Decisions, keep the Blog?
Trying to decide whether to update this Blog and continue writing or let it go. So much has changed since I started it. What do you think?
Monday, June 18, 2012
Monday, May 19, 2008
This Old House Gets A New Roof
Friday May 16th, the work began with Al and Matt (16 year old step son of our carpenter) up on the roof tearing off the old tin and me on the ground picking up and hauling off what they threw down.
Work progressed nicely but it was beginning to get warm.
And there goes the old porch! We will replace it soon with an expanded version.
Saturday John, our friend and carpenter, was there to help and things went quickly despite the weather heating up to 85. Thank heavens the wind kept itself down to a mild breeze, handling those huge sheets of propanel is impossible in the wind! We all worked until 8:30 and then I cooked brats and burgers with all the usual sides for the hungry crew.
Sunday all that was left to do was some minor stuff on the main roof and all of the back section which had some really bad spots that needed replacing before the propanel could go up. John found "treasure" in one area....a child's shirt and bib overalls! Had us all wondering if we were going to find the remains of the kid too!:0
John had predicted that we would be done by 2:00 so I gave him the benefit of the doubt and didn't put the pork loin roast on the grill until 1:00. As it turned out I should have waited until 4:00! For some reason things went very slowly all afternoon but the roof is finally on except for a couple trim pieces and it looks great!
I will post an "after" pic in the next post....for some unexplained reason Blogger will only let me put 5 pictures up at a time. There has to be a way to post more but so far I haven't been able to figure it out. :(
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Moab Classic Car Show
Al worked on his '65 Ford Falcon Ranchero for about 15 years. He did 95% of the work himself including the paint job, pretty impressive when you look at the other entries with their long lists of shops that had a hand in restoration of their vehicles. Finally it was good enough to enter in our first classic car show. I was finishing up packing for the weekend while he went out to load his baby on the trailer. Pretty soon I looked out the window to see what is taking so long.......here comes Al headed for the house with the most woebegone look, shaking his head and the Ranchero is sitting 1/2 in the garage....HUH? Seems she pitched a fit when he tried to load her on the hauler and kicked a ramp out causing her to fall off the trailer. OH NO!!!! I went out to look at what Al was describing as a major wreck.....and he accuses ME of exaggerating! True, she has a pretty deep gouge and dent in her door but I deemed it not bad enough to cancel our first show........"Don't be silly!" I told him, "I'll fix it!"
A few bandaids and some graphics applied with a Sharpie got lots of looks and comments from the crowd!
Friday morning everyone lined up for a run up Scenic Hiway 128 which follows the Colorado River between towering red cliffs on either side. After turning around in Castle Valley we stopped to allow the photographers a chance to get ahead of us again.
Miles of classic cars ahead and behind us. Those are the LaSal mountains in the distance.
On the way back we stopped at Red Cliffs Lodge for a great lunch. Then we toured the Movie Museum on the grounds there. It has posters, history, pictures and stories of all the movies that have been filmed in the area.....lots and lots of movies as it turns out. "Thelma and Louise", "City Slickers", "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid", and most of John Wayne's movies just to name a few. Al tried to steer me away from the winery but I found it anyway and bought one bottle of red and one of white wine. Maybe I'll save them for when my sisters come to visit again, maybe not.
Friday night we joined the line of cars "cruising Main" at 5mph. Crowds were lined up all along the way with their lawn chairs cheering for their favorite cars and encouraging them to do burn outs, even going so far as to wet down the pavement to make the burn outs more impressive. After our first pass we were starting to overheat so we pulled to the turning lane to make a left hand turn. Uh oh......what are those flashing lights? That cop can't be after us....can he????Yup. He said we didn't signal for a turn and proceeded to check all our tail lights. Real nice guy, I think he just wanted to check out our ride!
Saturday the cars were on display in Moab's town park. There was such a huge turnout this year that there wasn't room for all of them, they were parked on the side streets and in a school parking lot across the street. I was sort of surprised that there weren't more vendors, I didn't even buy Tshirt! But there was a DJ who played "oldies" all day, kind of appropriate.
This entry really caught my eye, the motor home is built on 1951 truck!
Saturday night we made one pass down Main and once again overheated so had to put her to bed. I was really disappointed, cruising is most of the fun of the Moab show.
Sunday after a Continental breakfast in the park we once again lined up for a run, this time out to Deadhorse Point. Heading up the hiway the side mirror on the driver's side of the Ranchero parted company with the bracket and smashed on the road in front of the car behind us.....talk about "OMG!" Thank heavens it didn't hit it, that car was a 30's or 40's something that had a paint job that was worth more than the Ranchero! we didn't go all the way to Deadhorse since we had just been there a month or so ago, instead we went out to Grand View Point where I hadn't been. Another beautiful part of Canyonlands National Park.
Rather than try to load the Ranchero again, Al just drove it home. She seems to be doing real well except for the transmission slipping occasionally and the overheating. Both easily fixed along with her "ouchy". We are both anxious to go to another show, it was really lots of fun!
Just in case you didn't know....you can click on the pictures to enlarge them :)
A few bandaids and some graphics applied with a Sharpie got lots of looks and comments from the crowd!
Friday morning everyone lined up for a run up Scenic Hiway 128 which follows the Colorado River between towering red cliffs on either side. After turning around in Castle Valley we stopped to allow the photographers a chance to get ahead of us again.
Miles of classic cars ahead and behind us. Those are the LaSal mountains in the distance.
On the way back we stopped at Red Cliffs Lodge for a great lunch. Then we toured the Movie Museum on the grounds there. It has posters, history, pictures and stories of all the movies that have been filmed in the area.....lots and lots of movies as it turns out. "Thelma and Louise", "City Slickers", "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid", and most of John Wayne's movies just to name a few. Al tried to steer me away from the winery but I found it anyway and bought one bottle of red and one of white wine. Maybe I'll save them for when my sisters come to visit again, maybe not.Friday night we joined the line of cars "cruising Main" at 5mph. Crowds were lined up all along the way with their lawn chairs cheering for their favorite cars and encouraging them to do burn outs, even going so far as to wet down the pavement to make the burn outs more impressive. After our first pass we were starting to overheat so we pulled to the turning lane to make a left hand turn. Uh oh......what are those flashing lights? That cop can't be after us....can he????Yup. He said we didn't signal for a turn and proceeded to check all our tail lights. Real nice guy, I think he just wanted to check out our ride!
Saturday the cars were on display in Moab's town park. There was such a huge turnout this year that there wasn't room for all of them, they were parked on the side streets and in a school parking lot across the street. I was sort of surprised that there weren't more vendors, I didn't even buy Tshirt! But there was a DJ who played "oldies" all day, kind of appropriate.
This entry really caught my eye, the motor home is built on 1951 truck!
Saturday night we made one pass down Main and once again overheated so had to put her to bed. I was really disappointed, cruising is most of the fun of the Moab show.
Sunday after a Continental breakfast in the park we once again lined up for a run, this time out to Deadhorse Point. Heading up the hiway the side mirror on the driver's side of the Ranchero parted company with the bracket and smashed on the road in front of the car behind us.....talk about "OMG!" Thank heavens it didn't hit it, that car was a 30's or 40's something that had a paint job that was worth more than the Ranchero! we didn't go all the way to Deadhorse since we had just been there a month or so ago, instead we went out to Grand View Point where I hadn't been. Another beautiful part of Canyonlands National Park.
Rather than try to load the Ranchero again, Al just drove it home. She seems to be doing real well except for the transmission slipping occasionally and the overheating. Both easily fixed along with her "ouchy". We are both anxious to go to another show, it was really lots of fun!
Just in case you didn't know....you can click on the pictures to enlarge them :)
Sunday, April 6, 2008
ATV Ride To The Cashin Mine
Yesterday we loaded up the ATVs for a day of exploring. There is a road partway up LaSal Creek canyon that has always intrigued me. Al had been on it many years ago as part of mine rescue training but was willing to go again.
The day was overcast and not very warm, maybe 50 deg but not too bad as long as we kept our speed down. Not a problem as I was busy looking at pretty LaSal Creek and the cliffs on either side. There were arches, waterfalls, hoodoos and just generally neat stuff. The road would have been OK for the Toyota but I am always more comfortable on my ATV, you never know when you will come to a wash out, rockslide, or tree across the road.
The Cashin Mine was about 4 miles at the end of the road. It was a copper mine, started in 1896 and shut down in 1946.
Some of the copper bearing rock
After exploring the area we retraced our path back towards where we started and took a side "road" that went up the north cliff and paralleled the creek from on top. If we had tried this one in the Toyota I would have done lots of cringing when the skid plates and front and rear bumpers scraped the slick rock! I LOVE MY ATV!
This scene was about half way. The far peaks are the LaSal
mountains and down below you can see the road that leads
to the mine where we had just been.
Eventually we came to the end of the road and were at a point overlooking the Cashin Mine
The weather never got any better and luckily it never got worse either. It turned out to be a very enjoyable day and we brought home a bunch of pretty rocks!
Click on any of the pictures for a larger view:)
The day was overcast and not very warm, maybe 50 deg but not too bad as long as we kept our speed down. Not a problem as I was busy looking at pretty LaSal Creek and the cliffs on either side. There were arches, waterfalls, hoodoos and just generally neat stuff. The road would have been OK for the Toyota but I am always more comfortable on my ATV, you never know when you will come to a wash out, rockslide, or tree across the road.
The Cashin Mine was about 4 miles at the end of the road. It was a copper mine, started in 1896 and shut down in 1946.Some of the copper bearing rock
After exploring the area we retraced our path back towards where we started and took a side "road" that went up the north cliff and paralleled the creek from on top. If we had tried this one in the Toyota I would have done lots of cringing when the skid plates and front and rear bumpers scraped the slick rock! I LOVE MY ATV!
This scene was about half way. The far peaks are the LaSal
mountains and down below you can see the road that leads
to the mine where we had just been.
Eventually we came to the end of the road and were at a point overlooking the Cashin Mine
The weather never got any better and luckily it never got worse either. It turned out to be a very enjoyable day and we brought home a bunch of pretty rocks!
Click on any of the pictures for a larger view:)
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Trimming Trees
Easter weekend Al and I had bribed and coerced Howard to come over and prove what he had been bragging about.......supposedly he was a tree trimmer back in Indiana before he moved here. We promised plenty of help and a cookout.
There is an ancient humungous tree in front of our house whose branches were hanging over most of the roof. In a couple weeks we will be entering "windy" time when the wind shrieks and howls down the valley. The last thing we need is a tree branch coming through the roof!
It took several hours but Howard got the tree cut back to manageable proportions.
Then a little trimming on the Black Walnut that was hanging over the back of the house. I have a suspicion that I am going to hate this tree when it drops nuts all over the yard!
Then it was time for burgers, brats, baked beans and potato salad, YUM! Howard and his wife Julie have a 4 year old daughter so I hid some Easter eggs for her. Turns out the poor kid has never had Christmas or a birthday party and had no idea what the Easter Bunny was! Can you imagine??? She had so much fun finding the colored eggs that she re-hid and hunted them several times then cried when one of them broke.
Easter Sunday Al and I had promised ourselves a day off so we packed some snacks and drinks in the ATVs and took off from the house for Carpenter Ridge. Unfortunately we were a few weeks too early. We got to the top of the ridge but then the snow and mud turned out to be too much and we had to come back down. This road ends just around the bend.
Kids, your father may have taught you how to hunt, fish, go camping, drink beer and lots of other things important to life but I have to tell you.......I THINK HE IS ILLITERATE!!!! This pic is from last weekend when he decided to prune the fruit trees. I know darn well that step ladder has a warning sticker that says "Do Not Stand On Or Above This Step"
There is an ancient humungous tree in front of our house whose branches were hanging over most of the roof. In a couple weeks we will be entering "windy" time when the wind shrieks and howls down the valley. The last thing we need is a tree branch coming through the roof!
It took several hours but Howard got the tree cut back to manageable proportions.
Then a little trimming on the Black Walnut that was hanging over the back of the house. I have a suspicion that I am going to hate this tree when it drops nuts all over the yard!
Then it was time for burgers, brats, baked beans and potato salad, YUM! Howard and his wife Julie have a 4 year old daughter so I hid some Easter eggs for her. Turns out the poor kid has never had Christmas or a birthday party and had no idea what the Easter Bunny was! Can you imagine??? She had so much fun finding the colored eggs that she re-hid and hunted them several times then cried when one of them broke.
Easter Sunday Al and I had promised ourselves a day off so we packed some snacks and drinks in the ATVs and took off from the house for Carpenter Ridge. Unfortunately we were a few weeks too early. We got to the top of the ridge but then the snow and mud turned out to be too much and we had to come back down. This road ends just around the bend.
Kids, your father may have taught you how to hunt, fish, go camping, drink beer and lots of other things important to life but I have to tell you.......I THINK HE IS ILLITERATE!!!! This pic is from last weekend when he decided to prune the fruit trees. I know darn well that step ladder has a warning sticker that says "Do Not Stand On Or Above This Step"
Thursday, March 27, 2008
You Say Something Is Interfering With Your Cell Phone?
No, this is not another rant about lack of cell phone service here in beautiful Paradox but rather something that caught my eye the other morning.
This bird was either practicing it's pose for a flag pole ornament or warming itself atop our cell phone tower. Whatever, it stayed in that position long enough for me to find the camera, get outside, and snap several pictures.
Eventually it put it's wings down. I went back inside to find the binoculars to see if it was an eagle. Nope, closer inspection revealed a turkey buzzard.
Ya just never know.
This bird was either practicing it's pose for a flag pole ornament or warming itself atop our cell phone tower. Whatever, it stayed in that position long enough for me to find the camera, get outside, and snap several pictures.
Eventually it put it's wings down. I went back inside to find the binoculars to see if it was an eagle. Nope, closer inspection revealed a turkey buzzard.
Ya just never know.
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
This Old House
We were off to a pretty good start on fixing the fixer upper. Al started the daunting job of rewiring, there were only a few plug ins in the whole house and all the overhead lights turned on with pull cords. He started in the living room and somehow managed to break the pry bar......HUH?!!!
We were really making progress on the house until the new garage showed up on the back of a truck. 
We had purchased it the previous week when we had gone to Montrose to get our driver's licenses. Unfortunately the computers for the state were down so we spent the day killing time (maybe the computer thing would get fixed) and spending $money$.
After the garage was in place there was a shift in priorities.
Now we had to concentrate on getting the garage wired, insulated, drywalled and painted. The house would have to wait. One of the many reasons for getting the garage finished first was that we couldn't find any of the tools, paintbrushes, nails and other parts and pieces that we needed to work on the house. They were still in boxes crammed into the storage shed along with 1 1/2 tons of pellets for the pellet stoves. Another reason was that Al needed to do some last minute work on the 65 Ranchero before we take it to the car show in Moab.
I'm really looking forward to the car show, this will be the first one for us. On Friday April 25th there is a rod run up the Colorado River hiway to a big resort for lunch. Then Saturday is another run to Dead Horse Point.
The garage is finished and we have started sorting the stuff in the storage shed and getting everything organized and put where it belongs. We'll get back to the house soon ;)
We were really making progress on the house until the new garage showed up on the back of a truck. 
We had purchased it the previous week when we had gone to Montrose to get our driver's licenses. Unfortunately the computers for the state were down so we spent the day killing time (maybe the computer thing would get fixed) and spending $money$.After the garage was in place there was a shift in priorities.
Now we had to concentrate on getting the garage wired, insulated, drywalled and painted. The house would have to wait. One of the many reasons for getting the garage finished first was that we couldn't find any of the tools, paintbrushes, nails and other parts and pieces that we needed to work on the house. They were still in boxes crammed into the storage shed along with 1 1/2 tons of pellets for the pellet stoves. Another reason was that Al needed to do some last minute work on the 65 Ranchero before we take it to the car show in Moab.
I'm really looking forward to the car show, this will be the first one for us. On Friday April 25th there is a rod run up the Colorado River hiway to a big resort for lunch. Then Saturday is another run to Dead Horse Point.The garage is finished and we have started sorting the stuff in the storage shed and getting everything organized and put where it belongs. We'll get back to the house soon ;)
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