Quincy loved the lodge. He and I we the first in our family to spend a night here when I had to go back to the bay area and pick him up from the dog sitter during our first Christmas owning the lodge. The summit was closed due to snow and I had planned on going to the lodge to start cleaning after our Lake Tahoe Christmas celebration. I had a fold out couch, a table, a chair, a couple of sleeping bags, a heater, a flashlight and a lamp with me (loaded on the truck) and I had the keys to the cabin. And I had our puppy Quincy. This was the first of many adventures for Quincy at the lodge.
He loved the snow - he shredded it, he loved the summer with swimming trips to the lake and the river. He loved to fetch sticks in the back of the property and catch tennis balls in the upstairs hallway. He loved to lay by the fireplace in the winter and lay on the cool hall floor in the summer.
He loved all the visitors we had and all the family events. He was part of our family and the lodge does not seem as joyful without him here.
We are also dealing with the COVID pandemic and the stupidity of others who refuse to believe that this mess is real. We have lost one extended family member to COVID already and worry about my sister and my mom.
We sheltered in place at the lodge until Quincy got too ill to stay here. Then we went home for 5 weeks prior to losing him. His last week we were able to bring him to the lodge one last time and took him to the river and the lake. It was cold but we could see that he still loved it. After Quincy passed, we came back to the silence of a cabin that has lost one of it's own. Since then, we have not really been able to entertain (we have had a few small dinners with some of our fellow Emigrant Gap homeowners). Adventures have been minimal because so many people are flocking to the sierra for their vacations, making it hard to social distance at the lake, the river and on the hiking trails.
So Jim has been busy with COVID projects and I have been busy trying to heal (my heart and myself after a few accidents and illnesses).
For projects, Jim has started putting cement board siding on the bottom 8 feet of the lodge. This is a fire prevention step and will look nice in the end. He has also added a door and window to the back of the lodge basement level. Jim and Lynn added 4 new windows and a sliding glass door to the game room, and then Jim added a small deck below the door. This will change the orientation of the game room to be accessed closer to the lodge, We plan to remove the lower chain link fence this summer which will make the entire game room area seem to be more our, then part of the school.
Our new neighbor Adrien (who owns the school) has had a few lunch BBQs at his place. He has cleaned up the school and plans to add furniture soon. We went with him back to the spires and he used his drone to get a 3d overhead shot of the pillars. Then we tried to find the access point to the "hiking trail' to the spires mentioned by Russell Towle on his website. We are still looking. I think the trail has probably grown over and will require bushwhacking.
We are still heartsick over the loss of Quincy. Photos of what we have been doing at the lodge will be posted when we have better internet access.
New stone patio (lower tier ) for BBQ. New cement board siding below.
New deck, windows and sliding glass door - game room.
And Quincy's last trip to the lake. . . . . . . . We love you, Quincy.
