Memorial Day Week

The Memorial Day week at Pinon Rock has been packed with activities. It started with a visit by Kathy and Bill from Minnesota doing there shakedown cruise with their 5th wheel. This was literally a minute by minute voyage as they came through Wyoming during the tornado outbreak that hit Windsor Colorado.

By the time they reached our place the mountains were waiting to welcome them with….snow showers. That white in the background is an approaching wall of snow.

Bill had to replace the AC cover which blew off somewhere in route because of a water leakage.

We also took the opportunity to hike up West Antelope with Herb. Herb provided quite the nature narrative with his background in scatology and herbology (bit of a pun). We now know how to tell male from female Elk droppings. Has anyone ever heard of a Mountain Buttercup?

We were also wondering about all of the rocks that looked like they had been flipped over and learned that that would be bears looking for insects.

Herb in a real naturalist.

On the way back down the hill to our place, Kathy spotted a large black dog at Cliff’s pond. When it turned to run as we drove down the road it magically turned in to a small black bear, which high tailed it down toward Brown’s.

Good eye Cathy.

Monday we went rafting on the Arkansas. Marlys and I have been here 10 years and never done what is probably the biggest tourist activity in the area. We didn’t do the Gorge, but Big Horn Canyon was plenty. The snow from last winter is resulting is a heavy/dangerous run off that is expected to increase over the next few weeks. A number of rivers in the state have already had a deadly start to the season.

Tuesday, Marlys and I spent close to 8 hours at the Fremont County Commissioner Public Hearing on the Conditional Use Permit for Black Range Minerals Uranium Exploration. This is something that we have become quite involved in over the last 9 months, once we discovered what the nighttime lights were for on the SE flank of East Waugh last fall. Even though it is a few mile away we are concerned about water quality and property values.

My statement to the commission is available at: http://autumncreekranch.com/acportal/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=35&func=view&id=80&catid=24

I also seem to have been quoted a little out of context in the Canon City Daily Record: http://www.canoncitydailyrecord.com/Article/96201.page

The issue is dividing the community along old/new residents lines and I hope that some type of compromise can be reached by the Commissioners. It has taken us 10 year to get this far in the Tallahassee Creek area to have it destroyed by an Australian mining company. I don’t envy Mike, Larry and Ed in trying to sort this out.

They should deliver their decision on June 9, stay tuned.

The Tiger moths are also out in abundance this year. Bill found 1 outside and after a little research I found out that they are a product of all of the “woolly bear” caterpillars that seem to be everywhere this spring.

We are also back in building mode as I attack the last major outdoor project in the house construction, namely the rear deck.

After consultation with my independent expert (Bill), it was decided that the attachment of the ledger for the deck to the house should be into the concrete of the basement instead of the rim joist of the upper floor. This keeps the house shell intact and puts the deck at an easy level to access with out a stairs to the ground, I will make a platfrom step from the rear door fo the house to the deck level.

I had initially started the work with the idea of drilling anchor holes into the concrete then inserting, a lag sleeve to secure a lag screw into, but this proved problematic as the sleeve would either spin or the lag screw would break.

After re-grouping, Redhead concrete studs were used as they could be inserted into the 5/8” holes I had drilled and provided for a larger load. The only problem is that the nice pattern I had laid out for the holes was hosed due to the broken off screws, so the result was not very symmetric, but it will be covered by decking.

The post foundation holes will be dug this week, and next week is reserved for concrete work.

After being sun burnt again and again and again... I have now decided to follow the example of “Herb the Naturalist” in that I put on sunscreen each morning before going out side.

Marlys began the project of painting the garage. We are attempting to use up some of the paint we found unsuitable for inside the house. We didn’t have enough. We cut the yellow glare of this stuff by mixing in the white ceiling paint also leftover. This will be a bright garage.

I have also been doing a very unscientific study of tidal effect in the area. This has been done mainly by picking up rocks as they appear around the patio and thorwing them downhill. The one in this photo was not even visible three weeks ago.

We will follow the progression of the rock in the second photo as it continues to emerge over the next few weeks.

For those of you unaware of tidal effect away from any large body of water, it is something that farmers have experienced forever in there fields, in that no matter how many rocks they remove, more will appear as they are drawn to the surface due to there higher mass.

In ending, this is a photo of a wire sculpture that Derek did last winter. The picture doesn’t due it justice.

I may be his dad, and not very objective, but his instructor said this was a “sell able” piece when critiqing it.

He is going to but a nicer wood base on it possibly using some of the remaining curly redwood we have.

Some folks have asked for a better picture of the Cowboy Sideboard, so here you go. You can clearly see in this picture the difference in tone between the heart and sap wood poplar used.
Until next time.