This Has Never Happened Before

Not ever.  Not even once in the past 15 or so years.

Over the last week or so, a certain striped guy has been dipping his furry feet into the weird and scary world of lap sitting (something Maggie figured out the day we got her).  Not sure, but I suspect he thought his stripes might fall off if he succumbed to such hedonistic temptation.

It started with a 30-second, very uncomfortable-looking four paws on Daniel's lap.  It progressed to a minute or so of slightly less uncomfortable paws on the lap, and so on until, after screwing up the last of his whiskery courage, last night we got 30 minutes of this:

  
Not sure if it was the blanket or the glass of wine (and the futile hope he might get some) that caused the change of heart, but I'm all for it!

Life in the Big Smoke

It really is the big smoke here in Boise at the moment. There are several huge bushfires burning in the region, and it seems like the smoke from all of them has decided the Treasure Valley would be a good place to settle.

Here’s what the city looked like last night (Monday our time) at sunset:

On my way to work this morning, it seemed to have cleared out a bit. I optimistically took this pic thinking I could let you all know that the smoke has cleared:

Four hours later, and this is from the same spot:

It’s been like this for what feels like years, but is really only a week or so. It’s also been very hot. I guess the upside of the crummy air quality is that the low winds are helpful to the firefighters. They certainly aren’t going to get any help from rain any time soon.

There is a fire burning about seven miles (about 11 k’s) from the cabin, but so far so good. Daniel was up there over the weekend, and the air was apparently more clear there than it was here! He made sure we have enough hoses if we need them, and I told him he should probably find a spot for himself in the creek in case he needed it.  It was a bit nervewracking when we first found out about it, but as it turns out that's all it was.

The latest report as I write this shows that the fire is about 65% contained. If you’re interested, here’s a link to the fire: http://www.inciweb.org/incident/3093/ . It's called the Springs fire, and they think it may have been started by a human.

Given that the entire country is in a state of drought at the moment, it’s really no surprise that we’re having a rough fire season.   It's quite likely that a lot of the fires won't be put out until rain arrives, which will hopefully be in October.

More than half of the state’s population (which is just over 1.5 million) lives in the Treasure Valley, and so far there haven’t been any major threats to humans in our part of the state.

The smoke is supposed to clear out tonight, which is nice for us, but hopefully it doesn’t mean high winds where the fires are.

Nature has a way of making you pay attention, doesn't she?

It Goes in Fits and Starts

As we have discovered, this cabin repair and maintenance business goes slowly.  Surprisingly enough, that's the way it is when you only have a weekend here and there to commit to it. Having said that, we have made some progress, and I have some photos to share with you.  These are the result of several weekends' and weekend days' worth of work.

First up is the deck repair that needed to be done after the storm came through and bounced a pine tree off it.

That's the Culprit Tree in the background.... Grrrrrrr!

It is more than fair to say that Daniel did the lion's share of the work on this.  But, I want to point out, only after I had helped with the measurements for the spacing of the vertical railings.  He may be a very smart engineer, and he may have grown up with stupid feet and inches (metric is so much more user-friendly), but it was YOURS TRULY who helped him figure it out.  I must say, though, that I was very surprised I managed it!  I'm pretty sure I'm allergic to the whole maths thing.

Looks good, doesn't it?  It still needs some little feet under the bottom rail to stop it from sagging, but all in all I'd say it was a job well done.

And here's the nifty bit.  We had heard from our neighbours that the previous owners had issues with snowfall in the winter being heavy enough to wipe out the railings.  Huh, we wondered, how can we take care of that?

Here's how we'll take care of that:

Good old bolts and wing nuts.  We'll be able to remove each section of railing before the snow gets too bad (probably just before we come home for our visit), and store them under the cabin for winter.  Pretty good solution, I think.  Now we just have to replace another four or five sections.


Lest you think I was sitting on my bum while all this was happening, I'd like to mention that I was clearing brush.  With nothing more than secateurs and a shovel.  I managed to get from this:

To this, while Daniel was working on the deck:

I think it had actually all been cleared at one time.  There are carefully placed rocks about the edges, and it's reasonably level.  I managed to cut enough brush to fill the trailer, which Daniel took to the town dump on one of our visits.

That pile of wood resulted from Daniel's chainsaw revenge against the Culprit Tree:

I also cleared up the after-storm debris, and I found some very amazing fungus while I was at it:

Next up was the side railing of the deck, which had been split from the impact of the tree.  I'm not sure it was occupational safety approved, but here's how Daniel kept it jacked up while he was working:

And so... next up was the eaves painting.  We would rather not have to find yet another insurance company, so we got to work on covering the bare eaves with paint.


This is what we started with:

And this is what we thought we would do:

 But given that it would need two coats (on top of the undercoat), and that it would mean a considerable amount of Daniel's time spent painting (at heights that I'm too terrified to deal with):

We opted for this:

It looks pretty good, given what we had to work with, and it only needed one coat.  But what a bugger of a job.  That paint had better last until I'm in my grave, is all I can say!

I'll use the red paint to redo the screen doors.  Hopefully it will make it look like a cheerful, welcoming cabin.  Hopefully it will keep the insurance company happy, too.  There are still three sides to go, but that will have to wait until next time.

Or maybe the time after.  Daniel's Dad is coming for a visit over this weekend, so although we'll be at the cabin, I think I can guarantee no repairs or maintenance will be done.

Oh, and in case you're wondering, that's a hummingbird feeder hanging there.  You fill it with a sugar solution, and all things being equal you'll have wee winged visitors.  They're actually pretty grumpy, territorial things hummingbirds, but they're amazing, too. The first time I saw one, I honestly thought I was looking at an insect.  I still can't quite believe they're actual whole birds.

So we've made some progress.  And I think we're pretty close to finding a name for the place, too.  I'll let you know when we've got it sorted.

Aaahhh, the Joys of Cabin Keeping!

So we had a long weekend not long ago (Memorial Day, as it happens), and as you might imagine we decided to head on up to the cabin for a few days.  We still don't have a name for it, by the way.  Maybe it will be The Cabin That Remains Nameless.

I had decided to put a coat of paint over the panelling in the loft.  It's in pretty good condition (unlike the downstairs), and I thought a little bit of paint might brighten things up.

I'm not going to paint the window end.  It's solid wood, and looks lovely the way it is.   Same goes for the ceiling.

Fabulous lightshade, isn't it?  I do believe that to be an authentic 1970's number in a particularly virulent shade of green plastic (or "plastique", given how fancy it is).

And in case you're wondering why we sleep with our heads towards the center of the room, it's so we don't bang said heads on the ceiling when we get out of bead.

I ended up putting another coat of primer on it the following weekend (I went up for the day), and then when I painted it with colour (the weekend after that) I used a primer and paint in one.  Just to be triply sure!  This is about the best rendition of the colour... taking photos of green paint is tricky! 

I like it.  It's given the loft a little more of a contemporary feel, it's brightened it up as I had hoped, and it makes it feel a little more like our place.  Oh, and it's helping banish the stinky unused cabin smell that we've been enjoying.

That white gunk on the beam isn't paint, by the way.  I'm not sure what it is, but it isn't paint (perish the thought that I would be that messy with paint!).  Probably some kind of evil toxin that's going to kill us in our sleep.

On the Sunday we decided to take in a bike race that had been happening for the past few days.  It was called the Exergy Tour; a women's bike race that was part of the Olympic qualifications.  I've never seen such a big or important bike race before.  There's a lot of information about it here, if you're interested.  It's a pretty big deal; Idaho used to host a major women's race back in the day, and people have been working very hard to get one happening again for quite some time.

We went to one of the uphill stages of the race (Daniel and Chris rode, but I most certainly didn't), thinking that it would be slow enough for us to really see the women go by.  Fat chance!  They pelted up the mountain like it was flat.  I did my best to take some photos, but I'm afraid I wasn't very successful.  This is the view down the mountain - just one of many they rode up:

And here are a few of them fairly belting up the slope (not that you can tell from a photo):

It was one of those "you really had to be there" things, but it was worth the drive, and I think it was worth the exhaustion for Daniel and Chris.  I ended up driving them back, mostly because it looked like it was going to rain, and they'd just managed to recover from the ride out.

There was at least one Australian team, which was good to see.

Here's some of the scenery from the drive out.  Can't remember how many miles it was from the cabin, but it was more than a few.

What a terrible place for a holiday home, huh?

There was barbecuing, board games, and general relaxation to round out what was a very pleasant weekend.  I must confess to a bit more daydreaming while watching the creek flow by than is necessarily good for a person, but I maintain that it's an excellent way to reduce stress levels.

As I mentioned, I spent the next few weekends making day trips to get some painting done.  And it was last weekend that (ominous music, please)...

DISASTER STRUCK!!

Here's what I found when I arrived bright and early last Saturday morning thinking that I'd just whack a coat of paint on the loft and then get to relaxing:

Trust me, there wasn't a hole in the railing when I left! 

Here's the culprit.  We'd had a storm, and evidently the winds were strong enough to knock down a dead pine tree:

I can't work out exactly how it happened, but the tree hit with enough force to embed bits of itself (and the railing) in the deck!  Amazing.

And the following Tuesday, I think it was, we found out that our insurance company canceled the policy on the place (effective in July) because it's in a fire danger area and there's too much brush about the place.  Exactly how an insurance company can issue a policy and then rescind it at will is beyond me.  And even if it is legal, it certainly doesn't seem ethical.  Grrrrr!

We're not going to make a claim on the damage; it's not going to cost that much to fix.

We've since found another company that is - at least at this stage - willing to insure us.  We have to have insurance because there's a mortgage on the property.  Hopefully this policy will stick!

We went up last Sunday and got to work making repairs and clearing brush.  Daniel is now the proud owner of a fancy chainsaw, which he put to good use cutting up the tree that caused the damage (there must have been at least 15 metres of timber), and dropping a few more that were dead and in danger of causing a lot more damage than the culprit tree did.  I doubt we'll need to worry about firewood this winter!

And we're going up again this Saturday to do more work.  Apart from anything else, we need to paint the eaves, so that the new insurance company doesn't have a fit about the potential for dry rot.

All in all, it could have been much worse.  And even though we've had to spend money we didn't want to spend at this stage (chainsaws are NOT cheap), it has at least motivated us to get on with some much-needed maintenance.

Ah yes, weekends filled with back-breaking labour.  Is that what days off are for?  Can't wait!

More Portland Greetings

So as I was saying before I so rudely interrupted myself, we kept on driving until we came across a shipwreck.  I don't think I've ever seen a shipwreck before, so of course we had to go and have a poke around.

The Peter Iredale was built in 1894 and came to grief while sailing (it was indeed a sailing ship) in 1906 while trying to avoid a storm.  I know this because I looked it up, in case you're wondering.  They had hoped to tow it to sea, but by the time the weather cleared the sand had taken hold. Now she gently rots (is a ship named after a man still a "she"?) on the beach, and provides interesting photo opportunities for tourists like us.  For example...

We must have been on the leeward side of things, I think, because my ears were never in any danger of freezing off.

On Monday, after  lazing around for a bit, we took a walk and visited Powells Bookstore.  We went because it's an independent bookstore, which unfortunately are few and far between these days, and because it lays claim to being amongst the largest bookstores in the world.  Given that it covers an entire city block three storeys tall, and has an annex across the street, I think the owners might have a point.  They apparently have several other stores in Portland, too.


There were endless, endless stacks of books on shelves more than twice as tall as me, on any subject you'd care to mention.  They have secondhand books mixed in with the new, which is how Daniel came across a fly-fishing book from the 1960s that he brought home.  Much to my surprise, there were several copies of the same book for sale!


As you might imagine, even for a book lover it was a bit overwhelming; thank heavens they have maps available so you can find your way around.  I am a little surprised to report that I left with only two books, one on knitting and one on small batch preserves.


Monday night was spent at the reason we went to Portland in the first place: The Black Keys concert.  I enjoyed it, but I think live music is something you have to see for yourself.  It's not really something that can be explained.


Tuesday was the day we headed back to Boise, but not before a visit to Portland's famed Japanese gardens.  They have five separate styles of garden on a little over five acres, and all are absolutely amazing in their own ways.  I was surprised by the relatively limited palette of plants and colours they used, but they certainly put them to good use.  I believe the garden has been there since the 1960's, so even now it's really just coming into its own.


I think it was a lovely last stop, but I'll let you judge for yourself.


Cheers!

 

Greetings from Portland!

Well, not actually FROM Portland since we've been back for about a week now, but since this is a postcard, the title seemed appropriate.

A few details before we get started with the photos.  Portland is about a seven hour drive westish from Boise, and about 90 minutes from the coast.  It's a port city (imagine that) on the Willamette River, and I believe the population is somewhere around the 600,000 mark.  Add in the population in the surrounding area, and you're looking at about two million.  So quite a big bigger than Boise.


Also quite a bit wetter.  It's on the rainy side of the Cascade mountain range, and they get a LOT of rain, which means it's very green and lush.  Fortunately for us, our entire stay was sunny, if a little chilly on the first day, and dry.


We traveled with our friend Chris, and had a lovely few days.  I'd quite happily go back again. So on to some photos.  We took lots, so I'll try and keep it to the highlights.


Our first stop, on the way to Portland, was Multnomah Falls.  It's just off the highway and fabulously touristy, but for good reason:

 

It was windy, damp, and crowded, but still worth stopping for. After that, we dropped by the Full Sail brewery, which was a little further down the road, and took a free tour.  Portland has the most breweries of any city in the US (and possibly the world, I can't quite remember), so beer was unavoidable much to my dismay (not).

On Sunday, we visited a town called Cannon Beach on the Oregon Coast.  Another very touristy place, but we went for a walk along the Pacific Ocean and took in some very spectacular scenery.  I must say it was BLOODY cold and windy.  We turned back to town just before our ears froze and fell off.

Cannon Beach itself was an awful lot like every other seaside tourist town I've been to, but it did have some nifty architecture:

Steidel's Art was just lovely, the building and the artwork it contained.  The artist, who must be at least a thousand years old, works mostly in watercolours and is a fantasy artist.  He's developed his own characters and stories, and I could have very easily walked out with all of his work.  His website really doesn't do him justice, but here it is if you're interested: http://www.steidelsart.com/index.htm

We drove further up the coast to a town called Astoria, which is a working port town on the mouth of the Columbia River.  I preferred it to Cannon Beach, especially the way the houses were all piled up on some really steep hillsides.  We found our way to something called the Astoria Monument, if memory serves, where we got some spectacular views over the river:

We took a drive around the river mouth for a bit, where we discovered a shipwreck, but you're going to have to wait for that.  I thought I could get this all done in one evening, but I'm afraid I've run out of time for now.   I'll leave you with a photo of Chris, and one of Daniel and I...