Well, it was a long cold snowy winter. Then it was a long cold snowy spring. Still some patches of snow on the ground on May 30th. With all of the cold weather and snow in the driveway at the new cabin we just couldn’t get motivated to start working again on the cabin until April 24th. Start reading at Weekend of April 24, 25, 2010 below. Also, Tim added more pictures to the link below.
http://picasaweb.google.com/timtgarcia/AlmanorCabin?authkey=Gv1sRgCLzV0aDw_9D3Hw&feat=content_notification#
Weekend of May 28th: (Hot Water!)
Jennifer returned home for a week long break from Americorps (Little Rock, Arkansas) at 6pm Friday evening so we decided to go the Fiesta Days parade on Saturday morning and then head up to Almanor Saturday afternoon to meet Pete and install the water pressure pump and water heater. On Sunday while Pete installed all of the valves and copper pipe for the pressure system, copper water for the water heater, and gas connectors, I finished installing the plumbing for both bathroom sinks and showers. Also, since we changed the type of kitchen stove, I had to cut out a piece of sheetrock behind the stove and move the gas stub about 5 inches to the left - minor detail. Once all of the gas valves were installed Pete fired up the hot water heater. YOu know you are getting close to the end when you have hot and cold running water. To properly install the shower valves the valve body must be flushed with fresh water so I had to remove the valve assembly and run the water for 15 seconds and then reinstall the valve assembly. We flushed the upstairs shower first and then the downstairs shower. I elected Deb to hold a piece of plywood and cardboard in the shower door opening to keep most of the water in the shower (shower doors are not installed yet) while I went to the garage to turn on the main water valve and count to 15 (one-one-thousand, two-one-thousand). Deb was a sport; while water sprayed out like a Rainbird she kept most of it in the shower.
While I worked on the cabin Sunday, Deb and Jennifer raked the yard at the Dusty Road cabin. On Sunday, Deb and I finished raking the Dusty Road yard and then Jennifer, Deb, and I headed for Chico to visit Deb’s parents.
Weekend of May 21st:
I spent most of the day Friday picking up extra parts for the kitchen sink, stopped at Meeks to pick up the three remaining doors (one of which was a 6’ wide double door that was strapped vertically in the trailer). When Deb arrived home from school we loaded our clothes and food in the Suburban and then headed for Home Depot to pick up the kitchen flooring. It is nice to have the room in the suburban to haul two doors and a 12’ long roll of vinyl flooring. The ride to Almanor was quite interesting and quite blustery with a storm blowing in (blood pressure rising). The gusty winds on I-5 kept pushing the 7’ tall and 6’ wide double door, standing vertically in the trailer, kind of like a sail, brutally back and forth. Then after two and a half hours of being whipped by the wind it began to snow. Luckily it was cold dry snow (May 21st ??) that didn’t get the door wet. We arrived at the cabin around 10pm and unloaded everything in the cabin garage. On Saturday I hung the remaining doors and took the three doors with exposed grade stamps back out in order to return them to the door shop for new jambs. Next I installed the plumbing drain and garbage disposal in the kitchen's double sink. On Sunday we cleaned up, made notes for the next weekend and headed home early. Oh, I forgot to mention that we had snow showers on and off all day Saturday (weather forecast, Chester, CA, for May 22, 2010 cold and snowy).
Weekend of May 14th:
Tim, Heidi, Sara, Jeremy, and Tom drove to the cabin late Friday night. Tim and Tom were up early (oops, also Heidi, thanks for the great breakfast, including fresh fruit salad). Tim and I hung doors (knotty pine) and installed closet shelves. Sara and Jeremy arrived at the cabin around 10:30 and Jeremy began the process of pressure testing the central heater ducts while Sara spent some time vacuuming the area above the garage. We went back to the cabin around 1pm for lunch, then again around 6pm to start the BBQ. Deb arrived around 7:30pm, just in time for a sumptuous tri-tip, sausage, garlic/mozzarella bread, asparagus, and guacamole/chips appetizer to go with the beer. Sara and Jeremy had to leave early Saturday so they missed a fine dinner. On Sunday we finished hanging doors but realized that the door shop had produced the jambs with the grade stamp on the exposed side on three of the doors. I was a little upset to pay extra for nice wood doors and jambs to have this type of mess-up. Tim left early on Sunday and I installed the trap and drain on the bar sink before Deb and I cleaned up and headed home.
Weekend of May 1st:
This weekend Deb and I brought a few more plumbing supplies and more of the tile that we chose last weekend. On Saturday I installed the kitchen faucets and drain lines. I also installed the counter tops for both bathrooms, built the water heater stand, and a work bench in the garage. Got a lot done but it does go a little slower working alone. Still quite a bit of snow on the ground.
Weekend of April 24, 25, 2010:
Tim, Heidi, Tom and Deb left Vacaville late Friday night. The Suburban* was packed with the cast iron kitchen sink, stainless steel bar sink, some additional plumbing supplies, and two different colors of tile for the entry doorways and fireplace hearth. On Saturday morning Tim and I unloaded the Suburban and began laying out the kitchen counter tops. We borrowed a belt sander from Bill Phillips so that we could scribe and fit each counter top to the wall. It took most of the day to fit the tops to the wall and cut the openings for each of two sinks. Bryce and Cyndia Bauer flew in to Chester from McCloud at around 4pm so we stopped work early to visit and have a nice BBQ dinner. Bryce had to fly out by 7pm so that they could land at McCloud before dark on their return flight. Tim and I went back to work after Bryce left and completed installing the counter tops. On Sunday morning we installed the two sinks. We then double checked our measurements for closet doors, shelf & pole, and baseboard. I plan to order all of the interior wood trim from Westgate Hardwoods in Chico the first week in May. It was a fun weekend and the counter tops look great. The fit is perfect and it was great to have Tim’s help. He is quite flexible and was able to squeeze into the corner cabinets to bolt the counter top miter joints together.
* We finally wore the Chevy Astro out (180,000 miles) last year and bought a new Suburban in November. Though these vehicles come with the stigma that they aren't fuel-efficient, doing the math, we'll ultimately save fuel or come out even because of how frequently we'll be able to carry up to 8 people for long, 100+ mile car pools to and from the cabin. (Plus it uses Flex Fuel technology and runs efficiently on only four cylinders when all eight aren't needed. Cool.)
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