Wow, it has been a while since I have posted (other than updating the history pages). It may be because our eldest daughter started looking for a house in May, purchased a house in July and we have been working on it ever since. Or it could be that there has not been much done on the lodge for a bit - not really.
This summer we were able to re-enforce the deck foundation and re-top the deck with TREX. My hope was that Jim would keep going and finally put a roof over the deck so that we could use it all 4 seasons - but no such luck.
Jim also worked on the lodge foundation, re-enforcing it. Though the building still feels like a roller coaster as you walk from the front to the back, it is a strong roller coaster now.
He also started to build the "casita". It is a little building that will house our swedish sauna (is casita the right term - I do not think they speak much spanish in Sweden). At this point the casita is framed, sided, and roofed. It is now waiting to be insulated (that's Jim) floored (that's me), and finally interior sided (back to Jim again). Then we need to add a small deck and stairs and we are ready to go.
I worked on trim for the hallway doors upstairs (got those in just in time for the mini reunion), The trim, believe it or not, is fir from Scandinavia that was used to built crates for springs for Telsa motors. These crates were 12 feet by 3 feet by one foot. Out of each crate I got 7 12 foot 1 by 4s of lovely wood. Of course, I had to plane and sand the stuff - but it was worth it not to buy the warped and junky wood at Home Depot. So - now all the bedroom entries on the main floor have door trim. Soon, I will add floor trim and we will be looking snazzy.
I also painted the side wall of the exterior of the cabin (so the new deck would have a painted backdrop). We are staying with forest service green for now until we reside. Then who knows. We may just stay that color forever.
I also continued in my annual quest to clear the property of debris. I have stacks of branches and weeds just waiting for the first fall rain so that I can start burning. I also weed mowed all 3 1/2 acres (less the forest area which does not require mowing).
Speaking of burning, there is a nasty forest fire ablaze across the Royal Gorge that luckily will not reach Emigrant Gap. It is southeast of Foresthill on Deadwood Ridge. That may not seem too close - but as the crow flies, it is in the vicinity and these fires can quickly just from ridge to ridge. Good news - it is about 60% contained as of today. However, it is giving us a lot of smoke and will not be completely out until September 1. Alas - the drought continues to plague us.
We have not spent every moment at the lodge working though. We found a lovely floating hole (I would not call it a swimming hole as the water is SO COLD). It is on the Yuba River on the way to Rucker Lake and is called Emerald Pool. It has become a favorite tube floating spot this summer.
We also discovered that we have a small wading hole near the bridge at Fulda Creek right down the hill. Quincy loves to go swimming there and it allows us the opportunity to cool off without driving too far. We took the Kayaks out of Lake Valley Reservoir for an afternoon which was nice. Have to say we have the most beautiful lakes in our region.
Mom has made it up to the lodge many times this summer and we have had fun traveling to Reno thrift store shopping and traveling to Grass Valley to the Habitat store.
This summer's mini reunion on the 4th of July was fun. Adam, Leah, Carter and Carol (Jim's sister) came up from the south and we attended the 4th of July parade in Dutch Flat and watched the fireworks from the Summit. What fun that was. We also were joined by Mary and Lynn and with Carol went over to Emerald Pool for a wade. Mary Beth and Katie joined us for part of the weekend. Fun, fun holiday.
We were happy to see Art and Don quite a bit this summer (though not as much now that we have so much smoke in the air) and had them over for dinner a few times. We love their new model train display in their cabin. It is extreme!
We are hoping for a wet fall and snowy winter. This is a Tahoe Christmas year (we need to change that name) so the Jacobs Girls and their progeny will be in the sierra in full force.
We also had a visit from John Miller, the grandson of one of the Allen Hotel daughters (our Emigrant Gap Hotel and now lodge was the Allen Hotel in the early 1900s). And we were so very lucky to have a visit from Eleanor Richardson, daughter of Joe Cortopassi who owned the hotel in from the 1920s to the 1950s.
That's it for now. Enjoy the rest of summer. School is starting soon!
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