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?
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.
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.
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).
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.
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.
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.
MK4 delivery 12/17/11
Build thread: HERE
Epic First start video HERE
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.
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.
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.
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.
Frank
__________________________
Factory Five Racing MKIII Super Snake Replica. Cannonball Cobra Drop Trunk Box, Horn Button and other machined Do Dads.
i.e.427 Chromed Full Width Roll Bar with integrated LED Third Brake Light.
I will never forget My Buddy Paul.
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
........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?????
Frank
__________________________
Factory Five Racing MKIII Super Snake Replica. Cannonball Cobra Drop Trunk Box, Horn Button and other machined Do Dads.
i.e.427 Chromed Full Width Roll Bar with integrated LED Third Brake Light.
I will never forget My Buddy Paul.
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.
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
Built FFR5196 MKII in 2003, 427w
Building FFR0058HR, Edlebrock 347-AOD
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.
MK4 delivery 12/17/11
Build thread: HERE
Epic First start video HERE
And what, you bought a brand new Jeep Grand Cherokee to pull it up there? Julie, where's that money tree?
Last edited by frankeeski; 07-18-2015 at 12:08 AM.
Frank
__________________________
Factory Five Racing MKIII Super Snake Replica. Cannonball Cobra Drop Trunk Box, Horn Button and other machined Do Dads.
i.e.427 Chromed Full Width Roll Bar with integrated LED Third Brake Light.
I will never forget My Buddy Paul.
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.
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.
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.
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
Built FFR5196 MKII in 2003, 427w
Building FFR0058HR, Edlebrock 347-AOD
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.
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!!!!!
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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!!!!!!!!
Thanks: 
Likes: 
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.
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Originally Posted by bwdziol
