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Then: The Second Week of June 2008
There is a Mule Deer buck that has been coming near my camp in the evenings and bedding down for the night just down the driveway. The second time I saw him, I walked to within 50 ft or so and started talking to him. He just looked at me and continued grazing, then settled down for the night. I shot some great photos. This is just incredible!
On June 9, I had gone back to sleep again after JB's call when our building site contractor called at 7:15. As soon as I said, "Hello," I added, "Holy Crap! It's snowing!" Yes, indeed it was, and ended up covering the mountain with a good 1/4". Fortunately it all melted by early afternoon, but it was COLD. Got some great photos of snow on the wild flowers. I have heard it said, "Winter isn't over in the mountains until there is snow on the dogwood." I can now personally vouch for that. As I was talking on the phone, my deer friend sauntered up the driveway and into the woods.
Our building-site contractor has finished grooming the road and is working on the building site. The two large trees have been chopped down, cut into a few pieces and moved to the other side of the driveway just up from my camp.
We had wanted the house to face west and overlook the canyon, with a view of the mountains, however we had not anticipated the slope of the land versus a flat spot to build upon. As the backhoe dug into the dirt, it was obvious that if our porch was on the west side, we would have a view of a 5 ft wall of dirt. I was in tears. I changed my drawings, switching the front door to the east end and the loft on the west. As we sit on our porch, we will look into the woods, down the driveway and off to the north ridge, and up to the south ridge. The deck off the loft will overlook the canyon and mountains.
Now: June 8, 2011
As with each thing we thought was going wrong, it always turned out better than our original plan. We love that our porch faces east with the above described view. We get the morning sun on the porch and the afternoon shade. As I sit at the computer in the loft, I can see the mountain peaks and canyon. When the deck is finished, we can enjoy the second story view which is even better than from ground level.
I never saw my deer friend again, although I'm sure he saw me.
And speaking of our deck, yesterday we got the third hold dug, set the poles and screwed in the header board all the way around. And it isn't even rustic! It's all flush, true and level. Don't know if we'll be out working today or not as it is 38 degrees out there with fog from the valley blowing through. Yesterday was a perfect day for working outside - sunny sky but not too hot with a nice breeze.
We will probably do our inside maintenance since it is so wet and cold out there. Propane appliances require a lot more cleaning than do electric or gas. Our kitchen stove needs to have the under side of the top cleaned once a month from a sooty-like build up. That's JB's job. The refrigerator should be defrosted once a week as ice builds up on the back inside metal slats. That's easy enough though, as I just turn it off every Monday for an hour or so. Of course the wood stove also needs cleaning once a month. That's my job, and a dirty one it is. But we bought an ash vacuum this spring which really helps.
The two trees that our site contractor cut down are long gone as firewood. That's another continuous job Spring through Fall, cutting firewood. We have so much downed timber Up Here that we probably won't have to cut any trees down for several more years. The land was not groomed in any way before we purchased it, and it was logged several times. Plus we had our 40 acres thinned about 18 years ago and they left a couple small piles of small trees not suitable for lumber. As soon as we the snow starts melting in the Spring, I am out gathering downed branches and small trees. If you don't get them before the grass and bushes start growing, you won't see them again until next Spring. So we have quite a large pile of wood already, just waiting to be cut. Everything needs to be cut into 16" lengths for our stove. And pieces more than 4" in diameter need to be split. We like to have at least 8 cords cut for the winter.
There is a Mule Deer buck that has been coming near my camp in the evenings and bedding down for the night just down the driveway. The second time I saw him, I walked to within 50 ft or so and started talking to him. He just looked at me and continued grazing, then settled down for the night. I shot some great photos. This is just incredible!
On June 9, I had gone back to sleep again after JB's call when our building site contractor called at 7:15. As soon as I said, "Hello," I added, "Holy Crap! It's snowing!" Yes, indeed it was, and ended up covering the mountain with a good 1/4". Fortunately it all melted by early afternoon, but it was COLD. Got some great photos of snow on the wild flowers. I have heard it said, "Winter isn't over in the mountains until there is snow on the dogwood." I can now personally vouch for that. As I was talking on the phone, my deer friend sauntered up the driveway and into the woods.
Our building-site contractor has finished grooming the road and is working on the building site. The two large trees have been chopped down, cut into a few pieces and moved to the other side of the driveway just up from my camp.
We had wanted the house to face west and overlook the canyon, with a view of the mountains, however we had not anticipated the slope of the land versus a flat spot to build upon. As the backhoe dug into the dirt, it was obvious that if our porch was on the west side, we would have a view of a 5 ft wall of dirt. I was in tears. I changed my drawings, switching the front door to the east end and the loft on the west. As we sit on our porch, we will look into the woods, down the driveway and off to the north ridge, and up to the south ridge. The deck off the loft will overlook the canyon and mountains.
Now: June 8, 2011
As with each thing we thought was going wrong, it always turned out better than our original plan. We love that our porch faces east with the above described view. We get the morning sun on the porch and the afternoon shade. As I sit at the computer in the loft, I can see the mountain peaks and canyon. When the deck is finished, we can enjoy the second story view which is even better than from ground level.
I never saw my deer friend again, although I'm sure he saw me.
And speaking of our deck, yesterday we got the third hold dug, set the poles and screwed in the header board all the way around. And it isn't even rustic! It's all flush, true and level. Don't know if we'll be out working today or not as it is 38 degrees out there with fog from the valley blowing through. Yesterday was a perfect day for working outside - sunny sky but not too hot with a nice breeze.
We will probably do our inside maintenance since it is so wet and cold out there. Propane appliances require a lot more cleaning than do electric or gas. Our kitchen stove needs to have the under side of the top cleaned once a month from a sooty-like build up. That's JB's job. The refrigerator should be defrosted once a week as ice builds up on the back inside metal slats. That's easy enough though, as I just turn it off every Monday for an hour or so. Of course the wood stove also needs cleaning once a month. That's my job, and a dirty one it is. But we bought an ash vacuum this spring which really helps.
The two trees that our site contractor cut down are long gone as firewood. That's another continuous job Spring through Fall, cutting firewood. We have so much downed timber Up Here that we probably won't have to cut any trees down for several more years. The land was not groomed in any way before we purchased it, and it was logged several times. Plus we had our 40 acres thinned about 18 years ago and they left a couple small piles of small trees not suitable for lumber. As soon as we the snow starts melting in the Spring, I am out gathering downed branches and small trees. If you don't get them before the grass and bushes start growing, you won't see them again until next Spring. So we have quite a large pile of wood already, just waiting to be cut. Everything needs to be cut into 16" lengths for our stove. And pieces more than 4" in diameter need to be split. We like to have at least 8 cords cut for the winter.
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