Sunday, June 26, 2016

Water Works

These are pictures of the water supply that I now have access to.  There is an issue with the pipe from the cistern to base camp.  I will need to install a pump at base camp.  Also the cistern is leaking so I will need to patch it or install a plastic tank, which I think is the better idea.



This is a log that fell over the cistern







The spring box is in place 

Good water flow
Water filter.  I still need to walk to the spring for water

Thursday, June 2, 2016


As this day draws to a close I am exhausted. A long a busy day.
But first, last night I was awoken by screaming. I think something was raiding the goose population down in the field across the road. The screaming was terror filled and warning and challenging. Something may have been stalking the little baby goslings and the parents may have been fighting them off. I did have a couple disquieting moments when the screaming died down, but there was one cry that went on, I imagined it was an unlucky bird in the mouth of a predator.

I awoke to natures alarm clock once again, around 4:15. I was able to snooze for a little while, until 5:15 or so when I decided to get ready to go for a run, the 3rd day of C25K. I got dressed, then rolled, stretched, and did nerve glides. I guess I started running around 7:20. I did better than the first two days and went a little faster and a little further. That is one thing to remember about the C25K, you may not be running a lot of the time, so you need to run a fairly consistent course so you can see the progress you are making through onger distances.

After the run I gave myself a sponge bath and washed my hair, I had just finished when my neighbor puled up on his little 4 wheeler. He told me it would be a regular daily thing, him checking on me. I had to let him know I was heading into town to resister the truck and get license plates.

I was at the DMV about an hour and then took a side road home, just to see where it went. It was suppose to start raining and there was a strong possibility of a thunder storm so I decided to do brushing and chipping instead of working on the water.

I did walk up to the water and fill a jug up and then run it through the water filter. The water tastes pretty good. My neighbor stopped by again and told me I didn't need to filter the water, but I will anyway. After we get it flowing to base camp I will send a sample off to be tested.

I went to the Rainbow Resort for dinner, only the cook was there, the owner, Tracy had to leave for some reason. I had talked to the cook in passing as he asked how the food was and I had told him a couple times I enjoyed the food there and he did a great job; tonight, since I was the only one there, we talked about the menu, Gumbo was the featured item, I told him I had never had it and to go ahead and sell me an order. I decided that I needed to be more open and friendly, I introduced myself and asked where he learned to cook. We talked for a bit and he told me about Wednesday at 5, a local event of music, food and beer hosted by CDA and local restaurants and pubs. His name is Brandon


I am ready to go to bed real soon, but as I sit her on the deck, I occasionally look up and I can notice all the work I have done, opening up the view a bit ( that is the good part) and exposing a lot of clutter and old plywood that I need to haul to the dump. I really don't want to use this truck for that purpose, but I may, just to get rid of the “new” and protect it feeling and accept the fact it is work truck. There is also a lot of foam insulation in the shed which I was going to haul of, and then realised, I might want to use it for the buildings I put up here.
 Wednesday June 1, 2016.
I slept really poorly last night, and have been extremely tired today. I got up and was working on
Neighbor coming to visit
brushing the driveway when John showed up with his dozer. I had one tree that had fallen during the winter and was wondering how I would cut it safely, John pushed it down with the dozer.

II continued brushing the driveway while John worked on the road to the cistern and after awhile I grabbed the camera to take pictures of the work he was doing, he was all the way to the end of the
road, working removing the tree that had fallen over the cistern. John has some skills.

John spent about 2 hours on the project and it was almost 11:00 so I paid him and took him to lunch at the Rainbow Resort.

After lunch, we went back to Johns work shop where he built me a spring box, I bought it back to the spring, installed it and got water flowing into the cistern. I know that part works, but now I need to locate the pipe that runs to Base Camp and hook it up to the cistern. I also have to permanently install the spring box. I talked about getting a plastic container to run the water into instead of the open cistern, I will have to look into the cost of one that will fit, I will then have to install it so it wont freeze over the winter.

I quit work, changed clothes and ran into town for coffee, to do laundry, swing by the dealership for my keys and to see if I can get them to fix the tinting they installed on the truck. I will hope so. I missed the salesman so will need go into town again, probably on Saturday when I have my next appointment with Bri.

I started feeling sick, I think from being so tired and then it being so hot when I headed into town. I went to the library and printed out the assessors page that shows I do own property her in ID, and I will take it into the DMV tomorrow to see if I can license the vehicle here in ID. I also finally got my CDA library card.

Widening the road to the spring
It is wider, but I will need to clean it up
This old guy has some skills.



Tuesday, May 31, 2016



A slow day, I did day two of C25K – it worked well. I was getting ready to change out of my running clothes when the neighbor showed up. We talked a bit and he said he would come over this afternoon or tomorrow with his bulldozer and clear and widen the road to the spring that supplies me with water. I suggested tomorrow because I would be gone in the afternoon.

I went to the Krock center and put 3 miles on a stationary bycycle and then 30 minutes on an ellipticalmachine and then took a shower. It is nice to have a club membership so I can shower when I am camping in the area.

I then had a 2:30 appointment with a cars salesman to look at a truck. I decided to buy it, traded in my Subaru and now am the owner of a GMC pick-up. I told them to write up the paperwork and I would be back after my massage appointment with Bri.

This truck is nice and has many features I dreamed about when I was looking at dodges and others I just would not have purchased for myself.


We all know that vacations can be expensive.

Monday, May 30, 2016 – Memorial Day


Today started early – again. Nature alarm clock woke me at 4:45. I have been leaving the rain flap open so when the sun comes up and it gets light my body “feels” it. Also the wild turkeys were making turkey noises and other birds were singing – there doesn't seem to be a snooze button on natures alarm clock.

I stayed in bed, trying to snooze and finally got up about 5:45 A.M. I got dressed and thought it would probably be too early to start the chipper or chain saw, so I did some research on why my new Husgavarna chain saw is leaking chain oil. Mixed messages some say bad design, others say something is wrong with the saw and others yet say a technician told them the oil will leak if the temperature gets too warm where the saw is being stored. It is locked in a shipping container and I found out today, the container does get warm when the doors are closed and the sun is beating down on it.

I chipped up the brush I cut on Saturday and and then a bunch of branches that have been laying around for awhile. I cut more brush until the Oregon chainsaws battery died. I chipped that and then it was time to clean up. I stopped at the Rainbow Resort and had part of a beer, then went to Lowes to pick up some things for the container,; I am going to hang a 2x4 from some hooks that are built into the container and then hang some coat hooks. If it works, I will have a more permanent solution.


I went to Monday evening Bible study at High Country Chapel. I sure enjoy Pastor Bob. Now back home and ready for bed. I am tired every night, but it is a good physical tiredness, not the normal mental and physical tiredness I have hen doing my normal job in my regular home/ ((Ducks are chattering now and I think I her an owl in the distance.) Tomorrow is another “day off”   

Sunday May 30, 2016

 Sunday was a planned day off, I was going to go to church, get a massage – not at church – and go to the library. I found out Eric and Heather were coming over, Eric planned on running the CDA ½ marathon. I went down to the water front to meet Heather and her daughter as they wited for Eric ro finish. On the way I stopped for coffee, they didn't open til 8 I then stopped a Safeway and had to wait 10 minutes until they opened at 7:00. I got to the park around 7:20 – I had to walk about 4 blocks and back for coffee. To while away some of the time I tokk Heather and her daughter for a short walk to Tubb Hill and we walked along the lake. Eric finished in under 2 hours and we hung around for a bit while he recovered.

Afterwards, I had enough time to get to church, after services I went to see Bri for my massage. After the massage I needed to drive with caution, I was driving Under the influence of massage. So relaxed. Next stop, Grumpy Monkey for coffee, then the Back 40 for a pair of boots. Back to Hauser for a dinner of Fish & Chips at the Rainbow and then home. I set up a shelving system and was able to straighten the storage container. Now I am sitting her, listening to the generator charge USB devices and typing this journal entry.


The wind is kicking up, I am hearing things crack in the woods, I imagine the noises are branches creaking and falling, being shook loose from the trees, and there may even be some deer walking by.
 Saturday 5/29/2014
Today started out good. I slept in the car last night, I didn't know where I wanted to put my tent – it was late when I got back from the Rainbow Resort for dinner and didn't take the time to figure it out. When I woke this morning, I took my time getting up, then I did my stretching and then the first day
of the C25K program. It went well, I wasn't in pain and thought I could do more, then I reminded myself “that program is a success because of the way it is laid out” follow it and I may not hurt myself.

After the run, I got chainsaw, hedge trimmer and lopers out and started cutting the brush around base camp. Just after I started, my neighbor John stopped by with his dog Lucky. I walked him around base camp telling him this was one of two priorities and that I was going to ask him to come down and talk to me about the water system he had installed for the last owner of the property.

We walked up the trail to the cistern, and even though I had cleared the fallen trees from the path last month when I was her, there were more branches that must have fallen from the trees. He said he would bring his bulldozer over and clear the path, making it wider. I would then have access to the cistern and the “Spring box” which is above the cistern, then reroute the piping to the spring into the cistern so it can fill up and then spill over, once again allowing flow downstream. More on this project as we work on it.

After John left, I cut a lot of brush in different areas around the structure and created so many piles of brush I couldn't pile up more; so, I unpacked and setup the chipper\mulcher. I chipped and mulched most of one area and called it a day. I drove into CDA, to the Kroc Center, a health club owned by the Salvation army and took a shower, returned to Hauser, had dinner at the Rainbow Resort and came home, set up my tent, (sleeping in the car is too confining,) and went to bed.


Saturday, June 18, 2016

More before pictures




Friday 5\27\2016



This morning I got up around 4:40 A.M. And showered, dressed and loaded my car; I actually left the house for the ferry at the time I wanted. A great way to start a vacation. I am in Hauser, on my property and it has been a pretty busy day. After driving over, I unloaded my car into the container on the property and realized, Yes, I needed shelving. Off to Costco, the style I wanted was too long to fit in my car so I purchased two different types of shelving. One of which I can build out into a work bench. Doing so will limit my shelve space, but will give me 2 work surfaces, so I think the trade off is worth it; I can always purchase more shelving.

 My phone and FB are giving me problems as I try to upload photos of what the place looks like. I have two main tasks that I want to accomplish and the first is to clean up the area I am calling base camp. I have taken photos of what it looked like today when I arrived. The other area I want to concentrate on, is the trail to my water stream.  I want to widen it and to chip and mulch what I cut the last time I was here. Two big projects. Oh yeah, the 3rd thing thing I want to do is take time to relax and play a little while I am here.



I have heard coyotes tonight and I am not sure what I am hearing now, unless it is geese down in the wetlands, but I don't know why they would be making so much noise. Maybe they talk in their sleep.















Thursday, March 17, 2016

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