Progress is being made on the lake cabin - we figure it will be only one more day of cleaning and painting until I'll feel comfortable spending a night in there. I'm no princess, but I do like my surroundings free of rodent droppings. We have both painted our cabin floors and they are looking very "Sarah Richardson." The rest of the cabins - not so much... yet. Perhaps once we get our furniture placed and some belongings unpacked, but it's a stretch!
Last week while working at the lake we had the treat of friends Heather and Kent showing up with fresh baked buns and wobbly pops! That was so appreciated! They have since gone home and we sure are missing their company. We are now looking ahead and looking forward to when Heather and Paul will arrive. Even though this may sound strange - I feel we are in this together and can't really settle in and start this adventure until they arrive. There have been a few setbacks at home for them and until they arrive we are anxiously waiting, and I am sure they are just as anxious to get here. I am hoping Heather gets here before berry season is over. Last week we picked 3 lbs. of wild raspberries and made seedless raspberry jam - so yummy! This week we picked close to 5 lbs. of huckleberries and I made jam from that. While picking those, Nola stepped on a wasp nest and was stung 3 times on the left side of her face. It puffed right up and swelled her eye shut. That had better be good jam!!
The backhoe has been broke down now for two weeks, the hydraulic pump has gone and until we have it rebuilt ($$) or buy a new one ($$$$) we are unable to mine. As a result of this, we have been able to work on lots of little projects around here. We have built a beautiful log picnic table that seats 10-12, and two log benches for around the firepit that seat 3-4 each. We will finish staining these today. I will post pictures soon. As soon as I find the card reader for the laptop in one of our many boxes.
Two days ago we took the quads up to the top of the mountain to show visiting friends, Carl and Dawn, the view from up there. Also to see up there is an abandoned mining camp, last used in 2006. It was a junior mining company who was there drilling core samples. They either did not like what they saw, or ran out of money, because they just up and left one day in the fall of 2006. We first went up there in the spring of 2007, and they had left all the food and supplies they had brought in. Such a waste. There was butter out on the table, a decomposed apple. It was as though as soon as they were done breakfast one morning, they hopped on the chopper and never came back. We have since heard that the company ran out of funds, and that it is the "plan" to leave everything there that is too expensive to chopper out for local residents to reclaim and eventually what is left, someone is paid to completely clean up. I guess that is the same for many remote mining camps in British Columbia. Residents around here joke that it is the local shopping center up there. From year to year we notice things dwindling up there. Water tanks are gone, wall tent frames have been dismantled, even barrels of diesel have been carted off the mountain (no real easy feat, I can bet!) In fact - when working at the lake cabin last week, we saw someone go by with a quad and an empty trailer. Tim made the joke that he was probably going "shopping." Sure enough, about 5 hours later he went by with a barrel of diesel! The table is even missing since last year... Even with all that has been "shopped" from up there, there is still so much that will go to waste. Cases of food that the mice have gotten into and over a dozen 4" foamies that the mice have used as one giant lavatory.
We hope to move to the lake next week sometime. I can't wait to get there are get my books unpacked. Not novels, but my bird, plant and geology books. I like fully familiarizing myself with my surroundings. Until then...
No comments:
Post a Comment