Rain, Rain, Go Away

It’s Tuesday (6/15) morning and I’m seeing the sun for the first time since I left Denver on Sunday morning. I’m camped at Ft. Robinson State Park just outside Crawford, NE. The drive up on Sunday was tiring to say the least. The first 100 miles was on Interstate 25 to Cheyenne, WY. That part wasn’t too bad but splash back by passing cars meant I had to “drive” the whole way. There was no opportunity to  relax and enjoy the scenery.

Once off I-25 it was a series of increasingly smaller highways and unfortunately the further north and east I got, the harder the rain came down. I made it to Ft. Robinson at about 3pm and I was more than ready to stop. The camping gods didn’t give me a break by slowing down the rain after I arrived so I got pretty soaked while unhooking the trailer. On the drive up here I kept remembering the description of the route into the Hudson-Meng PIT site. “Narrow dirt road that can become treacherous or impassible in wet weather”. This might prove to be interesting!

Yesterday the weather was a bit better…it wasn’t pouring, but it was still drizzling off and on. I decided to drive into Hudson-Meng site in the truck to see what the road was like. It’s about 4 miles from the campground to the dirt road and then it’s about 14 miles of dirt road.

When I hit the first portion of the dirt road I thought that it wasn’t going to be a problem. It was a county road, well graded and maintained and a semi-gravel surface. After about 4 or 5 miles of that, I hit a Forest Service road and things got ugly quick. The road was not built up above the surrounding area and consequently had very poor drainage. It also had no gravel surfacing and there was a fair amount of clay in the soil. All of that resulted in a gooey, slimy, slippery mess. I had the truck in four wheel drive and I was still slipping and sliding. A couple of times I almost gave up and turned around but I pressed on and in about another four miles the road got better. The rest of the way into the site was decent, not great but passable.

When I first arrived at the site I didn’t see any sign of human activity except for two cars parked in the parking lot. I thought that maybe the project had been cancelled and they forgot to tell me. I walked towards the two cars and as I did I came to the crest of a small hill and then saw 8 or 10 small tents, a small Casita trailer and two field tents.

I found the project leader hunkered down in one of the field tents. He said that they hadn’t gotten a whole lot accomplished because of the rain but were hoping that the weather would improve this week. He said there were about 18 people working as volunteers on the project and most were archaeology students from Minnesota. He also said that Tuesday (today) was a day he planned for a field trip to some local sites.

After some discussion I decided that I would stay at Ft. Robinson for at least two more nights in the hopes that weather would improve and the roads would dry out. I will meet the group in Crawford in about an hour and go with them on the field trip. Tomorrow morning I’ll drive into the site for the day. If the roads are dry enough to allow my 12,000 lb trailer to pass over them, I’ll drive it in on Thursday morning. More to come.

Thanks for visiting.

A Visit From Cajon

My son in law Cajon arrived in the Denver area last night. He will be staying with us for a couple of days while he looks for an apartment in the Denver area. Oh, my you say? What’s up with that?

Very good news.

Cajon is originally from Colorado and has always wanted to return here. The fact that he and my daughter, Cajenn, have lived in California for the past few years has made Colorado an even sweeter prospect and he has convinced his employer that he can do his job just as well from here as he can in California. To make things even sweeter, my daughter’s employer also has an office in the Denver area and she has been able to transfer her job location here as well. Their plan is to move to an apartment sometime in August and begin a search for a house…at their leisure.

The Bride and I are both excited. My work a day career took me to seven different locations and the closest we ever were to family was about a three hour drive for a few years. For most of my 35 year career we were five hours or much more from family. To have family in the same town, at this stage in our lives will be a real treat.

The Bride had previously scheduled a girls night with Pic-E and K. so tonight after Cajon finishes his search for the day I’m going to take him to Bud’s Bar for a good ‘ole greasy cheeseburger. He has heard me talk about Bud’s for some time now but has never had the opportunity to visit. I’ll fix that tonight. Guitar and Too Tall-Two Timing will meet us there and we’ll have a high old time, I’m sure.

Hmmm, the Ca part of Cajon and Cajenn refer to their residence in California. I guess I’ll have to give them new monikers. Not sure Cojon and Cojenn will work? Any suggestions?

Thanks for visiting.

A Long, Hard Week

This is the week to have my existing kitchen counter tops removed and replaced with granite. As the post title says, it’s been a long hard week. The photo at the top of the post shows the “before” conditions. There was a mixture of laminate, tile and granite counter tops with a tile backsplash. The granite on the island in the center of the kitchen was installed about ten years ago and is not a very high quality granite. Everything else is original to the house which is going on 15 years old now. The plan is to remove all the counter tops, backsplash and sink and replace with new high quality granite tile backsplash and a new granite composite sink.

The contractor arrived punctually first thing Monday morning to begin the demolition. I was amazed at the efficiency of his men in the removal of both the existing counter tops and tile backsplash. They also removed the sink. The entire demolition only took a couple of hours and I thought that this was going to be a snap!

A snap is exactly what I heard Tuesday morning at about 3 am. The snap was followed by the sound of running water! I raced downstairs to find water shooting out of the uncapped hot water pipe that was previously connected to the sink. Water was everywhere. The sink is directly in front of the window on the right in the picture above. Water was all over the floor, the walls, the ceiling and the window. Panic took over as I raced down to the basement to shut off the main water valve to the house. I’m guessing that the water flowed full blast for a period of about 10-15 minutes before I shut down the main valve. The Bride and I spent the next couple of hours sopping up all the water we could. We used every towel we had in the house….clean or dirty, and I must say, we have a lot of towels.

A pointed phone call was made to the contractor at 6am. To his credit the contractor dispatched a plumber immediately and both the plumber and the contractor were at my house in about 45 minutes. After the plumber replaced the ball valves for both hot and cold water we investigate the extent of the damage. It was clear that water had gotten beneath the wood flooring and had run on top of the sub floor to a small carpeted area adjacent to the kitchen. Fortunately there appeared to be no damage to the ceiling in the finished basement below. The contractor assured me that he would repair any damage caused by the water. It would take another day for the extent of the damage to become apparent. Nothing further was scheduled in the home for Tuesday as this was the day the contractor was cutting and preparing the granite at his shop.

On Wednesday the contractor arrived bright and early to install the countertops. By Wednesday morning it was also possible to see the effects of the water on the hardwood floor. The water between the hardwood floor and sub-floor had caused the hardwood to cup severely. The contractor consulted with his “floor guy” and I started searching the internet for information about cupped hardwood floors. It appears that if the cupping does not get any worse it will be possible to sand the floor down once it dries completely, and refinish it. The contractor again reassured me that he would be responsible for the repairs. The granite install took all day but it turned out beautifully if I do say so myself.

Thursday was supposed to be the final work day and the day that the tile backsplash was installed. This day only one worker was sent to accomplish the task. He worked slowly and methodically and by about 6 pm completed the tile. About the time he finished up the contractor appeared with his “floor guy”. The floor guy confirmed that he could sand the cupping out of the floor provided it got no worse and since it had been two days since the flood, he didn’t think it would get worse. We set a date for the second week in May to sand and refinish the floor.

I am totally thrilled that the contractor has stepped up to the plate and accepted his responsibility without a whole lot of threats from me. If the refinishing job turns out all right the contractor will get a stellar recommendation from me.

The bad news is that I will have to alter my travel plans to accommodate the refinishing of the floor. I will still leave this Sunday and do my Forest Service Passport in Time project in New Mexico for a week but I will have to come home immediately afterwards. Once again I will have to cancel my trip to Canyon de Chelly which I had scheduled for the week of May 10th. This is the second time in 3 months that I’ve had to blow off a trip to Canyon de Chelly.

This will be the last post for at least a week as the location for the Forest Service gig is quite remote and there will be no internet connection. When I return I hope to have some fantastic stories to tell so keep tuned!

Thanks for visiting.

Winter’s Last Gasp?

This was the scene when I got up this morning. Another spring storm is blowing through the mountains and across the eastern plains. Just one last reminder from Mother Nature that she is in complete control and even though most everywhere else spring is in full bloom, only SHE will decide when we can put away the ski parkas and snow blowers!

She has been teasing us over the last few weeks but as the weeks pass the teasing becomes more bearable. Three weeks ago we would have three or four days of winter weather with one or two nice days. The situation now is that we get three or four days of nice weather followed by one or two of not so nice.

This system will be long gone by this afternoon and by tomorrow there will be absolutely no trace of the snow you see in the pictures here. It’s a little different in the mountains however. They are getting anywhere from a foot to two feet of snow out of this…..and that’s the way it should be. That’s why God made mountains. They are supposed to get huge quantities of snow which equates to water for us down in the lower elevations. Colorado weather is a marvel. Look at the pictures above and then look at the prognostication for the rest of the week.

If you remember from an earlier post, during the last storm my snow blower self destructed and I had to order a very expensive piece of small plastic to get it back working again. Well I received the part and installed it and everything appears to be working fine. Even though this snow will be gone by this afternoon without any help from me, I think I will fire up the snow blower just to be sure is works. It would be a bummer next fall at the first big storm to find out that the snow blower isn’t working right!

On the household front, The Bride and I are preparing to have our kitchen upgraded with granite countertops. We have lived in this house for 14 years now and still have the original Formica countertops which we have never liked. We have spent the last six weeks or so looking at different materials for both the countertops and backsplash. The sheer number of possibilities is truly amazing but The Bride finally has found a combination that she likes and we will meet with the contractor tomorrow to finalize the project.

I’m currently refining some of my travel plans for next month. On my last trip to Arizona I had planned on visiting Canyon de Chelly (pronounce canyon de shay). The same Mother Nature I referred to in the beginning of this post had other ideas however, and I never made it. This destination has actually been on my “to do” list for several years but it’s pretty remote and the weather window for a pleasant trip is pretty narrow.

During the first week of May I will be participating in a Passport in Time project just west of Taos, NM. That’s about half way to Canyon de Chelly from the Denver area. So, my current plan is that after the Passport in Time project I’ll continue south and west to Canyon de Chelly and spend two days there before heading back home. The weather should be perfect by then and the rest of the summer is already pretty well booked up with other adventures so I’m thinking this is a good plan.

Thanks for visiting.

We’re Havin’ A Heat Wave!

Things have been pretty low key this week. It’s been a frigid week with light snow and very cold temps which started on Tuesday. Right now it’s 11 degrees but we’re fixin’ to have a heat wave! The weather shaman says it will break the freezing mark today and get all the way up to 33 degrees! ….And, be still my heart, it will get all the way to a balmy 39 degrees on Saturday!

The title of the 1938 Irving Berlin song I used for the post title is right on point…even if the rest of the lyrics don’t follow my subject line too well.

We're having a heat wave,
A tropical heat wave,
The temperature's rising,
It isn't surprising,
She certainly can can-can.

She started a heat wave
By letting her seat wave
In such a way that
The customers say that
She certainly can can-can.

Gee, her anatomy
Makes the mercury
Jump to ninety-three.

We're having a heat wave,
A tropical heat wave,
The way that she moves
That thermometer proves
That she certainly can can-can.

In contrast to my last post in which I referred to a terrible song (These Boots Are Made For Walking), this is a classic song that I have enjoyed over the years. First sung by Ethel Merman, it was also sung by Marylin Monroe in the 1954 movie, “There’s No Business Like Show Business”. Her version is typical Marylin….

The heat wave is only going to last through Saturday however and then we’re in for another blast of cold weather so it looks like next week will be low key as well.

This evening The Circle is scheduled to get together at a local restaurant for their happy hour specials. It’s a nice restaurant and the specials include not only half price drinks but half price hors d’oeuvres. About two months ago we did the same thing and with a couple of glasses of wine and enough food for a good dinner, the cost was only $25 a couple!

On the  RV front, I’ve had a Pullrite Superglide fifth wheel hitch installed in the bed of my pickup truck. These hitches are a bit pricey but have a reputation for being one of the best. The model I bought allows the hitch to “glide” towards the back of the truck when turning corners. This prevents the cab of the truck from crunching the trailer in tight turns.

I am now waiting for the delivery of a retractable tonneau cover for the bed of the truck that will allow me to leave the hitch in the bed of the truck and still be protected from the weather. The cover is also lockable for the security of the hitch and whatever else I may carry in the truck bed. I ordered the cover over two weeks ago and was told that it would only take 3-5 days for delivery but something obviously went wrong because I’m still waiting. The store swears it will be here by today but I’ll believe it when I see it.

Thanks for visiting.

The Tables Are Turned

Most of the time I'm the one going on trips and adventures since I'm the only retired one in The Circle. I was supposed to have left for Moab yesterday but because of the impending birth of Too Tall-Two Timing's grandchild, that trip got cancelled.

Now I'm sitting here thinking...huh??? What happened? Why am I sitting at home when all the rest of The Circle except Too Tall-Two Timing is gone on trips. Who turned the tables?

The ladies of The Circle had planned to spend the weekend in a cabin just west of Colorado Springs while Too Tall-Two Timing and I were in Moab. Since the cabin is not that far from the Denver area, K. decided to go with the rest of the ladies. If a grandchild appears she is close enough to home to get back pretty quickly. Guitar is off on a long planned trip with his brother in New Mexico.....I'm sitting home with nowhere to go!

I feel like the high school kid without a date on Prom night. I've been had, snookered.....I'm mad and I'm not going to take it any more!!

I guess I'll have to catch up on reading this weekend.

Thanks for visiting.

Catching Up

It's been a very busy week. I finally got my RV back from the mechanic and then had to have the refrigerator checked out. The previous owner said he was having an "intermittent" problem with the refrigerator when it was powered by propane. Turned out to be a minor problem, thank goodness.

I have spent most of the past 2 or 3 days cleaning the inside of the RV and packing all of my stuff away in the closets and cabinets, getting new license plates and a new title. The inside of the RV is in very good condition and really didn't need to be cleaned but it's a personal thing. I even went so far as to shampoo the carpet.

In addition to cleaning, I dewinterized the plumbing system and tried out all of the different systems, heat, A/C, water pumps, stove, generator etc. I found one small leak in the fresh water pump that I will have to get fixed this coming week. I'm hoping that can be done by mid week and then I'm off to New Mexico on the maiden voyage.

Friday evening The Circle met at Bud's Bar in Sedalia for a gourmet cheeseburger and a couple of drinks. It's been about two weeks since we were all together and it sure was good to enjoy each other's company again. The weather is starting to cycle towards springtime now. We'll get a couple of nice days and then a little snow. Knowing that spring is not far off we are all starting to talk about camping trips, and where the first Circle The Wagons trip should be.

Finally, my iPod crapped out on me last night. It is an original "fat boy" model and is almost four years old. I was crushed when it crashed.....that's a nice little cadence don't you think? Crushed when it crashed...could be a country song. Anyway, I was not in a good mood. Then, The Emmer said that she had just gotten a new iPod and I could have her old one, which is only about a year old. What a great daughter! As a kid I got used to hand me down clothes but I've never had a hand me down iPod. The Emmer even reset her old one and copied my music library to it.

I didn't realize how important this little piece of electronic wizardry was to me until I faced a day without one. I'm not much of a TV or movie type of guy but I've got to have music in my life. Apple sure has a lifelong customer here!

Stay tuned for my first voyage in the new to me RV.....



Thanks for visiting.