Thanksgiving Weekend - Sunday

Today I spend 5.5 hours working in low 20 degree weather.  I am surprised at how warm I stayed, especially since I wasn't doing intensive heat generating work. 

My plan was to start cutting this carpet out of the trailer.  Since I had removed the doors and windows yesterday, I thought it might be a good idea if I cut up the rug, rolled it and prepared it for the dump before the trailer filled with snow and saturated the rug, greatly increasing its weight and doubling or tripling the amount I would have to pay at the landfill.

Since the trailer hadn't been lived in for at least 7 years, and mold is growing in the trailer, I figured I wanted to take precautions so as not to fill my nasal passages with dust and other pathogens.  I purchased a ventilator and disposable painter garb to protect my health and my clothes. 

About 4 hours of my day was spent removing the sticky caulking material from all the windows except for the one I haven't removed yet.  I didn't have a putty knife in my toolbox, but I did have a butter knife in my emergency food kit that I keep at the property.  My hands are sore from using the knife, but the task is almost done.  I couldn't get to the rear door, so someone will need to do that yet.  I was going to work until 3:30 and start cleaning up so I could be out by dark, instead, as I looked at how little I had to do, I pushed on and completed the task by 4:30.  I changed clothes, put tools away and headed to The Rainbow Resort for Fish and Chips for dinner.


I will be coming over again in December, maybe for the week between Christmas and New Years.  If anyone wants to join me for the drive over and back, there are many ski resorts in the area and other winter activities to participate in, and yes, I won't insist you work on the property, you can if you want.  I was told about a 2 bedroom rental cabin on the lake that will cost around $100.00 a night, if we split that 2 or more ways, it quite affordable.  

My quote of the day.  "I don't have many tools, but the ones I do have, are cheap ones"

Saturday's work

 

Today’s work.  Not much to write about, but will include pictures. (I updated yesterday's post with pictures)

I removed the windows and doors from the trailer and stored them alongside the container.















I then removed some attached rain gutters and pulled one section of “skin” off the trailer.

 Ever wonder why they get destroyed so easily in a tornado?



 

I finished my work day at The Rainbow Resort with a Cobb salad.                                                  

Thanksgiving Weekend Saturday morning

I headed to the property on Thursday, Thanksgiving, and arrived in Post Falls late in the evening.  I stayed at a motel I had stayed in on my last trip, an older place, but clean and quiet.  I noticed an unpleasant smell in the lobby when I entered and thought, it's not too bad.  It reminded me of nursing homes I had worked in when I was younger, sort of a cleaning solution trying to cover the smell of feces and decay.  I walked all the way to the end of the hall to my room and the smell (o oo o that smell) stayed with me.  I entered my room and it was a little better.  I had a beer and went to bed, I woke around 10:30 and then again at around 1:00 and the smell was stronger, it was so strong, I could not get back to sleep.  In the morning, I checked out of the motel, and told the person at the counter that the air quality was bad, so I couldn't stay the whole weekend like I had planned.  I told her what I thought it smelled like and instead of pretending to be concerned for my discomfort (customer service) and perhaps retaining a customer for the future, she dismissed my concerns and protested my feelings.  Oh Well.

On Friday, I went to The Back 40, a local big box farm store.  I picked up some rubber boots, some gloves a stocking cap and a 6' ladder.  Then out to the property where I sprayed the inside of the trailer with vinegar in an attempt to kill some of the mold, I removed the inside storm windows and then finished removing the screws holding the main windows and doors onto the side of the mobile home. 

With the ladder placed on the deck, I was able to see the top of the trailer and discovered the Wooden structure built to shelter the mobile from snow and trees(?) had settled down onto the trailer roof and

there is no way the trailer could be pulled out.  I am not sure how we will remove the trailer.

Listening to news reports, there must have been a wind storm out here last week.  There is no trace of the No Trespassing sign I had wired to my gate. 

I had to cut up a sapling that had fallen across the drive and there is another tree that would have fallen across the road if it hadn't been held by another tree.  I will need to figure out how to remove that tree before it becomes a danger.

Another large tree, in an area I am thinking of building a cabin,  snapped in the wind and there is a good 40 foot section laying across the trail.

I will need to be cognizant of "widow makers"

Veteran’s Day Weekend – Monday

I went to 11:00 church service on Sunday and met up with Steve and Kimberly, we talked for a while after the service about the property. I spent the rest of the day doing errands, shopping and I read all evening and went to bed early.

I joined the local gym today, it is pretty nice, I rowed 2k in 8:37 -  I tried a couple different stationary bikes and a weird ECO treadmill, then a treadmill that had videos of different trail runs.

I wanted to rent a battery operated chainsaw so I could test one out before I purchased one, but I could not find one.  I tried to purchase a bow saw for trimming branches – I chose not to purchase one yesterday because I hadn't heard of the brand and it seemed cheaply made – but the big box store I went to this morning on the way to the property had just put their garden tools away so they could put out Christmas toys.  I picked up an axe instead.

At the property, I grabbed the axe and headed down a trail to the spot a big tree had fallen across my water cistern; I had planned to use the chain saw to limb the trunk an see if I could cut it into small enough pieces to move out of the way.  I used the axe to limb the tree so I could climb under it and then I started to explore the hillside, looking for another stream I had been told about.  The axe came in handy on this adventure.  I didn’t find the stream, but I did find a pink ribbon hanging on one of the tress and wondered if that could be part of a “String line” denoting the boundary of my property.  Using basic sighting technique, of finding a tree or other feature, that was in a straight line from the ribbon, I was able to work my way down hill to that tree, and then I picked another feature and worked my way to it, I was finally able to see a certain group of trees along the road, and when I reached that point, I was pretty close to what I thought might be the property line.

I forgot to mention I met my first neighbours on Saturday, Bud and Joan.  They own the cattle and pasture across the road from me and had seen me walking up and down the road and climbing the embankments, so they drove over to see if I was O.K., if I had hit a deer or..?  I told them I was just looking for the property stakes.  Today, I met my second neighbour, He saw my gate open and drove up my driveway to introduce himself.  John Cotton.  He was friends of the previous owner and told me he had found the guy after he died.  He told me some stories. 

He asked if I know how the water system worked and I told him no.  He explained that he had built the system and asked if I had seen the cistern and was it full?  I told him it may be damaged and we talked about repairing it.  He was a little disappointed that I won’t be moving here for 4 years.  His wife of 45 years is dying of cancer and is in the Olympia area.  He is in his mid 70’s and is still driving a dump truck and actively working.  Bud is 92 or 97.

Veteran’s Day weekend - Saturday

Veteran’s Day weekend

I have Wednesday, November 11 off, so it is only natural that I take Monday and Tuesday off for a 5 day weekend, and head over to the property.  Up at 5:20, catch 7:05 ferry, stop at work pick up rain pants, leave Seattle about 8:00 and arrive in Post Falls at 12:30.

I met with the forester and we went over the timber management plan.  He recommends doing selective harvesting to take out an area of trees that has root disease and planting a different spices that isn’t susceptible to the root disease, some of this timber will be marketable.  He also recommends selective harvesting to thin out the trees to create a healthier environment by reducing the strain on the resources needed by the trees, and finally selective harvesting for the road to the top of the hill so I can build my home.  He recommended waiting 20 years for the trees to mature, before harvesting as a crop.

However, there is still lots of cleanup and thinning to make my little forest more fire resistant so I will be very busy for many years, I will not be retiring, I will be leaving my job at THE Seattle Public Library and going to work as a forest manager ;) 

Yesterday, Saturday, after the meeting with the ranger, I went out to the property.  I had thought I would need to purchase a jack to shore up the container I had purchased and had delivered on my last trip, but I used a level and discovered it was level and plumb.  I then scouted the trail to one of the streams to look at maintenance needs and to see what it would take to cut a fallen tree off the cistern.  After that, I used a measurement wheel to get a rough measurement of my frontage along the county road, and then climbed the banks of the road looking for survey markers.  They may be fence posts or they may just be a piece of rebar with a cap on it (or no cap.)  I found a possible marker but I am not sure.  I think I need to clean a lot of debris off the slopes and use a metal detector to try to locate the rebar. 

I closed up at dusk, around 4:15 and headed back to town.  I stopped at the RAINBOW RESORT for dinner and had the Prime RIB special.

Updates from September

This morning I am at the Riverbend Inn in Post Falls.  I’m spending the weekend here because I don’t want to camp out at the property.  Some things have been accomplished since my last post, so I am going to catch up here.

I met with a private forester and hired him to do a timber survey on the land and to write a Timber Management Plan I need to file with the county in order to receive a timber tax exemption.  The county, and maybe the state, offer the tax exemption, which lowers an owner’s property tax, the state then collects a tax when the timber is sold.  This is to encourage the owner to maintain and manage, their forest in a healthy manner.

My brother Frank and his wife Shirley came over a month or so ago and we did some work on the property.  We cleared some brush and trash from around the trailer and cut some saplings that were growing along the side of the trailer.  There is a hole about 3 foot across and 4 or 5 feet deep, a definite safety hazard.  We discussed a few ways to cover the hole and Frank manufactured a cover that I fill someone would have to work hard at to remove and access the hole.  Frank also fixed the gate to the property so it now swings open and closed.  Originally it was just 2 fence section that were chained to a couple posts.    We located the septic tank, but have not found either of the 2 wells that are suppose to have been drilled.

The next project we accomplished was to do some trail maintenance, cutting saplings out of the trail.  Frank did an excellent job using his chain saw to cut some timber snags out of the trail which made it easier and safer to hike to the top.  We found some skid trails we might be able to incorporate into a road to the top.  I saw a cat like creature in the brush along the trail, it didn’t look domestic, but it didn’t look like a cougar, I’ll need to do some research to figure out what it is.

My brother Frank is a craftsman I wish I had his talent when it comes to repairing and building and conceptualizing how to complete a task.  I tell him this, but I don’t know if he really believes me.

(some pictures of the work we’ve done will be added)