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!
