“This is the devlish thing about foreign affairs: they are foreign and will not always conform to our whim.” – James Reston
Monday, September 26, 2011
Day Eleven 2011 Cabin Trip (Sunday)
Today was “pasta day”. More on that later.
We started the day with a walk to the UFO landing site where Lynne collected little green rocks, probably left behind by little green men (or possibly copper rich rocks that have colored green.) This is a good walk for the dogs and the views from the top of the hill are beautiful. You can see forever.
We drove over and visited Larry and Donna for while. Then home for a lunch of leftover Memom’s Macaroni (pasta!) After that we did some cleaning and chores then worked on the puzzle and finally finished it. It was a hard one, but we persevered. I’m sure Lynne will post photos.
An early evening drive rewarded us with beautiful views of the changing Aspen trees as well as a buck antelope and a beaver. Here are some photos. For a photo of the beaver, see Lynne’s blog. (A better way of saying what I first came up with.)
And the sunset was very nice. Clouds of virga to the east and sunset to the west:
After the drive, we made 3-Cheese Macaroni & Cheese (pasta!), and watched some TV before retiring around 10:00—pretty late for us at the cabin.
Posted under: Cabin News • by Rick on 09/26/2011 at 11:09 AM
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Saturday, September 24, 2011
Day 10
OMG. It is really the tenth day of this annual visit? Today was a lazy day.
We had a small omelette for breakfast. Then, an nice walk “around” with the dogs. We did some laundry and vacuumed the rugs. Corn dogs for lunch. Worked on the puzzle some. And, never left the place.
We are having Onion Tart for dinner. This is one of our favorite meals, but we seem to only make it at the cabin. (Country music is going in the background.)
Here are some photos of our walk this morning.
Dick the tree… (Notice two trunks for one tree. Weird.)
Lynne taking picture of the dogs at the pond.
Aspens are finally changing some.
Alex is pooped at the end of the walk.
Posted under: Cabin News • by Rick on 09/24/2011 at 06:52 PM
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Day Nine 2011 Cabin Trip
Today, Ron came and finished up some work from last year. He caulked any cracks in the logs that face upward and might catch and hold rain or snow. Last year he completely stained the exterior to protect the logs from the elements. Still, the logs on the East and South facing side of the cabin need that again - so another chore for next year.
He also patched the big holes that I had a photo of previously. This will keep the pack rats and other rodents out of the fireplace chimney.
Since he was here most of the day, we did not do any long walks. And, I think the dogs might have appreciated the break.
We did take the chain saw over to a big tree that has fallen and is partially obstructing an association road. It ran for a minute then died and I could not get it started again. Typical of a cheap chain saw. I left the good one in NJ. It was probably just flooded, so I’ll try again some day. We did collect a bunch of broken branches and hauled them back for firewood.
The weather station is working great, it was 37 degrees overnight (and that is the current temperature as I write this on Saturday morning.) Barometer is falling slightly, but not enough to bring any “bad” weather, so I think we are in for warm, sunny days for the duration.
We had Uncle Louie Burgers and twice fried French Fries for dinner. Lynne made a Banana Cream Pie. Yum.
Oh yeah, I got the little wishing well cover for the water pipes put back together. I’ll try to remember to take a picture.
That is it for the day. I’ll leave you with a photo from yesterday.
Posted under: Cabin News • by Rick on 09/24/2011 at 07:45 AM
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Friday, September 23, 2011
Day Eight 2011 Cabin Trip (Thursday)
Today, the only wild furry creatures we had to deal with were the dogs who had cabin fever after being cooped-up in the cabin for 5 hours while we ran into town for a “big shop”.
Every year, we get only what we need for 3-4 days as we come in through Laramie. Then, after living here for that amount of time, we’ve developed a comprehensive list of the things we need for both “maintenance” related activities and food for the rest of our stay. We really do try to minimize trips into town since even just a quick trip will usually take a minimum of 3-4 hours.
We needed a variety of items including a new weather station (I got an Acurite 01010W at WalMart for $99 and it seems to work very nicely). It is nice to know the temperatures, temperature extremes, wind, barometer, etc. Other things we got included wood screws, a light bulb, a drill bit, a rug, a spatula for the kitchen, etc. You get the idea—an eclectic collection of things that we need based on our first few days.
Then, of course food. Enough to last another 8-10 days, including a meal with guests. This means dry ice for the cooler since our small fridge can’t handle all the food. When we live here, we’ll need a second fridge.
Oh yeah, the highlight of the day is a run to the dump to get rid of the accumulated trash (including the busted weather station.)
We were so bushed by the time we got back that we did not do much. I did set up the weather station. But mostly we took the afternoon easy, a short walk with the dogs, Guadalupe Chili Pie for dinner and off to bed early. (It got down to 34 degrees overnight.)
Posted under: Cabin News • by Rick on 09/23/2011 at 07:39 AM
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Thursday, September 22, 2011
Day Seven 2011 Cabin Trip (Wed)
Okay, I’m already starting to lose track of time, so will note that it is Wednesday in the title of this post.
As you saw from the previous post, the truck is fixed. That is a huge relief.
Ron is coming up on Friday to finish some work he started last year, and to “consult” with us on how to plug the gaps where the chimney meets the logs and where the pack rats are getting into the fireplace area. (We still can’t figure out how they are getting into the cabin itself.)
So, we will likely go into Laramie tomorrow, Thursday, for the “big shop” that will last us through the rest of the trip. We have a pretty good list of the non-grocery items we need (including more rat poison), but today we need to put together a detailed list of groceries based on the recipes we’ve selected for the next 10 days or so.
Last year, we blogged a lot about the beetle kill pine in our area. The pine forests throughout Colorado and most of the West have been devastated by the beetle. Here is a photo of what you DON’T want to see as you walk around:
You can see the tiny bits of tree sap that have oozed out of the tree where a beetle has bored in. This is a sure sign of an infection, and within a year or two the tree dies. First it turns orange because the pine needles are still on it and they are orange. But, after they fall off, the tree is gray. Finally, the wind blows it down.
We did a walk “around” this morning so Bella got her swim. Now, it is time to clean up the cabin some, clean up ourselves, and then I think we will have a leisurely day around the cabin, probably working on a puzzle.
More later, I’m sure.
It is later, and a quick update. We did, in fact, start on a puzzle. We took a short drive around the neighborhood—not much has changed. The land owners association has worked on some of the roads and likely wasted some money. They have graded some roads to “improve” them and make them less likely to accumulate snow, but they are either roads that go nowhere (no properties adjacent to them), or are never used in the winter anyway because there are better paths. Oh well, government waste is everywhere I guess 
We had Memom’s macaroni for dinner and then actually watched a couple of hours of TV before settling in to bed.
I’m writing this on Thursday morning. We’ve just gotten up, fed the dogs and cats, started coffee percolating, and we will soon prepare for a trip into town!
Posted under: Cabin News • by Rick on 09/22/2011 at 07:05 AM
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