Construction Journal Entry Week of 8/29/04

8/31-9/2/04 Andrew and I went up to the property for 3 days: Tuesday through Thursday.

We stopped and visited with Marilyn and Sydney on the way up. Then, at the rest stop, we decided to continue straight on to Leavenworth before we went to the property. Andrew wanted to visit the Chocolate Factory and I decided to buy some helium balloons to mark the property corners as I mentioned in the journal entry for 6/16/04. We bought the balloons, some fishing line, and the chocolate, and arrived at the property at about 2:40. There were no frogs in the cans.

After moving in, we went into the woods, found the property corners, and flew the balloons up above the treetops. Then we got in the pickup and drove to the overlook road. When we got there, we discovered that it was still closed because of the Dirtyface fire.

Back at the trailer, we called the ranger and found out that there was still a crew up there taking care of smoldering hot spots and there was no prediction on when the road would be opened. We were very disappointed.

Up at the cabin, we found that the peanut was gone and we had caught a mouse in the trap. We put out another peanut and set three conventional mouse traps. We also fed the gray jays.

In the evening, we worked on the Cub Scout Geologist requirements, listened to a couple lectures on Roman History, and played a card game called Speed.

On Wednesday morning, we were happy to find that the peanut was still there and all the mousetraps were still set. We weren't sure what that meant. We went to work and sanded the logs and window frame that were due for another coat between Grids A3 and C3. I forgot to bring my respirator mask so Andrew held the vacuum hose close to where I was sanding and that kept the dust under control. When we finished, we went up on the scaffold in the loft and sanded the ridgepole and the C2 RPSL. Andrew also swept up some chips on the loft floor.

We went outside and decided to chop down three dead trees below the cliff. I used an axe and felled the biggest of the three which was 47 feet high. Andrew said it was 48 feet because you have to count the stump.. It fell across the driveway and into the old log pile area. We limbed it, I bucked a 24 foot log from it, and then peeled most of the log. Most of the tree was dead so the bark was hard to peel off. We used a spud and a drawknife. We decided to leave the other two trees for another day.

Toward the end of the day, it started raining so we quit peeling for the night. All the while we were working, we fed as many as four jays and two or three chipmunks. Andrew named the skinny chipmunk "Skins" and a fatter one "Chubs". I think Chubs was a ground squirrel and Skins was a chipmunk but I still have trouble identifying the little critters.

That evening we finished the Geologist requirements, listened to some more Roman history, and played some more cards.

On Thursday morning, the peanut was still there and the mousetraps were still set. I wondered if maybe those last two mice have been in the building all along and just kept a low profile while the pack rats were still there. If that's the case, it is possible that the building is rodent proof after all. I guess only time will tell. We'll see how long that peanut stays on the floor.

I finished peeling the log and then we dragged all the limbs to the compost pile. We fed the jays and the chipmunks all during the work.

We called the rangers again and found out that the road was still closed even though it had rained quite a bit over night. I told Andrew that the government was sometimes slow to get things done and I bet him that the sign would still say the fire danger was HIGH when we went home. He bet me it would at least say only MODERATE.

Next, I set out an ant bait station I had bought. This thing dispenses a bait that the ants like and they take it to their nest and feed it to the queen and all the other ants in the nest. In a couple days they all die and the ant problem is supposed to be solved. We'll see if it works.

We left for home at 10:40 AM and saw a coyote in the middle of the road a little ways from the cabin. When we passed the fire station, we saw that I had won the bet. We stopped for lunch at KFC in Monroe.



Go to Next Journal Entry
Previous Journal Entry
Go To Home Page

©2004 Paul R. Martin, All rights reserved.