Introducing 'The Cabin'

Since we can't come up with a name, it's just going to be called 'The Cabin' for now. We haven't put much thought into what we want to call it, it's been a long few weeks and June was just too busy to concentrate.
After being gone for almost 3 weeks out of the last 4, it's nice to be back into rhythm, but after 3 hours of email this morning all I could do was laugh at the silliness of it all.

I was at the cabin for 3 days on my own, from dawn to dusk I worked my ass off. The previous owners preferred everything to be natural, and while that's nice, I wanted it looking a little different.

First thing to do was to clean the inside and that took an entire day to get it done so I felt it was clean. Once it was clean I had boxes to unpack, and it was dark out so I went to bed. When I say went to bed, I mean I layer on a sleeping mat and didn't get any sleep.

The next few days were spent outside cutting the weeds down and raking (20+ bags of pine needles and pine cones). I did chop and drop unless it was around the pine cone area, that had to be cleaned up. 2 days of dawn to dusk yard work like that beat me down hard. That meant 2 more nights of not much sleep as the furniture was not in yet and my body didn't appreciate the hard floor with a thin sleeping mat.

We were finally together and working on Thursday evening until we left yesterday. There is no TV and no internet at the cabin. The cell phone reception is spotty at best and for hours on end my phone was simply a camera. I'm debating adding internet but really don't care about it for now. If I need to work from there I'll do it and set up a home office for taxes, but otherwise I don't want it.

I'll try and catch up with everyone, and everything over the next few days. Here are the photo's, sorry about the bright/dark but it was sunny or everything was closed down to keep the heat out. We have a lot to do, but now we get to relax some as well.

Living room area

Bath

Kitchen and fireplace

more living room and the dining room

Guest bedroom

Master Bedroom

 Exterior shots. Take care everyone!!!

Home for 18 hours

I'm going to try and blog a bit more, isn't consistency supposed to be the key to success?

I arrived home at 10 this morning after being gone for over 5 days. It was fun, but it was also work, so it was exhausting all the same. I managed to whip through all of my work email, get a haircut, see the dentist, mow the yard, set up 2 separate sprinkler systems to help out when I/we are away, repack my suitcase, watch the last Game of Thrones and eat some lunch.

I'm headed to Seattle tomorrow for a few days, then back home for a couple, then off to the new property that is closing on Monday.

Before I left I got Rock out for a nice hike and swim (on a retractable leash of course).

While I was away:
A morning hike and run:

 I think this was before I left but whatever, it was good and looked good too:

 The first morning out of town on business we hiked up to about 11,000 feet. Much of the journey was spent carefully walking on large snow banks and drifts. Snow melt, mud, sunshine, water and some fun.

 My friends started up the huge snowbank that had no bypass. I took us a few tries, we didn't have the "right" gear.

 The reward for being stubborn and hiking for 4 miles:

Time to finish chores and sleep! I'll try to catch up on comments when I get back, blogger doesn't seem to like my phone or ipad for answering them. I'm staying busy,

A garden photo

Life has been amazingly busy, and while we always know May and June are the busy months, it's actually a surprise this year how much we are doing.

Work:
One of my guys left to do full time ministry so I had to panic and fill a key position. Luckily I knew the perfect person and we made it happen in a very short time frame. It did uproot his life a little to take the job and move from the pacific northwest but I am thinking of amazing positives for him and his girlfriend in the long run.
We have an event at work almost every weekend in the summer, and I have to head for Seattle for a conference next week. I'm out of town for the rest of this week, back for 1/2 a day, then away for 4 more. The one weekend I'm home with no work event we will finish packing the tools and items for the cabin.

Home:
The garden is doing well, I have a couple of tomato plants that are struggling but I planted more than enough. I know why and it's my fault, so another lesson learned about hail and removing the buckets from the plants before it gets too hot out.
We hoe'd the bean rows to keep the bushes from leaning too much. I prefer bush beans to climbers, but next year I might just install some chicken wire and change to climbing vines.
The lettuce we planted 2 years ago is almost ready to seed again, we just don't eat enough of it but it's there. The chives are amazing this year, they are going to seed right now. A random potato started to grow and the other random stuff I planted in odd spots is actually coming through.

Less than 2 weeks until closing on the cabin. I could have closed today but I felt it was silly to do closing paperwork and leave town for 10 days.

We managed to get some ATV riding in, hiking, running, indoor rock climbing, and more. I've finished 4 books in the last 2 weeks and should get another 3 read this week while I'm out of town. One of the hikes I took was with my 50lb. pack, it had been a while since I rucked with it and I did great. I've changed up my diet a lot in the last couple of weeks and I'm finally getting adjusted to it.

In the great wisdom from a dog:
When it's hectic and fast paced, sometimes we all need to take 5 minutes under a shade tree. Next to a creek would be better.

I hope everyone is doing well, I'll make my way around to blogs when I have a chance, maybe in a couple of weeks.

Cabin visit

We've decided to use the term 'cabin' when discussing the new property. It fit, and while we have a name thought of once we take possession, 'cabin' works well enough.

My best friend of 20 years just moved to town, and wanted to see the cabin. We loaded up and headed out on Saturday morning after moving a couple of items into his apartment. It was a beautiful day, but we found the road crew working in front of the property.

It seems there was a log jam up stream and it cause most of the road to flood out. There wasn't anything amiss on the cabin property, just some overflow water near the creek itself. The creek was very high.

The county road crew said "the guy who owns the water got rid of the log jam". This peaked my curiosity on the whole water rights, so I contacted a lawyer this morning about it. In Colorado having water rights is one thing, but if someone has senior water rights they have priority. The road crew also said it was the first time this had ever happened, so that's good news.

On the way to the cabin we watched a helicopter take a drink.

Here are some shots from the area and one from the garden.

Yesterday we spent several hours in the yard and house getting all the chores done. We had fallen behind but with some high activity level, we took care of it all. I got the inside chores to help with the allergies, and it sucks to cut the grass with a dust mask on.
The garden is looking amazing, just lacking a few cucumbers so I need to replant in a small section. We already have green tomatoes growing, the blueberries are starting to form, the rosemary is amazing, a random potato started growing next to a random onion that's next to the wild lettuce.

We also added 45 miles to the ATV's, it can't all be work. I hope everyone had a productive weekend as well!