Back again

So, it's been a long time since either one of us has put anything on this blog.  Was thinking about how much work it was to build this project.  Well to work on it to this point, that is.  Because it isn't finished even after 4 plus years.  Which of course got me to thinking about what we have accomplished over the past 4 years with help from many people, some paid and some paid not as well as maybe they should have been.  Those of the underpaid need to use it more often.  Or all of them do.   Which led me to think I will revisit the beginning of this fine project.

From the top here we go;  starting with the floor plan or rather a modified floor plan off of something we found on the internet.  I bought a cad program at best buy and used that to draw out the floor plan.  I had never done anything of the sort before this.  It didn't look all that hard, so I figured I could teach myself.  Well what do you know?  I did and it worked. 

 

Of course I also needed to draw up all the elevations as well.   Wasn't that hard really.  You know, sides, front and a back view.  It was kind of fun and way cheaper than hiring an architect.  Oh, and a site plan as well.  More fun.  Nothing like getting to create on paper and all you need is an eraser for screw ups. 

 

Thank goodness for Kinkos and the help there.  All of the plans had to be spec'd to a certain size as per city and county requirements.  With help from Kinkos I was able to get it all done with minnimum frustration and dollars.  Once we paid out the nose for the building permit (high as or higher than Boise) or so it seemed in comparison.  We were off to the races with something real in the ground.

 

I can't believe I painted this thing.  I will hire someone to paint it the next time.

 The skis normally are mounted on a wall paralell as in how they go down the hill.  If sticking in the snow crossed like this it ususally means some first aid is needed or happening.  Well guess what?  This place is my first aid.  Mental and physical at times. 

There will be some new photos showing up in the near future featuring a shot of downstairs flooring I hope.  We sold the jeep and are using some of the money to buy flooring, a pellet stove and maybe, just maybe some real kitchen cabinets.  Not for sure on cabinets just yet, all depends on the funds.

 I'll end this post with a nice little sunrise shot out at the marsh,

Another scenic shot from the marsh (photo credit to Marianne) and

Jack doing what he really loves to do.

 

 

 

 

 Be in the water.

Don't chew that.

Steve

Fun with mechanical things

I've tried to be equal opportunity minded as for seasons.  I included a short little TR or story from last summer.   TR stands for Trip Report in case you were wondering.  Alright it turned out longer than I thought it would.  Read it anyway.

Last summer a coworker of mine went out on a ride with me. 

I had a plan. 

After visiting with some motorized trail riders one day a couple of weeks earlier while on my mountain bike.  I was to the point of pushing my bicycle up the trail as it was too steep and loose to pedal up when these nice fellows came riding up.  They told me about another fun ride on the other side of the mountain range that I thought sounded like a challenge we'd be up for.  So when we got the motorized bikes out two weeks later we headed for it immediately.  As we rode across the river on the narrow wooden bridge and started up the true single track trail, I thought, gee this will ride great on the mountain bike, I'll have to come back with it sometime.

                                   Narrow bridge.  It wasn't wet the day we rode.  Good thing.

Next 100 yards, small creek crossing, 400 yards up the trail 2nd creek crossing, narrow trail yep all the way, true single track.  The kind that the Boise crowd will kill for.  Another creek crossing, no sense in trying to keep the feet dry now, is what I'm thinking.  Next we climb up and along a sidehill with about 40 feet of straight drop off of our right side, still on this pristine, challenging, narrow, single track.  That makes me nervous, as in, crap if we fell off of this it will 1. Hurt.  2. Not get our motorcyles out of here and 3. Not be fun!  I couldn't help but think that this would be soooo much easier on my mtn. bike and what are we doing on this narrow, not for beginner or for that matter intermidiate trail bike riders trail?  I've ridden my trail bike maybe 2 times a year on average for the past two years?  And I'm on this!  My hope at this point was that Mr. D was having as big a challenge as I was.  Onward!

Down the hill across the marshy, mucky area around the log, over the big and I mean BIG tree roots, up the trail and to a more challenging, should we say largest to date creek crossing.  Frickin full on small river flowing.  Sure thing D, you're in the lead, I have no choice but to follow.  I'm giving space so as not to crowd.  I see him enter, get about half way across as I enter the deluge of water and then he makes a sudden right turn with the front wheel, except everything else goes straight, or tries to.  Down goes Frazier, oh wait wrong fight.  Down he goes, bike, man, and everything he has on.  All are instantly at 45 degrees farenheit.  You know, same tempature as the water.  I don't have much of a choice except to dodge to the left, put my feet down to keep the slimy, slippery rocks from throwing me in beside him, and ride on by to the far bank.  I did stop to see if I could offer assistance.  But none needed.  When asked what happened, the explanation is "I didn't want to put my feet down and get them wet."  Didn't work so well.

No photo of that.  Sorry, I wasn't packing a camera, plus I'd have probably been shot for taking a picture of him down in the creek.  Don't think I could do it anyway.
 Did we make it to the top where it gets really complicated, as in big rocks that you walk your motorcyle through?  Not a chance.  They told me the second and third time you get through the big rock section it's a piece of cake each time thereafter.  They being the motorized people I met on the trail.  Note I didn't see them on this challenging trail, but on one anyone can ride.  Did we turn around?  Yep, after another 1/4 mile I'd guess.  "What do you think about going back and riding a trail I know about that is less challenging, has some nice scenery and still fun?"  Says I, a short time after the "I didn't want to get my feet wet" scene.  Yep, that's what we did.   Nice to.  The ride and scenery.   See!  We rode the trail that I met the nice motorcycle guys on the day I was on my pedal bike. 

Thanks, MK for the photo.  Couldn't find the one of mine that I had in mind. 

No I haven't ridden the challenging trail with my pedal bike.  Maybe this coming summer.

Now we move on over to winter.  Snowmobiles when full of fluids weigh closer to 600 pounds, not 200 like a motorcycle.  And that, for those who haven't ridden one, the weight, combined with several feet of soft uncompacted snow can make for an added challenge.  Get in the wrong place on the flats, let alone on a slope, and it behaves like a rock in water.

For the most part I use my snowmobile as just another vehicle to gain access to areas or "zones" as some call it, that have fewer people, more snow or maybe just to see and ski someplace I've never been.  You know, explore.  And sometimes it is nice to just go out and ride.  As in be a gearhead so to speak.  I like vehicles that are mechanized, whether it be my pickup, motorcyle trail bike, leg powered mountain bike or of course, my snowmobile.  As with anything mechanized you have special challenges at times due to the fact that they can be a bit harder to control on the trail or side of the hill/mountain.  It starts when you try to manhandle 600 pounds of steel, liquids, plastic and rubber around. Then add to that timing the use of throttle and motor perfectly to make the 600 pounds feel like 30.  The fun begins.  So just to shed some light on the fun I've included some photos of the work that goes into mistiming throttle usage or just my pathetic attempts at being a sledder.

This is John, by the way. I couldn't find one of me on the sled. You'll see one of me later behind the sled.

That was a nice fluffy day of riding, silly guys turned around the day before at the point where it really gets fun and easy to ride.  But good for us.  We did the only reasonable thing, we tracked it all up.

Sleds plus snow make for fun until I screw up.  See photos below.

One stuck snowmobile.  Me behind the sled thinking this one out. As promised.  Snow was soft and deep.

2 stuck snowmobiles.  Twice the fun.  Even better is the fact we are trying to climb back up and we have to go up to get out so we can go home.  Or at least ski and then go home.

All this in the pursuit of winter fun.  Hey if you aren't getting stuck, then you aren't pushing yourself, now are you.

March and I'm still trying to find some fresh powder.  Weather isn't making it easy.  May have to go back to work on the project if this keeps up.  I may have to add a TR from a couple of years back that was entertaining, unless you were one of the party involved.  I know, I was there.

Steve

4 women, 6 dogs, a blue bird day and live music

lest anyone fear that the house (or the women) felt left out while the guys were having a fabulous back country experience.....

hiking, skiing and good live music to boot!

Ski Update and a few words about the project

The project first.  Not much going on other than occasional use.  We decided that since it is basically usable and legal to do so, we will hold off on putting additional money into it at this time.  We, like a lot of people are not exactly comfortable with the economy.   So we'll just continue working the real jobs, spending some r & r time here and work on it as I can with what materials we already have on hand.  Of course recreation gets priority over project work.  Shoulder seasons will be the prime project work time, you see.  Spring or mud season is about the only time I foresee that happening. 
So on with some of the winter fun, such as skiing photos.

The Crew.  We made our annual trek into Big Creek a couple of weeks ago.  It's a haul, but this year we were able to ski some slopes and slots that we have been eyeballing for the past three years.  It made the 2 days of transport worth it. 

We want to ski that shadow line right up there under the cornice.  See, right between the trees, center of photo.

And we'll ski that bowl up there, yes, yes, this is looking good.

Heading up.  Just another nice day for a walk.  Sun is out, air temp is great for the snow.  Pack full of water and food, yep, hard to beat it.  Oh, did I mention that there are no crowds.  4 people, counting myself and thousands of acres just waiting on us to take our pick.  Can't imagine why we do this. ;)

Ski Tracks.

Yes mission accomplished!  Tracks in the slot under the cornice.  Oh man was it ever fun!

Icicles on the tree, real ones.  First time I noticed them in the years of playing around, or I just forgot.  Who knows.  Would make a cool christmas tree ala natural.

Another day, another mountain to climb, another adventure.  Here we go headed to the top of Eldridge.  Wind was doing about 50 on top, so not much basking in the sun once we got there.

One of a million views.

The last day of adventuresome climbing, touring and some survival skiing.   No shots of the sking from me on this day.  Breakable crust, heavy pow at best and rock firm were the conditions, oh and wind blasted.  No complaints.  We had some of the finest snow and conditions ever on the first day.

So, way down there in the bottom is our starting point for this last day of adventure.

One of our ups on day one.

Really happy this is not our transportation.  Our snowmos work just fine, thank you.

It was a loooong day.

Thanks for leaving a little Jack Marianne.  I'm sure it's the bottle we left last summer.  :)

After a few loooooong days, nothing like the wood fired hot tub and a nip of Uncle Jack.

More stories to tell if I get to it.  This trip had a lot of fun and as one person phrased it maybe a stupeventure in it as well.  Sleds can be challenging or maybe just the guy trying to ride it.

see ya.

SP

Random Winter Fun

Last weekend first. 
I had the pleasure of guiding the wife and a couple of her friends on a hike along the Snake River Saturday. Well maybe guided is a bit much, as anyone can walk upriver and stumble upon virtually everything we have seen.
This is not far from where I grew up and not too long of a drive from the current residence. Celebration Park is more or less our starting point.  Wonder where they came up with that name?  The Railroad ran down this direction about a hundred years ago and the old bridge crossing the Snake is still there. Guffey bridge is the name I believe.  Although it is now a foot bridge.  Of course we refered to it as the railroad bridge. 
Onward, our objective was to find the intact stone house that I have seen numerous times while floating this strectch of river. 

Someone has told me that there are close to 40 stone foundations scattered along this stretch of the river.  We did see several without much effort.

Echo on patrol, waiting paitiently for me to come down the hill to the rest of the group.

The good old Snake River.

The crew, more dogs than people of course, all in front of the house.  Had to be a tad cool even with a door and windows, don't you think?  I suppose the rock will hold heat for a while after the fire went out.  Not sure I want to try it , but then if the rent is free and you don't need much it would work. 

And now we go back to what I truly like about winter, SNOW and skiing.

But first there are the views that keep me coming back for 16 hour days of recreating. 

Click on any of the photos to make them larger for your viewing pleasure.   :)

My friend Steve having a look at the scenery as well as where we'd like to ski next.

Ski tracks  :)

Yes you will have to click on the photo below to see the man on skis.  Eric S. doing the honors.

I've not had the camera with me much this winter so not a lot of shots.  Working on that.  Later I'll try to add some video.  But for now that's all.

Steve