It has been a while since I have posted to our blog. We had our semi annual Christmas (over 30 of the Jacobs side) at the lodge and also a big group up for New Years (over 20 of the Guida side). Plenty of snow and sledding and skiing and food and drink and general fun.
Some of the family built a snow fort to allow the kids to throw snowballs at us as we hiked down to the sled run. I built a fire in the upper fire pit with the help of Devin who hiked over with me to get firewood. The babies played on the merry go round - even with all the snow - it was fun for them. We managed to have 3 inner tubes, lots of sleds and snowboards for folks to use on the mega sled run built by the guys. Some of the nieces and nephews did the traditional double and triple deck sledding. The hill by the septic tanks would make a great "drop" on the run - and the boulders made great turns (with plenty of snow padding). The run ran all the way to the back of the property (by the big pine tree) and the kids whined and groaned about having to pull their sleds back up the slope. Uncle Jim still needs to build a tow rope.
This year we had a few new folks join us. Mel brought up her new beau and Angela brought up her fiancé. Also, Jessica and Josh brought Jackson and little Josh (for his first lodge experience). There were a lot of little boys at the lodge, so the BOYS ROOM downstairs with the new log bunks got a lot of use.
At New Years we were lucky to have family from Washington and Long Beach/Anaheim join us.
The game room has a large leak in the roof due to the El Nino Rain and Snow combination, so we had to move the furniture around and set up a tarp on the roof to cover the section that is leaking. Jim, Dave and Matt installed piping for a propane heater over New Years for down there and we hope to add a cast iron stove there someday. I think that the game room will be more of a summer fun spot since it is difficult to hike down to it in the winter and snow sledding is a much bigger draw (over ping pong and air hockey) for the kids at Christmas. But then again, there are those drought years. The game room is right next to the Emigrant Gap school (temporarily closed due to poor enrollment).
We kept up the tradition of cutting one of the small douglas firs for the sad, Charlie Brown Christmas trees and had about 6 kids working on making ornaments the day before the tree went up. Christmas day had all of our families clustered around the main room, opening their gifts. We were hoping that since we got "SNOWED IN" most of the holiday, that the snow would continue to pile-up the sides of the lodge, but alas - February came with unreason like warm weather (60 degrees) and most of our snow is now gone. The second half of February is supposed to get wet and cold again - but not as cold as December and January - so no Marshmallow Lodge for this year.
We are beginning to work on building in the snow shed area so that the door is closer to the front of the structure and the sides and roof are built better (no more shutters for the sides) making the staircase between the two main floors more like an interior room than a shed room. Next, we plan to put a roof over the deck so that we can create a permanent screened in porch area for all season use. We have a reunion scheduled for this summer, so any large scale work needs to be completed by end of July. So the siding and attic/basement stairs will need to wait for another year. Alas.
I finally purchased the two books as a Christmas gift for Jim about our town - 30 Years Over the Summit and the Baggage Car with Lace Curtains. The books were written by a man and his wife who working with the railroad from WW2 to the 1970s and were stationed for a time at Emigrant Gap (they lived in one of the railroad cabins that is across the street from us). I read the Baggage Car book - not much about Emigrant Gap - but still an interesting read. Jim is reading 30 Years. The family retired in Colfax and the wife, Kaye - became a member of the Historical society there - so I am hoping there is more information about her life at Emigrant Gap there.
Next post will include pictures, but for now, I wanted to make sure I captured these new memories of the lodge.
Windows showing, lower shutters removed and redwood lathe gone. Temporary siding added to keep away snow for now until we can add tongue and groove. Front white shutters will be removed later as part of residing. 
Inside view of added 2 by 6s and corrected windows (they were originally installed without any flashing or header before). The new "room" will be fully enclosed with a lot of light now that shutters are removed - so less opportunity for our little friends of the forest to nest in the area. Back wall shown will be removed since we are moving the entry wall closer to the front. 