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!  

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!!!