's busy doing his own things or if I'm such a mess he doesn't want to document the massacre of the cabin/coupe. I'll try to gently encourage photographic evidence, but it won't be pretty. Thanks for the kind words. I was a little worried there wasn't any interest in this topic.

[MRSQSL]

It snowed again - not while we were there because mother nature hates me and doesn't want me to see actual falling snow like I really, really want to see. I was born and raised in Southern California, so I don't really know what snow is or what it looks like falling from the sky. I got to see it a couple times this winter, but only brief glimpses and I'd get so excited I think I scared everyone around me. I may not be allowed back this winter with the predicted "strong el nino". Perhaps if I hand out earplugs so the others can block out my shrieks of delight...

I accomplished absolutely nothing Saturday (other than cooking dinner). Mike did all sorts of stuff including some trim pieces around our redwood planks and a whole lot of foam. Whatever that insulating/sealing foam is, buy stock. We have easily used at least a crate full. Dan was doing the same thing in a neighboring cabin (not his) because of a mouse attack. I guess when you have prisoners build stuff using materials stolen from other job sites, you can't exactly expect the best quality work. As Alyssa says "If it's not slanted, it's not a cabin".

Sunday was a tinge more eventful. Because we tore out the wall between the bedroom and the living room (where the thermostat had previously been mounted), the thermostat and subsequently long wire for thermostat had to be moved. Let me take a moment to walk down memory lane. The first several months of cabin ownership were warm because it was summer. We didn't use the heater so we didn't discover until the second time we filled the propane tank (which is not cheap), that the old thermostat didn't have an "off". It was "off" if it was set at 50. Being that the elevation is over 7000 feet, it's fairly obvious that it gets below 50 and therefore the heater was running essentially non stop. As soon as Mike realized, I drove down to the hardware store and fetched a very basic contraption with an "off" button. All better and we've only had to fill the tank once since then. Anyway, the wire for the thermostat was running from the heater (under the cabin) to the hole (through the cabin) and across the living room/bedroom. I was informed that I would need to crawl under the cabin and grab the wire and stuff it through another hole (that I'd need to drill). Ummmmm... (1) I'm claustrophobic (2) I'm arachnophobic (3) I'm not entirely coordinated and handy dandy. Mike assured me I'd be fine. I assured him I wouldn't because I was pretty sure I couldn't drill a hole over my head in a dark hole with a still slightly injured back. He gave in and said he'd attempt to drill the hole. Feeling like I'd won an epic battle, I pulled on some gloves and my hoodie, grabbed some old drapes to try to lay on and headed under the house. As soon as I unlocked the cubby hole, I knew I'd been duped. As it creaked open, a distinct web tearing sound could be heard. I HATE spider webs. I hate the webs almost more than I hate the beasts that hang on them. This was an extra special present because it was a dirty web with bug carcasses AND an icky black spider which started to run. SHRIEK!!!!!! I raced back to find Mike and told him I would not be going under there unless he removed that eight legged monster from the opening. Eye roll on his part. He half heartedly swung at the web, launching the spider onto the ground. SHRIEK!!!!! Now I don't know where it is and it could TOUCH me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Eye roll.

Mike shined the light and showed me where the wire was. Wait? Way over THERE?! That's like...far. The ground is all dirt and the beams get really low in places so I'll have to lay down and skish under them. He agreed, told me to get under there and he walked away. Jerk face (meant in a loving way).

It was difficult to maneuver with the flash light and the curtains I could lay on to stay partially clean. I hit my head and my elbows several times. When I got under the super low beam, I had a moment of panic where my claustrophobia kicked in but I did my best to hold it together. After what felt like a 5 mile trek, I could reach the wire. Mike detached it from the thermostat and yelled that I could pull. Tug, tug. It moved freely at first but then got hung up somewhere. I didn't want to have to go exploring to see what awful creature was holding the other end so I decided to yank really hard. Success. Yay!

I could hear Mike drilling a hole, but I couldn't see it. I tried asking questions like "how far from the heater", but he couldn't hear me well and kept yelling "what" which was starting to make me angry. I was inhaling a ton of dirt and I was pretty sure it was laced with Hanta. I didn't really want to spend any additional time down here. I asked how far he was from the point where the knob and tube came up through the floor since I was right below it. "15 feet" What? That's not possible. Which direction? "What?" ARGH!!!!!!!!!!!!! Eventually I realized he drilled sort of behind and below me so I couldn't see because I was about two rafters too far, but that's where the original wire had been. I skooshed down to where the hole was (completely grateful I didn't have to drill the hole myself) and found there was half buried piping where I needed to lay. Sigh. Ouch, crumple, stab, ouch. I shoved the wire up into the hole where Mike was able to grab it and spent the next 5 minutes trying to wriggle my way back out. Getting under the low beams was especially tough because now my feet were aiming out before my head and it's harder to go that way and especially while on my back. I didn't want to go stomach first because that just seemed creepy. I realize this makes zero sense now, but it seemed completely logical and rational at the time.

My other success (maybe) for the day was installing some of the fat fiberglass kind of insulation into a wall. I wouldn't say I did well, but nothing broke and it was sort of fun. My nose was itchy and irritated the rest of the day so I think maybe I accidentally wiped my nose while I had my glove on (after tearing the insulation). I'm no stranger to fiberglass itchy/annoyance so I sucked it up (probably literally).

Mike tore into another wall and now we are thinking about taking down a portion of the wall between the dining area and the living room. So I guess that would make the kitchen, dining room, living and bedroom all one area. At this rate, we won't have any walls left. The final decision will be made this weekend.

[QSL]

Pics!

You will notice this does not look like a real wall, well it is. Unfortunately all the inside walls are constructed this way. Basically scrap wood all nailed together. This place is more like a fort you build in the woods when you are 13, instead of a cabin.

[MRSQSL]

I don't know why all the pictures are sideways. The cabin isn't THAT slanted.

[68GT500MAN]

The insulation in the ceiling looks great! I do not think that the cabin is slanted, just the camera operator.
Doug

[MRSQSL]

Actually, I took the pictures and they were all right side up when I sent them to Mike and asked him to post. It's all his fault!!!!!!!!!! :)

I think the insulation looks better in the pictures than it does in person. The next time you are in the area on a weekend, come by and you can inspect. We'll even let you sleep in the kitchen/dining room/living room/bedroom.

[BFFofMRSQSL]

Jules, your chapters are hilarious and your kitchen is gorgeous.

[MRSQSL]

Being that it was Memorial Day weekend, lots of cabin owners were around and we ended up spending a huge chunk of time socializing. We didn't get much work done, but it was nice to see so many people truly honoring those that have fallen rather than just celebrating a day off.

Over the course of the weekend, Mike managed to knock down the rest of the wall between the kitchen and living room. The headers he installed look fabulous!!! I sent him a pic so I'm hoping he'll post. It's going to take some work in the kitchen to make it all look as nice as it does from the living room, but that's for later this summer when we take a week off to fix the foundation. He also pulled out the little 50's diner looking bench seat which we gave to someone in the neighborhood. That was quite an event. Mike had loaded it in the truck and when the woman came to take a look, she asked me if I'd drive it to her house to be unloaded (Mike was at work). Sure. I didn't know she didn't have an army of strong (shirtless) men lined up in her garage. It was her and her daughter and pitiful little me trying to get the tie down ratchet strap things loose. I got two of the three, but that last one was a stubborn little butt. All three of us tried and finally succeeded. Let me just say her house is on a very busy street. People drive by almost constantly and gawk, but not one person stopped and offered to help. Jerk faces. Even I try to do what I can. I was at a garage sale over the weekend and I saw a couple struggling with a bench and ran over to help. Anyway, it was difficult and painful and scary, but we got it in her garage. I'm thankful the booth has a good home. I was sad thinking it might go to the dump.

Anyway, all I really did this weekend was follow Mike around. I handed him things, found the stuff he lost and carried the other end of large wood pieces. He managed to find the time to finish installing the redwood and bender board on one of the walls. Looks super nice. Thanks to Dan for giving us a strip of brad nails. The only ones we had left were very much the wrong size.

This weekend should be interesting because Alyssa has a male friend coming up and he already agreed to help with whatever we need. Yay!!!!! I don't know if Mike is going to have him start on insulating the rest of the roof or if he has something else planned. I don't know what my assignment will be yet either. Probably just cooking, cleaning and fetching. You never know. Maybe they'll shove me under the house to play with spiders and snakes. Oh and we have bats in our shingles. That's not some kind of fancy sandwich. We really have bats in the shingles. They make squeaky and scratchy noises. I'm not scared of them, but the sounds do freak me out.

Dan had surgery today. I'm not sure if he wanted that announced, but it was a tough day waiting to hear how it went. Please send love or prayers or whatever you believe in his way. Can't wait to get him back up on the mountain so we can harass him some more.

[MRSQSL]

Insulation time once again. Mike let me loose in the kitchen to insulate the wall completely on my own. He didn't help, offer suggestions or anything. I suspect the wall will fall down now. :) After removing the booth last weekend (and finding a new home for it), we needed a kitchen table. Mike and I had looked online and briefly while in stores, etc. No luck. Sad face. Saturday morning was a big sale at an antique store in Hesperia so off we went. Who would've figured our new kitchen table was sitting in the parking lot being used by people scarfing down their free hot dogs? The price was amazingly, shockingly, mind blowingly good and it looks amazing in the kitchen. Couldn't be happier. We also purchased a "canning cabinet" which Mike and I both drooled over despite that fact that we don't can things and we have no idea what we'll put in it. Had that super rustic cabiny feel which we couldn't resist. To reward ourselves for our stupendous finds, we went to Golden Corral and buffet feasted until we nearly popped.

The insulation portion was going really well until I moved onto the section where one strip of insulation wouldn't fit between the studs and I had to tear more precisely. For some reason the staple gun kept refusing to staple (no, it wasn't out of staples although that did happen twice). I think it just takes more oomph than I sometimes have. I feel like I shouldn't insulate as a career, but all in all I'm pretty proud of my efforts. Mike said "it looks better than before" so I guess it got his stamp of approval. He applied T1-11 over the insulation and now it looks like a brand new kitchen section. The floor is nasty, but just don't look down. We'll get around to fixing that at some point.

I didn't mention last weekend that we were invited to an open house at Camp Kare (I think it's also known as Mount Kare). It's a great little camp that hosts mostly Christian groups. We have known the caretakers for nearly a year now, but never got a chance to explore the camp. I highly recommend this place if you are ever in charge of finding a camp for your church group. Amazingly well cared for with super fun activities and some of the best food I've had. They gave us a special tour down at their "shooting gallery". It's a shed they converted into a shooting range so it's all decorated like an old west town with lots of fun targets, but the guns are modified paintball guns so you shoot little rubber balls. The floor is tilted so they roll back so you never have to stop shooting to clean up the range. It is so unbelievably fun. It was us and some of the other adults from our cabin tract and I swear we were all like giant kids. I want to sneak down there at night and play. They won't notice, right?

In case anyone is wondering, Dan is doing well and we'll get to see him in a couple days.

I'm sure Mike did more work since he never sits still, but I honestly can't remember now what it was because I was so impressed by his kitchen remodel skills. He has pictures, so he just needs to post them.

[pavieSD]

Sounds like a great adventure. Enjoying the read. You mentioned a car show up that way in August. Definitely post the dates when it gets closer. The wife and I are always looking for excuses to go on a good drive up in the mountains. I'm definitely interested in checking it out. Cheers.

Mark

[QSL]

Mark, that would be awesome if you can make it. We will for sure let you know the date. Its a cool show!

Here are some pics of the cabin!

[MRSQSL]

Mike and I had a work event Saturday so we weren't able to get up to the cabin until late afternoon/early evening. The kids and dogs stayed home so it was just us. We sat out on the porch for a little bit listening to thunder. Once the rain began, we moved inside with a nice fire. It was magical. I like storms. It passed fairly quickly and Mike went out to lay on the hammock (ended up falling asleep).

We did a little work Sunday after a quick bike ride and breakfast at the Grizzly Cafe. In the past, cabin owners needed to clear 30' around their cabin. No pine needles, leaves, etc. This year (probably in our honor), the rules were modified. We now have to clear that same 30' and an additional 70'. Yeah, no. 100' would probably be out to the road or possibly to another cabin. Plus, they want it so that there is only one tree in a ten foot area. We have strict rules because of the type of cabin (historic and recreational use) so I'm pretty sure the archaeologist and biologist would have heart failure if they saw us clearing out that much plant life. The fire people say clear away, but the forest service people say don't touch a thing. Ummmmm...what do we do?

Mike had me build the new electric weed whacker, but that didn't go well and he ended up doing the bulk of it himself. The screws wouldn't go in and I didn't know what direction stuff went and the weight was awkward so it kept flipping over while I tried to insert the screws. He told me it would be fun to use though. Liar. I hated it. The thing was heavy and it kept shooting fragments of pokey things at my shins and it vibrated so much my hands were almost numb. No. After about 10 minutes of misery I decided I would clear out the pine needles around the propane tank. Took me a super long time, but I got them all out and piled up. Now we just need to figure out how to get rid of them. I vote for throwing them in the fireplace, but I suspect that's a really bad idea.

A neighbor who is also a contractor was able to score us some paint, so the plan is to scrape and reglaze and probably mock something up (all my favorite chores) so I can paint the window frames around the windows we aren't changing out. We don't technically have permission, but we've been asking for months and it turns out the forest service has a vacancy in the approval department so it'll be at least another month before they give us authorization. This is an approved color from another cabin, so...can't wait until the actual painting part.

A neighbor also noticed this week that his BBQ was overturned, hummingbird feeder missing (later found on hill nearby) and screen mangled. He checked his video footage and found we have a bear visiting. Of course I want to pet it. I know. Bad idea. In fact, contractor neighbor bought us some bear spray. I think he probably had a moment of panic after he told me about a bear sighting he had the previous week and my response was "did you pet it?". I'm hoping the bear spray will make it fall down and roll over so I can pet its tummy. I think I'm mostly kidding. Mostly...

We may or may not go out to El Mirage this weekend for some racing, but we'll try to get some actual work done as well. I'm not sure how many family members/dogs will be attending and how many will be home. Guess I should find out so I can do meal planning. Sigh.

[68GT500MAN]

Isn't it fun to have two agencies with conflicting rules and regulations? I come across that all the time at work, it can be very frustrating to say the least. Only Mike could have you "mock up" painting, but scraping is a necessary evil. We had a bear that would come through every night looking for food etc., my dog did not like it eating his food so when the bear walked by he moved his dish into the dog house and stayed in the doorway not realizing the bear was several hundred pounds larger than his 80. Take a break from the cabin and go out to El Mirage, it will do you good.
Doug

PS I like the look of the new kitchen table.

[MRSQSL]

So are you saying I should put honey on the areas that need scraping and maybe the bear will do the hard work for me?

You have a brave dog. I suspect Taco would bark at the bear. Seeing as how he only weighs 5 lbs, that's a potential problem. I love that your dog moved his dish. That's awesome!!!!!!

I'd like to go to El Mirage, but we'll see. Mike's kind of a slave driver. :)

[MRSQSL]

I could've spend the entire weekend at El Mirage. What a ginormous variety of cars. Everything from home built (what the heck is that?) to extremely expensive looking streamliners. We stood at the start line initially, but my favorite part was being way down the track so you could watch the cars go at speed. I was terrified for the motorcycles. They don't seem to go nearly as fast as most of the cars, but I really didn't want to witness an accident. I mean, I didn't want ANYONE to crash, but it seems so much scarier if you are on a bike and lose control. Anyway, we went to see two cars in particular. One is a competition coupe (not like my Coupey) and a roadster (not like my Scoopy). The coupe needed to go over 160 to beat the standing record and we were thrilled to witness its journey at 178.4 mph. Yay!! The best part was that the owner let me sit in it while he was waiting to get into impound for his inspection. A smite claustrophobic for me. The windows are too narrow and the seat is too far back. The width is fine (maybe a little wide even). I'll pass on making any land speed record runs. I was told there are some online videos from inside cars so I'll go look them up and live vicariously through those drivers.

The roadster didn't do as well as we'd hoped. I think the goal was around 260, but only made it to 216. This is actually probably a blessing because the primary chute failed to open. Thankfully the secondary was good to go. We left after that run. Mike and Dan were less than thrilled about the heat. I didn't mind as much because there was a lovely breeze. I'll admit it was nice to get back to the cabin with it's temps in the 70's.

We spent a good chunk of time building a ladder for the loft. Mike had gotten a couple of beautiful pieces of redwood which we measured and cut before taking them up to Dan's cabin. Dan made the rungs out of some pretty round wood (pine?). Turned out amazing, but I don't think any of us took a picture. Mike sealed it Sunday. My job was to stand around and annoy people with questions and then sweep up at the end. I keep telling Mike he should feel lucky to have a wife interested in cars and racing, etc. He gives me a look which I finally think I figured out this weekend. Having me around is like having a young, inquisitive child following you everywhere. It was probably fun in the beginning, but 20 something years later, he probably wishes I'd stop asking questions. I directed the bulk of the inquiries at Dan this time around (giving Mike a break). Poor Dan is probably exhausted now. He explained lots of things and I learned oodles.

Sunday morning was interesting. I don't know what started it, but Mike and I were sitting on the deck enjoying coffee and cereal (watching the wildlife) when he suddenly jumped up and grabbed a crowbar. A few minutes later, a portion of the deck was removed and we were looking down at the foundation by the kitchen. Just as Mike had been saying for months...the tree is pushing the cabin all wonky. A saw was fetched and more deck removed. About this time Dan wandered over and a very technical discussion ensued about the best way to go about fixing the foundation issues. I understood about a third of it, so out came a billion questions. We wandered over to the side of the cabin and all looked underneath. Yup, that's the bottom of a cabin. Mike and Dan gleaned valuable information. I simply noticed colors and shapes and mentally mapped out the spiderwebs and potential snake hiding places. The men folk decided it would be fun and educational (and safe) to take a sledgehammer to a portion of the foundation. I had some serious concerns about this, but was overruled. I had my fingers in my ears and my running shoes on while Mike slammed the tool into the poor little cinder block looking wall. Mike got down and looked in the new hole and made all sorts of clucking and groaning and exclamatory sounds/comments along with some laughing. He moved and Dan knelt down and laughed (insert more sounds/comments). It was my turn. I poked my eyeballs through the hole and just saw more shapes, colors, webs and potential snake hiding spots, but I laughed just so I'd feel like I fit in. I guess the tree has essentially completely picked up one wall of the cabin so that there is light on one side where there shouldn't be light. Lots of technical talk ensued, but what I was able to gather is that we need to detach the deck from the house and then remove the decking along that wall. Then we need to knock a couple more holes in the block wall below the cabin (not a fan of that idea) so we can insert "cribbing" (assume this isn't for an infant's sleeping needs) and then knock down all the block wall holding up the house, dig a 12" deep trench (been there, done that, no thanks), level the cabin, pour footings with rebar and J bolts and then wait 20 something days and gently lower the cabin back down (attaching bolts where applicable). I may have missed a step or two, but that's at least the general idea. Sounds like mountains of work, but Mike claims he's ready. You should've seen the gleam in his eyes and in Dan's when Mike got the sledgehammer. Never seen anything like it. Pure joy at the idea of smashing a hole in poor little cabin-y.

We reassembled as much as we could and moved on to project ceiling beams. We are removing (one by one) the three pieces of wood that are vertically (and diagonally) attaching the long cross beams to the roof beams. That makes no sense, but just smile and nod like it does. I was worried Mike would knock one out and the entire roof would collapse. Yes, I got "the look" when I said that out loud. There are 6 sets of these things that all need to be replaced. We only got through one. Plates need to be fabricated before we can continue, but Mike and I purchased the wood from a reclaimed woodyard. Okay, that was a ton of fun. Old lumber is beautiful and smells neat and is less warped than new wood at Lowe's or Home Depot. It's not cheap (unfortunately), so we are not going to be able to coat the ceiling in reclaimed wood like we had hoped. Sigh. I don't know what we'll do when we get to that.

Anyway, I'm excited because fixing the foundation means we can finish the kitchen. No more creepy old paneling or uneven cooking appliances and I'll have all my cabinets and countertops. So. Darn. Excited.

Mike decided a few weeks ago he wanted to lose some weight so we've been exercising about 6 days a week. One of our exercise chores is bike riding in the mountains. Yeah, would be easier if mountains were flatter and if our bikes were mountain bikes rather than beach cruisers. We have fun though and this Sunday was no exception. I felt less like I was going to black out and I took fewer breaks and we went a little further. Can you tell I'm the weak (literally) link in this ordeal? Looking forward to continuing that activity and maybe eventually making it the entire 4 miles (or so) back to some big tower that so far we've only driven the Jeep to.

Still no work on Coupey, but we need that plate thing before we can pull the engine and honestly we've been busy and exhausted and now I'm making all sorts of excuses. We will get to it before too much longer.

[68GT500MAN]

That foundation job is pretty big, it may take Mike, Dan and several others to complete. Once done you will enjoy not having the pancakes roll to the side of the griddle as you pour them out! What can be done to the root that is causing the problem? That may put stress on the tree and your association will be mad.

You guys need to get some nice mountain bikes if you plan to keep up the exercise program, I have a nice Gary Fisher full suspension that I really enjoy riding. A good bike makes a BIG difference in your enjoyment.
Doug

[MRSQSL]

I like the way you think, Doug. You should bring your bike up to the cabin next month when we are working on the foundation and you can show us exactly how to do the foundation and dig a trench and all that. You may have to show us over and over. We are slow to catch on. :) Oh and you should put a little basket on the front of the bike so I can sit in it and you can drive me around the mountain trails. You know, to make sure a mountain bike is the way to go.

The most annoying meal so far has involved rice. I discovered I have to boil the water, dump in the rice and then remove the pan from the stove or only half the rice gets cooked (the rest is a victim of the slant and isn't covered by water as the water levels drop).

As for the root, Mike was telling me that they will put a steel (?) beam across which will give the root some more growing space but will also help to support the cabin better. I guess when they poured the foundation before, they realized the root was an issue and just put a relatively thin layer of concrete over the top of it. By removing that, it'll gave us space for a support? I'm really hoping Mike steps in to post some pictures and maybe shed some accurate light on the situation. I'm basing this off my partial understanding of their conversation. Dan could possibly chime in if he's hanging around here too. Dan? Consult?

[QSL]

Couple pics from last weekend. The project is started, no going back now!!!!

[MRSQSL]

I can't believe it's already Wednesday and I'm just getting around to updating. Yikes!

Mike and I went up to the cabin Friday. Just us. No family. No animals. We hadn't planned it that way, but Saturday also happened to be our anniversary. How does a couple spend an anniversary all alone in the mountains? Lifting a cabin and knocking out the foundation. Duh!

Saturday was pretty miserable in that it was hot there. Not as bad as regular home, but super hot. Too hot to be inside and there wasn't a breeze so outside was buggy. We tried OFF and another brand, but bugs were still prevalent and annoying. It was so hot even the bats in our shingles vacated. Sorry cabin 7. Sounded like they were over by you now. (neener, neener)

Dan spent the bulk of the day with us. A part of me thinks he wanted to make sure we didn't squash ourselves with a cabin, but the bigger portion of me thinks he likes watching demo as much as the majority of men I've met. There is something about a sledgehammer and poor innocent concrete that brings out a twinkle in the eyes.

By far, the most interesting part of the process was watching Mike try to jack up the right side of the cabin. The dirt was just too soft. As soon as any weight would get on the jack, it would push itself down into the dirt. He tried different configurations and materials under the jack but the dirt was like "spongecake" (as Dan put it and made me want cake all weekend). Mike ended up asking Dan if he could bring up a longer I-beam this weekend and they are going to reposition and jack from a more distant spot. The ground should be more firm a couple feet away.

The plan, as far as I can comprehend, is that the other side of the cabin will get jacked up and cribbed up and then we have to dig down 12+ inches. We will set forms and install rebar and I think maybe cinder blocks (really not sure if they said this or I just imagined it) and then pour in a billion super heavy bags of concrete (which will have been mixed with water first which will make them even heavier). After a few hours, we are putting more blocks on top (smaller ones that will sort of match what is already under the rest of the cabin). The concrete has to sit for a few weeks and then I guess we add more blocks and a "plate" and/or wood (this is where I get extra confused). Then the cabin will get leveled and we will gently place it on the new foundation and life will be happy. Of course, the pours have to be done in two chunks because a single human family can't dig and form and pour that much concrete in one weekend. I tried to con Alyssa into having a party and bringing all her young, strong friends to help, but she keeps refusing - even after I remind her about the hours of agonizing labor pains I endured.

Once the side of the cabin (see pic one above) was hefted and the foundation knocked down, I sat on the ground and tried to help pull out all the chunks of newly skished concrete. La, la, la. Lifting, grabbing, moving. La, la, la. Movement? I think I levitated in an upward and massively rightward direction. When I regained consciousness, I heard a terrible shrieking and noticed I was at the very far edge of the deck with my finger out and the noises were coming from me. SPIDER!!!!!!!! I don't mean a little or even a medium spider. I mean the King Kong of spiders. My first thought was baby tarantula, but it didn't have fur. I have never ever ever ever ever seen any arachnid with a girth that astounding. Mike claims he shoveled it to death, but no body was recovered and I was mighty hesitant to stick any body parts anywhere near the underside of the cabin thereafter.

Hoping for cooler weather and that the 60 lb bags of concrete magically move themselves and work themselves into wet concrete that walks itself into the trench that we still haven't dug. The trench on the one side should be simple if the dirt is all spongecake-y. The other side was very rocky. VERY rocky. I already tried digging a little. Mike says he might take a day off and go early. I would offer to do the same, but I seriously doubt I will be of much help. Although I've been pretty good about sticking to my workout schedule, I'm currently using 3 lb weights. Unless the bags of concrete are mismarked, I'm a long way off. I suspect I can lift 30 or 40 lbs, but doubt cutting the bags in half is really a viable option. I suspect the next update should be entertaining.

[Dragonfire]

Been lurking around this site for a little over a year. I can say with out a doubt your commentary on Coupy and THE Cabin are the most entertaining and enlightening on this site. You have an amazing family. Y'all have such a wide range of interests it just boggles the mind. I look forward with much anticipation for each new post. Haven't lived in CA since the early 50's and will probably never get there again but if I do meeting your family would be high on the bucket list. Here's hoping the best for you and yours. Keep the stories coming they are the best. You cannot make up this stuff. Thank you for sharing.

[MRSQSL]

Thank you so much. It's comments like these that encourage me to continue updating which in turn encourages me to build or remodel or whatever the task for the week might be. Also puts a smile on my face (which sometimes gets misconstrued as an evil grin).

[MRSQSL]

This wasn't the fun filled weekend I predicted. We did not pour concrete, but it wasn't due to laziness. A good friend fell ill and we had to leave. That's okay. Friends are way more important than concrete.

Mike and Steve had gone to the cabin Thursday night. I was left home. Sad face. Friday morning they tortured me with texts about the weather and how beautiful the scenery was and that they were relaxing and then went down to town for breakfast. Grrrr...I was exercising and then working. Not nice. Not nice at all.

The two spent the day digging and digging and digging and then creating the forms. By the time I got there in the evening, they were done. It looked great. Mike said Steve was a HUGE help! There's no way he would've gotten that far without Steve. Yay!

Since the concrete project was put on hold, but we had two pickup truck beds filled with 60 lb bags of concrete and the forecast was calling for thunderstorms, Mike and I unloaded one truck into Dan's garage. That was amusing. I climbed in the bed and shoved and flipped and otherwise annoyed the bags until they got close enough to the edge for Mike to pick them up. I was relieved when it was over. Keep in mind, at this point, I didn't know the second truck had more bags in it. I headed back down to our cabin while Mike prepared to leave. Once Mike was on his way, I made myself some cereal and took an aspirin. After breakfast, I decided to pull out the bug spray and defend the perimeter of the cabin (shhhhh...don't tell the forest service). I got distracted with dishes and making iced tea and several other chores before finally peeking over the edge of the tailgate. Imagine my surprise when I saw concrete bags. I ran in and woke up Steve. He helped me back the truck up to our garage for more bag removal. Fortunately, Steve is pretty strong. He couldn't push the bags, but he could lift. I once again climbed into the bed and annoyed the bags until they jumped into his arms. It took longer than the previous truck unloading, but at least now it would all stay dry and powdery. I headed down the mountain, took care of stuff and then we returned for the remainder of the evening until the following morning.

Mike said we should work on the rafters again so he climbed an extraordinarily high ladder and did most of the work to remove the old pieces of wood pretending to hold up the roof. We carried and cut and measured (not in that order) until all three new supports were installed. Then it was time to hang a wagon wheel/lantern chandelier one of the other cabin owners was kind enough to give us when they no longer had use for it. This required measuring, cutting and installing a beam way up high and then Mike had to somehow heft the incredibly heavy light fixture up the ladder and onto the hook. I was impressed by his strength, agility and ingenuity. Love the way it looks, although it will be nicer once there is electricity up there and we can turn the lights on. :)

That was the bulk of the weekend work. Some of us are taking a week off and heading up for concrete pouring and paint scraping and rafter changing this month. Mike is supposed to be making a list of projects he wants to complete. At the end of the week, my sister will be flying in to stay with us for a few days. She wanted to see the cabin in the summer since she has only seen it in the winter. Being from back east, she doesn't get excited about snow like I do. I hope she gets excited about heat. It has been miserable lately. Better up there, but horrid down here. It's 10am and my AC is already running. It is currently 92 degrees. It's 76 at the cabin. The weather is nicer today than it has been though.

[68GT500MAN]

You do know that the bags you stored in Dan's garage will have to be lifted back into the truck and moved to the cabin?
Doug

[MRSQSL]

We are saving that for the week you come up with your bike.

[dspellman]

Over time, you'll probably have replaced the entire cabin.

Do you know the story of Theseus' Paradox (aka the Ship of Theseus)?

[MRSQSL]

I did not know the story so I just looked it up. I'm going to say that the cabin will remain the cabin because we are not changing the floors or the roof slats. Oh, the fireplace will remain unchanged as well. Otherwise, yeah. I guess it almost doesn't count as the same cabin. If it makes things any better, had the cabin been more original, we wouldn't change as much. It was remodeled in the late 60's or early 70's so it's got some pretty hideous "upgrades". Most of the other cabins are more authentic and we are jealous of that.

[QSL]

who the hell puts wood paneling over REDWOOD?!?! Oh yea, stoned disco freaks from the 70's. LOL. Man, they really did not want a cabin, they wanted a vacation home... Sucks.

[MRSQSL]

We spent 10 glorious days at the cabin. It's hard to remember what all we did, but I assure you we had very few days of rest. I'll do my best here.

Day 1 (Friday): 30' brush/pine needle/etc clearance was still hanging over our heads so Mike got up bright and early to weed whack. I refuse to do this anymore. Everything flings right at your shins and the vibration of the motor makes my hands feel funny. "Refuse" might be a strong word. If Mike was stranded in the middle of a jungle with a rabid wombat, I'd weed whack my way in to rescue him. I'm assuming this won't happen in my lifetime though. While he shot little bits and pieces of plant matter into his shins creating a bloody mess, I began the task of raking. It would've been kind and thoughtful of me to rake everything into one giant pile, but I'm a selfish beast (or just have weak arms and it was hot out) so I made lots of smaller piles. I was getting near the gate when a car pulled in. "I'd like to rent a cabin". That's nice. I wasn't really sure how to respond without being a jerk so I went with "these are privately owned and we can't rent them". Several more questions followed and they were on their way. Secretly, I was thinking I have access to Dan's cabin and I could've charged them rent AND made them finish my raking chores in exchange for a night on the mountain. Dan would never even know. Shhhhhh...

Day 2 (Saturday): Having run out of weed whacker string the previous afternoon, we raced down to the more distant hardware store (thinking the local one would not sell the right stuff). We discovered the new place had a ton of stuff. I mean a huge selection of all sorts of man goodies. While browsing we discovered paint that looked like it would be good for the propane tank. Ours is currently white (we own the tank), but it starting to get rusty and the white really stands out. Uh oh. I hope I didn't upset the safety police. The paint we chose was non-reflective and a very light beige.

Once back at the cabin there was more weed whacking and more raking and then I sanded down the propane tank which Mike hosed off. Once dry he began to paint. He shocked me by insisting I paint too. But I'm terrible at it. He said it's the cabin and it'll be better than it was so I should do it. It turns out I'm pretty bad at painting, but I already knew that. My index finger isn't strong enough to push on the little button for the necessary bursts over an extended period of time. Mike's section was all beautiful and smooth. Mine wasn't filled with runs or anything, but looked sort of line-y. Whatever. It's the first coat. Unfortunately, we ran out of paint and had to give up.

I believe this is the day Mike cleaned out the garage while I continued to rake and probably followed him around like a puppy for a bit. There was a big July 4th BBQ that evening which was a ton of fun. I had baked an apple pie (yes, from scratch) and it was well received. Yay!

Day 3 (Sunday): We knew we had company coming for another BBQ so our morning was spent cleaning and attempting to make the cabin look habitable to humans. We had discovered a trapped bat which liked to fly around at night. Still no luck at persuading it the window we opened would be better for its health than flapping around all wild animal like. Of course we didn't mention this to our guests so they had no idea something was staring at them from the depths of the ceiling.

The BBQ was a ton of fun and we laughed and laughed. Sadly, everyone left at the same time. Even Dan. I was feeling a little lonely and then I realized we had an entire week with just the three of us (and the dogs). No more sadness.

I'm pretty sure I'm messing up the order in which we did things. The right side of the cabin (my right anyway) still needed to be lifted and supported properly so we could dig the hole for the foundation. As Dan says, the motto on the mountain is "We do things nice because we do them twice". Yes, another way of saying "mocking up". Growl, grumble. We mocked things up and then did the lifting for real until Mike was happy and the cabin was soaring above us. Okay, it was lifted a tiny bit, but it took the weight off so we could knock out the foundation. Mike insisted I have the honor of using the sledgehammer. I thought he was being kind and supportive but I realized after about two swings that the tool is exceptionally heavy and he was just too tired to do it himself. Between the two of us, we worked all the old foundation out. This isn't nearly as complicated as it sounds. First of all, the blocks had no cement or rebar in them. The bottom cells had concrete, but none of the upper ones. We are fairly confident the builders plopped some bricks on the ground and began dumping in that single layer of concrete. There was no digging down or reinforcement of any sort. The concrete footing was about a half inch thick and that was all flashing.

Day 4 (Monday): Ha, ha. Everyone is at work and we are on vacation. Neener, neener. Then the phone rang. Then it rang again. Then the texts and emails. It would appear the other employees didn't understand we were on vacation. We both took care of some work issues and then left electronics inside so we could get some digging done. Mike would lay down next to the edge of the raised cabin with a little pick axe looking hand tool (found in the gardening section) and smack at all the rocks until they were dislodged. I'd stand on the side and shove the hoe under and pull out the rubble. We were both exhausted within a few hours. It worked though (mostly).

Day 5 (Tuesday): Mike and Steve went down to Pasadena to "play" in Dan's shop. I was supposed to go, but Mike wasn't comfortable leaving Steve alone all day and someone had to stay with the dogs or we'd come back to a rather messy home. It made more sense for me to stay behind. My chore was to scrape paint off the windows we are keeping. The aluminum ones will eventually have to go but we have some nice ones that will be remaining. I didn't get instructions, so I went out there with the only scraper I could find (attached to a wire brush) and some sandpaper and optimism. I came in a little later with annoyance and pessimism. It was a ton of work and I was scraping away for hours on end. I only took a couple short breaks and managed to get myself sunburned in the process. I'm usually really good about wearing sunscreen, but I didn't think I was in the sun until it was too late. I know, I know. Anyway, HOURS passed and Mike came home (I was still high up on a ladder). I expressed my frustration and he had the nerve to ask me which parts I had done. He nearly got a used scraper/wire brush placed not so gently where the sun doesn't shine. Imagine my anger when he told me I didn't need to scrape it down to bare wood as I had been doing. I just needed to get the flakes off and run a sheet of sandpaper over for a smooth finish. Growl. I refused to do any more work out there, but we did put up a set of brackets Steve, Mike and Dan fabricated. I'm sure one of us has a picture. The bracket looks like a big "W" and it holds all of the rafters and other assorted beams together.

To be continued...

[MRSQSL]

Day 6 (Wednesday): I may have waited too long to update this. I have no idea what happened Wednesday, but I seem to remember it was an important day. What did we do? Think, think. Okay. It was important because it was the day Dan came back. Dan is great at giving consults. The previous day when I was standing on a ladder wondering how to properly remove paint, I tried saying "Daaaaaaan", but he didn't show up. Mike was sitting on the ground Wednesday morning trying to decide if we had everything correct when he said "Daaaaaan". About 20 seconds later Dan drove up the road and into our driveway. Not fair!!

I thought setting forms was going to be easy. I mean it's a few pieces of wood and you put spike things down beside them. What could possibly go wrong? I guess I never considered that things should be level and when the ground is crooked and the cabin is crooked and everything on the cabin is crooked and the deck is crooked, well it's hard to make things straight. It didn't help that we dug too deep on one side. Mike and Dan ran a level string around the cabin. I stared at that thing for a long time. It is not possible for something with a 5 inch difference from one side to the other to be level, right? Can the cabin really be off by that much? Sigh. Yes.

Rocks and roots and things were in the way so we dug out what we could and cut off what we couldn't and added dirt and rocks where needed. It wasn't the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen, but it wasn't too shabby.

Rebar had to be installed as well and Mike had gotten these adorable little mini chunks of concrete with metal ties sticking out. He told me it was to get the rebar off the ground and my job was to lay on the ground and position these and attach the rebar. Once I figured out what and how and why, it was pretty fun.

Day 7 (Thursday): I'm hoping someone has a picture because this was the most unflattering outfit I've worn yet. Concrete pouring day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We ran down to town with Dan for breakfast. He had heard of a restaurant a few months back that we tried and discovered the women were all very...breasty. We now call the place Phelan Hooters (Phelan is the town it's in). Breakfast was delicious at Phelan Hooters. It was during this meal Dan advised there is lye (or maybe he said lyme) in concrete and I don't want it on my skin. I had brought shorts for the job so that wasn't going to be a good thing. Plus, the weather turned and it was colder now. The solution was to go to the hardware store to obtain a few other items along with a painting cover up deal. I didn't expect to find a stylish purple ladies cut (although I was hopeful), but I did assume there would be more than one option. Nope. I was forced to slide myself into a size large white meshy sort of deal with the crotch down by my knees. Sexy, right?

Dan had access to a cement mixer so he dragged that into our yard and Mike threw in 60 lb bags of concrete and some water. I had no idea concrete was so rocky. I thought it was more of a sandy peanut butter consistency. Dan explained that's a different kind (don't remember the name now). We ended up with a pretty decent system. Mike handled the mixer and the shoveling of any excess concrete. Steve and I were on bucket duty and we would walk back and forth dumping wet muck into the forms. Mike had cut a piece of wood which we used as a ramp (made it a ton easier). By the 20th bucket trip, I was getting a little tired of mushy building materials. By the 80th bucket, I wanted to murder someone. Actually, it really wasn't that bad and I'm not sure how many buckets it was in total. I think we decided 40 bags of concrete were mixed and moved. Anyway, certain spots were especially impossible based on gas or water lines or trees or whatever.

Day 8 (Friday): Vacation Day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We did NO work. Instead, we met up with our new friends in a neighboring cabin and we went off roading with them on Rhinos. No, not the animal kind (how awesome would that have been?!). It was so much fun!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Day 9 (Saturday): My sister had flown in the night before from back east and she arrived with my mom in the morning. Slave driver Dan was already cracking the whip and we were moving bricks and mixing mortar. I was given a trowel and a bucket. Cool. It wasn't long before Dan looked thoroughly disgusted with my brick laying skills. I believe he accused me of "decorating a cake". Later when I was supposed to be using the tool to put mounds of mortar on the top of the brick so the bottom of the new one would stick, I discovered using my hand was easier. He then accused me of "making cookies". I think the point is that I belong in a kitchen rather than a masonry career.

I know there is an excellent reason we didn't put bricks in more places, but I think it's because of the supports holding up the cabin. Somehow those have to be removed and support will be installed elsewhere. I'm not going to worry about that yet. That reminds me, though. One of the days I ended up slithering under the cabin to see if I could reach the valve to shut off the gas to the pilot light on the heater. Nope. It was way too far and in an area with super low clearance.

Day 10 (Sunday): Sadness. Going home day. I was SO not ready to get back to civilization and so I slowly puttered around. We packed up and left and I nearly cried. Can't wait to go back.

[MRSQSL]

I left out a fun little story. Near the end (probably Wednesday), I decided to tackle the dead buckthorn down towards the road. We had gotten a quote from the people clearing the rest of our piles, but he said it would require a backhoe and therefore $350. It didn't look difficult or terribly time consuming to me so I threw on black sweats (yes in the hottest heat of the summery day) and began plucking thorny plant matter off the ground and into large piles (three to be exact). I kept having to take breaks because of the heat and my poor color choice, but I needed something that would cover my delicate skin. Not only was I a smidge sunburned from the paint scraping experience, but buckthorn is a thorn. A giant, thorny, scratchy, twisted, evil plant. I'd try to throw a huge branch and a piece would snag on my sweats and rip at my leg and then flonk back on my head. It wasn't amusing. I did this off and on all day and eventually got the bulk piled up. No backhoe needed, so I'm thinking I'm Wonder Woman now. That or the plants had been dead for so long they were essentially disintegrating in my hands.

So there I was on the last little section when I saw something slither towards me. The front portion I could see was black and the back was a shockingly beautiful blue. "Blarg". I didn't think I really said anything, but Mike was all the way up on the deck and yelled down to see if I was okay. "Sssssssnaaaaaaake!" I screeched. He grabbed Steve and they came tromping down all excited like. I was holding still as a board since the reptile had been heading right towards me in a serpent-y zig zag. I kept pointing, but they couldn't figure out where it was. I eventually grabbed a stick and started poking. I never saw it again, but my Google search informed me it was a skink. No, not a skank. A skink. Some sort of lizard with an extremely long tail that most people mistake for a snake because they don't see much of the black front portion where the legs are. Yup. I agree. It was a horrific little creature until I discovered it was a lizard and now I want to catch it and hold it and love it and pet it. The color really was breathtaking.

[frankeeski]

You forgot Monday of this week. After having a really super fun time on the neighbor Rhinos the previous week, Mike had to have one of his own. A bazillion dollars later, BOOM! Brand new side by side ATV in the garage.;)

[bwdziol]

Another you forgot. Since mike's "little garage" is little and he knows were the key is to my garage, I now have a jeep parked in my garage. This man needs an intervention. Maybe it's just the altitude. Can't wait to see what's next.
dz

[David Hodgkins]

I feel like I'm missing out. How about a "Cobra BBQ" day so some of us lowlanders can check out how you mountain folk live?

I'll bring the beef.

:)

[frankeeski]

........and he knows were the key is to my garage, I now have a jeep parked in my garage. This man needs an intervention.
dz

Hey, I know where that key is. Would a "where's Mike's Jeep" intervention be in order????? :)

[QSL]

Guys, First of all it was not a bazillion dollars. Its a very modest side by side with 1000cc and 4wd. It was needed due to the rough terrain between cabins. Its all about safety and nothing else.

Secondly, I hide my jeep keys better then Dan hides his cabin keys, so good luck.

lastly, David, there is car show up there coming up that Dan and I will be attending. All you guys are free to come! We can have a BBQ dinner after. At dans of course, since he basically has a mansion with built in BBQ pit.

http://www.wrightwoodchamber.org/annual-events/wrightwood-classic-car-show/

[68GT500MAN]

That looks like a BAZILLION dollars to me! And in camouflage too, is that so you can sneak up on Dan? Thanks for the updates, I love the way Julie expresses herself through words.
Doug

[QSL]

Its camo because we are technically not supposed to be driving them around where the cabin is. Soooo, this is my way of trying to stay on the down low driving through the woods VS a lifted chrome with metallic yellow paint job. LOL.

Also has winch, but again, for safety.

[MRSQSL]

I wanted the yellow one. He said no. Whatever. I know where the hardware store keeps cans of spray paint.

If I had a money tree and plenty of extra space, I'd buy the white electric one too. Then I COULD sneak up on Dan. BEEEEEEP, BEEEEEEEP!!!!!

[bwdziol]

Julie,
Sneak up on me. Ha you can't even get here. Can anyone say FIRE. BTW, everything is fine up here. All the wind is going north. See you soon.
Z

[frankeeski]

And what, you bought a brand new Jeep Grand Cherokee to pull it up there? Julie, where's that money tree? :)

[MRSQSL]

If anyone was watching the news, we are okay. I will post update tomorrow.

[MRSQSL]

Pop some popcorn, this is quite a story and it's going to be long. I'll probably post in chunks.

About two hours prior to leaving for the cabin Friday night, I got a text from Mike saying there was a fire on the Cajon pass (freeway we take to the cabin) and it's shut down. NOOOOOOO!!!! I turn on the news and see the fire jumped the road and left hundreds of people scrambling to get out. Cars were abandoned, some were on fire. Helicopters were flying over dropping water on the burning vehicles. I've never seen anything like it. Being insane, we decided we were still going to the cabin, but would take one of a few alternate routes. We decided on the longest but safest which would be about a 4 hour drive if there wasn't any additional traffic. Knowing this was going to be a long, miserable drive, we opted to leave the kids and dogs home with the agreement that Alyssa would drive them up the next morning once things had calmed down. Mike checked all the traffic maps online and discovered a few lanes on the 15N had reopened and the traffic wasn't really all that bad. We opted to take the risk and head straight through. I was keeping in touch with my family during the drive and Mike spoke with Frankeeski who had seen a truck towing a side by side on the news which was right next to a vehicle on fire. Was afraid it was us (wasn't). They talked for a bit and commented that this was all Dan's fault. Every time Dan brings the darn bobcat up the hill to do some digging, bad things happen. First time - Dan hurt his back. Second time - Dan got really sick and we drove him down the mountain and he ended up in ICU. This time - fire shutting down freeway. He's no longer allowed to bring the thing up.

Traffic turned out to be better than usual. We were shocked that we didn't see fire, smoke or anything unusual and we only got stuck in about 15 minutes of traffic. Better than the normal Friday night drive. Yay! I continued to keep my family posted. You wouldn't have known there was a fire anywhere in the area if we hadn't seen it on the news. The only indication was a parking lot filled with tow trucks carrying the burned out vehicles.

Driving, driving. Everything is fine. We go through Wrightwood and shortly after Mike mentions he smells smoke. Odd since we are further from the fire. I'm looking around and see this giant orange glow with smoke billowing. I have no idea what I said but I apparently said something. Mike started questioning me. We couldn't wrap our heads around the idea that I saw fire. It's not possible from where we are. The fire is over 15 miles away. I'm positive I saw it though.

He drives us past our cabin and up to the turnout behind. We fly out of the car and look down. Flames. Giant, horrible flames. The wind is blowing directly at us and the flames are not far away. Mike grabs his phone and calls Dan just as a Mountain High truck pulls up. The driver calls in the fire and we talk to him about where/what is burning. He tells us they will open the gates at Mountain High West for us and we should go there. We thank him and he leaves. Dan was asleep and knew nothing of the fire so we say we'll come get him.

Mike drives us down to our cabin (we are towing so we can't go to Dan's since we won't be able to turn back around easily). I undo the lock and he tears up to the cabin. I race over, grab a sweatshirt because I'm wearing a dress with spaghetti straps and flip flops and it's stinking cold and windy out. Mike races up to Dan's to get him and our Jeep (we were keeping it in his garage temporarily). I run to the cabin next to Dan's to wake those people up. I tell them what's going on and that they need to wake up the guy in another cabin. We think it's only a handful of people occupying cabins at that time. Mike, Dan and I hop in the Jeep and race back down the mountain. We want to see if we can figure out exactly what's on fire and make sure there are fire crews of some sort. It's bad. I mean, it's really, really bad and there isn't a single person of authority around. All the emergency vehicles had been dispatched down to the Cajon fire with zero resources left in the town. We are in shock and figure we are going to lose the cabin. Dan says to take him back to his and we'll grab stuff and evacuate.

We drop Dan off and Mike realizes the other cabin is still dark. He slams on the gas and head to that one. I jump out and unlock the gate. Mike doesn't even wait. He's tearing down the road and runs up to the guy's front door. I catch up and climb back in the Jeep. I call the people from the cabin I originally woke up and tell them it's really bad and they need to get out. We are going to Mountain High West.

Mike wakes the guy up and explains the situation. We speed back to our cabin. I tell Mike if he drives this Jeep, I'll drive the other (with the side by side attached). I can't drive the standard, but I can drive the automatic. He says he'll turn it around for me. Mike unlocks the cabin and we rush in to take our valuables. Everything is valuable to us but we can't take it all. We grab a few of the things we know we can't replace and video tape the rest for the insurance company. We are about 90% certain at this point that we are going to lose the cabin. The fire is raging. The winds are blowing. There is no fire personnel to fight it.

It's so hard to say goodbye to the cabin, but I pet it a few times and tell it we love it and to do its best to fight off the flames. I was nearly in tears. This is our paradise and I don't want to lose it.

To be continued...

[MRSQSL]

On my last load out of the cabin, a guy came running up to the door to see if we needed any help. It was such a kind gesture. I was stunned. The road was filled with people coming up to look. No fire personnel had arrived so the road was free and clear for people to traverse. I think the residents of the town were starting to sound the alarm and were coming up to see for themselves. It was a little tough to pull out of the driveway, but Mike had turned the Jeep rig around so I didn't have to try to back a trailer into odd positions. Dan met us out front and we caravanned down the road and across the street to Mountain High West. The gate was open but blocked and we were concerned they had changed their minds about letting us evacuate there. The big fire on the Cajon pass had an evacuation center at a high school, but we really didn't want to go there and going home wasn't an option. How do you worry about your cabin long distance? Fortunately, some cars moved out of the way and we were beckoned onto the property. I've never been so thankful as when I looked in the rearview mirror and saw a fire engine directly behind me on the main road. One engine wasn't going to make a difference, but somehow that didn't matter to my adrenaline filled brain.

We pulled into the large lot and were directly across from the fire. Mike should be able to add in pictures and maybe even video. If he does, the cabins are about 500 yards to the left of the flames at that point. It isn't long before a MH (Mountain High) employee comes over and asks us to move. They have all these big snow blowers and have decided to take one and hook it to something to blow water on the fire. Excellent idea!!!!! We move so they can access one. We are all facing away from the fire and Dan refuses to look back at it. He said he's 99.5% sure we will lose the cabins. He has had his for 10 years and you can see the devastation on all our faces. Mike and I hug. I'm shaking, but I don't know if it's from the cold, the adrenaline or the sadness. Maybe a combination of all.

Everyone has met there except that last cabin where Mike woke the guy up. We are worried, but he was definitely awake and maybe decided to head home or to the official evacuation center. It turns out that parking lot is designated as the command center. Within an hour or two there are about 50 Sheriff's vehicles and some other assorted authorities. We saw some fire personnel and some forest service people. MH employees come over bearing water and tell us they've opened the lodge. We are welcome to stay the night and help ourself to drinks, restrooms, etc. We can sleep in the parking lot in our cars if we'd like. They update us whenever they hear any news, but they are running around trying to set things up in case the fire shifts and it comes back at us. They also have a property above our cabins and are pretty sure they are going to lose at least part of it. Like us, they have cameras mounted here and there and are checking every so often. Dan had been on the phone with his wife when the phone lines caught so we know phones are out.

It's just a horrible waiting game. We can't do anything. All we can see is a fire engulfed mountain but no clue how our cabins are doing once the power goes out around 2 am. Now our security cameras won't work. MH loses theirs too so they can't tell either. It's really super dark in the parking lot and stays that way until they manage to get a generator going somewhere around 3:30 in the morning. Dan and I are trying to sleep in the front seats of his truck, but Mike has given up and decided to try to sleep in our enclosed Jeep. I would've gone with him, but there was stuff in the back seat which would've kept me from reclining the seat. Dan's truck was pretty spacious and he has a ham radio setup so we could listen to some of the chatter on that.

Big school buses showed up at one point to coordinate with the Sheriff in order to evacuate several of the local camps. That was quite a process but they got all the kids out. It was a little amusing because the camps were about 7 miles in the opposite direction of the fire so those people were never really in danger, but listening to everyone pat themselves on the back for a successful operation at the end was entertaining.

Anyway, Dan and I walked to the restroom about 3:30 and then back out to his truck. He found a pillow and a jacket so we reclined and tried to get comfy. It was incredibly nice of him to lend me the pillow. I would've taken the jacket, but he insisted. I was laying there with my eyes closed when the generator kicked in and the giant parking lot lights came on. Wow. That was a shock. I kept my eyes closed, but it was like the sun was coming directly at me. I said something to Dan about them getting brighter. He agreed. It was almost painful. He tried to move the visor for me, but I was at a bad height and position. It was incredibly thoughtful of him to try though. We slept off and on for the next two hours, but it doesn't really count as sleep.

To be continued...

[MRSQSL]

With the rising of the sun, we saw things had improved, but still weren't sure about our cabins. Throughout the night I had gotten out to ask law enforcement and any other official looking person if they knew anything. Nobody could tell me much. Helicopters had been doing water drops, but not on the side where our cabins were. Power was still out so we couldn't see our cameras. MH seemed to have sent all the employees home.

Bunches of fire trucks pulled in and the crews got out to grab a quick meal which had been delivered by the local grocery store. Large command post vehicles from the Sheriff's Office arrived and set up behind us. We had no answers still. Eventually a guy came over and asked us if we owned cabin 2. No, but we know who does and we've been in contact with him. The guy says he is from the insurance company and is a retired firefighter. I guess he was sent out to make sure the cabin was okay and was able to cross the lines last night to see. He assured us all our cabins were still standing at that point, but he didn't know how things had progressed since. They were going to have a meeting shortly and he'd be sitting in on it. We thanked him profusely. We didn't think they'd allow us near our road so Dan got the brilliant idea to go to the big official command post trailers and ask if we could get an escort to close up our cabins. An escort was granted, but we all had to be in one vehicle behind the cruiser. Okay. Dan told them he would drop us at our cabin and then go up to his. They agreed and off we went. I hugged the cabin like you wouldn't believe. I've never been so thankful to see a structure standing. Our area appeared to be untouched. We closed everything up and turned out the lights (not that we could see they were on since the power was out but we knew we had left them on and the gate unlocked so the firefighters could get in easily to protect the structures). I told the cabin I wasn't abandoning it but that we weren't allowed there. We'd be back as soon as we could.

Mike went over to the cabin of the guy we had woken up. He admitted he had refused to leave even when the Sheriff came to evacuate them. He stayed up all night hosing down his cabin and even went out to the front lines with Cal Fire to help. Talk about an amazing and brave man!!!!!

We went back to MH and discussed options. We decided we were going to make a run for it and try to get back to the cabin. They may be able to keep us out, but if we can get in, they can't throw us out. The fire had gone around the back of the mountain at this point so as long as the winds didn't change drastically, we should be fine. Dan figured he was just going to go home. We said our goodbyes and Mike and I sped out of there. We made it back to the cabin in about 2 minutes flat with no sign of the Sheriff on our tail. They must've been distracted. It didn't take long before we saw Dan speeding up the hill. He had gotten to the county line before deciding he couldn't leave either. Would be more stressful at home worrying than being right there in the thick of things.

The Sheriff eventually noticed us, but said we could stay. Later in the day they came by again and said our area was still under evacuation, but it wasn't mandatory. We SHOULD leave, but we didn't have to. They were worried about the fire coming over the mountain and heading for us again. We opted to stay.

The power was out so we couldn't light the oven portion of the stove and the fridge was dead so all the food was bad along with all the cold food we had brought up the evening before. We couldn't use the water heater (electric ignition I think) so dishes wouldn't be washed correctly unless we boiled water on the stove. We were so exhausted anyway, it didn't really matter.

To make an already extremely long story a little shorter, we stayed until Sunday. It started raining Saturday morning which was great except it was a thunderstorm with lots of lightning. The crews were pulled off the lines until the danger passed and then they were back out working hard. I have no idea how they managed to save every structure on that mountain, but they did. If there was a way to thank every single one, I would do it in a heartbeat. We saw crews from all over California going up and down the road. We found out later the fire was started (don't know cause) in the driveway of a camp down below us and it burned straight up. Had it gone to the left at all (like the wind was blowing), we would've lost everything. It burned up and around JPL and then down the other side. It rained so hard on Sunday that flooding became an issue. Phones were still out. Power was still out and Mike was digging out areas near the cabin (soaked to the bone) to keep the water from coming inside. We had white water rapids behind our cabin from the runoff. It was insane. Boulders rolled down the hill and onto the roads. The town of Wrightwood was flooding. It was an amazingly powerful storm.

Power was restored this morning which we know because we can access our security cameras again. Dan is still up there and went down to help at the camp because their road got washed out. We were questioned by the investigators to see what we knew, but they weren't giving any info. I hope they can figure out the cause, but I'm pretty sure all the evidence was washed down the hill. I'm sure I've left out some details, but that was the experience we had this weekend. Channel 4 news interviewed one of the cabin owners in front of our cabin Saturday. It was a horrible weekend which I hope never to repeat, but I love my cabin even more and am incredibly thankful it's still standing. Mike and I are still exhausted today. Can barely think straight. I hope we can get re-energized soon because this dragging fatigue feeling is terrible.

[QSL]

Pic of fire early on before any Cal Fire was at the scene. 43702

[68GT500MAN]

Glad to hear that all of you (and Dan) are safe. The property was saved but that is NOT as important as human life. Julie, now your stories about clearing the brush and undergrowth according to the fire standards has a real meaning, it may have prevented something bigger, even loss of the cabin. This story needs to go in the book.
Doug

[MRSQSL]

I haven't been avoiding the update, so to speak, but there isn't really anything related to working on the cabin this time around. We had a play weekend. Our annual cabin meeting was Saturday with a magnificent potluck to follow. We hung out with the other cabin owners and had a pretty darn good time. Sunday was a trail riding event with the cabin owners that had off road type vehicles. One full size Jeep (Rubicon), two rhinos (I swear this isn't an automotive version of the twelve days of Christmas despite how it's looking), one Polaris and one CanAm. I had no idea a caravan of cuteness would be so much fun. We all looked adorable driving around together. Things went swimmingly until we reached a spot that was clear two weeks ago, but was now a giant mess of landslide debris. Literally TONS of rocks and dirt and tree pieces had slid down the mountain and right onto the road. The opposite side was a cliff so it's not like we could take a detour. We all got out and stood around appreciating the magnitude of forces mother nature had bestowed upon this unsuspecting little section of forest. Someone suggested we could probably make a somewhat decent road if we all worked together. I initially thought this was insane, but an hour later, when we were successfully driving over it, I felt like maybe there was a possibility. We learned we need to keep gloves in the UTV. The two Rhinos had small shovels which helped, but the big advantage was the winch on the Jeep. He winched up boulders and giant tree pieces like a pro. It was actually an amazing feeling to have been a part of a team like that. I think maybe I had a twinkle in my eye even though I broke a few nails and was absolutely filthy.

We continued on until we reached the bottom of the canyon. Talk about rockslides. There is no ground. It's rock. Steve found an alternate route and we only had to winch a tree and throw around a few hundred rocks before we were all tottering over to the next patch of road. We ended up having lunch at an old campground (talk about rustic) before deciding it was too late to continue on. Some of us had work the next day (although several are retired - lucky ducks). The group had been looking for a name, so after the excursion, we are officially known as "The Awesome Boulder Rollers". Hee, hee. Our next outing is supposed to be in a couple weeks. We'll go out and do some more work on that road of ours.

Things have been pretty terrible so far this week. Most issues are minor and not worth mentioning, but one of our cabin owners passed away a couple days ago. The whole community is grieving. She was an amazing woman and it's not fair she was taken. Cancer sucks.

[MRSQSL]

The car show in Wrightwood is coming up!!!! Pre-registration ended yesterday, but it's not too late. You can register the day of. Send me, Mike or Dan a message and we'll give you the info and times and of course everyone is still invited to the cabins. We need to know in advance so we can get the correct amount of food. Thanks!!!!!

[MRSQSL]

This wasn't one of those super fun weekends. This was a work weekend. Step one: Change the skid plates on the UTV from the plastic ones to the metal ones. No, I didn't finish the job...yet. The instructions anger me. I started with the front piece. The instructions told me to remove the bumper (not normal hardware so stupid little Torx wrench things are needed). What it failed to mention was that you don't need to REMOVE the bumper, just the four bolts in the front so you can slide the plate up and re-attach. Yes. I'm fully aware that had I mocked it up rather than reading the instructions, I wouldn't have done all the extra work. Maybe the men that refuse to read directions aren't so crazy after all.

I couldn't do this entire project myself. In fact, most of it was a fail for me. The instructions specifically said not to use a pneumatic riveter, so I had brought up the hand riveter. Anyone building a car needs to get a pneumatic one. If I didn't already know this before, it became abundantly clear very quickly. I don't know what words to use so I'll do my best to describe. You take a rivet stem that has an odd threaded end and put a sleeve looking thing that accepts the thread on it and put a washer on that. The directions are vague and show a picture with the threads sticking way out. In fact, you thread it all the way in. So then apparently you stick the rivet stem in the riveter and squeeze a few times without breaking the stem, but somehow magically causing the sleeve thing to stick in the hole. Then you manage to somehow remove the rivet stem from the rivet tool and the washer falls on the ground and then you can unscrew the threaded rivet and it leaves you with a stem, a lost washer which is now somewhere in the dirt and a hole filled with some odd adapter/sleeve thing. Do this four times. Once again I have to admit Mike is a genius since he figured all this out and managed to actually do it.

So then it was my turn to put the A-arm protectors on. First of all, the directions made it look like the left was the right and vice versa. Maybe the directions are fine and I'm reversed. That's entirely possible - probable even. Step 1: Drill out the rivets. Strangest looking rivets I've seen, but okay. I tried. Didn't work. I whined and Dan changed my bit to a larger one. All better. Well, except I was laying in rocky dirt that was really uncomfortable and it was super hot in the bright sun and the drill was too heavy to hold for long periods of time over my head and the new bit was long so I ended up having to dig into the dirt so the drill could fit between the earth and the rivet. I survived and I conquered. Step 2: Put clamps on the A-arms. Okay, so the picture isn't very clear, but I spun it this way and that, threw it on the ground, growled and shoved the clamps on the way I (me, me, me) thought they should go. Wrong. Change. Wrong. Change. Wrong. Change. Do this until you give up and try smashing the metal protector on (mocking up). Sigh. I was right the first time. Step 3: Somehow figure out how to grow an extra hand so you can hold the heavy metal piece above your head while sticking a bolt through the plate hole and both portions of the clamp (which won't stay close enough together to get the bolt through) and then stick a nut on the entire tower of awesomeness. Yeah, impossible. I got help. While Mike was there, I suggested he do the riveting. I've never seen him make faces like he made while trying to break off the 3/16 stem. I was seriously afraid his face would explode. He turned all read and vein-y and he was twisting and thrashing. He probably wasn't amused when I yelled 1 down 5 to go.

Sunday was more of a work on the cabin day. Mike decided it was time to lower the cabin some and take out those I-beams. He did that Saturday while I was slaving away under the UTV. It looked great except for the gaping holes. I could've gotten used to the holes, but no. Mike and Dan decided we needed to put brick down. This involved heavy lifting, mortar and cement. Not my favorite things. We succeeded and once again affirmed we should not be masons. As far as I can tell, everything is still standing. Now there is only one gap. Oh, but before we did the blocks, we had to get the forms out and insulate the pipes. Yup, that meant Julie and Steve were skished up under the cabin. Claustrophobia, here I come. The last form refused to budge and I bet Dan (an apple pie) that he couldn't get it out. In a blink of an eye, the form was laying on the ground outside of the cabin innards. Sigh. I guess I need to bake a pie this week. I also need to bake a cake since Steve's birthday is Wednesday.

Next weekend we are supposed to completely lower the cabin. It's down quite a bit already. I'm anxious to see if our new little block wall (Dan called it a stub wall which made me giggle - stub is a cute word) can hold up under the full weight of the cabin.

[bwdziol]

And now the rest of the story. Yes, Mike took out the support cribbing and as of Sunday evening the ENTIRE room (6ft x 16ft) is being held up at one corner. The idea is to wait and let the wall's "relax" and come closer to level. Don't worry, Mike placed some blocks to limit the amount it will settle. Julie thinks the foundation needs to hold the weight of the cabin, in truth, Mike may have to use anchors to "pull down" the walls, but give it a week and on their return it may be somewhat close to level. (NOT) What I didn't get was any pictures of Julie the concrete mortar wizard making nice little piles of goo on top of the blocks that had already been set so Mike could set the next row of blocks. Of course watching them fill the cell's with "soupy" spec mix with a paper soda cup was worth the wait. Overall the Casey dynamic duo has taken on every challenge with fearless abandon. They have taken what any sensible couple would have run away from and transformed it into the "Casey cabin". Even the fearless cabin guard dog "TACO" like's being there.
Dan Z

[MRSQSL]

Mike did not make me a happy camper this week. He took Friday off and took my Steve buddy and Taco (chihuahua) to the cabin. I realize they did an extreme amount of work (Dan included), but that doesn't make it okay to leave me behind (especially since I was working). I'm trying to convince him to take this Friday off so we can drive the Cobra up Thursday night and have time to work on the cabin Friday. So far it's not working.

So we have a new front door. I doubt Mike will post pictures, so I'll take a stab. I LOVE IT!!!!!! We bought it unstained. Mike and Dan slaved away all day Friday and both looked exhausted and disheveled by the time I arrived Friday night. Apparently the wall holding the door was in terrible shape. I mean...no pieces of wood touching each other for studs kind of shape. So they ripped it down and rebuilt the wall. Hanging a door in a crooked cabin sounded amusing. Mike employed the "cabin optical illusion" technique. That's where you make one thing mostly level and then move everything around to make the rest of the place look as level as possible. It didn't work so smoothly. Looks like the door is going to fall out of the cabin. In actuality, the door is level, but the cabin is...well...not. I was employed (at my usual wages - big fat zero) to wipe the stain off after Mike applied it. I thought he was kidding at first. Why would I wipe something off after you put it on? Don't we want to keep it? Once I tried, it made sense and it was actually kind of fun. I eventually was allowed to actually apply stain and then remove it. Yay. I think it came out surprisingly well considering I was involved. I was also given the task of painting the wood that would be nailed around the door. This was the first time using the new green paint that we finally got a permit for. My first stroke made me think I hated the color. As it dried and more was applied, I fell in love with it. Now I'm itching to paint everything I can find. This caused me to do more sanding on the front windows. Still not enough to paint, but getting better. It would really help if I either had grittier sandpaper or if Mike would go through and use a little muscle to mush the paint into smooth submission. Either works for me. I'm essentially just "petting" the paint when I try to sand.

At some point during the day Friday, Mike, Steve and/or Dan lowered the cabin completely back down onto the new foundation. I was really impressed. They also raised the back portion of the cabin to get the weight off the plumbing and fixed the leak (because of the weight on the plumbing). I don't know if Mike is thinking we will one day fix all of that foundation like we did the other or if he is just going to leave piers under and assume what we have now is good enough. My vote is for fixing it the right way, but I'm a little crazy sometimes (especially after a cup of coffee which I happen to be slurping up at this moment).

We took the UTV out Sunday with some other cabin buddies. Had a ton of fun. The road we had created was still standing, but the road further down below was completely gone. Mike is guessing it'll take about 5 hours (and lots of us) to get it repaired. I think we are up for the task, but it's tough to get everyone together at one time.

The car show is this weekend (hint, hint). Come on out people!!!! We'll feed you and everything. Plus, the weather is going to be miserable in the flatlands and in the 70's up on the mountain.

Plans for next few weekends: car show, remodel other side of kitchen, paint front windows, put skid plates on rest of the UTV. These are the jobs I know of. Three out of those four are on my to do list. Sigh. I'd like to add "work on Coupey", but Mike is still refusing. At least Scoopy will get to stretch its little legs this weekend. Coupey is going to need an extra hug or two though.

44303

[MRSQSL]

I wasn't successful in my incredibly not subtle hints suggesting we take Friday off. Mike did, however, agree to leave work early Friday which turned into a fiasco and he essentially didn't leave work early. Okay, maybe by an hour or so, but that doesn't really count. I learned a few things. 1) Scoopy is as awesome as I remember. 2) Driving on the freeway when it is 105 degrees out and the traffic is stopped does not make for a happy wife or a happy life. 3) Contigos are amazing. I put ice water in one for each of us and it was still super cold by the time we arrived two hours later. Wait, that's not true. It was GONE by then. It was cold for the first 1.5 hours. This would make an excellent addition to your roadster travel package. Without the water, I'm pretty sure I would've had heat stroke. I tried to convince Mike to drive on the shoulder. If he got pulled over, he could tell them I was having heat related issues. I was beet red, so they would've believed it. He used some sort of crazy logic to deduce that there is a bunch of junk in the shoulder. Whatever.

The cabin was so much cooler than the flat lands. Wow!!!!! Within 20 minutes I had a flannel on. Yay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Saturday morning was the Wrightwood car show. Frank and Julie came up super early that morning and the 5 of us (them, us and Dan) all hauled ourselves down the hill into town. We were early enough to be parked on the main drag. Pro: Lots of people looking at the cars. Cons: Lots of people looking at the cars and the sun beat down on us the entire time. Mike and I were very fortunate in that Frank and Julie had two umbrellas and Dan had one so we were able to nab some of their shade the entire day. Can't thank them enough. It was a long day, but nice to spend some time chatting and looking at all the cars. Afterwards, we popped down to the grocery store and grabbed some food for a little get together. Dan had to go down to a camp to help them cook and serve 80 lbs of chicken, but he made it in time for dinner with us. In fact, he even drove me down to the store in his Cobra to grab a few sides after we started inviting every other cabin owner up there to our place. His car doesn't ride like Scoopy and I was surprised. Now I want to ride in every roadster to see how they are all different from each other.

Sunday morning I went down to the aforementioned camp with Dan and another cabin owner. We did dishes to help them out. By the time I returned, Mike had torn up a chunk of the kitchen floor. Sometime in the cabin's lengthy past, someone put down thin set. I kept asking Mike why there was concrete on the floor. When he moved on to the next section, it smelled bad. Really bad. It was crumbly too. He discovered it was mold. The theory we are going with for the moment is that there used to be water and a drain in that spot and we think maybe it wasn't capped off when they stopped using it. Perhaps when we had the clogged pipe several months back, the water backed up into that drain and into the wall and onto the subfloor area. We'll find out this weekend when we break open the walls. In the meantime, he got the floor down to a part that wasn't damaged (lots of layers of floor over the years). The cabin looks cleaner than it ever has despite it being the old worn out planks of wood. The linoleum that was in there just looked awful. So my job was to walk around with a hammer (after cleaning up all the debris from the demo) and pull out the nails sticking out of the floor. Seems easy enough. Except that the nails didn't want to come out and I had to bend over with the hammer which put a strain on my already tired back and neck and it smelled funny and it was hot in the cabin (cool outside though) and I was just all around not enjoying the work. Why won't nails come out? Why would someone put a nail right along the edge of the wall where you can't get the little hammer slot? Why on earth would anyone pick that particular pattern of linoleum? Ewww, or that one? Each layer was a little more shocking than the last.

We ended up staying until after dark Sunday so we drove home without sunbeams burning our skin. It wasn't cool though. It was stinking hot. We got home just before 10:00 and it was 85 degrees. Bleck.

The plan is for Mike to go up for a bit tomorrow morning with building supplies so he can throw the floor down. That should make it so that we can rip down the walls over the weekend and he can do the electrical work over there as well as tap into the gas line for a BBQ project. I feel like there won't be much I'm capable of doing, but we'll see. Worst case I can always go out and put skid plates on the UTV.

[bwdziol]

Maybe Julie forgot to mention that they won the "BEST SPECIAL INTEREST" award. Note to self. NEVER invite friends to a car show that have a better looking car than yours.

Dan Z

[MRSQSL]

Mike HAS to post a picture this week. PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Mike had shot up to the cabin for a few hours one day during the week so he could put flooring down. Not the pretty flooring, but the stuff that goes under that. Masonite? I don't know. Whatever it was looked better than the old linoleum (all 8 layers of it). He also got there earlier than I did Friday so he was able to get one wall completely torn out (took a pic so I could see what it looked like behind and the creativeness used in the building process all those years ago). He put T1-11 up and it looked so much better. He allegedly put insulation in, but I never got to see that.

Saturday he ripped off the rest of the wall and I helped lug it out into the truck bed. The worst part was removing the old icky insulation. It was filled with nasty dead mice and mouse excretions and bird seed, etc. Bleck. It smelled horrible and I wanted to vomit the entire time. I'd rather change hundreds of newborn baby diapers than clean out old insulation. Mike claimed I had to do it because he "didn't have any gloves". I was tempted to point out the stack in the garage, but decided it was wiser just to do as I was asked.

Curious about the black mold/water leak issue? Yeah, I was too until Mike confirmed it was the drain in the wall which they didn't cap off. That section of insulation was especially...unappetizing. We won't be having that issue again.

After a long day of demo, Mike added an outlet outside (which looks amazing and high tech) as well as an addition to the gas line so we can hook up a propane BBQ out on the deck (yum). I started putting in the insulation, but was having issues with the stupid staple gun thing. Ours wouldn't staple at all. Dan let us borrow a blingy silver one, but it took the strength of 22 elephants to squeeze it. I made some noises while attempting to staple which I'm not sure I could replicate. When Dan came back to check on the progress and found me screaming at the stapler, he brought me one of his that was more like ours - made for small, delicate, feminine woman hands. Yay!!!!!!!!! So much easier!!

Mike and Alyssa went to the Taylor Swift concert so work stopped around 4:30. The rest of us had a lovely dinner with Dan down in town. Mike and Aly didn't return until about 1:30 a.m. Yawn. Work didn't start as early as usual on Sunday, but we did manage to put up every last scrap of insulation. Time to buy more. We also cut and carried and Mike installed the T1-11 up to the point where the insulation ran out. The most exciting part of the day was when he and Aly's boyfriend installed the cabinets. There are a handful of things I refuse to do. I will never hold a cabinet over my head ever again. I figured this out years ago when we remodeled the kitchen in our first house. Better to let Mike balance the thing on a screw. Yes, I can be replaced by a screw or a bolt or a nail. He has proven this several times.

The cabinets and counters are in and the stove hooked up and I LOVE my new kitchen. It makes such a huge difference. There's still work to be done (like the rest of the wall and the flooring and the sides of the counters), but it is amazing. I could've stared for hours. Oh and Mike also put up big beams to tie in that portion of the kitchen with the section between the living room and kitchen. That made no sense. I guess it's one of those things that has to be seen. The point is that Mike did amazing things to the kitchen this weekend (with my help) and I am beyond thrilled. My kitchen is adorable. My stove looks like it belongs now instead of looking like we randomly threw appliances in an abandoned shack. Mike, PLEASE put up some pictures. At least one. PLEASE!!!!!!!!

[BFFofMRSQSL]

Yea, Mike - PLEASE!??!!!!

Jules, nothing and no one can ever replace you.

[MRSQSL]

Jules, nothing and no one can ever replace you.

Clearly you've never seen the hardware selection at McFadden-Dale. Hee, hee.

[Presto51]

Clearly you've never seen the hardware selection at McFadden-Dale. Hee, hee.

Julie get out of the stud section before Mike finds out :rolleyes:

Ron

[MRSQSL]

I don't know why Mike hates me and never posts pictures. Sigh.

45067

[MRSQSL]

I haven't figured out how to resize pictures, so sorry you have to click on that link thing.

So this weekend was interesting. We got up to the cabin late Friday and went to bed. Saturday morning Mike continued with his wall replacing while I began on the flooring. Peel and stick tile is much easier than I thought it would be. I was pretty scared at first, but have decided I could do this for a living. Wait, no. I'm not GOOD at it, I just like it. I did all the full sized tiles from the center of the room out. The edges would be complicated so I stopped. Apparently Mike assumed I could figure it out and persuaded me to use scissors and try. I used every brain muscle I could muster to figure out how to make the cuts and have been quite pleased with the progress. I have no pictures, but Mike does. That won't help since he isn't posting them on here anymore. Sad face. I don't know that I love the pattern we picked out, but it isn't horrible and it sure makes the kitchen look clean and new.

Mike occasionally loves me (despite never posting pictures). I had two painted rocks he had given me which I wanted to mount over the stove. I suggested last weekend that he find a way to do it. Sure enough, he surprised me Friday night with two handmade rock holders. I now have a rock raccoon and a rock bear watching me cook when I use the stove/oven. Yay!!!!!! I guess he bent some hydraulic tubing and painted it and it all looks nifty.

Saturday evening we had a huge party at one of the cabins. As far as I can tell, it was 28 people. That doesn't sound like a large amount until you remember how small the cabins are. It was a ton of fun with delicious food and the nicest people. At 9:00 we all headed over to the small observatory a few miles down a gated road. I don't know if I posted about it previously, but we had a dog show up on our doorstep which turned out to belong to the guy that takes care of the observatory. As a thank you for saving his pooch, he invited us to the observatory. A couple of the cabin peeps ran into him recently and he officially extended the invitation to all cabin owners. I doubt he'll do that again. :) I don't think he expected such a large group. Anyway, he opened the little door thing and spun the big observatory dome, tilted the telescope and there we had Saturn. I was truly amazed. I've never seen another planet (at least not that I'm aware of). Kind of puts things into perspective. Anyway, we stayed late into the evening. Once Saturn was too close to the horizon, he turned the telescope towards the moon. I wasn't in the room when that happened, but I was able to see a pic Aly took later. Very impressive. So, the observatory people claim they'll invite us back again (smaller group next time) and I'm hoping we get selected to be a part of it. I'd love to spend more time learning about astronomy and they are amazing teachers.

We worked on our respective projects Sunday, but had to leave early to take Alyssa back to college. It was easier this time, but still very difficult. I've talked to her a couple times over the last two days and she seems to be enjoying school life again. I especially miss her in the evenings. She used to run errands with me and now I'm all by my lonesome again. Steve has too much homework and very little desire to hang out with his mother in public.

Projects for the next cabin trip include finishing the floor and restoring the deck. Mike ripped it all apart and discovered everything needs to be replaced. Dan has been kind enough to agree to meet up with his big truck so we can put all those long pieces of wood in it. Would be too hard with our truck. Thank you Dan!!

If you live in So Cal or will be visiting and didn't see it on the Coupe thread, we are having an engine pulling party here on Oct 4. Everyone is welcome.

[Dragonfire]

It is really looking nice. It will be fantastic when all done! :)

[MRSQSL]

I'm afraid it'll never be all done. Sigh.

Project for the week? Deck. I'd add deck builder to my resume, but I'm pretty sure I don't want a job doing that. Well that and I'm not really great at it. By the time I arrived Friday night, Mike had the remainder of the old deck dismembered and in a pile. It was too dark to do anything else, so ate and unpacked and went to bed.

Saturday morning our friend Bill arrived around 8 and work began. Let me first say Dan was nice enough to meet Mike with his truck on Friday. This truck is amazing and can hold at least 6 elephants and a water buffalo. He had 100 blocks in the back. I forget the exact weight, but something like 3600 lbs as well as 30-something 16' redwood planks and other assorted pieces of wood. The truck made it up the hill like a champ. Anyway, I figured it would take a couple hours to have the piers down and the framing mostly completed. I was wrong. It took forever. I'm not complaining and I didn't do much to help with this portion (probably why it took so long). Much of it was spent in discussion because three men had three different plans for the ONE deck and compromises had to be struck. Honestly, I never fully understood what any of the plans entailed. I just smiled and nodded.

Thankfully this was a three day weekend. Day 2 had us all shuffling off to breakfast before tackling the frame once again. At some point in the afternoon, the first deck board was attached. That was a happy moment. I don't want to make it sound as if I sat around eating bon bons while the men folk worked. No. Dan and I spent a large chunk of the morning (Saturday, I believe) moving and water treating the 16' planks. He was tall and strong enough to get them off the rack enough so that I could yank my end out of the sky and wander over to the sawhorses with it. We could do about 6 in a batch. I'd lather them all up with Thompson's water seal (which may or may not have been in a large can in the garage for approximately 20 years) and then we'd move them over to an ingenious little stack Dan came up with. I'm sure he wasn't the inventor, but it was his idea that day and a brilliant one at that. Put all the wood on it's side on blocks (yes some of the ones from his truck) and then use smaller pieces of wood on which we could stack future layers. I didn't describe that well. He had a name for it. Something about "sticks". Anywho, it took hours and I can't thank Dan enough for helping with that. If he hadn't, the deck wouldn't be anywhere near as far along as it is. Mike and Bill were off playing in Victorville (getting more supplies) which takes several hours due to the enormous amount of stoplights.

Okay, so back to Sunday. I had only slathered three sides of the wood so Bill and Mike laid a plank and used nails to space out the width for the next plank. They'd screw that in and repeat. The boards were going in "upside down" so that the unslathered portion was on top. We didn't know if we were going to stain or paint or what. Mike had gotten stain, but when I did a test piece, I didn't like the color. Too yellow. Bill and my mom left that afternoon, but only about half of one side of the deck had planking. I ran to the store and got some sandwiches and returned to find I was assigned to Bill's position. We'd bring a plank over and plop it down and then screw it in. Sounds easy, right? NOOOOOOO! No, it isn't. It's hard for me. All this construction and mechanic stuff is hard for me. You men all make it look so easy. Jerks (meant in a loving way). Problem 1: Bill's drill thing doesn't work for me. The one Mike was using is what I'm used to. Squeeze the button and the metal portion on the front spins. Squeeze the button on Bill's and nothing happens other than a noise that implies something is spinning. I handed it to Mike with my pouty face showing and he explained it has some sort of clutch or something in it (I wasn't really 100% certain and I was distracted by a bird behind him). He told me it would work as soon as I applied pressure. Pouty face. I applied pressure, but the screw went flinging off to the side and I lost all control of the drill. Pouty face. No. I won't use it. Mike rolled his eyes and we switched drilling utensils. Problem 2: How do you get a screw to stay standing without touching it? I had multiple fails before Mike told me to touch it. The head or shoulder or foot or ankle or whatever is smooth so that you can hold it while you start it. How can it be that I'm 39 years old and this is the first I'm hearing of this feature?

I forgot to mention we unloaded all those bricks from Dan's truck on Saturday. Would you believe he had the nerve to go fill up the truck again, but with larger and heavier ones this time? Okay, so maybe it's because we were short by 3 of the 16' planks and his truck was the only one large enough to carry more and maybe we also convinced him not to go home but to stay another night and maybe he made that long, long drive mostly just for us. Still. He got 70 of those suckers and they were really heavy. I figure I can lift at least the weight of a kitty cat now. I'm all pumped up or pimped out or whatever. My point is that Mike and Dan went back out to Victorville and left me to essentially finish the deck. They initially planned to make me totally install all the planks, but it didn't take long before they realized problem 3: I can't figure out when a plank needs to be screwed from one side to the other versus starting the screws in the center and working outwards, etc. I tried to understand. If the wood bows so that the gap is in the middle, I do what now? Dan waited patiently while Mike and I threw in all the remaining boards we had and used one screw in each section so that I didn't have to tax my brain with stupid mechanical reasoning. My job was to go back and put all the rest of the screws in and then sand off any marks and then slather the entire thing. If I still had time, I could then go into the kitchen and get back to work on tiling the floor.

Anyone want to explain to me why a screw can't go into a knot? I honestly don't know, but I didn't have the strength or will power to make it happen. I did, however, get well over 100 screws installed before Mike and Dan returned. I also realized footprints didn't come off with a simple sweep of the broom so I had to climb up on the deck on my hands and knees and essentially sand the entire thing. I got my tray of goop all ready after I swept the length and width of the deck, but realized I would get more marks on it if I had shoes on. Sigh. I waddled around in my little socks. Near the end of the never-ending deck slathering, I discovered some neighbors had arrived and pulled out lawn chairs into their driveway to watch my apparently entertaining self. Sigh again.

About two hours had passed and I flopped into a chair to admire my accomplishments. A couple minutes later, Mike and Dan pulled up. They clearly assumed I had been sitting the entire time they were gone and apparently little martians or unicorns had done all the work. I got zero credit. Whatever. The neighbors walked over and confirmed they had been watching and were most amused by my skills or lack thereof. Sigh, sigh, sigh. Mike insisted on continuing with more planks now that he was back with the final three which involved more slathering. It wasn't long before Dan and I both gave up. Mike stayed at it for another half hour or so. The only reason he stopped was because it was too dark to see. A part of me is proud of him for losing over 30lbs. The more sane part of me is thinking about adding globs of lard to his food so he'll lose some of that stamina.

Monday dawned and we were back at it. Mike's plans called for a "mini deck" right outside the door. This involved HOURS of labor. I won't bore you with the details. It wasn't fun and it involved anger and frustration and more screws and more slathering. It also involved more brick unloading. In the end, we have a mostly completed deck. There is about one more plank that needs to be put in and slathered. Then all the siding to hide the piers (forest service rule) has to be purchased and applied. Dan is making us the most amazing railing which will need to be stained and also installed. We will be celebrating three birthdays next Saturday with a little party (Mike is turning 40, my mom is turning 29 and the friendly wife in one of the cabins is turning 29 too). I think Mike feels obligated to get the deck done, but I am of the belief that these are friends and they will understand if the thing isn't complete. Besides, if they get drunk enough and stay beyond their welcome, we can just shove them off where there isn't a railing. Seems convenient. If we don't have the siding on, the bodies can be dragged under the deck. Piece of cake.

[QSL]

I like you! I just don't get on this forum and I don't get notifications! Here are some pics! You also forgot I installed a sweet sound system out there too!

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[WIS89]

Mike and Julie-

Cabin progress looks awesome! It looks like you all are getting after pretty much everything.

I am sure it will be very rewarding, and an awesome place to relax and enjoy when you are done!

Are you concerned about that tree impacting the foundation? I like the deck built around it, but it looks awfully close to the foundation.

Keep up the great work and updates.

Regards,

Steve

[MRSQSL]

Mike and/or Dan can answer this in a more technically responsible manner. If you could see under the deck, you would see that there is no brickwork/concrete (foundation) over the tree or under the cabin where the big roots are. The tree has a very large amount of growing space. Previous owners had put in such a small amount of cement over the root of the tree that it just pushed up and cracked and ended up lifting the entire cabin. There was nothing we could do to keep the tree from continuing to lift (other than cutting it down which I would NOT be okay with) so the idea was to put nothing there so it would just continue to grow without disturbing anything. I'm sure there is a bunch of engineering and architectural terminology that Mike and Dan could throw around, but that's my very unprofessional take on what's going on. I think the foundation will eventually be impacted again, but I'm hoping not for another 100 years. Mike probably has some pictures that would illustrate this more clearly.

[MRSQSL]

Happy 40th Birthday Mike!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'll update with the weekend's events when I get a chance (hopefully this afternoon).

[MRSQSL]

Seeing as how this is the weekend to celebrate the three birthdays mentioned last week, we needed to get rocking on the deck or people would rock right off onto the ground. I missed the assemblage of the deck railings because I was building a BBQ. How hard could that be? The guys at Lowe's told Mike it would take two days for them to build. I suspected I could do it a smidge faster. The only help I received from Mike was a hand getting the big box off the tailgate (after I removed the wood from the truck bed and stacked it in our new wood pile). I found the instructions and began flipping to the section on assembly. I stopped cold when I saw "Caution: Spider Alert". My options were to throw the manual on the ground and run for my life or maybe read on a little just to see if I should set fire to the mountain or maybe, possibly continue on to the first step. It turns out spiders can get in the burners and build webs and cause a flashback (flash draft maybe?). For me, it's flashbacks to all the creepy crawlies I've ever encountered but you get the picture. You should make sure you clean out your burners if left sitting for a considerable length of time.

Step 1. Attach wheels to the base. It doesn't actually say that, but it's what they meant with all their pictures and arrows and things. They included a little dohickey which looks like a large, slightly bent staple. You stick that into the holes in the base of the wheel which will keep the wheel from spinning so you can easily screw it into the bottom. Once the wheel is securely installed, you remove the "staple" and the wheel spins freely. This is GENIUS!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was running around showing everyone. Why nobody was even the tiniest bit thrilled is beyond me. Whatever. Step 2. Install upright thingies on base after flipping base over and rearranging so it looks exactly like the picture so I don't have to do any mechanical/logistical reasoning. (Dan discovered for the umpteenth time that I'm directionally challenged as he commented on the "west" side of the deck and I had to glare until he dumbed it down - just point.) Step 3. Attach metal things to other metal things. Why do all the screws look the same, but they are in different compartments in the hardware packaging? Why can't I open any of them without using tools? What would it be like to be a big, strong man and not have to struggle with small things (like opening a package)? What would I look like if I was as strong as Mike? Squirrel!!!!!!!!!!

I'd continue with each step, but pretty much all the rest were attach metal to metal. I am proud of my engineering skills. I had to bolt the bulk of the BBQ to the stand and that required reaching up underneath. Had I been at home, the bad boy would've gone up on the lift. Wait, that wouldn't have worked. Sigh. Well, I would've at least gotten the rolling thingy you can lay on. Instead, since I was building on dirt, I flattened a cardboard box (not with my bulging muscles, but with my back fat by laying on it) and I added a foam protector piece for a pillow. Not comfy at all, but I was cleaner and somewhat more functional. Is this a good time to complain about screws? These had phillips head holes as well as one extra long side for a flathead. All I discovered is that neither tool works well. I don't know how this is possible, but it's 100% true and I kept having to switch between tools. Start with Philips head and switch the flat head to tighten and then back until things stopped feeling all weak and fall-y apart-y.

I eventually got the entire thing built (two hours) except I refused to wire it up. I'm not an electrician. I didn't put the battery in, but somehow I would still manage to shock myself into unconsciousness and the chances of falling onto my foam/cardboard "bed" were slim to none. I'd hit one of the bajillion rocks instead. Speaking of rocks, Dan is digging out a large work area under his cabin and the guys he hired (yes, his spouse loves him enough to allow him to hire people rather than making family members slave away digging foundations and trenches and pouring cement and moving blocks) dug up the mother of all rocks. I can't believe they managed to get it out. It was several feet long and deep. I can't imagine the anger when your shovel clinks and you move over some more. Clink. Move more. Clink. More. Clink. I'm working myself into a rage just imaging it.

Here's where I made a mistake. I sat down with plans to enjoy the view of the newly installed rails on the deck when I discovered Mike had finished staining one side (not the west side). Looks great. "Pookie, do you want me to stain some?" Never seen Mike agree to anything so quickly. He practically heaved the paintbrush at my skull. Staining was fun for about 30 seconds. Maybe 2 entire minutes. Then I realized my back hurt and my legs hurt and my neck hurt. It was hot in the sun and my hair was in my face. I made Alyssa put sunscreen on my back. Sigh. The west side (which I was working on) was long. It took forever. I threw down the brush with a happy dance only to realize I still had to wipe the stain back off. Oh and look over there. The south or north or east or whatever side wasn't stained yet. Oh boy. While I wiped, my sweetest mother on the planet stained the remaining side.

The rest of the afternoon was sort of a blur. Ran to the grocery store to get ice for the cooler and chopped and shredded and cooked and cleaned. The party would be outside on the deck, so it wasn't much surprise when it started raining. Why wouldn't it rain? I mean, it hasn't rained with us there since the big fire. It normally wouldn't be a big deal to move a party inside, but several immediate concerns popped to mind. 1) We have dogs that don't like people. The original plan was to put one in a playpen sort of thing and the other outside tied up to a stake. Problem with moving big dog in is that little dog gets big dog all excited with his barking and this makes big dog want to kill people. We decided to put little dog in playpen in the shed and hope big dog wouldn't kill anyone since her hearing is going and she probably wouldn't be able to hear little dog yaps at that distance. This plan actually succeeded. 2) We don't have electricity except in the kitchen and a tiny bit on one side of the living room. Unless the party was only a couple hours long, we'd all be plunged into blackness and guests would be tripping over things. 3) How are we going to seat that many people? 4) The cabin isn't finished and it isn't in any shape to be entertaining. 4) Mike is going to have to BBQ in the rain (all by himself). Imagine how thrilled I was when it stopped raining.

I'm going to leave out the part about the shooting gallery portion of the evening. It was a ton of fun, but I think I've explained it before. It was still a ton of fun and I definitely want a shooting gallery in the cabin area.

Guests arrived and we had a great time. Dry ice in margaritas makes neat smoke and a funny gurgling noise (like a witch's cauldron). I didn't get to socialize much because I was busy in the kitchen, but it appeared everyone was having fun. When dinner was eaten, I had help clearing the food and out came the cupcakes. We put a candle in one for each of the birthday peeps. One of the guests disappeared briefly. It was totally dark at this point and we could only see because of the LED lights Mike and Dan installed in the top railing. Out of the darkness came a sound. Is that music? A trumpet? Singing? One of the guests surprised us all with a mariachi band he hired!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was so much fun!!!!! I think everyone enjoyed it even though the music lasted a smidge past 10 (sorry to the one cabin that had already gone home and gone to bed). Afterwards we opened gifts and everyone left and I cleaned up. Success!!!!

Sunday would've been an amazing day of rest had I not patted the railing and asked Mike if we were going to seal it. Guess what I did Sunday. Grrrrr... Prior to sealing the deck railing, I was back on the floor in the kitchen installing more tiles. I'm still not done, but I discovered someone accidentally spilled wine on the wall. Mike assured me we could sand it off. There's the benefit to having t1-11 on your walls. Then I found a spot where a mouse must've been coming in so I fetched Mike once more and he sealed it up. At that point, I had a headache and my back hurt from all the bending to stain the previous day so I called it quits. Then I made the mistake of asking about sealing the railing. We packed up once I was done and went home. I don't want to make it sound like Mike wasn't doing anything. He was cutting up pieces of the old deck and loading it all into the truck (with Alyssa's help). I know I say each week that the deck pieces were removed, but I think they are multiplying out in the sun. Hopefully this is the last time.

I still need to finish the floor. Don't know what fun and games Mike has planned for next weekend. I'm afraid I'll ask and get stuck doing whatever it is. I'm going to practice keeping my mouth shut.

[MRSQSL]

I can't remember what I did Saturday morning, but clearly it wasn't terribly difficult or frustrating. I tend to remember that kind of stuff. I know that we went to visit Dan and see how his basement was coming along. Looks amazing. On the way back down, we stopped to admire the work being done on the cabin next to his. They were painting the windows and eaves. Looked amazing. Inspiring even. Well shoot. Now I feel like I need to paint our windows. Fine. I put on my adorable coveralls which Mike had bought for me. I look incredibly goofy and everyone comments and giggles. They are comfy and protect me from paint. It doesn't matter that I have to roll up the bottoms so I can walk. I'm cute dag nabbit!!!!

Mike did assorted things during the course of the weekend. I wasn't happy he and Dan took the top rails off to dado (did I spell that correctly?) the spot where the LED lights go. Was done before, but Mike wants it to be deeper. Dan is kind (or crazy) enough to do it. I thought it was fine the way it was and now our deck looks all wonky. Okay, wonkier than normal. I know Mike also moved the solar light and took some pictures so we could show the inspectors we had done what they requested. That's all I can recall seeing him do, but he's sneaky about doing little things here and there or maybe I'm just oblivious to my surroundings.

Okay, so with cute outfit applied, I grabbed the paint (which I opened with a neat little paint opening tool that I didn't even know we had but made the job so much easier) and a chip brush (stop cringing - you'd have to see the windows to understand why this would normally be an okay painting tool), a shim to use for a stir stick and some nitrile gloves. I waddled off around the corner and over to my first victim. The side window had not required much sanding since it is mostly protected from the wind and sun. This would be easy and should take me like maybe 15 minutes. Wow, I'm short. I can't reach much of anything. Slop, swipe, repeat. It took all of about 5 seconds for me to realize this was going to be a nightmare. The windows have a billion panes and the edges have been badly coated with paint previously so that nothing is straight. The glazing is coming out in spots and it's not possible to use the chip brush to cut in. I didn't want to tape anything. Sigh. I waddled back to the garage and whined at Mike. He mostly ignored me so I whined in a higher, squeakier, louder voice. He told me he didn't care if I used tape or a better brush. I found a slope-y brush and waddled back. Nope. Still couldn't cut in. It's impossible because nothing is actually straight or flat. Everything is bumpy and crooked. Waddle to get the tape. Waddle back to the window. Taping doesn't work well because NOTHING IS STRAIGHT!!!!!! Whatever. It's better than it was.

Waddle to get the ladder. Waddle back with it. Dan was observing my less than stellar paint performance and quickly set up the metal climbing contraption for me. There was no flat spot to use it in the fully open position, so he leaned it against the wall. I climbed up and wiggled a little. Seemed okay. Paint, paint, paint, lean a little more than I probably should have...oh squiggly piglets! That was terrifying!!!!!! I didn't fall and the ladder was probably 100% sturdy, but it wobbled and I screeched. Adrenaline made it impossible to paint for several minutes.

I eventually finished that section (conned Mike into helping with the super high part when he came over to inspect). Well, that's not entirely true. There are some pane dividers I didn't paint, but the glaze had disappeared from those and I didn't think painting the bare metal was a good idea. I know Mike bought glaze, but I'm not volunteering to use it and so far he isn't offering. Had a discussion with another cabin woman about glaze. Maybe someone reading this knows. Does the glaze come in a caulking gun type of container or can you only buy it in the little can thing?

I moved around to the hot and sunny side of the cabin and mashed paint around for awhile before it was getting late and I had to get things ready for dinner. I was back out there Sunday morning with my cute fluffy outfit and my paint brush. I essentially did the "easy" parts and taped up a ton of the harder parts. I still have at least 3 tons to go. It looks great if you are half blind and standing across the street with the sun glaring in your eyes. It looks passable if you are across the street with no other issues. Looks terrible if you are up close inspecting. I'm going to have to try using razorblades to see if I can get off some of that old paint. Maybe it would make it easier to attach the tape. I don't know. It went from a fun idea of a project to a tedious and frustrating chore. I will have three more window sections after this and none of those have even been sanded yet. I just know as soon as this project is done and I sit to relax, it'll be time to replace the aluminum windows and I'll have to do a bunch more painting. Once that's finally complete, I'll have to start over with touch up paint because the yearly inspection peeps will be grumpy and demand it. Jerks. Wow, I didn't really mean to be all angry-like.

[MRSQSL]

Working on the cabin wasn't our main priority this weekend. We had a memorial service to attend and knew that would be the focus.

Mike was able to reassemble the top rail of the deck and he says he is happier now that the lights are tucked further up inside. It looks the same to me, but he doesn't need to know that. Shhhh...

My favorite thing to do is get a cup of coffee and sit on the deck with my bucket of peanuts. I don't particularly like peanuts, but chipmunks, jays and squirrels sure do. We seem to be lacking in jays suddenly. Used to be a billion of them and suddenly there were zero on Saturday and two on Sunday. Hopefully they are migrating or found a better food stash. I'd hate to think they are getting sick. Anyway, I have the chipmunks trained. More likely, they have me trained. They jump up on the stump and look at me. I throw peanuts and they run down and grab them. It's so much fun!!!!! I smile and giggle when they go running after the bouncing peanut. So darn cute!!

The only real work I did was on Sunday. We had painted a thin coat of paint on the propane tank, but never finished the job. I found the paint and started spraying (after Mike hosed it down and made me wait for it to dry). My attempts were not pretty so Mike came over, grabbed a can and did the bulk of the work. Still, I've had one very sore arm for the last two days and I didn't put two and two together until this morning. It's from pushing down on the stupid spray nozzle doohickey for the paint can. I knew I was weak, but that's just pitiful.

We will not be working on the cabin this weekend because it will be car weekend. Saturday is Serpents in the Garden and Sunday is engine pulling party here for the Coupe. Should be fun!!!! PM me if you need our address for breakfast, engine removal, fiddle and hopefully re-install. Needless to say I won't be updating this thread next week, but I will update the coupe thread (I almost added "instead" so it would rhyme). :)

[QSL]

A few Pics!!! 460944609546096

[MRSQSL]

Step 1: Clean the closet. It's not that it was particularly dirty, but the dog food was in a big plastic container and things kept finding their way in and on and around that container and it was getting progressively more difficult to feed the dogs. With that task conquered, I had to decide between sitting or painting. Sitting would've been my first choice. The weather was beautiful. Alas, I felt the need to paint before fall turned into snow and rain and sleet and hail. Mike was hogging the ladder while he removed the wall nearest the fireplace in order to do electrical work. That left me in a predicament. I couldn't reach to sand the windows and I couldn't reach to paint the remaining windows in the section I hadn't completed. I was forced to sand a lower section I could reach and then tape up that section along with a previous one that I could also reach. Hours dragged by. What a tedious process. It's frustrating because the paint doesn't go on well and the previous paint and glaze seem to have been applied with a corn cob. The only way to get a straight line that fully covers the previous mess would be to paint over the glass. I do the best I can, but it ends up with the pretty green in the middle and lots of odd white, tan and other green on the edges. Mike isn't complaining, but I am. Worst paint job ever. Takes all the fun out of painting.

I managed to steal the ladder Sunday and continued the tedious painting process but at a higher elevation. Up the ladder. Down the ladder. Up the ladder. Down the ladder. I must've burned at least 10,000 calories (although the scale disagrees). I'm still not done. I'm hoping to finish next week. I encountered an issue in that I'm not tall enough (even on the top step of the ladder) to reach the bathroom window. I could only paint about half of it. I'll either need to pull out the really tall, scary ladder that leans against stuff or I'll need to con Mike into painting for me. Maybe if I start fetching his slippers and bringing him drinks now, he'll be all buttered up by Saturday.

The work Mike did was much more impressive. It's amazing how much better the place looks even with plywood on the wall. Turns out there was not a puff of insulation. This makes us believe there isn't insulation in any of the outside walls (other than the mess we found in the kitchen). No wonder it gets so hot and so cold. Mike wired up a bunch of outlets and a couple switches. It's really nice to have some light in the living area now. I think he's going to continue on next weekend with the wall between the fireplace and our bedroom. Oh and he pointed out a hole which would explain the rodent highway. Sigh. Is there any original wall that doesn't allow animals in? Just one? One?!

[MRSQSL]

I'm so amazing (or so I keep telling myself). Not only did I finish my task for the weekend, but I also finished the one for next weekend. Oh yeah! Mike moved the appliances so I could finish up the floor in the kitchen. Behind the fridge was okay, but he didn't unhook the gas for the stove, so my work area was rather cramped. Cabinets on each side (20" apart) and the stove just barely moved. I could sit, but I was constantly having to reconfigure my foot/leg arrangement. It isn't pro level work, but it's mostly stuck to the under flooring and it's better than it was. Done stamp!

In the meantime, Mike was adding more security cameras and then taking down the glamorous 70's wood paneling so he could continue with his electrical work. Once again, I made the mistake of asking a question about insulation and found myself elbow deep in fiberglass. Also not pro level work, but it's better than no insulation. I have to admit the stench of death and mouse nesting ick was pretty overwhelming at moments. I spent the entire day saying I smelled it. Mike was convinced I had sucked some into my nostrils and just kept re-smelling it. I don't know. It was awful. I considered lighting a match and sticking it up my nose to try to burn the odor away, but then figured the smell of burning nose hair wouldn't be a vast improvement.

Once my insulating was finished and Mike had moved on to the actual wiring part, I stupidly opened my big mouth and asked about pulling down the paneling on the adjacent wall, you know...just to see if it's redwood back there. Yeah, we all know how that turned out. I found myself on a ladder shrieking as the panel finally released and I nearly flung across the room. I think it only took a couple more screams before Mike realized he could ignore my wails. I was a little unsure how to use the pry bar at first, but quickly realized one side works better than the other, especially when you turn it the correct way and apply pressure appropriately. I made it through all three layers of "wall" to find gorgeous redwood. I only removed up to the doorway, but when I stood back to ogle my amazing wonderfulness, I couldn't resist and went back up the ladder to finish off the wall. Icky things fell in my hair and I even touched some of the awfulness, but the wall looks SO much better as redwood. Mike had to help me get the giant panels out of the cabin, but the smaller stuff I shuffled around myself. Imagine my surprise when my first trip out the front door caused me to nearly cross the street. The wind was stronger than I suspected and it grabbed the panel like a sail. Whoa! There went Julie. I didn't like that.

Thanks to Mike, we now have electricity along another wall. Woohoo!!!! It's getting less romantic at night with all the brightness, but he puts things on dimmers which really helps. I'm super excited with what he's done.

[QSL]

A few pics!

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[MRSQSL]

I'm apparently a slow learner. Hey, Mike. What do you think is under the ceiling in the back bedroom? Yeah, I spent the day peeling ceiling down and awful, horrible, disgusting things fell on me. Maybe next time I'll ask what he thinks is under the cover of the septic tank. Ugh.

Under the acoustic-type ceiling tiles, we found a layer of unexplainable icky building material. It's like a plywood sheet except it isn't wood. It's sort of soft, but not as soft as jute. I had a face full of it when I thought to ask Mike if it could be asbestos. I'm pretty sure it wasn't, but he jumped on the opportunity to tell me it absolutely was. Eeeeek! Under the "asbestos" was a thin layer of that black paper stuff. I don't know what it's called, but after 40 years it was pretty brittle. Below that was wood, but not redwood. It was the board and bat variety, but without bats. Because the paper was so brittle, it had broken open in millions of spots and the animal droppings/dirt/death had fallen onto the other layers and then directly into my face. It didn't matter where I stood, junk still fell on my head and neck and face. I despise the cabin shower, but I didn't hesitate to climb in at the first opportunity.

While I finished up the ceiling, Mike and Steve made the long journey to the nearest Home Depot or Lowes and got some sheathing. The walls are still nasty wood paneling, but at least the ceiling feels clean now. Of course getting it up was a nightmare. At first Mike held it and I poked at it (my valiant effort at also holding it) while Steve screwed it in. Holding a drill over your head and getting the screw to insert itself wasn't easy so I traded places. That worked better. Steve is stronger and I have more screwing experience (wait, that's not what I meant). We then moved onto the section above the bunk bed. Had Dan walked in, he would've fallen down laughing Steve and I were laying on the bed with the wood on our feet trying to press it towards the sky. Mike got a couple screws in and we could let go. It was close for a bit there. It didn't want to fit properly, but then the wood was square and the walls...not so much.

Mike did a tremendous amount of wiring and now we have power everywhere. Yes, even in the bathroom and closet. Happy dance.

On a more fun note, we hiked one day. Seemed like a good idea to walk down the steep mountain road down to the trailhead since we'd left the Adventure Pass back home and a ticket wouldn't be fun. The trail was straight up for 2 miles and then straight down for 2 miles (on the way back). It was gorgeous!!! We discovered this strange phenomenon where you can be hot and cold at the same time. Weird. Anyway, it was all fine and dandy until we had to walk up the mountain road to get back to the cabin. That thing is so darn steep. I thought I was going to pass out. Steve was eating and talking and he pushed me uphill at times. He was like a little mountain goat. Mike had trudged ahead and barely survived. He made it to the cabin and grabbed the UTV to fetch us. Steve probably could've run the rest of the way, but he stayed by my side to make sure I'd be okay. I've never been so happy to see the UTV. I laid across the front seat and thanked my lucky stars I didn't have to walk any further. The entire escapade was about 6 miles. I was sore for two days, but it sure felt good.

[MRSQSL]

My arms are slightly less sore today. Mike and I decided it would be smart to work on the ceiling above the loft to see what all is involved before hiring people to do it for us. It seemed simple enough. I had already put that thin foil insulation up on Mother's Day weekend and hurt my neck. Mike claimed all we had to do was put up some furring strips (not sure if that's how you spell them, but that's what I see in my brain when he says the word) and then a layer of foam insulation and then throw up some sheathing. Is that all? Okay. I'm in. I didn't figure in the part about having to climb up the ladder and hoist myself onto the loft floor about a million times. I also didn't calculate in the strength/lack of strength thing going on.

I did some of the measuring (getting better, but things are still a number plus or minus a "notch"). Everything was fairly easy until we got to the sheathing. We measured and then moved the wood over to the sawhorses, which was already a huge draining chore. I marked and Mike cut. He told me he'd carry the wood, but I had to run and open the door and then race up the ladder and fling myself onto the loft floor so I'd be ready to help him get the wood up. I trapped myself several times beneath the sheathing. The ceiling is too low to maneuver and the wood is insanely heavy. It couldn't drag across the ladder, so Mike lifted from below and I lifted from above and whooshed over backwards. It didn't work well.

Mike had already run wiring, but he had some "puck" lights to install and therefore a hole had to be cut in each piece of sheathing (horrible plywood like stuff with foil on one side). The wires ran through that hole, but how exactly do you keep the wires from falling out while you balance a giant, horrendously heavy sheet of hellish wood? I'm sure each and every one of you has mentally yelled an answer. Mike's solution (after the first attempt went horribly wrong and I had to essentially thread the eye of a needle with wire while he struggled with the sheet while laying on the floor) was to tie the wires together in a knot that was big enough to reject being sucked through the hole. If you thought everything was fine and dandy with that problem solved, you've severely overestimated my usefulness. If I haven't mentioned that the wood is heavy...like lead...let me state that now. I tried to move a sheet of this stuff down on solid ground by lifting it. No. Pushing it. No. Kicking it. No. Only Mike has the power to heave it around. He actually makes it look easy (which is quite an attractive quality). Anyway, so it had to go on the ceiling. Yes, above my head. There was no possible way for Mike to hold the wood and the screwdriver/drill tool and a screw. I was forced to use every ounce of strength to help mash the wood up into the roof area while he inserted a screw or two. It seemed never-ending. I know it was a matter of seconds, but it felt like minutes. Every muscle was screaming and I started to get shaky and wobbly. We only had time to do two sheets that day and I refused wholeheartedly to help the next morning, but I somehow got conned into it. This time I made Steve come up and help. It was so incredibly less horrendous with him. The loft looks great so far. We are going to try to get the carpet in next trip. We also need to figure out what wood will be the final layer. We have options, but seems like all are expensive. Unfortunately, we haven't found the money tree in that particular forest. There must be one somewhere.

I saw Mike do things with one or two fingers that I didn't have the strength to do with one or two hands. It inspired me to try to work harder and grow stronger. It also made me realize I may not always voice my appreciation for how hard he works and how amazing he is. Sorry for all the things I've taken for granted. I'm also sorry I'm not has helpful as another man would be. I look cuter in my little coverall outfit, though, so that should be worth some extra bonus points.

[MRSQSL]

It snowed!!!! Yay!!!!!!!!!!!! I love snow. We actually stayed a little late Sunday to absorb more snow watching. Happy face!!

I don't think I really did much work. I took down what I thought was all the blue tape off the windows, but my mom pointed out a spot I'd missed AFTER I'd already put the ladder away and plopped onto the comfy reclining chair. Mike and Steve were maniacs, though. I drove us up Friday night. We got there around 8:00. We ate. I was planning to relax and enjoy the cabin ambiance after I made the bed and put things away, etc. Mike and Steve opted to essentially build the entire loft. They cleaned and then put down tack strips and padding and carpet and then threw the furniture back up and made the two beds. I guess they finished around midnight. I can't say since I fell asleep around 9:30. I have no idea how I slept through it all, but the loft looks great!! I did slather clear coat on the wood for the railing Saturday morning. Steve started the project, but hates "painting". I find it to be relaxing since it's such brainless work yet satisfying at the same time. I refused to do the sanding part, but the swoosh, swoosh, swoosh of the brush was enjoyable.

Dan invited us up to his cabin for dinner Saturday night which was quite a treat. He's been a busy bee up at his place and I'm impressed by the progress (and results). Looking great!!

I don't think it's going to snow this weekend and we are getting a big wood delivery. I'm sure there will be some fascinating tales of wood unloading and the accompany sore muscles and screeches when an 8 legged creepy crawly is spotted. There are lots of other things we can work on, so it'll be interesting to see which is chosen. I'm still trying to convince Mike sitting and looking out a window is fun and relaxing and something he should try. He keeps giving me this look of his...

[MRSQSL]

Dan had a taste of what it's like to watch us work on a vehicle together. I'm not sure if he was amused or horrified. Since the weather was a smidge warmer than snow, we took the UTV up to Dan's spacious garage so Mike could do the first service and I could change out the rest of the skid plates. I now owe Dan an apple pie (again).

Changing out skid plates sounds easy, doesn't it? Unbolt, open new one, rebolt. Nope. Not for me. The first box I grabbed turned out to be for the A-arm covers and I had already sworn I'd never do that again. You have to drill out rivets and hand rivet in these horrible steel ones that only the Incredible Hulk could find the strength to put in. I opted for the corner skid plates instead. So being a woman, I read the directions. "Reading" is not the proper term in this case. The instructions have no words. Only pictures. The picture showed a bolt being removed and placed in something round which looked to me like a drywall anchor. I searched high and low to find some mention in the parts list of this object. Nothing. I looked through the bag of hardware and the cardboard box it all came in. Nothing. I turned to Dan and mentioned this "thing" looks a lot like a trash can. He glanced at the picture (seriously for like half a second) and said yup. It's a trash can. Wait, what? Really?! They just wanted me to take out the bolt and throw it away? Well there's five minutes of my life I'll never get back. Of course I was also too scared to throw the hardware away. What if I took out the wrong one or what if the instructions were incorrect? I set it gingerly to the side to await the final verdict.

From what I could gather, the next step was to apply the skid plate and attach it with several bolts in several places and I was very proud of myself for successfully doing this. I had on my cute little mechanic's outfit and life was good except that I was laying on the cold, hard, concrete floor for this process and it was really freaking cold. Like body parts going numb cold. I can assure you on day two I wore thermal jammies under my jeans and adorable mechanic's outfit. Yes, there was a day two.

I needed to put this skid plate contraption on the other side as well, but Mike wanted me to remove the middle skid plate at that exact moment so he could access some important engine related kajoby for his oil change. Lots more bolts were undone (forgot to mention no two bolts use the same sized sockets/torx head or allen wrench). I also undid the front skid plate. I wanted to reapply that one with the big, strong, new metal one, but it wasn't quite the same size or shape. Turns out Mike hadn't emptied everything out of that box and there was a supplemental little plate. Got all that done around the time Mike was ready to put the big center one back on. He held it up for me while I replaced several of the bolts. I was frozen solid. I mean, seriously freezing and my arms hurt from holding everything over my head. Whine, moan, grumble. I don't believe the oil change was going particularly smoothly based on the amount of oil I saw that wasn't in the oil catcher and the angry noises issuing forth from Mike.

I eventually got all the skid plates on except for the rear one because Mike had to change the oil in the front and rear mabobs (diff?) and it was getting late so that would be the next day's project. I also had to do the A-arm covers (hell no) and the two side plates (needed rivets drilled out so nope).

Day 2: I had so many layers of clothes on, I could barely walk. Bending was comical. I reminded myself of the poor little kid in Christmas Carol or Christmas Story (you'll shoot your eye out movie). You know, the little brother that got all dressed up to go out and couldn't move anything so he couldn't get up when he fell down. I think that was the movie anyway. Whatever. The point was I looked like I weighed and extra 20 lbs and had flexibility issues beyond the norm.

Whatever the oil is that comes out of those front and rear things stinks. Ugh. I think I can still smell it. Bleck. It made the rest of the working day miserable. Stinky, stinky.

So as I stood there looking at all the panels I didn't want to put on, I noticed Dan seemed to be less busy than the previous day. Hmmmmm...if I offer a pie, will he put the rest on. It turns out he kinda likes my apple pie. He agreed. This is where things went downhill though. My plan was to sit in a chair and supervise. In reality, the wheels needed to be removed to put the A-arm protectors on. I found the tool that came with the UTV. Giggle. That's cute. Too bad the factory or dealer ignored the instructions where it said to torque to 75 ft lbs. Perhaps they read it as 750. All I know is Dan bent/broke two ratchets. Fortunately a cabin neighbor was up with his tools and had a 1/2" drive. There was an issue with six points versus lots of points and 17mm vs 11/16 (I might be making those numbers up). Anyway, one wheel was successfully removed and work performed. The UTV was turned around and wheel two was up. All lug nuts came off except one which promptly rounded itself so nothing wanted to get it off. What timing, though. The phone rang and it was the cabin neighbor. Lucky for us he had the 3/8 to 1/2 adapter needed to use 6 points and the lug nut released its death grip. Dan got things changed out, but announced he'd be needing two pies. Yeah, no.

Watching the two of them attempt to rivet was painful. Mike went first and moaned, changed colors, groaned and finally managed to get the rivets in. Dan apparently thought Mike was just a big sissy so he agreed to do the next ones. Snicker. Suddenly he didn't think Mike was such a weakling after all. I didn't see either jumping to volunteer to do the last rivets. Mike eventually gave in, but I'll bet he had sore hands for several days. I offered to take a stab at hand riveting, but the laughter echoing through the man cave implied they didn't think I had the grip strength. That and the little rivet handles are so far apart you have to have monster hands to even begin to squeeze. Whatever. Mike says next time he's going to pay for the service instead of doing it ourselves. He doesn't have a sweet tooth, so I don't think I can con him with promises of baked goods. I did get him to do something by offering a chicken pot pie and I suppose I have to pay up, but I really don't remember what he did to earn that. Hmmmmm...

[bwdziol]

Julie,
Chicken pot pie, you never said that was an option. No never mind, I still will go for the pie. Yes that was an adventure in "why the blank can't they use the same size fastener for more than ONE thing". So now I want to see Mike park that darn UTV on top of a rock. Next time if you would rather lay in the dirt rather than my COLD concrete floor consider the sharp pointy rocks as opposed to a "little coldyness".
Dan Z

[MRSQSL]

Yeah, I tried the sharp pointy rock thing the last time. No thanks. I'll take your coldy floor. It's probably a good thing we hadn't brought the creeper up. I would've been whooshing all over your garage. Weeeeeeeeeeee, weeeeeeeeeee...

If I make the chicken pot pie at the cabin, you can come down and have some too. Really appreciate all your help and letting us invade your space and borrow your tools and annoy you for hours on end.

[MRSQSL]

I stopped updating for two reasons. 1) Winter arrived and we have slowed down slightly with the change in seasons. 2) I felt like I was talking to myself. How many times can you read the same old stuff before you get bored? I didn't feel like I was contributing anything new and exciting. Dan mentioned last week that I should continue and then my bestest friend just emailed me and asked me why I'm not updating anymore so I'll take another stab at it.

"Slowed down slightly" isn't really the best description. For a bit that was true, but the weather has perked up and so have we. Honestly, the people that don't come up to the cabin often don't recognize the inside anymore. We have wall coverings and a little bit of ceiling covering and new furniture. We've been hitting some antique stores so we even have some decor.

Several very cold weeks ago, I was hired (without pay) to stain fake wood sheets. I know, right? How many times have I complained about the wood paneling we just took down. Unfortunately, we don't have the vintage redwood to be able to do the other two walls so wood paneling and bats it is. I learned much about staining. 1) Stain stains. No, really. It stains wood and clothing and pretty much anything it comes in contact with. 2) Stain doesn't stain evenly unless you try really hard. Don't slather stain on an entire half sheet of wood and then attempt to get it back off when the sun is half out and it's cold. It just won't be even. Little sections. Little sections. Anyway, that was a two weekend job. Mike applied the wood to the walls and spent hours cutting out holes for the necessary switches and lights and such. It looks pretty good.

Last weekend, I was forced up into the loft. Work on the ceiling, he said. It'll be fun, he said. We were initially going to use bender board and had tried a couple pieces. Looked good. But then I made the massive mistake of letting Mike roam around Home Depot (or Lowes) without my supervision. He bought boxes of cedar planking. Now I love the smell, but don't think the color goes very well. It's only for the loft section so whatever. I would measure a length of ceiling and Steve would tell Alyssa (she happened to be up last weekend) and Alyssa would cut the piece of wood. Steve would bring it back to me and I'd fight the ultimate battle and then Steve would nail it in (power nailer tool). It is sort of tongue and groove (like laminate flooring) so it is deceptively difficult. I tried talking to it, yelling at it, dropping it, threatening it, etc. Sometimes it behaved, but mostly it didn't. One piece ended up getting nailed up incorrectly so I decided to gently pull it back off. Not having a good tool, I opted for a screwdriver to pry. It worked, but the piece of wood flew off in such a way as to hit my in the face right on the edge of my nose where it connects to the eyebrow area. I had glasses on so I didn't have to worry about my eyeball, but it drew blood and it hurt like the dickens. Stupid wood. At some points we ended up having to get Alyssa to come up to help as well. She would hold the wood with all her might on one side and I would hold it on the other and Steve would nail. I would not say it was a fine work of art, but as far as I know it hasn't fallen off the ceiling and it's better than it was. I said many times (loudly) that Mike should not be allowing me to do this. It would've been amazing if he and Dan had tackled it instead. They (by the way) were working on a fireplace door/screen thing they hand made. Show offs. This also meant they spent a ton of time in Dan's garage and therefore I couldn't ask questions and was forced to figure stuff out on my own. Scary. This also meant Mike took the UTV which had the boxes of cedar planking in the back so I had to walk UP, yes UPHILL, to Dan's cabin to fetch it. We need a second UTV. In the end, only half the ceiling is done. Guess what I'm doing this weekend. Wish I felt a little better. I'm trying not to catch a cold. This is day two of that epic battle.

[David Hodgkins]

You are NOT talking to yourself. Hope you feel better soon.

I know what you mean about talking to yourself. I'm guilty of doing a lot of reading and little responding myself sometimes.

Any snow on the ground currently?

:)

[MRSQSL]

Thanks!

I'm pretty sure the bulk of the snow has melted. We have a hill on one side that is mostly shaded so that snow stays way after everything else is gone. It's beautiful, but it also attracts snow players. Growl.

[QSL]

pics!!!

5169651697516985169951700517015170251703

[David Hodgkins]

Wow that is looking good!

:)

[BFFofMRSQSL]

Yay!! Not only did you update the thread, but you mentioned ME!!!!!

[Dragonfire]

Julie,

Love the cabin. I know you are proud of all the work you and your family and friends have done. Anything on the front burner for Coupie?

[MRSQSL]

Coupey is definitely going to be worked on. I need help with the alternator and Mike has been working late every night for almost two weeks and I've been sick that same time period. The time has changed so it is light later. Once Mike works less, Coupey will get some loving. I'm finally feeling almost "normal" again.

[68GT500MAN]

Glad that you are feeling better and that we will be getting some updates on your two projects.

[Dragonfire]

Its been two whole months. I am having cabin and coupey withdrawal. Are y'all mad at us. :rolleyes:

[MRSQSL]

Its been two whole months. I am having cabin and coupey withdrawal. Are y'all mad at us. :rolleyes:

Ha, ha. Not mad. Actually, we built a wall this weekend. I'll update in a little bit. We've hardly done anything lately because it was cold and snowy and then it was warm and beautiful and we were enjoying nature. We seem to have taken up hiking and mountain biking. Well, I beach cruiser while the men folk mountain bike. We had a movie on the deck last weekend. It's been really nice. As for Coupey, I started putting the alternator in and ran into some problems and then we had this whole CHP ordeal with the Buick. Ugh. I guess I should update that one too. Let me finish some work stuff and then I'll update both.

[MRSQSL]

I first want to say that riding a beach cruiser at 7000'+ elevation (uphill too much of the way) is not easy. I have seen improvement, though. I used to have to stop to "meditate" at least 8 times. I think I'm down to less than half that many stops. I realize I'm only going 4 miles, but that's 4 mostly uphill miles. Mike and Steve go much further, but they have the proper bikes. Mike has offered to buy me one as well, but I grew up on coaster brakes and I truly don't think I am good with hand brakes. I tried Steve's and nearly died from panic. Plus, I broke my arm when I fell off a bike when I was 10 and I really don't need anything more extreme than what I'm doing now. It is a great form of exercise and I'm glad we are doing it.

So inspections are coming up again. We have a fire inspection as well as a permit inspection. We hired someone to clear the pine needles and unnecessary plant life. I'm relieved. I didn't really want to do that again. The permit inspection, however, is when they come through and pick on you for essentially everything you've done. I think they have a rule that they HAVE to cite you for x number of offenses so our plan is to mess up enough to reach the quota and hopefully they won't notice the actual violations. You know, like how we built a brand new deck instead of just repainting the existing one. It isn't MY fault if this deck is a smidge larger and is much prettier. Perhaps they won't notice that we were supposed to cosmetically fix the cracks in the foundation rather than pulling out the entire foundation on that side and redoing it. One of the items on their checklist is that there must not be a space between the deck and the ground. We never got around to putting skirting under our new deck and I had suggested to Mike a couple months ago that it would look so much better with rock. Oh crap. Why did I open my mouth?

Mike and I had been meeting at the cabin so we were driving separately (he keeps working at locations suspiciously close to the cabin). Since I was bringing up the truck, he was sneaking out at night and gathering rocks. He had stock piled quite a selection and it wasn't long before we found ourselves piling them randomly under the deck. The bigger ones were on the bottom and those were too large for me to move, so my job was much easier. Supervise. This last weekend, however, he borrowed the cement mixer from the camp down below and brought up mortar so I knew my supervising days were numbered. Alyssa was up with her (fireman-I add this so you realize he's young and strong and therefore capable of much more than I) boyfriend and Steve had a friend over. Three teenage boys are awesome when it comes to moving rocks, but not so great when it comes to feeding time (which is non stop). Alyssa is 20, but she eats like a teenager. I'm surprised they didn't eat a hole in the cabin.

I put on my snazzy prison jumpsuit outfit and proceeded to wander around outside until I was told to mush mortar in between rocks. Okay. Mike meandered by and gave Alyssa a compliment on her superior gooping skills. Grumble. On his next pass, he told her boyfriend how well he was doing. Grumble, grumble. On his third pass, he suggested I start finding rocks instead of handling the muck. Jerk. I think this was his way of telling me I'm lousy. I quickly became "the rock artist". I know it was just a pitiful attempt at making me feel useful, but it worked. I perked up and waddled away to the rock pile.

After a few hours, I wandered inside to get a drink. While snarking down several gallons of water, I heard the beepers go off. Two beeps. That means someone is here by the gate. I leaned ever so slightly to peer out the kitchen window and saw the unmistakable green of a forest service truck. Crap. Crap, crap, crap. I do NOT handle disobeying authority well. Must hide. I couldn't fit in any of the cabinets, at least not with the dishes and food still inside. Under the bed? Inhale/exhale. Calm down and think. He can't see me if I stay inside. I'll just hold still and pretend we aren't doing anything wrong. He doesn't need to know we are building a wall without permission, using rocks we stole from the forest which is now a national monument. Wonder what color prisoners wear in a federal penitentiary. I really hope purple.

Mike had a long conversation with the ranger and then he proceeded to walk towards the truck. Okay, Julie. You can do this. Walk outside and see why they are arresting him. I hitched up my big girl panties and headed out the front door. I plastered on a wobbly smile and greeted Ron (recognized him from a year ago when we met). He smiled at me, looked a little confused (think he was wondering if I escaped from the prison work crew) and climbed into the vehicle. Mike was opening the door to get in the passenger side. Whimper. I asked where he was going (San Quentin?) and he replied casually that Ron was taking him down to look at the rock pile we had been coveting by the ranger station. Um, oh. Okay. Have fun.

It wasn't long before Mike returned. What the heck is going on, I demanded. He said he asked Ron if we could have those rocks we wanted and so they went down to take a look. Ron said absolutely and then showed him another pile we didn't even know about. Yay! I asked why Ron stopped in the first place if it wasn't to yell at us about our rock wall. He said it was because the firewood people were dropping off a cord of wood and Ron wanted to know where it came from and how much we paid (guess he wanted some too). Relief flooded through me.

Several more hours of rock artistry ensued before I wandered off to start stacking what looked like a small pile of eucalyptus. Had I known it was that heavy, I probably would've hidden in a kitchen cabinet. What looked like it would take a mere 15 minutes ended up taking at least an hour. My back was so sore and I was thrilled beyond belief when Alyssa and Jacob (boyfriend) came to help. Alyssa gave up after a few minutes. Did I mention the wood is heavy and never ending? Jacob was much tougher. When the wood was taller than me and I noticed the pile was wobbling, I opted out of the adventure. Mike came by and suggested we make a second pile next to that one. Okay. Crap. Now I have no excuse not to help again.

We had plans for a movie on the deck that evening, so Mike and a cabin neighbor spent about an hour setting up this giant screen and a projector and speakers just off the deck while I made a little snack food. We gathered all the people that were interested (about 14 of us, I believe) and watched Signs. It was a lot of fun until the next morning when we had to put the screen away. I don't ever want to do that again (put the screen away - I want to watch more movies outside but I had the ideal spot in a skishy chair under a blanket with a chihuahua on my lap right in front of the fire pit).

As much as I wanted to pretend the wall was finished, it wasn't. I couldn't fool Mike. He might be color blind, but he isn't blind, blind. Sigh. Back to work. Only now Jacob was gone (at the station for work) and Steve had sprained his wrist riding wildly down the mountain on his bike. He and his friend tucked themselves away (probably in a kitchen cabinet) for the remainder of the day. Alyssa had ridden her beach cruiser with me for the first time ever. She may have appeared to be awesome and amazing during the ride, but the day after proved I was perhaps in better shape after all. Neener, neener. She was excruciatingly sore, so she only half helped. She still did a great job. Anyway, Mike and I went down and fetched rocks from our new pile. I had avoided all the other rock gathering trips because I knew it wasn't "legal" and I clearly don't do well with disobeying authority. This time I proudly donned my work gloves and challenged anyone to stop me. I picked up all the pretty little rocks (showing each one to Mike and explaining why I liked it which I assume caused an internal battle to rage within him in which he probably wanted to stone me but was probably also hungry enough to know he wouldn't eat if I was badly injured). Ron showed up while we were down there and told us where to find yet another assortment of pretty rocks. This guy is awesome!!!!!! Another ranger came by, but he didn't care since we invoked "Ron said we could". That's going to be my new mantra. Whenever I'm caught doing something bad, I'll simply announce Ron said I could. I think it should work. I'm invincible!!!!!!!!

Mike will have to post pics. He still has to make a door for the one little opening we left. Then we can put more rocks around that door and call it quits. I'm so tired of moving heavy rocks. Rocks are shockingly heavy. Someone should've made them hollow. It would've been a lot easier.

So that brings us up to date on the cabin happenings. I'm bringing up some patio furniture we have here at the house so all Mike can think about is sitting on the deck. The man is obsessed. It's all he has talked about all week. I get it. You want to sit on the deck. Soon, grasshopper.

[WIS89]

Jules-

So good to have you back and updating us!! We missed you all! I love the updates on the cabin, and meant to compliment you on the pictures sooner. The cabin is awesome, and I am beyond jealous! What a great place to escape to and relax. I am so happy that your whole crew is able to share it with you; just wonderful!

I have to inject a funny story. I saw the critters on your mantel and the one on your wall. Many years ago, our chocolate lab was a year or two old. My wife was out shopping and found a concrete labrador statue. She thought I would like it (and I did), and brought it home to me as a gift -- you see I love my labs, so a concrete statue would be a welcome addition. I had it inside near the fireplace while I contemplated where it should be placed. My lab lost his mind! He would growl, bark, get low and slide up to it while growling in a way I cannot describe. This statue was clearly a threat to him, and he let that statue have it! It was so funny, yet also unsettling. I had to send it back to keep my poor boy calm. When I saw your taxidermy, all I could think of was how my lab would simply lose his mind if he were there. I cannot imagine how he would react to your critters, but it would be nuts!!

I'm sorry for the tangent, but I couldn't stop thinking about it.

So glad to have you back!!

Regards,

Steve

[MRSQSL]

Thanks, Steve. I'll admit it felt nice to update again. If we keep working on the cabin, I'll keep updating. We spoiled ourselves by enjoying it instead of working on it.

I don't know if I posted about it earlier, but when Mike brought the first one home (coyote on mantel), our sheltie was not pleased. We had to keep it up on a high counter. She just knew that vicious creature was glaring at her and she was going to defend her territory. I can totally understand what your lab went through. Now that the coyote is on the mantel, my dog doesn't care. The chihuahua never noticed. He's sort of oblivious to everything in life except the doorbell, the beepers and anyone that stands up. Oh and blankets. He loves blankets.

Anyway, thanks for the kind words and I'm still hopeful Mike will un-busy himself enough to put up a picture or two of the new deck wall. Contractors would probably pass out in horror, but I think it looks rather nice.

[MRSQSL]

I give up. I'll put pictures up.

5455254553

I can't believe that worked. It was a massive project, but I did it. Yay!

[BFFofMRSQSL]

"Soon, grasshopper." I literally LOLed. hee! Or, actually, I cackled out loud. Glad you're back to updating the blog.

[MRSQSL]

Mike wasn't wrong about the patio chairs being amazing. He even fell asleep in one Sunday night. Totally worth it. Only problem is everyone wants to sit in them and there are only two.

Mike made a gorgeous door for the deck crawlspace. I don't have a picture, but it was much better than I expected. He might have a picture, but I don't even know if he looks at this thread anymore. He filled in the rock where needed and then told me I had to help fill in any cracks or gaps that needed more mortar. It took about 15 seconds for him to revoke that order and tell me not to touch anything. Hee, hee. I thought I'd won until he assigned me the chore of moving the unused rocks to form a little border in the area where we park. Rocks are heavy. It was hot. Home was over 100 degrees, but the cabin was only in the 80's. Still...rocks are heavy, especially when it's hot out. Steve and I took turns moving the boulders. He had to get the bigger ones because he's younger and stronger. It looks great, but I don't want to move rocks anymore. If Mike even tries to get me to move anything remotely resembling a rock, I'll stone him. No, that would be too messy to clean up and the rock would be heavy. Well, he won't eat as well.

Funny side story. We stopped at the new antique store in town and ended up buying a deer head. We were in the Jeep Wrangler. Alyssa is learning to drive a stick so she was in the driver's seat and Mike was the passenger. Steve and I were in back. Mike came out holding the head and attempted to hand it to me. The antlers were too large to fit in so the face and antlers were hanging out of the side window partially. We drove over to the hardware store and Mike ran in. I sat in the car with Alyssa. La, la, la. People were looking and laughing and then a woman decided to take a picture of me. She asked if it was okay. I guess. She wanted to know if the deer was my friend. Yup. I petted it while saying I take it everywhere I go.

The next stop was the grocery store. Mike and Steve went in while I sat in the car once again. People made all sorts of comments and stared. Haven't you ever seen a woman with a dead deer before (pet, pet)? Mike came back and announced I was the talk of the store. Great.

So off we go back to the cabin and I'm trying to hold it up so nothing gets damaged, but it's heavy and awkward. A herd of motorcycles came by and I was trying to envision how this must look to them. I suppose sort of like a dog with its head out of the window. They stared. I had decided that if anyone asked for a name, I'd say Tom. No reason. Just a simple name. When we got it back to the cabin, I told everyone that was my name choice. Steve spoke up and said it had to be John. Why John? John Deere. Bah, ha, ha, ha. So John Deere is mounted in the cabin and looks magnificent.

[WIS89]

Jules-

That's funny stuff. I pictured you like Austin Powers petting his cat delightedly engaging the passers by!

And that name; John Deer. Funny stuff that!

Love the stone work. Is it required to close-in under the deck like that? To keep critters out?

I know it is hard work, but you all have done a really nice job!

Regards,

Steve

[QSL]

Pics!

[68GT500MAN]

The rock work and door look great. I too have a "new" project as we have bought a house on 3 acres of land (or should I say weeds). Lots of work to get done before I can get started on the real projects like removing wallpaper from every room (yes I said every room, closet and shelf has wallpaper on it and many different patterns).
Thanks for the update.

[MRSQSL]

Jules-

That's funny stuff. I pictured you like Austin Powers petting his cat delightedly engaging the passers by!

And that name; John Deer. Funny stuff that!

Love the stone work. Is it required to close-in under the deck like that? To keep critters out?

I know it is hard work, but you all have done a really nice job!

Regards,

Steve

It is required that we close in the deck, but I don't think it's because of the critters. The cabins are historic so we have many, many restrictions and I think it has more to do with that. Where the tree comes through the deck, there is a big hole. In fact, I was sitting there the other morning and heard a clucking sort of noise. I turned around and there was a little chipmunk sticking his head through the hole reminding me I hadn't fed him peanuts yet.

[MRSQSL]

The rock work and door look great. I too have a "new" project as we have bought a house on 3 acres of land (or should I say weeds). Lots of work to get done before I can get started on the real projects like removing wallpaper from every room (yes I said every room, closet and shelf has wallpaper on it and many different patterns).
Thanks for the update.

Congratulations!!!!! I don't envy you even the tiniest bit. When we bought our first house, wallpaper was abound. I can't tell you how many hours I spent removing it. That's when I worked nights and Mike worked days. Memories. I would love to see pictures of your wide variety of wallpaper patterns. Any roosters? The bulk of what I removed had roosters on it.

[68GT500MAN]

Congratulations!!!!! I don't envy you even the tiniest bit. When we bought our first house, wallpaper was abound. I can't tell you how many hours I spent removing it. That's when I worked nights and Mike worked days. Memories. I would love to see pictures of your wide variety of wallpaper patterns. Any roosters? The bulk of what I removed had roosters on it.

I will get some photo,s for you. The kitchen does have roosters, on the wallpaper, back splash tile and even several single tiles in the island! We have attacked one room so far and after the texture it looks pretty good to me.

[MRSQSL]

I think it's a rule that kitchen wallpaper has to involve roosters. I'm so incredibly sorry.

[Dragonfire]

Roosters in the kitchen. Its not a rule its a LAW. ;) The cabin is looking beautiful. The envy meter just went to eleven.

[cobrajj]

Julie, is your cabin ok? Looks like the Blue Cut fire is in your area. Jim Herney

[MRSQSL]

Thanks for asking. Yes. The cabin is okay. We were pretty scared for awhile, but the firefighters managed to stop the blaze before it hit town. Hopefully the winds won't shift. I sure hate fire season. I'm fairly certain I have gray hair now.

I haven't been posting updates because Mike has been doing 99% of the work, so I figured there was no point in yammering on about all the stuff I didn't do. We have three new windows which Dan built. They look amazing!!!!!! Mike put barn doors on the garage instead of that old lift up door. I have a new mountain bike which I'm hoping to take on its maiden mountain voyage. I took it out on its maiden city voyage last night. I didn't fall off or fling into anything. It's going to take me awhile to figure out the gears.

[Dragonfire]

Here is wishing you a very happy Thanksgiving to all your family. Hope to hear from y'all soon. Be safe and have a good one.

[MRSQSL]

Ah, that's really nice. Thank you! I hope you have a very happy Thanksgiving as well.

[Dragonfire]

Hope your family had a wonderful Christmas. I just know the New Year will bring wonderful things for your family. Be safe this New Year's eve. Looking forward to seeing posts again. :rolleyes:

[MRSQSL]

I feel so bad for not working on the car!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I asked Mike to please help me. I am hopeful we will get back out there soon. In the meantime, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year and I really, really appreciate the gentle nudging.

[MRSQSL]

Now I just feel silly. I didn't realize this was the cabin thread. Okay. I have cabin updates. I was just waiting until the work was done.

We did the one thing probably everyone on this forum wonders why we didn't do sooner. We expanded the garage. Shhhhhh!!!!!! USFS may not exactly have fully given us 100% permission. They said we could do the roof and the doors and had to replace the siding. It's not my fault the garage accidentally grew 9 more feet and now has a paved floor.

I'd like to say I did all the work, but it isn't true. I stood and watched and handed people things and did what little I could. What is shocking, is that the bulk of the work was done in three days!!!!!!!!!! Thank goodness we had the help of a cabin neighbor or two. Mike rented some sort of heavy machinery (which I got to play with for a few minutes and it was a ton of fun). He dug out and flattened and did whatever men with big construction toys do. We were then able to put up a small block wall and fill it with concrete to prepare for the structure.

The following weekend, we pulled down the back of the shed/garage (mostly cabin neighbor did) and leveled the ground before putting in rebar. The cement truck arrived so we could pour the floor. This is terrifying. The truck is huge. I think my head came up to mid grill. It was okay when it was sitting there spinning slowly like a cow chewing its cud. When the driver slammed it into high speed to actually pour the concrete, my heart began to race. I do NOT like that noise. It was loud and rumbly and the truck was shaking. I wanted to run and hide. I managed to stand my ground and attempt to look unperturbed. Mike, Steve and cabin neighbor slopped the mix around and gave excellent directions to the driver. I was rather impressed. It looked exhausting and really, really heavy. I mean, duh. Of course concrete is heavy once it's dry. It didn't occur to me it's heavy when it's wet. Again, really stupid since I have lugged buckets of the goop around on two separate occasions so I'm fully aware how hefty it is.

Lots of smoothing ensued and watering and finally eating and resting.

Day two consisted of framing. Again I did the handing and standing and holding. I didn't partake in climbing or nailing or heavy lifting. The frame was sheathed as was the roof area. Steve and I worked with the paint sprayer and installed bats (not the flying kind). Day three was the rest of the siding, painting, roofing and moving stuff back into the garage. A couple of days later, actual roofers came out and changed the shingles on the old part from brown to green and then shingled the new section with green. It looks amazing.

The following weekends involved a whole lot of cabinet building, shelf installation, organizing and labeling. It is amazing and now we can fit the Jeep inside.

A couple of weeks ago Mike installed valves so that we can turn the water on and off and drain the cabin from inside instead of having to wade through snow and get dripped on and dirty. A-MAZING!!

[Dragonfire]

As everyone here says, No pictures then it didn't happen. Now you just need to add on to the garage at your house. Add another bay with a 15 ft ceiling so you can fully utilize the lift. Better yet new house with a four care garage. ;) Glad everything is going well. Happy New Year!

[MRSQSL]

I'll try with pictures, but I'm not so good. Yeah, it'd be nice to have more garage room at the house, but I don't see that happening. Mike did drive Scoopy to work today though. I'm going to be anxious until both Mike and the car are locked safely in the garage tonight.
62346623476234862349

[Dragonfire]

MRSQSL,

We miss you. How is Coupey and the Cabin?

[MRSQSL]

Coupey is too high for me to work on! We are moving this coming weekend and had to stack the cars through the whole selling process. Scoopy is under the lift and Coupey is on top. Mike and I have only been going to the cabin for overnight trips on weekends so that we can pack. It has taught us we can still enjoy the cabin, but spend some time at home. He has mentioned a couple of times in the last month that he is really itching to get back in the garage and help me with the car. I foresee good things as long as the move goes smoothly. I don't ever ever ever ever want to move again. The new house actually closed escrow this morning. Buying went relatively smoothly, but I can't say the same for selling. Talk about drama. We have been on an emotional roller coaster since the end of March. It'll be nice to be settled, but I'm really going to miss this house. We've lived here for 13 years. Sniffle. Anyway, I'm hoping we can start working on Coupey in a couple of months. There is some stuff we will need to do on the new house (along with unpacking) so I don't think I can have Mike's focused Coupey attention for awhile. We haven't done much with the cabin lately. Winter was a little harsh and spring started out very muddy. I don't anticipate doing much work on the cabin this year. I think it'll be Coupey's year (at least I hope so). Mike says I'm in charge of demo in the new master closet so that we can install a closet system. If that turns out to be entertaining, I'll write. I've never demoed a closet before. I don't want to jinx anything, but how hard could it be to remove a few poles and shelves? Thanks for asking about us!!

[Dragonfire]

Wow! A new house. I hope everything has gone well with the move. I know you will put your special touch on your new home. Are you still in Corona or somewhere else. I hope you and Mike are closer to work. I will look forward to updates. Your posts are such an uplifting part of this site. My beautiful wife has just retired after 30+ years with the same law firm as an accounts manager. Me, I'm probably the stupid one still working after 42+ years with the state department of health in Mississippi. Maybe next year I will kick out and catch another wave. Might even build a Gen 3 Coupe. Here's wishing the best for you and your family.

[MRSQSL]

Sorry it took me so long to reply. We are still in Corona, but closer to work. It's amazing when Mike calls to tell me he's leaving work and then he shows up 30-45 minutes later. We probably should've done this years ago. Congratulations to your wife on her retirement. I'm envious. You should build a coupe. Everyone should build a coupe. Oh wait, maybe I should stop telling people what to do and take my own advice. Poor Coupey.

We haven't been doing any work at the cabin that would make for an interesting story. We have been busy with pine needle cleanup. We did Dan's as well and discovered a rattlesnake in the process. Mike was so calm he tricked me into being calm and I actually walked towards it a little (don't worry, I was still about 12 football fields away - ha, ha). We had nothing to kill it with (which I was actually happy about because I'm not a fan of killing anything), so it lived to see another day (hopefully not us again). It was big and scary and shouldn't exist. It made noise. It slithered. I liked nothing about the experience and I refused to go in that general area for a couple hours. I worked on the other side of Dan's massive yard. Anyway, we finished his, but ours is still a work in progress.

We went down the mountain Saturday to take Alyssa back home (she got called into work) and left the dog and bird (oh, we have a bird now). We were headed back when our cabin neighbors texted to say there was a fire. I was driving, so Mike pulled out his phone and looked it up. Yup. I couldn't understand how a fire could be burning in the same place the last fire burned. What is burning?! They shut down the roads leading in, so we figured we were going to have to take the excessively long way around. Fortunately, the firefighters were on the ball and got it out quickly enough that they opened the main road before it was an issue. Thankfully the neighbors up there are good with our animals and could've gotten in and rescued them. I didn't like that experience, though. What I did find much more enjoyable was an evening in the observatory that night. We got to see Saturn and Jupiter and Ring Nebula. Wow. Just wow. Of course we didn't get to bed until after 2:30am, but totally worth it.

[Dragonfire]

MRSQSL,

Just keeping in touch. Ever since the news of the fires in CA I have been concerned. I see where some areas in Corona were evacuated. I pray everything is OK with you and your family. How about the new home and the cabin?

[MRSQSL]

Thanks for thinking of us. The first fire was really close. Too close. My son's school was the evacuation center and the neighborhood next to ours was evacuated. Thanks to the amazing firefighters, we were able to make it through with no evacuations in our little area, but a whole lot of ash and a lot of fear (at least on my part). The second fire started in essentially the same spot, but the winds were really strong and blew it away from us. I was super happy about that, but incredibly sad for the people that lost their homes. I guess it's still burning, but we can't see the smoke from here anymore.

Mike is still having major back issues. Surgery will be in January. In the meantime, he refuses to sit still which probably makes it worse. No matter what I say, he still fixes and improves things around the house. He got around to working on the lift a couple of weeks ago. It is now fully installed and functional. Coupey went for a few up and down rides. While Mike did that, I worked on my knight. I have a suit of armor, but he can't stand unaided. Mike and Steve welded up a "skeleton" for him and I've been padding it. Let's just say I pad skeletons as well as I work on cars. It's extremely frustrating at times, but satisfying when his armor fits well against the puffy foam. I would guess a couple more hours and he'll be fully upright. I'm hoping he eventually finds his way into the house. Anyway, while I was doing that and Mike was working on the lift, Steve was changing the spark plugs on his Buick. We are getting closer to getting that thing operational. Of course it really would've helped if the parts store had given him all the same spark plugs instead of a hodgepodge. He got that situated along with another dead battery. That car kills batteries. At least there was a warranty this time. As for the cabin, we haven't done much work on it, but Mike did start pulling down some of the hideous wood paneling the last time we were up. I think the plan is for all three of us to tackle that room this weekend. It would be nice to get it insulated and looking snazzy before the first snow. He has to do a bunch of wiring, though. Electricity scares me, so I'll make myself look really busy somewhere else while he does that.

The incredibly sad news is that Dan sold his cabin. He won't be up on the mountain much longer. We tried and tried to talk him out of it, but he's on a mission. He will be sorely missed. Talk about a massive loss for the community.

[David Hodgkins]

I wish I knew he was selling, I love it up there.

Glad to see you are getting moved in "fer reals" and glad you weren't near the fire.

If you guys ever want to do another build party, say the word!

:)

[Big Blocker]

I'm with Dave . . . build party.

It's a bit of a hike from Vegas but post when and where and I'll try to be there . . . being retired helps with "spur-of-the-moment" scheduling.
I'll even bring some "refreshments" for the host(s).

Good to hear you guys are OK and skipped the fire part of California.

Doc

[MRSQSL]

We really didn't know Dan was selling until it was too late. Would've loved to have had you as a neighbor. We met the new guy once (very briefly). He seems friendly enough, but I'm not sure that he's a tinkerer. He makes some kind of vegan soup. I'm hoping I get to taste it one day, although I'm far from a vegan.

I think a build party would be great, but I'm not sure when or what we'd work on yet. I can't really remember where we left off. I think it had to do with belts. I will definitely get the word out when the time is right. Doc - you HAVE to be there. You aren't allowed to miss it.

I'm so sorry about the tragedy in Vegas. I'm relieved to know you are okay.

[Dragonfire]

Julie & Mike,

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!! :) Here's wishing you a very festive holiday season. May God keep you and yours safe and happy.

Festus

[MRSQSL]

Thanks! Happy Thanksgiving to you as well.

We have some big plans for the cabin. If everything goes well, there should be lots of updates this next year.

[BFFofMRSQSL]

We have some big plans for the cabin. If everything goes well, there should be lots of updates this next year.

There better be!

[MRSQSL]

Ha, ha. Well, Mike just had surgery and is recovering, so give it another month or so (assuming we still don't get snow).

[frankeeski]

Ha, ha. Well, Mike just had surgery and is recovering, so give it another month or so (assuming we still don't get snow).

I talked to Mike today via text and got an update that he went in to work today, for the first time since surgery, for a half day. Great to see him back on his feet! Can't wait for you to get back to the Coupe build.

[MRSQSL]

Yes, he did go back for the first time. He has been working from home off and on since surgery. It's hard to get him to sit down and relax so he can heal. Yesterday was also the first time he'd had to take pain pills in awhile (too much standing at work). He was supposed to take 5-6 weeks off, but I only managed to keep him out of the office for two weeks. The coupe is still in the plans. In fact, Mike was laying in the recovery room and one of the first things he said to me was that he was ready to go home and work on the coupe. Ha, ha. Yeah, maybe the first step should be getting the IV's removed and making an attempt at standing.

[David Hodgkins]

../He was supposed to take 5-6 weeks off, but I only managed to keep him out of the office for two weeks. The coupe is still in the plans. In fact, Mike was laying in the recovery room and one of the first things he said to me was that he was ready to go home and work on the coupe. Ha, ha. Yeah, maybe the first step should be getting the IV's removed and making an attempt at standing.

He should be really careful. It would be horrible to deal with a setback because he decided to push it too soon. Put your momma bear suit on and confine that man until he HEALS!

:)

[MRSQSL]

Believe me, I'm trying. The doc did give him permission to work 4 hours a day, three days a week. Of course he worked longer than that yesterday and paid the price. I think/hope he learned a valuable lesson and will take it easy tomorrow. He swears he can drive himself, but he isn't allowed to drive for at least three weeks, so I'm putting my foot down on that. I have all the keys and he isn't going anywhere without me. He is home today, but is going to a short meeting this afternoon. Fingers crossed he lets me bring him home after 4 hours of work tomorrow.

[WIS89]

Jules-

My best to you and Mike. I hope his recovery goes speedily, and without incident!! Please have him take it easy, so that he can work his tail off later!! HA

We all look forward to your updates and progress. All the best!

Regards,

Steve

[MRSQSL]

I hope his recovery is incident free as well. Thanks!

If you ask him, he'll say I have lists and lists of things for him to do. I don't. Just help me with the coupe. That's it.

[Dragonfire]

All my best you and Mike. Take care of him. You know that men on the mend are the worst cry babies there are. :p I do not envy him in any way except for his loving wife and children. Hope you are able to get back on the coupe soon. Tell him not to rush it we don't mend as quickly the older we get. :rolleyes:

[MRSQSL]

Thanks. He has actually handled recovery far better than I would've expected. I'm really impressed. Well, except for the part where he ignores everything I say and everything the doctor says and tries to do everything he shouldn't do. I think that's true with most men. You are stubborn creatures (said with love...mostly).

[MRSQSL]

Mike is doing extremely well. I mean he should've had surgery years ago. I'm thrilled. I think he mostly believes he's invincible now and therefore has taken on some projects that I would've preferred to avoid. In fact, there is one in particular coming up in a couple of weeks that has me somewhat concerned. Not in his ability, but in...well...you'll see.

So Mike decided we needed to do some more cabin remodel. Fine. I'm good with that. The back is still mostly untouched. I was a little surprised with his plan to move the closet, make a hallway and push out the back for a bedroom. What, a bed in the living room isn't the optimum configuration? The hallway looks amazing. He installed a couple of pocket doors and modified every surface except the floor (one day we'll sand those down and stain). I'm supposed to take down the doors and sand and paint or stain those. I'm avoiding that project. I'm lazy.

Anyway, the next step was going to be a bathroom remodel. The closet and pushed out bedroom can wait a bit. Now this is the only project (besides the kitchen when we first bought the cabin) that I really really really really really really really care about. I strongly dislike the bathroom. It's as clean as it could possibly be, but it still gives me icky shivers whenever I'm in there and I'd NEVER go in barefoot. Those feet are always covered. Eep. So the plan was to get all the materials ordered up so that we could begin the demo Memorial Day weekend. Mike did all his calculating and pontificating. We had several disagreements regarding the layout, but finally decided on a plan. We packed up to head home, grabbed hands and did our traditional walk around the cabin to make sure things are secure before the sad goodbye. La, la, la. La, la, la. Why is the ground a little wet? Now this is something we had noticed months ago as well, but it seemed like a freak thing. With that little dabble of liquid poking through the dirt right about where we assume the septic tank is, my mind suddenly thought up possible alternate scenarios. Maybe a bird vomited a little. Maybe the tree had an accident and leaked a little. Maybe a tiny cloud came through and only rained on that one square inch of ground. Maybe an earthworm exploded. Fortunately none of these suggestions made it out of my mouth so Mike had no idea how insane I actually am. He kicked at the dirt which I thought was a terrible idea. That just made more wet dirt appear. I couldn't come up with any reasons other than a septic tank issue. Crap (literally).

I know of two other cabins that had septic issues since we've been there and had to have the entire system replaced. I believe the cheapest was $8k. We can't possibly remodel the bathroom AND pay for a new septic. I made this loudly and abundantly clear to Mike (and anyone within a 12 mile radius). He calmed me down a tiny bit by telling me he would come up during the week and dig a little. Okay, but I made him pinky swear he wouldn't order a single thing for the bathroom until we had this sorted. Now that I think about it, he never actually agreed. Just kept telling me not to worry. He had this handled.

As promised, Mike travelled up to the cabin mid week and dug. And dug and dug and dug and dug and dug and dug and dug. It wasn't that the septic cover was deep. It wasn't. He actually impressed me by finding it almost instantaneously. I wasn't there so I suppose that could've been a lie. Hmmmmm...skeptical face. The problem was that "cover" is sort of a strong word. It was a bunch of pieces of cut up railroad ties. Those are heavy and especially immovable after 50+ years of being in the exact same spot. The cabin was built in the 20's, but I suspect the septic was not part of the original plan. No clue when that actually arrived. That's beside the point, though. What I'm trying to say is he uncovered the tank. I was a little hesitant to look at the picture he sent, but it was surprisingly not stomach churning. Then again, that's probably because smell doesn't translate through photos (thank you very much lagging technology). A couple of the cabin neighbors were out doing their own projects and came down to help unstick the railroad ties and give their opinions on the situation. Turns out they both had to replace their systems recently. I had only known about one.

The next message I got was that it needed to be pumped and someone was coming that afternoon. How did I not know how outrageously expensive pumping is????? Then again it has to be a job that very few people would be excited about so paying just about any amount is better than doing it yourself (visualizing myself out there with a bucket and a ladle). The pumping went well and the tank was deemed to be in excellent condition which surprised everyone. What didn't appear to be so amazing was the leach field (or leech field - not really sure - going to call it LF instead). It's not that you can see a LF, but if the tank is fine then it sort of implies the field is bad. The guy said he'd have is father come out and quote, but was guessing it would be about $3500. Please remember I was not there for that proclamation, but when Mike shared the news with me, I nearly fell out of my chair. I had to have misunderstood. I mean the tank should be expensive and our tank is fine. Mike convinced me to wait patiently for the estimate while I kept screaming at him we can't do the bathroom remodel too.

Days passed. We went up to the cabin this last weekend. We had seen the guy on the camera, so we know the father came out. The quote hadn't arrived, so I was getting a little concerned. By Sunday morning (Happy Mother's Day), I had pretty much decided he had forsaken us. In the meantime, Mike assured me we could probably continue to use the cabin as usual for at least a month before the tank would fill up and we'd have an issue, but cautioned that we should at least make an attempt at conservation. While I strongly agreed, all this did was actually make me feel a sense of panic and that I needed to use the restroom every 30 minutes or so. I didn't, but the horrible feeling of distress was there pretty much constantly. So after a couple of hours had passed on Sunday, I declared we needed to go home. It was about this time the quote arrived. Mike told me he had good news and he had bad news. The good news was that we could do the bathroom remodel as we'd be doing the septic ourselves. The bad news was that the quote was $5000 without a new tank and $7000 with. The extra bad news was that we could either pay this or we could do it ourselves. Ummmmmmm...frugal me shrieked he absolutely had to do it and clean me shrieked there was no way on God's green earth I was going anywhere near that septic system. Since I couldn't have it both ways, Google was my only option. I pulled out my iPad and began researching. Now Mike, being much calmer and infinitely more prepared, had apparently already googled septic repair and had an idea of what was possible, required and even advisable on the subject. His hesitation was that it would be a butt ton of work and require heavy equipment rental, gravel truck delivery and time away from projects he really wanted to do. The poo factor wasn't even a concern on his radar. He sticks his ungloved hand down between the seats and the center console in used cars. I'm vomiting in my mouth at the thought. He'll touch anything!!!!! What is wrong with him??????

After a lot of upset sighing, I decided to stop reading about how the LF is the most expensive part of a septic system. Jerks. Mike suggested maybe something was clogged and we should run down to town and rent a rooter from the hardware store and also get some septic chemicals. We could root around and see if anything was clogged and then throw the chemicals in and let them marinate for a couple of weeks. I figured that would be less than $100 and if it saved us thousands, it would be worth it.

With equipment rented and set up by the septic hole, I stood back while Mike turned the machine on. He cautioned me not to touch anything in the area and that he would just handle the whole thing. Yeah, but I couldn't leave him to suffer alone and what if he got hurt and got poo in the wound. He'd die before he could call for help (maybe not, but it felt like the kind of situation where he shouldn't have to be alone). Did I mention Happy Mother's Day? It looked like a torturous process and he appeared to be in pain from the awful angle he had to contort into. I'd say about 30 minutes passed. Only a little poopie liquid sloshed through the air a couple of times. I wasn't going to race over and give him a hug, but I did poke his drink at his mouth occasionally. All in all it wasn't that bad from a spectator point of view. He thought he had hit a clog almost instantly, but he just couldn't break through after the half hour of trying. Either the pipe had collapsed (was metal on the side we could see, so very real possibility), it was clogged with a solid gob of excrement or the pipe turned and the snake wouldn't traverse the corner.

[MRSQSL]

It was hot and I think both of us were frustrated, but rather than just throwing in the towel (or rather chemicals in this case) and calling it a day, Mike suggested digging down to the pipe to see what could be seen. He could rule out two of the three possibilities that way. And if it turned out to be the clog, chemicals to the rescue. Digging, digging, la, la, digging, la. More railroad ties and then flat wood. More wood. Lots of dirt. Pipe!!! Even more exciting, it was black PVC piping. Okay, so apparently someone had gotten in at some point and replaced it. That is good news. It seemed fully intact, so a collapse didn't look likely. Digging more to follow the pipe. Where did the pipe go? Odd. Okay, so it either turned or...no clue what the other option would be. More digging. What is that round thing? Oh no. Oh. This isn't good. Chemicals would definitely not help. So good news/bad news. Good news is that our LF did not fail. Bad news is that we do not have a LF. What we have is a pipe that goes out say 6' from the tank outlet and then turns DOWN. Yes, down. Below the open end of the pipe is a bucket. No, it is literally a bucket. Not lying. Our LF is a pipe with a bucket. The bucket doesn't even have a lid, mind you. The wood was supposed to protect the opening presumably. This might have been a fine idea had the pipe not been sticking up above the bucket so that there was no flat place to lay the wood. Said bucket was full of things we don't discuss as well as rock and dirt and pieces of bark. Angry face. Best guess is that when they replaced the pipe, they disconnected it from the original LF and used the bucket as a substitute. I have no words.

So the new Memorial Day weekend project is digging ourselves a LF. Now I realize Mike is doing 99.98% of the work, but I still have the right to complain. I could've had a bathroom. Instead, I'm paying a yet unknown amount of money to have a LF. You can't really tell guests to flush the toilet to see how amazing the new septic lines are. You know? It's really not an aesthetic improvement. It won't even affect performance (I assume). It is definitely a necessary evil, though. Mike has the backhoe thing rented and the gravel truck will be coming by as well. He has an excellent plan in place as we do have large trees and a slanted area so there are obstacles to the 50' x 3' x whatever foot area that's needed. He has this all thought out and prepared. I am thankful beyond words for his strength, wisdom, abilities and willingness to do this. It will save us several thousand dollars. I'm so incredibly sorry he has to do it and I'm also very sorry my bathroom remodel is going to have to wait. In the long run, it's better to have a system that isn't going to back up into the newly remodeled bathroom. So the moral of the story is that earthworms probably didn't explode if you find a wet spot near your septic tank and you should probably prepare yourself for bad news.

[frankeeski]

You can actually do a leach pit instead. You'll have to buy the "seepage pit" but it's a hell of a lot less work than digging an entire field.

Scroll down towards the bottom of the page.
http://blazerseptic.com/septic-101.html

[MRSQSL]

I appreciate the suggestion. However Mike already bought some of the required materials for the drain field and I think his plan is pretty good. I don't (knock on wood) anticipate too many problems. I think the people that decided a bucket was good enough were actually trying for the seepage pit idea, but went with a paint can sized bucket rather than a large drum. I'm sure they had good intentions. I think the seepage pit (what a terrible word - "seepage") is a good plan if the drain field eventually dies and the future owners (our kids) have to replace it. I'm hoping to live to be at least 120, but I also don't ever want to have to deal with septic crap again.

[WIS89]

Jules-

This is a job Mike can do without question! And, even with the expenses involved, you should still be able to tackle that bathroom reno. You may need to skip a few elements to cover the expense of the septic; but things like sinks and toilets are really just luxuries, right?

Seriously though, given Mike's ridiculous skill set, this will all get handled, and will make for some more great forum entries!

So glad Mike is doing well from his surgery! I have been thinking about you all, and hoping that you are well. I was worried a bit because we haven't heard from you in a while. However, I am glad that worry was unnecessary!

Give my best to Mike please, and I look forward to hearing about the septic work, as well as the happy return to Coupey!!

Regards,

Steve

[MRSQSL]

Wondering what happened? Well, I'm here typing so obviously Mike didn't use the backhoe to dig a deep hole for burying my body. That's a good thing.

Working around excrement is much less exciting than I thought it would be. Who knew? There really weren't any human droppings laying around waiting to pounce. Mike got the backhoe (delivered late because isn't that the way things always go?) and he dug. He dug and dug and dug and dug (yawn) and dug some more. We ended up with a large rectangular pit where we eventually put long white piping (with holes). Then a butt ton of gravel was deployed. Now let me stop here and mention that in my head "gravel" is pea gravel. Cute little baby gray rocks. Imagine my surprise when I saw the pile of gravel taller than I with big globs of grayness. I think Mike told me (when I was no longer speechless) that they are 1-1/2" maybe. I learned something. Rock is heavy. It doesn't matter if it is small or large. When you have to use a metal rake to move it (or a shovel - not hands or you'll break nails, found that out the hard way), it's heavy. Very, very, very, very heavy. Dense little suckers. The backhoe moved the bulk of it, but some hand/tool movement was necessary. Ouch. Talk about feeling it in your hands and legs and back and neck and toes and groin and ears and hair muscles and knees and fingernails. You get the picture. Everything hurt by the end of the day. Well and then there was the part where my neighbor asked me to walk to a garage sale with her. She thought it would take about an hour. What she failed to mention was that it would be a nearly 7 mile round trip starting at about 7300' elevation and at least half of it would be uphill. By the time I got back hours later, I was in a mildly extreme amount of pain. I shoved some food down my throat, drank a couple gallons of liquid and then went back outside where Steve immediately handed me a rake. Sigh. Two hours of raking and then we were finally done for the evening. Steve and I were, anyway. Mike continued to backhoe around the property for a couple of more hours doing odd jobs here and there. If I had a place to keep it and could afford it, I'd totally buy him a tractor for Father's Day.

There isn't much more to say. More work was done the following day and then the backhoe was picked up. I was a little sad when it left. It kind of felt like an extension of Mike since he'd been on it pretty much every waking moment. So the septic is done, but I mean who knows if it works. It's not like the toilet flushes better or the sink drains any differently. We had had the septic pumped prior to this so it isn't full enough to test. I guess it's just a waiting game now.

We were at the cabin the next weekend as well (big shock, right?) and did the pine needle cleanup. That's not fun, but it went surprisingly quickly. The septic area was already all churned up from the work we did. There was nary a needle to be seen. The rest of the yard was time consuming, but not horrific. I believe it took two trips with an overly full truck bed to get them all out of there. Last weekend Mike borrowed the neighbor's churny uppy thingy which he attached to the back of the UTV and dragged all over the place. It looks much better now and again no pine needles to be seen. That thing is heavy, though. It's like a lot of chain with a bar and a hitch. I'm not describing it well, but it works. Mike complained a little about having to do it, but I saw the tiny smile on his face and the twinkle in his eyes as he drove the UTV all over the yard like a maniac. What I didn't love was that it sucked some of the rocks up closer to the surface and Mike decided to start taking those down where the picnic table used to be. I was minding my own business in the cabin when he came in and asked if I would pretty please make a rock wall for him. Fine. I hadn't planned on doing in manual labor this weekend so I hadn't packed any labor outfits. We were hosting a large party that evening and I didn't want to look like I'd just come off the chain gang. I grabbed my cute little mechanic-y overalls and tucked in for a long, hot, heavy morning of lifting. We were sitting on the deck trying to cool off a couple of hours later when Mike got a text requesting we bump the party from 7 to 5. ARGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I immediately stripped off my coveralls and raced into the house to start food prep. It all turned out well, but I'm hoping to be able to relax this weekend. Do you hear that Mike? Are you reading this? RELAX!!!!!!!!!!

We are still planning on a bathroom remodel. The shower has arrived at the store and needs to be picked up. I am hoping that is not the plan for this weekend. The neighbors are building a massive garage and are going to be borrowing Steve for a few days, so he has to be delivered tomorrow morning. I won't be going up until Friday night. Fingers crossed it is a relaxing weekend. Heck, I'm going to cross a few toes and maybe my eyes too.

[Dragonfire]

Julie,

You have not been on site for a while. Hope everything is going well with you and yours. Any work being done on coupy? Is the cabin close to being finished. :)

[MRSQSL]

I just looked to see if I have a recent pic of the cabin bathroom. Mike did an amazing job. I helped, but he did 94.8% of the work. I have in progress pics and I'll try to get those on here. It's SO much better than it was. SOOOOOOOOO much better. I'm not scared of the bathroom anymore.

Coupey moved. I know that isn't terribly exciting, but Coupey went from one side of the garage to the other. Steve needed the lift to work on this ongoing issue keeping us from getting the Buick smogged. I have been going out and "helping" him every night after work and jogging. Mostly I fetch him tools and stand around shouting encouraging things. I felt pretty special last night when Mike (helps when we get really stuck) asked me for a 1/2" socket and an extension. I got it right! Then he asked me to go stir the chicken. I apparently have a multitude of helping talents.

I'm hoping once the Buick is done, I can persuade Mike to help with my car. I really need him to do whatever it is he's going to do with the brake lines and then progress can hopefully be made on the rest. I've given up on making excuses. We suck.

Oh and just in case anyone was wondering, the septic seems to be working. Yay us!!!!!!9740197400

[Dragonfire]

Bathroom look great! Hope none of the fires are near you. Be safe.

[MRSQSL]

It seems like most of California is on fire. The only fires near us this week have been small. The big fires up north are nowhere near us, but heartbreaking. The ones in SoCal are over an hour away from our home and our cabin. I feel terrible for everyone affected.

[Dragonfire]

Jules,
Hope you and yours had a wonderful Christmas and it was the best one so far. Have a fun and safe New Year.

[David Hodgkins]

A little birdy (facebook) told me IT'S YOUR BIRTHDAY!!!

HAPPY 22nd!!!

:)

[MRSQSL]

Ha, ha, ha. Thank you!!!!! My daughter will be 23 next month, so 22nd might be a smidge off.

[Dragonfire]

Julie,

Have not heard anything from y'all in over a year. I hope everythis is well with you and your family. Any progress with Coupe?

[MRSQSL]

Julie,

Have not heard anything from y'all in over a year. I hope everythis is well with you and your family. Any progress with Coupe?

We are such bad people for not checking in more often!!!!! We are fine. All of us. Thank you. There has been no progress on Coupey. I feel like I can't do it on my own and Mike has a billion other things he's doing. I ask him often about working on my car, but he's just not motivated so it will wait until he is. I understand. He has oodles of stuff that is a higher priority. I still pet the car whenever I walk by and talk nicely to it. One day.

I don't think we've done a whole lot of work on the cabin. I'm not sure what I posted about last. I guess I should look. We are currently helping a cabin neighbor with their place. In fact, we will be changing out the beams this weekend. I'd be a little more excited if they weren't so big and high up and heavy. Fingers crossed it goes smoothly.

Alyssa got her degree in the mail earlier this week. She will attend the actual college graduation ceremony later this year. We are very proud of her. Steve has graduated from high school and has started college. Very proud of him as well.

[ticopow]

It's only been a few years, how's everything going?

[MRSQSL]

We still exist!!! We still haven't worked on the car. Currently, the project getting in the way is a new location where we work. I don't have good excuses for the other 5 years.

The cabin did not burn down in the last fire, although it came within a foot or two. We are incredibly lucky.

Alyssa has two kids. Steve has graduated from college. He's currently looking for a job.

My mom went through breast cancer, but she has had clear scans for awhile now. Fingers crossed that continues.

I think that's about it. Thanks for checking up on us. I noticed your location is "Utah mostly". We actually have looked at some properties there. We'd love to buy a house in Utah. We can add that to the "maybe one day" list. Do you love Utah?

[ticopow]

I am originally from Utah, but I haven't lived there for... almost 20 years? dang... After I left SoCal in 2018 I moved to Texas for a few months, then Florida, then traveled the country in an RV for a couple years, but now we live in Ga. Married, 2 kids, 6 and 4, and I'm no longer in the Air Force. I still haven't bought a kit, getting married and having kids kinda put a pause on those plans, but maybe in the next year I can save up enough to buy one :D.

I do love Utah, I would go back in a heartbeat but there are a few reasons to stay here for a bit. The biggest reason is the housing costs are astronomical right now. A large enough house for our needs close to SLC is well over $500k, maybe more, and I don't have the equity for that move yet. The other reason is I like my job, and while I could change what I'm doing it would most likely be a pay cut to move to Utah. If you don't want to live near SLC then there are a lot more and a lot better options. :D