October 26 - Finishing the Stonework on the Cast Iron Fireplace - Game Room

We have been without electricity at home for about 3 days until today so this post is a bit delayed. Last week Jim worked on the supports for the stairs that are coming off the sun deck and the firewood holders (we are getting fancy this year - no more junk wood and pallet wood, we are building 2/4 4/4 holders with slanted metal roofs and metal backs).  I finished (until we install the mantle pieces) the stonework for the cast iron stove in the game room.

Excluding the pool table slate (for an even flat surface) that the fireplace is sitting on, most of the stone was collected locally from outcroppings of gray and California orange slate/sandstone.  As usual - the job got pretty messy with scratch coat and mason's mortar and Mapi to hold the stone (strong stuff).  Mapi is a great product but when wet it is super sticky.  And then the sanded grout/mortar for between the stones was quite fun (stuffing it all into the cracks by hand).  I tried to use a refillable mortar tube that goes into a hand gun - but the mortar mixture was too heavy to feed through the tube.  So all hand work again. At least I was smart enough just to buy plastic tubes instead of a stainless steel gun/tube that was quite pricey.  And mortar (pastry) bags are just a joke to work with.

So 15 pairs of latex gloves later, the job is just about done (when Jim installs the side and top mantle, I will need to do some mortar/grout patchwork). The mantle will be made from some old Railroad Tunnel wood we found in the basement.   Here is a photo of my newest stone work.

And a few tidbits:

Drove back to the road split for Big Valley Bluff last week (since we have no snow back there yet).  The dogwoods have turned a lovely color of pinkish red and since the road is not often taken, it is coated with colorful fallen leaves.  The oaks and maples are a dark rich yellow. Fall is definitely here.

Tunnel Mills and Onion Valley campgrounds have closed (gate locked) but North Fork is still open.

Not much water coming down the Yuba right now.  Hampshire Rocks (the falls area) currently dry.

We found the bottom of a broken vintage bottle on our property (we have lots of broken glass and pay the kids 10 cents per piece to pick it up).  The bottle was labeled the Fitch.  It turns out Fitch was a  would be doctor in Iowa would changed professions and created a hair tonic that was sold between the late 1800s  and the early 1950s.  Since we know there was a barber at the old Emigrant Gap Hotel, this makes a lot of sense.

October 21 - Lots of Small Projects

With the surprise snowfall at the end of September and beginning of October, we have been very busy at the lodge preparing for winter.  Jim cut down a few more of our dead cedars (all a casualty of global warming and the pine beetle blight) then I split most of it up for firewood for this year.  Jim has been busily building new improved firewood storage since we have a HUGE stack of wood (expecting a snowy winter - fingers crossed).

We are in the process of adding a new wood burning stove in the game room.  Most people would put down some fire-proof tile and a firewall, but since we like stonework, Jim built a platform that has a slab of pool table slate surrounded by random stone on the base, and I added stacked stone/rubble rock on the wall.  Most of the rock was gathered over the years from the California Gold Slate/Sandstone we have in the area.  I will be grouting (mortaring) when we return to the lodge this week.

Jim has also been working on fixing some steps on our sun deck.  The old steps were worn out - so he is adding new treads and a new railing for this year.

He took down the old heater venting that had become a bit of a hazard (the top came off last winter and we were worried that the next storm would take down the entire stack). The old Kerosene furnace has been gone for years (it was non-working when we purchased the lodge).   I would love to add the video of the collapsing tower - but I am afraid I would over whelm our blog.

And since the game room (portable) leaks on one end, I purchased some Henry's 12 year and put a few coats of that on the roof last weekend.  Crossing my fingers that the Henry's will fix the problem for now.  We are hoping to add a pitched roof to the building (24 by 40) sometime in the future.  Flat roofs just don't cut it in our snow country.

No outdoor burning since June - so we have a bunch of tree debris waiting for the burn ban to be lifted.  If we don't get some weather soon, that may be after this snow season.  We also need to haul some of the old metal trash that we have collected from our "woods".


We managed to have some friends and family up between August and now.  My buddies Karen, Clay and Shelia came up for a midweek visit a few weeks ago.  We took a trip to Sand Harbor (over by Incline Village) and did some light hiking on the new bike/walk path that opened this summer.  Sand Harbor is a gem.  The water is so clear there and the rocks are amazing.

We also did a trip down to our falls.  Karen and I stayed at the river (north fork of the north fork) with the dogs while Jim, Shelia and Clay hiked down to the falls.

Mom, who is now 90, came up for a visit last week.  It was a work week but we headed to Reno for some Thrift Store shopping.  I managed to find some good items for the lodge (nothing of great value - just replacing stuff that had worn out).  One great find was an electric lawn mower.  Not for the lodge - but for home.  Our old inherited mower (from Jim's dad) finally had the start arm break in two.  We will probably repair it by bypassing the arm with a switch, but for now the new (old ) mower is a nice add to our power tools.

We all decided that now that we are all retired, we need to make the visits more frequent - so we are planning a New Year's trip.

And a few tidbits:

We had a small forest fire last week in Fulda Canyon.  Under 20 acres and quickly extinguished by Cal Fire.

Logging continues in Onion Valley (last year's bigger fire area).  Hiking trails are still closed there.

Our neighbors down the road have changed from "For Sale" to "Sale Pending" so we are hoping for nice new neighbors soon.

And our neighbors across the street have added a "For Sale" sign.