Finishing Touches on Cabin

July 18-23, 2016

Gerry, Grant and I went to my doctor appointment in Olney, MD today which was an 85 mile drive one way.  It was supposed to be a routine yearly appointment but it turned out to be something entirely different.  More about that in a future blog.

We took advantage of being down in the Washington, DC suburbs to pick up some wine and beer.  The prices there are much lower than up here around the cabin.  We had lunch at a Greek restaurant we liked when we lived in the area.  Unfortunately, it didn't live up to our memory of the food or service.  Then it was back to the cabin in a rainstorm.  

Barbara arrived from Concord, NC on Monday night after working in the morning.  She said it wasn't a bad drive and traffic moved along well.  That isn't always the case on I-81.  

We started working on painting more of the cabin the next morning with help from Grant, Barbara, Cassie, Belle, and her boyfriend Bryce.  I put Belle in charge of painting the skirting around the cabin since she was the only one who could squat like that and paint at the same time.

Belle

 Cassie, Barbara and Gerry were touching up the side of the cabin and I managed to get a nice photo of them all in a line.  We used a roller to apply the paint and the bottom of some boards were missed in places.

Cassie, Barbara & Gerry

 Once again the three musketeers were working together and expressed the view of me taking their photo.  I think I interrupted them chatting about something I shouldn't be hearing.

What can I say, I still love them.

Cleaning the roller & paint brushes isn't that much fun, but Barbara and Cassie did a great job.  They used cold water so that made it that much harder but the paint residue didn't go into the septic tank since they washed them outside.

Sisters Barbara & Cassie

 Cassie and Jack painted the small porch and that was when we noticed the paint looked different.  Well, it was different.  We bought what we thought was Cabin Plank which was a dark chocolate color and this paint had a purplish tint to it.  Oh Oh!! 

Cassie & Jack

 They had almost finished painting the porch when it became obvious it was the wrong paint.  Cassie and Jack took the paint back to Lowe's and they checked what we had ordered against what was in the paint can.  Their Bad.  It was the wrong mixture and they quickly mixed another gallon correctly at no charge. 

Cassie & Jack

 The girls had enough of cleaning brushes and tricked Gerry into cleaning them.  She said the water was so cold her hands almost froze.  That is what happens when you bring up well water from almost 200 ft down.

Gerry cleaning brushes and paint bucket

 Grant just turned 15 and is about 6' 1" now and feeling his oats.  Cassie asked him to do something and he challenged her to arm wrestle him.  I won't say who won the match but one person thought the other cheated. 

Cassie & Grant

 Grant and Barbara were asking all week when we were going to the Ott House Bar & Restaurant for dinner.  Jack chimed in also so we finally made it there Friday night for dinner.  As usual we all had a great time and enjoyed the food, drink and atmosphere at the Ott House in Emmitsburg, MD.

Saturday was Barbara's departure day to return back home.  Since she had her truck, she carried a few items back with her; three old sleds, a bike, and a 1946 General Electric refrigerator that still works great.  Henry always looks forward to seeing what treasures Barbara manages to get from us and I want him to be happy.  Enjoy the great stuff Henry.

Actually, the bike, refrigerator and one sled was for Larry Jr and Grant.  We managed to load the fridge with help from Jack and then packed everything in closely. 

Ready to Roll

Grant was going to stay with us until we went down for Hannah's bridal shower, but it didn't work out that way and he left with Barbara through no fault of his.

We were sad to see them leave but we needed the rest and they needed to be back home.  Thanks a million guys, you were a big help.

That was our week, how was yours?

Meanwhile, Back At The Cabin

July 13-16 

We were so busy during this time period that I didn't have the energy to write a blog or publish any pictures.  This is a catch up on that time period.

Grant was put in charge of burning all the loose wood, boxes, etc that were around the cabin and handled the job very well.  He sawed up a couple old bookcases, some rotten wood and kept the fire going all day long.  It was a hot job, but he enjoyed doing it.

 Gerry and Larry Jr. were painting a couple repair jobs and getting the first coat of paint on the boards.  The picture isn't that sharp since it was late in the day.

 The windows still need painting, but the boards have been painted and the new brown color looks great.  The cabin had been painted with redwood stain since 1979 numerous times, but it always faded fast.  We switched over to paint for this time and it went on with one coat which is great for us. The skirting on the lower part still needed painting in this photo.

 The two Larrys were working together on a repair of the skirting behind the cabin.  The old wood had a hole in it where an animal used to crawl under the cabin.  It must have been one surprised skunk or whatever when we boarded up it's entrance.

 Cassie & Belle came over to help and took a break at the end of the day on the screened in porch.  Larry Jr. helped me (he did most of the work) on redoing the screening on the porch a couple years ago. 

We are very pleased that our family chipped in to help paint the cabin.  Last year I tried to get a painter to come up here and paint the cabin but he didn't want to make the trip.  We are out in the woods as you can tell from some photos.  It is very difficult to get any tradesmen interested because of the location.

I was also working but couldn't take photos of me so you will have to take my word for it.  Of course I was a little slower than the younger folks.

Cabin Maintenance & Repairs

I'm sure you have heard the question "if a tree falls in the woods and nobody is around to hear it, does it make a sound?"   Well, if a cabin isn't used in 10 months does it still need maintenance?  Trust me, it does and big time.

A tree branch fell on our electric line coming into the cabin a couple months ago and ripped the wiring from the cabin.  Our neighbor Bob noticed it and called the power company to reconnect the line to the cabin.  It used to be they were responsible for the connection to the power meter but that seems to have changed the last couple years.    The repair man made a temporary fix of one screw holding the line to the cabin and that was it.

SIL Jack is great with handling electric work and came up to fix the wiring properly.  He fastened the wire back in place using better screws and did a great job.  Thanks a million Jack, it was a big help.

Gerry has been wanting to paint the cabin for the past 4-5 years and something always comes up to stop us from doing so.  Our dau Barbara & son Larry Jr. sort of volunteered to come to the cabin for 3-4 days of work to help with the painting.  Larry Jr came first and we (mostly Jr.)  caulked around the windows, fixed some loose boards, removed rotted boards, etc.  That part took a lot longer that I expected and he was leaving in a couple days so it was imperative that we start painting the cabin so he could paint the high points.  My knees don't do very well climbing and standing on ladders.

It took 3-4 four trips to Home Depot and Lowes to gather all the paint, brushes, deck wash soap, lumber, etc needed to finish the job.  It cost more for the other materials than it did for the paint.

We had three long days working painting and repairing and it wore Gerry and me to a frazzle.  We both decided we weren't interested in painting houses for a living.   Larry Jr left on Thursday and grandson Grant stayed behind.  We will take Grant home in early August when we go down there for a wedding shower.

I will include some pictures of the finished product later after Barbara comes up and helps finish the job.  Still a lot of trim painting left along with a ceiling to be put on the screened in porch.    She will drive up in her Chevy Avalanche and we can use it to haul the panelings needed for the porch job.

Then we have to start on clearing some dead trees near the cabin along with removing the mountain Laurel near the cabin.  I want to clear back 25ft or so from the cabin in case of a fire up here.  The storage shed also needs painting and sprucing up.

Now you know why we love to be on the road and not have to spend so much time working on the cabin.  Our rounds of routine doctors appointments started on Monday and that will fill up a lot of time.  Hitch itch is starting to set in already.

That was our last couple weeks, how were yours?