June 3 2018 - Butterflies and Bugs (It's Spring!)

This weekend, spring finally arrived at the lodge.  While Jim worked on the stringers for the new sun deck (someday I suspect to be a covered and screen deck because of the bugs), I used 3 of our 4 fire pits to burn branches and rotted wood that we had gathered from around the property.  I then attempted to mow some of the 3 foot tall meadow grass.

Since we are continuing to lose our majestic cedar trees to the beetle blight, much of our property is beginning to look like a steep hill meadow with moraine (boulders and rocks).  It is a pretty site in spring - but very dangerous if not cut back once fire season begins.  So, around this time of the year, we usually hire some guys to come in and whack down the grass using our gas string trimmer.  This year with the delayed spring, we have not found anyone to do that and the grass keeps growing higher.  The weight of the old gas string trimmer is a bit hard on my back and shoulders, so I pulled out the old weed mower and started cutting the grass that was under 3 foot high on the main "lawn" and side 'lawn" (last trip) and  around the fire pits and on the lower "lawn" (this trip).

I use the term "lawn" loosely since the grass is mostly clump grass and meadow grass and dies out by mid-summer.  Leaving us with a lost of "camp dust" (alas).

While I was burning the debris, I was visited by many of our local butterflies and, unfortunately, bugs.  Below is a photo of one of the butterflies.  I did not take a photo of the bugs, but I have some nice mosquito and horse fly bites to prove they were there.

Once I finished the closest burn piles and it got too hot to continue mowing, I put the cover on the portable car canopy.  I plan to convert the structure to a corrugated roof canopy this summer. But for now, we needed to find a place to store the old mower and old outdoor yard stuff (and the old ATV as we haul it up and back to the lodge).  The structure is currently good for keeping the tree sap and sun off the stuff - but not much good for keeping the rain out as the cover has many many holes and patches.

Once the structure is more "permanent", I may use it to store the old canoe and kayaks during the summer.  It would be nice to get those out of the basement.

I am hoping that I will be able to do some more burning on our next trip (and that the burning moratorium is not in effect by then).  That way, we can clear some more of the debris piles in forest area behind the school and make the property much safer from fire.

I am also planning to remove the chain link fence from the lower part of the road (heading to the portable) and installing a picket fence.  The chain link divides our property in two and is just an eyesore. Ugly though it is, I plan to keep the upper chain link and gate fence in tact to keep people off our shared property with the school.

Our neighbors that own the Hyatt Lodge are still making a decision about whether or not they are going to sell (last weekend).  I have not heard any decision yet about that.  Hoping to know by next visit.  It is a lot quieter now that the Russian Church construction guys are gone, and only a few people are at the Hyatt lodge.

Additionally, someone has been marking and cutting trees on the property down from the Hyatt Lodge.  The good news is that they are cutting out the dead cedars there, the bad news is that they are leaving them cut, on the property, sometimes leaning on other trees (which is a dangerous decision).  I am hoping that they cut them up and remove them - but that may be a silly hope.

And some low lifes stuffed a lot of boxes and garbage into the old boarded up railroad cabin basement (which means someone gets to haul all that stuff to the dump!). And then either a bear or some one else ransacked the junk to see if there was anything worth having in it.  A mess!!!!  I hate when people are too cheap and lazy to haul their garbage away!  There is currently an old couch and a bunch of junk wood piled on that property just rotting away (and not much I can do about that since it is covered with debris, rusty nails and probably full of mold).

And finally, we have transitioned from winter and our campers have returned.  I am hoping that they respect the area this summer and do not litter or start any forest fires.  Ah, spring (soon to be summer).

 

April 2018 - Still a bit of snow

It has been a while since I have posted to this site.  Mostly because, although we have been at the lodge every other weekend (and some weekdays), we have not been working on any projects,  until now that is.  There is still snow at the lodge - mostly below the roof eaves and it managed to snow last week (probably the last gasp of winter).  Winter came late for us (in March) and put in a pretty nice punch of snow, followed by a pineapple express that melted most of what we had.

This last weekend, Jim put in some pretty hefty posts for a new deck off the screened in room.  It is kinda funny that he is building this, since the reason we have a screen room is because there are so many bugs up at the gap, and we never sat on our old deck without some kind of portable screening on it.  So we shall have to see how long this deck lasts "as is" without a cover (snow can be pretty crazy in some years) and screen siding.

I managed to get two tall cabinets out of a 1935 tudor house in Berkeley that we are going to install in two of the downstairs baths for use in holding towels.  For a long time. I have used baskets for the towels - but that seems not to be the best option - so we are going to "match" what we did in the upstairs bathrooms for additional storage.

Also - we continue to lose our wonderful cedar trees to the Sierra Beetle Blight, so Jim and I cut down another 5 trees, then cut them up for next years firewood.  In the back of the property, about 4 of the big cedars (that we dead) finally feel down - one is still leading into one of the big pine trees and will be cut up next weekend.

So, from now until June, I will be manning the fire pits with all of the debris from the tree cutting.  Nothing like a hot fire, a cold beer and a folding chair.

Another note - the school has still not be placed on sale, so we are thinking that there may have been some trouble with the original deed or title that prevents a sale - either that or the school district does not need the money or realized they made a poor decision in closing it.  And, our new neighbors (in the old Hyatt Mercantile) have decided that the winters were not what they were expecting and have decided to sell.  They have only owned their place for 2 years.  No price yet since they have to finish out a building they added to the property (at least close it in for the next owners).  I like the Hyatt building, but it is way too close to the rode, has NO parking in the winter (unless the new owners invest in a snow plow) and has too many buildings for the one acre (there are currently 3 buildings on site).  It is pretty old - was built between the Emigrant Gap Hotel (1870s) and our lodge (1925).  I am pretty sure the land was sold to Mr Hyatt by the Allen Family (maybe around 1918) since Mr Hyatt was a boarder at the Emigrant Gap hotel at that time.  So -  if you are looking for a 5 bedroom cabin, let me know and I will give you the price once it posted by a realtor.

January 27, 2018 Finally some snow to talk about

For most of the month of January, Emigrant Gap has had little snow on the ground.  The end of the month  brought us over 2 feet in one storm.  It is nice to be back to a "winter wonderland" again.  You would think we would take advantage of all that white stuff and go skiing.  But instead, we decided to finally put the insulation back in the ceiling above Katie's and our bedrooms.  It was removed some time ago to add ceiling lights and since it was blown in type and quite filthy, we threw it away with the thought that we would soon replace it with R19 batts.  2 years later and we finally laid the newer bats in place!

The attic is a wonderous place.  The ceilings are high and pitched and the room is basically the size of the entire cabin with very, very sloped sides.  We have managed to put in a type of flooring (mostly partial sheets of plywood) in almost 1/2 of the space.  We keep hoping that as we remove the old blown in  insulation, that we will find some old treasures (like an old bottle or diary or just about anything old).  But all we have found so far is chipmunk acorn stashes and mouse turds.  Alas.

This weekend, Jim had some roof work to do, so I finally replaced the last ugly downstairs bathroom vanity light.  When the previous owners remodeled the lower floor, they put in off center "Hollywood" lighting in each bathroom.  Replacing the lights, usually turns into a big cut in the drywall to add support between the 2/4s and moving the light box (J box) to the correct, centered location above the mirror, then patching the drywall and painting.  A lot of work for something aesthetic.  But well worth it when the job is complete.

And we have finally converted to LED and CFL light bulbs in all the light fixtures.  We hope to save about 75% on our energy bills (of course, we still have the portable heaters that jack the winter PG&E bills up).

No word yet about the school.  It remains closed and boarded up.  We hope to get an estimate on moving the portable 10 feet (part of it sits on the school grounds) this spring.

For the rest of January and early February, the weather is going to be quite warm.  So bye bye snow and we hope for a few more storms before the season is over.

How to Make it SNOW

This year we need all the help we can get in the Sierra - so here are some suggestions for how to make it snow.  

Wear your pajamas inside out and backwards. . . 

Drop One Ice Cube in The Toilet for Every Inch of Snow you Want. . .

Shake a Snow Globe Every Time You Walk Past One. . .

Eat Ice Cream the Night Before. ..

Drink root beer the night before with a straw. . .

Wear a colored sock on your left foot but not on your right. . .

Do a snow dance! Get your whole squad in on it for a stronger force. . .

Throw ice cubes out the window. . .

Yell “Snow Day!” into the freezer. . .

Put a penny under your pillow. . .

Sleep with a soup spoon, a wooden spoon or something silver under your pillow. . .

Throw ice cubes at a tree. . .

Put a frozen white crayon under your bed. . . 

Sleep backwards in your bed. . .

Sleep with toothpaste on your nose. . . 

Kiss a tree. . .

Run around the house 5 times. . .

Wearing pajamas, run five times around the kitchen table in each direction. . .

Wearing pajamas, spin around ten times in each direction. . .

Put a spoon in the Freezer. . .

Put a  spoon  or white crayon on your bedroom windowsill. . .

Put a white stuffed animal toy on your windowsill. . . 

Line your bedroom doorway with white chalk. . .

  

AND

Say Your Prayers. . .

Now I lay me down to sleep

I pray the Lord lays the snow down deep

Please give me a snow day before I wake

So I can have big snowmen to make

January 2018

Christmas at the lodge was not as crowded as planned.  Instead of our expected 42 family members, we had only 30.  That meant that the younger couples did not have to sleep in the screened in porch and Katie did not have to sleep in the hallway by the pump.  But it also meant that a wing of our family did not make it due to scheduling and not being able to get off work.

And of course we are facing another possible drought in the sierra with only a trace of snow on the Thursday before Christmas (and not much since).  Even with all of that we managed to have a wonder, fun-filled Christmas.

Laura, Mike and Allison flew in from Georgia.  Ann and Jeff were there.  All of Patties family were able to attend and so was ours.

We spent our time making Christmas cookies and crafts for our own version of a Charlie Brown Christmas tree.  Some of the  kids, Mike and Jim found a douglas fir tree in the back of the property that they handily cut down.  It was one of our best Christmas Trees so far.  We cut the lower branches off to allow for all the gifts to be stored under it.

Crafts included lots of glue and glitter and some of the family managed to do some wood working off the screen room (branding some wood for signs).

We had one day of sledding before all the snow was gone, so the kids went skiing at Tahoe Donner and ice skating at Northstar for excursions.  We also managed to do a bonfire out in the back yard.  And of course, they played lot of games in the game room.

Pattie and Katie set up a puzzle and then another when the first one was completed.  Laura and I got time to do a painted window and Allison made Bull Dog Coasters for her mom and dad.

We had one slight accident (it would not be a Tahoe Christmas without some mishap).  Matt had a seizure of sorts, probably from going from an over heated room to the cold of the screen room and he was not feeling well that day.  Luckily he rebounded and all is well.  

We ate way too much food (as usual) and way too many sweets.

Once the big crowd departed, we had a much smaller group for New Years.  We celebrated New York New Years at Northstar and saw some pretty impressive fireworks. Then Jim took our small group up to Tahoe for a tour of the lake the next day.

Here are a few photos I have thrown together from our event and our finished (mostly) screen room:

November 10 - 19, 2017 - Roof, Snow and Installing the cast iron stove

The weekend of November 10th, Jim worked on the final touches of the metal roof on the screen porch.  Since I was planning to stay on til Monday, it was my job to check  for leaks (in the event of rain).  Well the Monday stay ended up being a week stay since I had to pick up fireplace pipe from Truckee and replacement glass for our Lopi in Grass Valley.

A trip to Truckee (Tuesday) sometimes includes a trip to Reno for thrift store shopping.  I didn't manage to find much of the items that are needed at the lodge - but it is always a fun trip.  I got stuck in traffic coming back, so Grass Valley and the glass purchase had to happen on Wednesday.

Grass Valley also has some really nice thrift stores (visited a few), a Habitat for Humanity (got some joist hangers there) and a great Grocery Outlet (our fresh food supplies were getting low).

On Thursday and Friday, I stayed at the lodge.  And it rained and snowed quite a bit, so I was able to verify that the new roof DOES NOT LEAK!!! And I started installing the stone work to the hearth of the cast iron stove (picture below).  I also finished stacking the rest of our firewood near the game room (we need a cast iron stove in there too) and did some general clean up and laundry.

Saturday, Jim returned to install the cast iron stove and the stove pipe in the screen room.  Well that stretched into Sunday and is still not 100% complete.  But we are close.  Once the stove is installed, we will give it a virgin burn and then continue insulating and cedar shiplapping the lower walls in the screen room.  We also need to insulate and shiplap the snow room (cedar of course).  The stone tile in there will have to wait until spring now.

I have a few small projects pending - but since I was being way to helpful (with suggestions) on the stove, I was sent out to do a burn of the tree debris that we have stacked up on the property on Saturday and Sunday.  I managed to burn everything near the big fire pit - but still have a few stacks way in the back of the property that probably will not be burned until spring.

And we have a mouse in the house.  Since we do not live at the lodge full time, we have always had a challenge with rodents.  Quincy learned how to open the front door (from our dearly departed Dakota) when he is out and wants to be in and has not learned how to close it.  So we have a mouse to deal with.  I am hoping that the traps I put out before I left the lodge work and we have a expired mouse when we return for the holiday weekend.

Our neighbors at the Hyatt Mechantile Store (now a cabin) are outshining us in building.  They have just weathered in their new recreation building which will include a sauna and a hot tub lap pool.  So they will soon have three building on their property.  We have not met the new neighbors who purchased Rad and Paula's place yet.  The neighbors across the street have not been at their cabin much, but were there Sunday winterizing the place.  They told us AT&T are going to be putting a cell tower up the hill behind their property.  Hopefully we will not see it from the street.

That is about all to report for now.  Waiting for the Storm King to really reach us and Christmas with the family.


Snow Storm on Friday.

Adding stone in Screen Room

Stove Installation

October 29, 2017 - Getting ready for SNOW!

The  weekend  of Oct 29 was all about buttoning up the lodge for winter.  Our first big snow storm is due in Friday November 3rd. I finished the metal roofing top on the wood carrier by the screened in porch, added some additional lumber to the existing wood carrier in front of the house (so that water will not pool as much on the tarp).  Built another firewood rack (this one is 32 deep by 5 1/2 feet high by 5 1/2 feet long) for on top of the old concrete foundation and filled it with firewood before Jim arrived on Saturday.     

On Friday we had a nice visit from Jim White and his wife (just a drive by but always fun to hear his history at the gap).  He talked about a guy he used to know from PG&E who had scads of old pioneer relics at his place  Oxen yokes, wagon train stuff, etc.  Jim told me there used to be two large metal posts on the hill that leads down to Bear Valley (the dirt road is a mess now and probably does not go all the way down anymore).  The posts were used to help lower the wagon trains into the valley. A few years back there was a landslide there and PG&E just plowed down the area (wiping away the posts).  Some more of our history lost.  

He also told me there is a trail off North Fork Place that leads to two lakes.  There are a few cabins back that way - one on Black Mountain, that he hopes to explore sometime.  

His wife is currently working her strength back up from a spinal injury and is in a wheelchair - I invited him into the cabin for a tour - but we couldn't figure out how to get her wheelchair down the steps.  Hopefully, when she gets better, they will stop by for a real visit (coffee included!).  

He reminded me that there used to be wonderful old pictures on the walls of the lodge of historic Emigrant Gap - I wish we had some images of those.  They were long gone before we bought the lodge.  


When my Jim got to the lodge, he worked on getting the final metal on the screened in porch roof.  He also started to install the posts for the new fireplace mantel.  Next, I get to add the lathe and mortar to prepare for putting in the stone work.  

I piled up all the firewood from the patio near the game room and  swept off all of the debris so that the water can drain there.  Water has a tendency to puddle right in front of the room - though there is screening under the building, I think one day we will have to lift it and put a taller foundation with better drainage below it.  

We were taking the Polaris home this weekend, so I pulled the tarps off the Steel Frame Canopy for winter.  Next year, I plan to double up the frame (one more canopy and a lot of steel cutting to make the rafters closer) and add a metal roof to the structure.  That should make it a nice winter storage for the Kayaks and Canoe.  


Since we resided a bit of the lodge this summer, I added some trim to the edge of the house and cut and installed a plywood snow blocker wall on the lower entry. I need to paint it since it is repurposed siding plywood in Forest Service Green - the color we are slowly eliminating from the siding.  

Saturday night came too quickly, so we headed over to the Rustic Table for dinner.  They have some really great people working there and they are well on their way to starting their new futures in Restaurant and Hotel services.   The Rustic Table and Sierra Woods Motel are owned by Teen Challenge, an international group that helps older teens recover from drug issues.  They train them and then move them to Alta as they find jobs around the lower summit area as their final transition back into the workforce.  They are a great group!  Anyway - Jim had the burger (always delicious) and I had the Cobb Salad - yummy! We met a guy - Joe, who owns some land off North Fork Place in the meadow.  He lives over by Forest hill and works in Auburn.  He plans to build a small cabin on his property next year.  He uses his property as a get away and for a staging place for hunting.  I am sure we talked his ear off,  but was very nice!  


I put away the picnic benches (still need to stack in the basement).  And pulled some fallen branches and trees onto the fire pile.  I am still waiting for Cal Fire to lift the fire restrictions so that I can burn the debris.  Lastly I tarped, tarped tarped.  

I still need to add the door to the outhouse near the game room, add some plywood to the outhouse peak, paint (almost everywhere), build a canoe rack and stone the wall behind the new cast iron stove before Christmas. Of course, Jim needs to install the cast Iron stove which is much harder to do .  And we need to haul some stuff down to the basement - plywood, drywall etc.  But we are making progress. Sorry - no photos. Just too busy!