Fun in the sun!

We had a wonderfully gorgeous day the day before yesterday. It started out with some visitors we found hanging around across the street from us. There were approximately 10 – 15 individuals in the herd and they were very comfortable, just roaming around munching then they all started to lie down in the snow to chew their cuds. We didn’t see any bulls but we did get to see a yearling spike. They call them spikes because they haven’t developed the branches off of their antlers yet so they go straight up in the air about a foot or so above their heads, thus the term, “spike”.

After having breakfast and watching our guests for awhile, I decided to follow Mike into town and couldn’t help getting some great pictures of winter life around here.

We are having perfect snowmobile weather up here as we have had a ton of snow fall, then it warmed up and melted some of it down then we had even more snow. We now have the perfect base for skiing and snowmobiling.

As you can see, all the locals have tuned and lubed up their machines and are ready for some fun! How many towns have you been to where you can rip up and down

Main St.

on your sled without someone calling the cops! Our friends, Buck, his wife Connie, and Rick were the first ones to start, as you can see. Buck was doing a power slide at the end of town and almost tipped over the sled, which it’s good he tipped it the way he did because if he had tipped it the other way he might not have been able to save it! You see, Buck lost his leg in a loader accident a couple of years ago. He had a large boulder in the bucket and the loader got off balance and he rolled over the embankment where he fell out of the cab and landed between two rocks but his legs was up in the air and the cab of the loader crushed his foot; unfortunately, the doctors were unable to save it. He does a great job of getting around though and has even retrained himself to drive the loader!

Unfortunately, since I shattered my wrist a couple of years ago on a snowmobile and now have a steel plate in my arm, I refuse to get on one! My idea of fun in the snow these days consists of a non-motorized sled or just sitting on the porch of the Silver Dollar Grill with a cup of hot coffee watching everyone else have fun!

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow......

Yahoo!!!!! The snow is really here! We seem to be having a good begining to the winter season here in Yellow Pine. we have had several steady days of snow and in total have probably gotten at least 16" of snow. However, the temperature keeps ranging from the mid-30's all the way down to -10 degrees! So we will get several inches of snow but then the higher temps will melt it down a little, then it will snow again on top of that, makes for a fantastic base for skiing and snowmobiling. When Mike and I left for California we only had a few inches but by the time we got home we had a little over a foot! I think this is probably the best winter I have experienced since I moved back to Idaho although Mike says it's not nearly what he is used to. Apparently, back in the early 80's they would get feet of snow over night!!

As we were leaving Yellow Pine to go to California we had had a heavy wind storm and there were several trees down on the road. These are only a couple of at least 18 trees down on East Fork and South Fork roads. Our local grader/ecavator/plow team were working very hard to clear the way as we followed them out. They really do a fantastic job when there is a crisis. Funny when they spend most of their off duty time drinking at the Corner Bar! They are so used to this kind of thing happening that no one gets excited anymore, only the newbies like myself!





So our trip to California was thankfully uneventful and kind of boring. We went through Elko, NV so we traveled through the desolation of the Great Basin area near Death Valley. When we got to Elko a huge snowstorm rolled through and shut down the main highway so we took a very remote trail south! Elko got 3"-5" within about 2 hours! Then the snow went away and by the time we got to Baker, CA I was in my tanktop and sweats!

This was kind of a cool mountain we saw on the way home. The wind was blowing so hard that it was blowing all the snow off the top of the mountain. The even cooler thing was....there was no wind down on the road where we were!

We spent Thanksgiving at my Aunt's house and like a goof, I forgot my camera, so I apologize for no pictures of that. While we were there we enjoyed good weather up until the day before we left when our weather caught up with us.

My friend Stephanie Foulger came over and took some family pictures which I am very thankful for the fantastic job she did, the pictures came out great!! Mike took these pictures.

The family, and Me and Mike.

All in all, we had a great trip!

Flight of the Amos

 

Mike had a surprise for me last night. He took me up to the mine and told me to go talk to the helicopter pilot! Yaaaa-whoooo! I got to fly in the helicopter all over the mine site last night! 

I have never flown in a helicopter before so I was very anxious and the pilot, Robbie McKenzie was really great! He was very professional and allayed all my fears about the whole thing. It helps that he's from Fiji and has a very soothing and confident accent to his voice. Boy, it turned out to be the coolest thing to happen to me in a very long time! He was as steady as a rock and made sure that I understood all the instructions before we went up and talked to me through the whole flight, even though my mouth was too dry to talk back! I actually went through 64 fl. oz. of water in about an hour! 

 He took me up and over to where Mike was working, landing on the very hill where I broke my wrist a couple of years ago, and dropped me off so he and Mike could run supplies back and forth between the staging area and the up the cliff where the drills are hanging while they drill for minerals. I have to say, I got a kick out of watching he and Mike work, it was like they had been working together forever! His flying was so smoothe he was able todrop the hook from the long-line right into the palm of Mike's hand.

Once they had everything exchanged he picked me up again and then flew me to the edge of the mountain to pick up two other guys. I have never seen anything like it! (except in the movies).

He actually parked the front of the skids on a little 5' wide trail with the butt-end hanging off in the air and held that thing so steady while these two guys jumped in the back. It looked like the blades were just a few inches away from the hill above us but I'm sure there were a lot of feet away!

As we pulled away from the mountain in reverse he took us out in a wide half-circle back to the landing pad over by the Geologists shack.

 

It was just a little three minute flight but it was great fun! I am really glad Robbie and the Geos let me have a ride on their dime! I'll never forget it!

PACK RATS!!!!!!!!!

Okay, so I opened my kitchen drawer where I keep all my kitchen towels and stuff and guess what I found!!! 

I had not been in this drawer for a couple of weeks and I had to laugh at what I found! The pack rats had gotten into the drawer and started using one of my oven mitts as a storage unit! Gee, I wonder how much rent I should charge it! lolol  I really have no idea where it got into the sunflower seeds, unless we left a bag of them out open somewhere. It had to have been Michael because I don't remember leaving anything like that around! The cat food is easy of course. The bits of fluff is the inside stuffing of the mitt. That mitt was stuffed completely full!

Needless to say, I had to pull all of the towels and re-wash them and I burned the mitts, then I let Mowgli prowl around for a couple of days. I haven't seen anything lately but...

Mike says that it looks like the animals are beginning to store early, that means an early and possibly long, cold winter! Already at the higher elevations we are begining to get some snow. It's not sticking...yet. I have had to pull out all of Mike's cold weather clothes so he won't freeze at work.

I'm not putting any bets on it yet. I just hope Mike and I are out of here before then. That 5th wheel doesn't have a polar package on it and we are already starting to go through propane for the heater to keep it warm at night.

I'll keep ya'll up to date as things unfold!

The Funhouse

Hahahahaha.......Too much fun!!

There's an old house here in the ghost/mining town of Cinnabar. The last time anyone was in it was around 1957 or so and a lot of the houses have fallen over in the years. There is even an old hotel that is still standing and other buildings. Mike and I found a house that we liked so much we wanted to see about buying it, getting out of there, and placing it on the property out here in Yellow Pine. It sits at an extreme angle to the hill it fell down and believe it or not, every window and all but one of the door frames is perfectly level!!

Our friend, Joe Henry, an officer from the prison, and his kids came up for a visit so we decided to take them to Cinnabar and this is the kind of fun we had.

I was explaining to them that this was the house Mike and I wanted for the property and as I was talking I decided to go inside and have a look. Within just a few seconds I was feeling kind of funny and a little pukey. Then things got really fun! Here are some of the pictures we got from inside.

Look Ma! One foot!

Even Fionn got into it!!

Death defying!!!!!

I'm Mr. Cool!

 After we were done goofing off and getting queezy, we drove through the backside of the town in 4 low and slow, even had to back up on a couple of tight switchbacks just to get around a corner, talk about testing my driving skills but we made it and this is the view from the top.

The town of Cinnabar from the top of the summit

Definately worth the intense trip up!!

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!