Dirty Dogs

Lloyd, Joyce and Parker stopped by for a visit and we all took a trip out to the cabin.

Deja, Joyce, Parker, and Atticus getting ready to leave.  Parker discovered plopping down into a mud puddle was fun so wasn't as white when he left as he was when he got there.

Parker, Atticus, and Deja.  Deja didn't have much patience for a puppy with as much energy as Parker has and six month old Atticus was briefly outpuppied by Parker and went and hid.

But Atticus couldn't stand missing out on the fun for too long so came out of hiding and played with Parker.  Parker hadn't been off a leash in a while and ran and ran and jumped and played and had a ball.   We were told he slept really well all the way to Pagosa Springs and back.

Most of the mud dried and brushed off Parker before it was time to leave.  It takes a while longer for a dog with long hair.  This was not a good time to be standing next to a tail wagging Atticus who "painted" a few muddy stripes on my black pants before settling down with something to gnaw on.

Jackrabbits

There are no dangerous animals in San Luis State Park.  There are a lot of jackrabbits, cottontails, coyotes (we only hear them), nighthawks (they only sound scary), chipmunks, and mice (way too many mice) are regulars.  We occasionally see bull snakes in the park and always see hawks along the highway when we go to town.

Many years ago rich people built cabins all around the lake (the lake that has been dried up the past two years) but all of them are gone now except this one back in the wetlands that aren't all that wet any more.  Quite a few birds once nested in the wetlands/wildlife area so that section of the park is closed off to the public until mid July.  A herd of elk live back there, too.

Cabin - July 24-27

July 24, 2013

July 27, 2013.  I think that is Deja in the doorway but it is hard to tell since Atticus, the puppy, is as big as Deja.

Kansas Visitors

Jason, Val, and Shep came for a short visit.  This is Shep's first campfire and cookout.  They are cooking veggie hot dogs in this photo and of course we had S'mores for dessert.  We couldn't talk Shep into trying to roast a marshmallow the good way - catching it on fire until it turns black.  :-)

We went out to Jen and Ken's to check out the new cabin, watch the rolling pigeons fly, see the baby pigeons.  Shep got a kick out of feeding the grown up pigeons out of his hand.

This was supposed to be a photo of cousins Val and Jen but Shep wanted to be in the photo, too.

Val and Jen.

Zapata Falls

Kent and Judy hiked to the top of the Dunes in the morning and to Zapata Falls in the afternoon.  The Sand Dunes and the Crestones (mountains) are in the background.

Bill and Susan at Zapata Falls.

Bill and Susan at the falls.  You can't see the falls until you get right in front of them which requires a 1/2 mile walk up the mountain and about 1/4 up the middle of a stream.  The water was colder, deeper, and faster than it was when Galen and I went to the falls last year so there was less rock hopping and more just walking in the water so we all had cold feet for a while after our hike.   The road to the falls parking lot was worse than we remembered.   Not too big a deal for our high clearance truck but more of a challenge for a Prius!

Mountain View Visitors!

Kent, Emily, Judy, Susan, Bill at the Great Sand Dunes NP.

Galen, Karen, Susan and Bill at the Great Sand Dunes NP.

Bill, Susan, Karen and Galen playing music at the Oasis RV park.

We stopped playing music to shoot some sunset photos.

The cabin well - July 21

This photo has nothing to do with the well but was taken the same day as the well photos so here it is.

The well drillers went down 260' and found clear, clean, cool artesian water.

The Cabin - July 17

The set up of the inside beams is kind of unusual but looks cool and works just fine.

Mike, Ken, and Tink inside the cabin.

How the cabin looks as of July 17, 2013.

Jen is painting on a stain/wood preservative that requires no sealer.  It comes in a very small package and is mixed with a gallon of water.  It is called Life Time Wood Stain and is made in Canada.  They are using it both outside and inside the cabin.

Sunrise and birds

I don't often make it up early enough for a sunrise but am glad I did today.

This is a photo of the office and there are two nests way up above the door.  The nest on the right is empty but the nest on the left has four baby birds in it who are getting ready to venture out into the world.  As we watched them, all four of them turned their little butts to us at the same time and pooped.  This makes a mess right outside the office door.

Two of the four birds posed for a photo.

Cabin Progress - July 10

The walls were done and it was time to place the large beams across the top, a job requiring a crane.  As you can see, this was not your ordinary crane.  Jen, Ken, and Ken's daughter Jess found the crane owner when they bought a car from him for Jess.  Dakota Geringer's crane is far more photogenic than most cranes.  The truck is a 1958 GMC truck that is not highway legal so was hauled out on a trailer.

Another view of the crane.

Galen helping guide the beam into place.  The wind wasn't helping.

There were five and a half large beams put into place.  They didn't get started until after supper so were racing daylight.

Finished!

Ken, Tink and Deja.  Note the very nice looking grey stain on the logs.

I'm glad he is smiling because his body language seems to be saying, "Oops!"  Actually, everything went very well and was finished before dark.

Cabin progress - July 9

Ken and Mike hard at work.

Not a finished window yet but the view is there.

Storm clouds

When the dust kicks up on the lake bed like this, it will only be a few minutes before we get blasted in the campground.

And hit it did.  I don't think our RV has ever been rocked so hard.

There were only a few drops of rain with this afternoon storm but we got a rainbow anyway.

Galen grabbed this photo of this cloud framing our RV.

This is that same cloud after it had passed our RV and began to break up.

Log Cabin Progress

Rows of sticky tape laid between the logs.

Front door view of the cabin.

A window.

Starting to look like a cabin!