JANUARY
WonderMutt and I paid a winter visit to DaCabin for a couple days.
There was a wonderful layer of fresh snow, blanketing the ground and covering every tree.
As usual, Dog-O wasted no time retrieving his ball from the wood shed.
While I was unloading the car, Dummy posed for a portrait.
Anyone in the market for a slightly used dog? Anyone...?
The next morning the sun rose behind a thinly overcast sky, producing a semi-diffuse light.
FEBRUARY
The first week of February dog and I paid another visit. There had been a significant snowfall in the days after our previous visit, but warm temperatures took care of most of that. The receding snowcover on the ground made it look more like late March than the first day of February.
A new piece of equipment was added to DaCabin's DaSoundSystem.
A rockin' new subwoofer!
Hard to believe I built it myself, eh?
I have a troll living in DaTrumper!
Well, that's where turds belong.
The morning we were packing to go home I noticed something odd. There appeared to be a very fine, light snow coming down. It would barely have been visible if it had not been shimmering, reflecting morning sunshine like slowly descending diamonds.
The strange thing was, there wasn't a cloud in the sky, and looking out the windows, there wasn't a speck of snow on the trees. So what was this and where was this coming from?
I went outside and saw that overnight the treetops had been covered with a fine, spikey frost. It was falling to the ground like tiny, almost invisible icicles!
The temperature was just right for my morning shower!
Man, that's BRISK!
My peaceful shower view
MARCH
In the middle of March there was a short string of days with temperatures nearing 60 degrees F. There was barely any snow left at all.
Still, it went down below freezing at night. I had begun using firewood out of my new shed, having exhausted the supply in my dad's old shed.
I built some birdhouses and installed a couple of them around the front yard.
Work has begun on the floor in bedroom 2. I have a variety of ceramic tiles that will replace the ancient 9x9s, many of which are broken, stained with the tar adhesive, or have come loose.
I plan to start with a wood grain border around the wall perimeter. A few of the border tiles can be seen along the wall on the left.
I returned to DaCabin the last weekend of March and began laying down the tiles. I have three kinds to work with - a white woodgrain, a gray/brown woodgrain, and large cream color tiles. My original plan to have the dark woodgrain as the outside border wasn't going to work, I dont have enough material for that configuration.
I spent over an hour rearranging tiles and calculating if the new arrangement could work.
Finally I found a plan that will work. The outside border will be the white tiles, followed by an inner border of the gray/brown, and the cream tiles will fill in the center.
I'd probably never get the job done without this guy's assistance.
APRIL
Work continues on the tile floor...
I hung a suet feeder for the birds in front of the big picture window...
...and replaced the old roll-down plastic shade with new curtains.
MAY 2024...
Walking around the property I encountered Mr. Pocupine.
I found that the suet bird feeder I had hung during my last visit was gone. I guessed that maybe a Wiley Squirrel or other woodland critter had absconded with it. So I purchased another feeder and also installed a camera trap to see what critter may have made off with it.
When I returned in late May I got my answer.
For comparison here is Dummy in the exact same spot as the bear. That's where suet feeder #2 was found on the ground, a little beat up and empty. Dummy is having a lick at the remnants. For reference, he (dum-dum dog) is going somewhere in the neighborhood of 80 lbs. I think the bruin has the weight advantage on him.
JUNE 2024...
The new tile floor is completed. Now I need to find another project!
New speakers were installed in DaCabin's DaSoundSystem. Now we're really rockin'!
JULY 2024...
I have started installing a new floor in the shower. It's constructed from the fire bricks that used to be in the chimneys.
The old window over the kitchen sink was a hand-made awning style that opened INTO the cabin. Kinda funky, it was.
It has now been replaced with a new vinyl window.
August 2024...
I installed composite trim around the window installed during my last visit. Nobody will ever have to paint that part of the window frame.
The trail camera continues to snap photos of the local wildlife. Let's see what's been lurking around since my last visit...
YIKES! SQUATCHES!!
August 2024
The last days of August I visited the cabin with Boy #1 - who hadn't been there since Jan. 2023, and Boy #2 - who hadn't been up since April 2022.
I brought my Dad's .22 rifles for the boys to shoot, but instead they pulled their old BB gun off the rack! They spent all their shootin' time plinking away with that old toy I bought when they were little.
Meanwhile I continued to work on the new floor going in the shower...
While I was working I saw this guy around the old wood shed, where he lives. I've encountered him three or four times now over my last handful of visits to DaCabin. Being as we are becoming so well acquainted I have given him a name - Bob.
Later Boy #2 and I took a walk down the path to the little creek.
The second evening of our visit we made a campfire and roasted DaMarshmallows...
Boy #2 also invented the roasted snack stick
The second day we took a trip down the river. It was a mostly overcast day - the temperature only in the mid 70's, so we had almost the entire 2-1/2 hour trip to ourselves.
Afterward we had our traditional post-river dinner - steaks, baked potatoes, and fresh corn.
When I pulled the Spaaaaace Griiiilll out of the wood shed I found Momma Mouse had (yet again) built a nest in the thing and was inside with her babies.
So we improvised and cooked the steaks over the fire.
A meal fit for a king!
SEPT 2024
The forest service had paid for a crew to clean up and survey the entire property line, all four sides. It gave me an opportunity to document exactly where the lines are and hang some new signs. We were walking along one boundary line when I discovered that someone - I suspect the survey crew - had embellished my decorations and signage with a whimsical splash of red paint.
...aaalrighty then...
As we headed back to DaCabin I discovered something else - Mr. Bear's home!!
I've lived in worse
MORE TO COME....>>>>>>>
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