I have the coolest cat on the planet!

The other day when I was out repairing our road into the property I looked up to take a little breather and low and behold topping the rise was Bahghera. He had walked about a ¼ mile up the road to catch up to me and see what I was doing. While I was busy filling holes with rocks and dirt he sniffed around and explored the general area while the dogs ran around in circles chasing chipmunks. Even when it started raining really hard and we headed back to the property Bahghera trotted along behind the 4-wheeler trailer and was rewarded with a towel-down and got to stay in the camper fort he rest of the day in front of the propane heater.

Today I decided to take the dogs for a walk down to the spot next to the river that I found yesterday. It’s a really cool spot where a little creek branches off from the river during the high flow. It will probably be dry during the summer when the river drops. On our way out I was just looking around, getting my bearings, and saw that Bahghera was following us! This cat has no fear! He followed us around until the trail ended at an upslope and we headed back.

Today the sun is partially out and he has decided he wants to stay outside and sleep on the snowmobiles. Maybe he’ll catch another rat/mouse or two. So far we are not having anymore incidents of something nibbling all our toilet paper away inside the camper so I’m thinking he got the culprit!

Before we moved up here I was kind of worried about him because he has lost a lot of weight and he wasn’t looking so good but since we’ve been here, he looks like he’s filling out a little and seems to have a little more energy. I think this move has been good for all of us!

Just piddlefartin' around

Wow! We just had quite the storm blow through! I made to the Corner Bar and got under cover just in time! This is what I saw on my way in to get the mail.

Then it got progressively worse and the thunder started. It is quite the experience to hear thunder roaring down from the sky and bouncing back and forth through the canyons, the canyons amplify it really well! Of course, Jock hates it!

It's probably hard to tell from this picture but it literally started to SNOW!! Yes, with the right conditions, that can happen! I have pictures to prove it! It looks like there might be more on the horizon coming in too. Now the sun is out again and my 4-wheelers seat is drying off nicely. I really should be going to check on Jock. Mike isn't as sympathetic as I am about his sound sensitivity as I am. Besides, I have a little more exploring to do today, can't let a little rain stop me!  

Guess what I did today!!?

Look Ma! I still have all my fingers and toes!!

So Jock and I were on our way back home from town and as I was looking at all the trees and found a couple of them that are being eaten to death by Bark Beatles so I told Mike I wanted to cut it down with my new chainsaw. Through some bartering he wrangled a brand new Stihl Farm Boss for me to keep on my 4-wheeler while I’m puttering around just in case I have to cut any trees out of the roadway. So, just to humor me, he took a break from building our guest cabin and taught me how to use the saw before cutting (lol, no pun intended) me loose. I told him we had to get pictures because no one would believe me!

These are the piles of limbs left over from the top of the tree.

That’s a lot of wood!

I’m afraid of what my back is going to feel like tomorrow! I have been pretty much laid up with spasms since we got here. I can already feel the muscle over my right hip twitching. Not bad for a days work if you ask me! I think my daddy would be proud! I am very grateful for having a husband that isn’t afraid of teaching stuff like this. Now we can go wood cutting together and get twice the work done in less time. Well, got to make dinner. I worked up quite the appetite!

X-mas in June!!??!

Okay, so this is the mountain above our little piece of property and the white stuff kind of misting over the top of it is…..yes, SNOW!!!

It is June 17th and it is SNOWING at the 6,000’ level! And boy, it was ice cold rain at our level. I was riding on the 4-wheeler and took the picture from the bridge that is just before our road when it started coming down. When is winter going to let go??

In consolation, the week end is supposed to be sunny and nice. Maybe I’ll get to bring out the shorts again! It really stinks having to wear the same jeans multiple days in a row that your dog spilled sugary sweet coffee on when he tried to jump in the truck! (Thanks, Fionn) We don’t have the convenience of just throwing them in the laundry and washing them up, especially since I only have a couple of pairs. If the sun was out I probably would have washed them the old fashioned way and just threw them in the river and let the river wash them for me! I told Mike that once he started getting a paycheck from the drilling company that I want to start replacing my old city clothes with some heavy duty Carhart or Berne clothes! You can wear their heavy canvas jeans that are all reinforced with double wall knees and crap like that forever! I know a couple of people up here in YP that have pants like that and have worn the same pair for years and they are just starting to show signs of wear and tear! My only other choice is to wear my heavy duty bibs all the time. I guess they aren’t much different but it’s harder to undo all the hardware just to pee and then try to get them back on in a reasonable amount of time. Yes, I do sometimes have to pee in the woods! Fact of life.

Okay, gotta put the heater on high. My feet are freezing. I bought a pair of faux fur lined Crocs before we moved up here. They kind of remind me of little Dutch shoes except they aren’t made of wood. Anyway, they are super comfortable and the fur keeps my feet warm but I’ve had to take them off because somewhere I picked up some dog poo and dragged it through the camper. I was bent over, straightening the couch up and kept smelling poo. So I thought maybe it was the cats or something and decided to spray down the couch with some Fabreeze. I know, sounds gross but again, no easy access to a washer! Give me some slack! Well, thank goodness it turned out to be the poo on my shoe instead of poo on the couch so you can breathe easy now….

Two days of sun are great for getting stuff done!

I have been having a hard time deciding what I want to do today! We have had two great days of sunshine and I have been doing my best to get out in it and recharge my batteries. The best part of it is everything starts to dry out! When it is cold and rainy being by the river can cause problems; things stay wet and it is always at least 10 degrees cooler! Great for the summer though when temps get up in the triple digits!

Even though Yellow Pine is way up in the mountains and completely surrounded by huge monoliths we are actually a little over 4,000 ft. We went from watching the river completely swollen and tearing up roads and filled with so much debris and silt that the water ran milky white to having it drop at least a foot in two days and start running clear. From the top of our road you can look down (about 500 ft) and see completely to the bottom of the river. It is quite beautiful and very relaxing. I know that if you took Mike and my blood pressure we would be back down in the lower ranges. His actually rose at least 30 points working out at the prison.

Ah....Mike should be starting work on Wednesday up at Stibnite. I am really bummed that my old hard drive crashed. All my pictures of Stibnite were on it and I took more pictures when we were up there the other day but I haven't downloaded them yet. It was raining the whole time, sometimes hard, sometimes a drizzle. We went up and talked to a couple of the geologists to see if we could find Mike's boss but we were told he would be coming up with the drill and they can't bring the drill up until the roads harden back up. Apparently there is a weight limit when the roads are soggy. Makes sense.

Well, the laundry is almost done.

We're on our way!

So we decide to leave for Yellow Pine on Saturday the 6th but while we were having dinner with my Dad and Stepmom and my sister, Jamie and her daughter, Avery, we got the call from a fellow Yellow Piner letting us know that ALL roads to Yellow Pine were closed due to washout from the tons of rain we have been getting lately.

Yeah, we kind of knew that.

Back in 2007 Yellow Pine nearly burned down! If it hadn't been for all the firewood that my husband and I, as well as other people around town, had cut down throughout the years. Most everything else around burned though. It even burned where it had already burned a few years before and made the fire worse. Anyway, because of the loss of all the vegitation the ground erodes away and trees start falling across the roads. Mike decided we were going to try to get in anyway.

Everything went great. We only ran into a couple of spots where the river had run out of it's bed and flooded the road and a few rocks we could get around. The other road coming in got really washed out. They've lost about 1000' of road and a couple of bridges are gone. The road was never built right in the first place so every year this kind of thing happens on one level or another. Two years ago, Mike and I were up here during the spring and we got to see the affects of a log jam that cleared way up high on the creek and once the jam broke loose they say that the water was a crushing 20 to 30 miles an hour. An 8' culvert got plugged and the creek decided to re-route itself! Took out trees as big around as 3' and drove rocks as big as houses down the gullies and made the creek bed that much wider! I still have the pictures:     http://www.flickr.com/photos/kiltdkitty/sets/72157606600217684/

Like I said, everything went okay and we got here.

Once we got into the 5th wheel I was tired and laid down to a nice damp spot in the middle of the bed! Apparently, the vent seam was leaking because there is a depressed spot that holds the water. Mike pushed on the seam and started a small waterfall and made the bed wetter. Needless to say, Mike got a "look" from me. At this point I didn't care; I was tired so I just scooted to the edge of the bed, then got to giggling because in order for us to snuggle, one of us had to lay in the wet spot! Awwww, Mike is such a gentleman. He ripped off his shirt and laid it over the spot, then scooted up against me!  He wound up going outside and tilting the camper a little and the leak stopped.

This morning was not too bad. It rained off and on, then cleared up a bit until late this afternoon, now it's back to pouring again! Mike is going to put the heater in the 5th wheel. It's not really cold, just really damp. We have David and he is still getting over a cold. We get David for the next two weeks so we are pretty excited. I am learning how to entertain a 4 yr old in a small space AND getting things unpacked!!

Tis the season for all things hairy

So this is my husband's dog, Oreo.

She's very sweet, absolutely devoted to her dad and just had her 14th birthday in April. She is an old lady and the Alpha dog in our pack. She keeps the boys in line at all times.

Well, being that its springtime now and the days are getting longer all the dogs are beginning to blow tons of coat. Since it's been raining off and on today and I am not really getting anything done because there is just far too much to do and I have no idea where to start, I decided to give her a little brush, then finish it all off with a little Furmination. She gave birth to another dog her own size!!

Now she looks all beautiful and sleek again! Joan, what am I going to do without you!!!