Good News!

Got the word today that the closing on the Bolt Hole went without a hitch and that the checks are in the mail. Along with no longer paying town and county taxes (spring), school and library taxes (fall), phone bill, electric bill, and insurance bill, I'll no longer have to worry about mowing the grass, maintenance, rebuilding the garage, repainting the barn and finishing the painting of the roof, or any of the myriad number of things a neglected piece of real estate really, really needs. Which is mainly some TLC.

Yeah, I'll miss it a little. But the extra $$$ and the time will free me up to make some additional trips in the travel trailer to places near and far.

******

Did some further declutering today making a quick run to the dump with a few bags of assorted trash and half a dozen half empty paint cans. Still sorting through some of the stuff from Terry's Mom and the Bolt Hole. If I ever get around to doing inventory, I might have more stuff in my shop than Mr. Burns had in his hardware store when I worked there 50 years ago. (Some of it might be as old, too.)

******

I was notified that the ATV--a Yamaha ProHauler--was repaired and ready for pickup. All, that is, except for the tail light cover which is backordered. Okay. I can't pick it up until Monday anyway, how 'bout if I call you Monday morning to see about that light cover? (I've no immediate need to use the Hauler, anyway. AND I've still got to clean out a spot for it in a cluttered garage!)

******

Mets swept the Nationals in a three game series. They had to come from behind in all three games bit opened a 7 game lead in the NL East. Then they went and beat the Braves to make it a 7 1/2 game lead. Things are looking pretty good for some post-season play!

Oh! And the Jets and Giants open their NFL play on Sunday.

******

My Rutgers Scarlet Knights (1-0) will be playing the Washington State Cougars (0-1...they lost to he Portland State Vikings for crying out loud!) on Saturday at 3:30 PM EDT.

It will be interesting to see how the Scarlet fair in the running game (last week they had something like 280 yards on the ground) and who the quarterback will be. Both did well last week against Norfolk State, but the second half combo of Chris Laviano and receiver Leonte Carroo (three complete passes for 129 yards and three TDs) have earned Laviano this week's starting assignment.

Go R U!

******

[Added]
Almost forgot we harvest more acorn squash today. That brings the total to nine. Pretty good considering I didn't plant any. These are volunteers that grew in the compost heap from seeds dumped there last year. Guess I need to distribute the compost to the growing beds of the garden!

The End (Almost) of a Quarter Century At the Bolt Hole

Made my last trip to the Bolt Hole today. There were a few odds and ends we had left in case I was going to stay there the night before the closing. I also arranged to sever connections with the power company (National Grid) and the phone company/internet provider (Newport Telephone Company). BUT...

The sale of the Bolt Hole is currently on hold as the title company is searching for a warranty deed somewhere deep in the Stone Age. When we purchased the property some 25 years (!?!) ago, we had a title search done. It did not go back beyond 40 years (1950) and no encumbrances were found. Chicago Title Insurance Company tendered a policy that protected us should some long lost ghost of sales past crop up.

[Our title search back in early 1988 DID discover that the seller (K) did not own the 101 acres he thought he did—and on which he was paying taxes. Turns out he only owned 34. The other 67 acres still belonged to the persons he purchased from (R)—and they, too, were paying taxes on those 67 acres! At the time, K lived in New Mexico, R lived on Long Island and I lived in New Jersey. I was the only one with a lawyer in the county in which the property was located. What transpired was a comedy (?) of errors and was the reason we never took possession of the property until spring of 1989.]

In today’s litigious society, I guess they want to be more careful. Forty years would be just me, and the three previous owners a total of just three sales. You can trace things back a bit further using the computer data, but that must be attached to some hard data which, if the county records are anything like I’ve been told, are a labyrinth of unsorted and mislabeled (if labeled at all) boxes and boxes of paper—kind of like my basement.

Anyway...the couple to whom we are selling need a place ASAP. They insisted on the quick closing date (three weeks from acceptance of their offer), I really hope the clerks in the county office work a little faster or that an alternative to a warranty deed can be accepted by both parties.

Today I dropped off the keys with my attorney as well as a not for the new folks detailing where different things are (power line to garage, water line to the house, etc.), how no one has lived in the cabin over winter since...oh...1987 so I don't know what the baseboard heat (only one of which has ever been used) will be like, and so forth. 

Good thing I signed all the papers including a power of attorney the other day when Terry did the same. (She was going to be out of town today; Pittsburgh for a stitching thingy.) Having done so means I can get on with doing what I want to do and do not have to show up at the closing...when ever that will be.

Once More With Feeling!

Another busy two days.

After a trip to the dump on Monday morning to deliver some recyclables and a load of trash, I hauled the utility trailer up to the Bolt Hole.

Mark was there and we started loading all sorts of wood and trash into the Tundra. We also loaded a cabinet that was in the garage that once serve as the base for a radial arm saw and a half ton of various rocks (mostly pretty stuff that could be used for lapidary work and some petrified wood). We came pretty close to emptying out the barn and the garage! What I didn't take, Mark picked through. Some stuff will go to friends and some will go to some enterprising youngsters Mark knows who collect scrap metal.

Terry showed up at dark when all the heavy lifting was finished.

Today Terry and I went down to the lawyers to sign some the papers for the sale. Terry won't be around on Friday when the closing is scheduled but I will attend. I signed the papers anyway just in case the title searchers take too long and the closing has to be postponed. We returend to the Bolt Hole and cleaned almost everything we're taking out.

We were on the road home by 2 PM with both the Jeep and the Tundra loaded to the gills. Ran into a couple of nasty downpours on the way home but once there, we were able to sort out everything from our two vehicles (and the trailer!) into trash (Tundra) and recyclables (Jeep) so we could make a run to the dump again on Wednesday.

It wasn't until I went to park the utility trailer and its load of wood under the deck using the ATV that the rains hit again. And the ATV started acting up. We ended up putting tarps over the trailer and the ATV so I could attend to them tomorrow but by then we were drenched.

Whew! Long day.

First we headed to the dump in two vehicles. Terry emptied the Jeep Compass of all its books and magazines and where I dropped an extra large TV and a bunch of folding plastic & aluminum chairs among bags and bags of trash. (I certainly got my $15 worth this time!)

Then I drove to the Bolt Hole (225 miles) where I got to shmoose a bit with Mark who helped me load the Tundra with boxes Terry and I filled Sunday, a crate seat from This End Up (Are they still in business?) and a cradle I made for Rick lo some 32 years ago.

And then I hauled all that home (another 225 miles) and unloaded the Tundra.

Tomorrow I get to go up again and Terry will follow. We'll stay overnight to do still more sorting and cleaning before coming home on Wednesday...at least I will be coming home. Terry will first stop in Liverpool for a ANG shindig. (That's American Needlepoint Guild.)

With luck, Mark will be there again to help load the large (and heavy!) This End Up coffee table. And we will get to meet the young couple who are going to live (!) in the Bolt Hole.

Busy! BUSY! BUSY!!!

Got a phone call Wednesday night from our realtor up in New York. She had an offer for our camp. It was too low so we counter offered. They counter-counter offered on Thursday and  we agreed. It's a cash as is sale so there shouldn't be any problems.

We got the names to three attorneys in Herkimer who the realtor recommended. Terry made some phone calls Friday morning and we chose the only one that would give us a straight answer as to the cost of handling a closing. (The first went to an answering machine and the second said, "Well that depends....") We still had the title search that was performed way back when we purchased the property in the mid-80s. Plus the deed and tax bills from last year. Could I get to the office before they closed at 4:30 PM Friday afternoon? Hell yeah! IT was only 11:30 AM and Herkimer's only 190 miles away. No sweat!

I got there at 3 PM. And not all those roads between here and there have 60 mpg\h speed limits, you know. All I know is I was still getting passed on the NY Thruway!

Terry joined me at the Bolt Hole later that evening as she left around 3 PM.

I spent much of Saturday morning replacing 10 boards in the middle of the screened porch's floor. Tongue and groove stuff is supposed to be laid from one end to the other. Trying to replace sections in the middle is a...challenge. Especially when that final board is 1/8 of an inch wider than the hole. I didn't have a table saw so I screwed one plant to a longer, wider board from the barn to rip the edge of that overly wide board and then slid it in from the end. Tight fit! As for the other boards, I don't think I used more than six 4d finishing nails (galvanized) to encourage a couple of boards that wanted to bend where they shouldn't.

Meanwhile, Terry was going around bagging clothes (some for home, some for donation), bundling books (again, some for home and a lot for recycling--mostly old Reader's Digest books. Hey! They did add some insulation to the walls.) I went on to clean up the red shed behind the house, and start on the brown shed on the east side. Then joined Terry in sorting stuff for donation, home and trash. I also protected her from the mean old teenage mice she encountered in one closet and fended off that piece of string she thought was a snake skin.

As we worked, we thought about where we would put all the furniture and decided we would rather sell it that have to haul it out. So we emailed the realtor our suggestion and offered all the furniture (except for a few choice pieces) to the buyers. [The realtor would later give me the buyers' phone numbers and tell me to make the suggestion to them. So I called Sunday night and they agreed to the purchase with only a little haggling. They don't have to go shopping and I don't have to figure out when I'll have to haul and where I'll have to store all those things.]

******

In the midst of this all, we learned that my Aunt Doris passed away. She was the youngest of the five Dunn sisters--and one brother. She was also the last survivor of that particular generation. They were all sweet ladies and independent as hell. Each had skills that they applied to daily life while raising families. And they each had the misfortune of seeing their husbands--and in some cases a child--predecease them. They are all missed by, not only their own offspring but their nieces and nephews--many of whom are grandparents now.

******

Sunday, we spent the morning packaging and boxing still more stuff and filled the Tundra cargo area to the brim with trash and the back seat with treasure. Terry's little Compass got filled with books and magazines to be recycled at the dump and clothes of the home-or-donation variety. We packed up most of the Tupperware and dried foods and stacked those boxes in the living area. Ate lunch and left for home. I went one way while she went another and I got home all of 2 minutes before she did.

After feeding the cats, we unloaded those items we wanted for home, and those that we wanted to donate. Tomorrow (Monday) morning, we'll both go to the dump. She to the recycling area, me to the trash area. Then I'll drive north to get those boxes we packed and bring them home.

Tuesday we both go north--in separate cars--and get to work cleaning out the garage (me) and washing down the house (Terry).

Wednesday, Terry goes over to Liverpool (just west of Syracuse) for a dinner with one of her stitching groups and then home. I'll leave a little later than she does but I'll be going home with a load of stuff from the garage.

Thursday I'll be prepping for my fishing trip to Quebec. Joe and I will leave Friday around 3 PM to arrive at Clova (look it up if you can!) in time for our 7 AM Saturday flight to our wilderness camp.

And that fishing trip--and an August 21st closing date is why Terry and I are racing back and forth between the Aerie and the Bolt Hole this week and probably between August 17th and 21st!

Just hope I don't run out of gas like Kyle Busch at Pocono today. Poor guy was leading by a considerable margin (because two others had already run out of fuel!) got the white flag for the final lap...and...ran out of fuel himself!

The Exterior of the Bolt Hole

Yesterday I posted some photos of the inside of the Bolt Hole and promised that I'd have some of the outside soon. Well, soon has arrived.

Come in the gate and onto the lawn and then drive up to the front porch and the main entrance into the Great Room. There's also an entrance to the kitchen from the covered porch, but that door is barred on the inside. The addition on the left is the first floor bedroom,

 (This photo was taken by Realtor Kay Delano and labeled cabin in the woods on 34 acres)

Turn around and look across the lawn and you'll see the garage (with workshop area in the rear) and the pole barn. Both need a little TLC. I built the barn in 2003 with help from my daughter, my son, my buddy Joe and his two boys. Each did one or two days labor but I had to put the final side panels and the final pieces of the roof on myself. And then I had to paint the whole bloody thing! (Needs another coat now.)

Walk around the west side of the  past an old shed that needs lots of TLC and you'll see the multiple roof levels of the Bolt Hole. The steeper section of silvery metal on the right is the roof of the kitchen and the small attic. The gentler slope at the bottom is the attached woodshed.

Obviously, you gain access to the deck by a sliding glass door from the upstairs bedroom.

From the other side of the back lawn you get another view of the deck and also of windows into the bathroom (on the right) and the utility room (on the left) as well as the screened porch.

Walk past the screened porch and look back and you can see the shed I rebuilt in 2002 after I tore down an old chicken coop of slightly larger size.

Except for the older shed behind the first floor bedroom, that's it. 

Inside the Bolt Hole

At the Bolt Hole for the second time within a week to clear out some of the clutter and make it look a bit more presentable. It officially went on the market today with a realtor from the town of Poland.

She took a lot of pictures inside and out so I was a little disappointed that you could only see one of them on her web site when it was posted. I saw her pictues and they were pretty darn good. I only have my iPhone with me so mine aren't quite as good, but here's what the insides look like with much of the clutter already in the Tundra.

When you first enter you are in the Great Room. This is our main living area and the source of much of our heat. There's a big wood stove and the stove pipe goes up through the upstairs bedroom.

There are four doors in the north end that you see here. The one on the far right goes out onto the screened porch. The one next to it goes into a utility room which is used for storage. The next one on the left goes upstairs and the final one on the left goes into the kitchen.

Standing behind the wood stove and looking into the great room, you see the second source of heat: the south wall is all glass and picks up a good deal of sun during the day. (Unfortunately, there are some planted fir trees on each corner of the building and they block a good portion of the sun.)

Leaving the great room, you enter the kitchen. There's another wood stove here that provides yet another source of heat. (There's also electric baseboard heat throughout the house, but, except for the the first floor bedroom, we've never used it. Electricity in New York state ain't cheap!)

From the other side of the kitchen, you can see the entrance to the great room on the right and the entrance to the bathroom on the left.

Next to the entrance to the bathroom is a door that leads to the attached woodshed.

On the west end of the kitchen, is the entrance to the first floor bedroom. The entire west wall is closet.

Going upstairs we have the "master bedroom." Here you can see the stove pipe as it passes through. (The former owner had a small wood stove here that connected to the same pipe which is 1-not safe and 2-inducive to some pretty smokey times in the bedroom!)

From the upstairs bedroom you can step out on the a small deck through the sliding glass doors. When we bought the place in 1989, the doors were there but, alas, there was no deck. It's about a 10 foot drop just outside the doors, maybe 12-14 feet off the deck's northern side.

And there you have it. That's the inside of the Bolt Hole. Tomorrow I shall endeavor to present you with some pictures of the exterior and the sheds, garage and pole barn.

BTW it was pretty raw today. It drizzled and rained for much of the day and the temperature nver got much above 50 degrees. (It was 45 when I woke up.) I tried to resist, but finally had to turn on the heat.

Time Flies!

It's been ten (10) days since I last posted here? Seems like only yesterday! I'm still alive and haven't had to go to the hospital or anything like that, I've just been a bit busy.

******

Terry had a great time out in Portland, OR visiting with Rick, Sandy and, of course little Chelsea Rose who turned one month on the 20th on May.

Chelsea Rose, age 1 month

Every time I see a new picture of her, she seems to be getting bigger and bigger.

******

I made a trip up to the Bolt Hole and was pleased to find it still standing. I hauled a gas lawn mower that once belonged to Terry's Mom up there in case the lawn needed mowing, but I lucked out this time. The grass hadn't really started to grow yet.

I did get a chance to talk to Mark and learned there was a great deal of activity up there last hunting season but that there were still several big bucks and bears hanging around.

I believe I'll have to go back up there this week to do a first cut on the lawn. I'll drag Terry up so she can help decide what can be chucked and what has to be cleaned. We'll probably put the place up for sale soon. I'm just not getting up there enough to justify the payment of taxes and upkeep.

******

Terry and I came to a mutual agreement (as in we were both thinking the same thing at the same time even though we were separated by a few thousand miles) vis-a-vis the Winnebago Access that's been parked in the yard for way too long. We decided to go back to a travel trailer. 

After nearly three years of owning the Access we came to realize it wasn't as flexible as we would have liked. Part of that had to do with the need to tow a second motor vehicle along if we intended to do any sightseeing. So, we drove north and visited Camping World in Bath to see what they had in stock last Friday. And I spent a goodly portion of Saturday and Sunday searching their website and comparing models from Heartland, Coleman, Keystone, Forest River and Crossroads.

There were quite a few to chose from but most had features we didn't want (bunk beds for extra campers) or were lacking in storage space in the galley or living quarters.We winnowed them down and prioritized them. Then we went back today to take another look and ended up closing the deal on a 31-foot long Forest River Vibe Extreme Lite (model 279RBS).

Forest River Vibe Model 279RBS

The kitchen has plenty of counter space, an oven that may actually be able to do a roast and a huge pantry. The bathroom does not require that you grease up before you enter and contains a big wardrobe. There's storage under the dinette area's bench seats (Why some Heartland Prowler models had regular table and chairs I do not know.) and even under the couch. It has an outdoor kitchen area with a sink, fridge and grill. It's also got a 32" flat screen TV and a DVD player. (We may actually be able to operate this one. The one in the Access never got turned on after the second night of trying to figure it out.)

The only thing missing is outside storage for things like hoses and extension cords. That's why I have  a Tundra. Oh, and Terry would have liked the Prowler with its two captains chairs IF they didn't have that silly dining table and four chairs.

We drop off the Winnie Access this week and pick up the Vibe on July 3rd. A brief shake down in a local park to be sure we (meaning "I") know what I'm doing and then we'll be heading west to see that lovely little girl in the photo above.

******

In other news, the bear sow and her three cubs have been back. Several times. She tore one hummingbird feeder off the deck and cracked the plastic so now no one gets anything. I may have to start strapping on my .40 S&W M&P when I go outside. (Or make sure Terry goes out first, eh?)

******

In a reversal of fortune, Terry has been suffering from a degerative disc disease that has been giving her fits--especially in the right arm. The doc says it originates in the neck area where there compressed discs. She's on Naproxen (industrial strength) and it helps...a little.

******

We had an eventful week at the Aerie in the bird department, too. The Indigo Bunting has returned and sings from the top of the poplars with the Red-eyed Vireo. (At least I can see the Bunting!) I had a Scarlet Tanager fly through the yard one day and Terry and I heard a strange "po, po, po" call which made me think immediately of Cuckoo. Sure enough All About Birds confirmed that we were listening to a Black-billed Cuckoo. Then, there were the Bobolinks in the fields down near the post office.

Then, on Saturday, I recorded 39 species at Hills Creek State Park. Nothing particularly new or exciting except for the Black-billed Cuckoo.

******

Well, that's about it for now. Terry's got a couple of appointments on Tuesday then we'll drop the Winnie off Wednesday or Thursday. We've got to get up to the Bolt later in the week so I can cut some crass and maybe pull some weeds while Terry sorts out things in the cabin.

This upcoming Saturday is the last guided bird walk of the season. I'll finish with the list of species I generated on the 23 of May:

Hills Creek SP, Tioga, US-PA
May 23, 2015 7:45 AM - 10:00 AM
Protocol: Traveling
2.0 mile(s)
Comments:     Crisp, cool morning with lots of sunshine.
39 species

Canada Goose  X
Wood Duck  X
Mallard  X
Double-crested Cormorant  X
Bald Eagle  X
Spotted Sandpiper  X
Black-billed Cuckoo  X
Ruby-throated Hummingbird  X
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker  X
Hairy Woodpecker  X
Pileated Woodpecker  X
Eastern Phoebe  X
Red-eyed Vireo  X
Blue Jay  X
American Crow  X
Tree Swallow  X
Barn Swallow  X
Black-capped Chickadee  X
Tufted Titmouse  X
Red-breasted Nuthatch  X
White-breasted Nuthatch  X
House Wren  X
Eastern Bluebird  X
American Robin  X
Gray Catbird  X
European Starling  X
Common Yellowthroat  X
Yellow Warbler  X
Chestnut-sided Warbler X
Black-throated Green Warbler  X
Chipping Sparrow  X
Song Sparrow  X
Dark-eyed Junco  X
Northern Cardinal  X
Indigo Bunting  X
Red-winged Blackbird  X
Brown-headed Cowbird  X
Baltimore Oriole  X
Purple Finch  X

View this checklist online at http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S23591453

This report was generated automatically by eBird v3 (http://ebird.org)

There and Back Again

Last night around 10 PM I posted this on Facebook:

Off to bed. Long day tomorrow as Terry and I do a one-day up to the Bolt Hole and back. 500 miles round trip. Going to get some stuff out of the cabin that we need to donate/trash. I figure it's the best/last time we have before winter sets in for good and before I go for back surgery in January.

I set the alarm for 5 AM expecting we would get on the road by 5:30. I forgot about the cats.

I had a restless sleep and woke sometime before 3 AM. Tossed and turned a bit and around 3:10 coughed once.

That's all it took. Shadow must have heard me and she started yowling outside our bedroom door. Then banged the door a couple of times. Then started scratching on the door. The banging and scratching were punctuated by more yowling at an ever increasing volume. We finally surrendered and were up and about by 3:25.

Fed the cats; had a bite to eat and brewed up some tea and coffee; and then hit the road just before 4 AM.

You know, there's almost nobody on the road that early on a Sunday morning. We sailed up I-99 (Route 15) in to New York. Smoothly navigated Rt 414 from Corning to Seneca Falls. Cruised east on Rt 20 and north on Rt 34 to the NYT and then east to Utica and then north from there to the Bolt Hole. We made one stop on the Thruway to have breakfast and made it to the Bolt Hole in the southwest corner of the Adirondacks by 8 AM.

It was snowing. It wasn't supposed to snow until late Sunday night--after midnight to be precise.

We went to work, moving boxes of books that had been sitting in the living room and kids' bedroom. I boxed up books that were on shelves and added those boxes to the stack to be loaded into the Tundra. We added a couple of boxes of other "stuff" and the heap grew to about 24-25 boxes.

Our accumulated clutter was put into the Tundra, the Bolt Hole got locked up and we were on our way home by 9 AM. It was still snowing but as we headed down to the Mohawk Valley the snow stopped and there was nothing on the ground.

There were more vehicles of all kinds on the road on the way home, but traffic was moving well. (I told Terry that all the blue-haired little old ladies must still be in church.) One stop for gas in PA ($3.00 compared to the $3.28 I paid earlier north of Utica) and another to pick up a pizza and we were home by 1:00 PM.

Total time on the road: approximately 8 hours
Distance: approximately 440 miles (I had forgotten some of the shortcuts I have discovered over the years when I said it would be 500 miles round trip.)

We have also moved those boxes into the house where we'll take some time--tomorrow--to sort through the books to determine what goes to the libraries, what goes to friends, what we'll toos and what we'll keep. Some of the other "stuff" will go to the second hand store along with a few things from Jess' pile and Rick's pile.

Bolt Hole Report

This is my last night at the Bolt Hole for the foreseeable future. I'll be packing up and heading home tomorrow (Thursday). I managed to get quite a bit of stuff cleaned up on the west end of the property. Left a couple of stacks of birch, cherry and red maple cut to firebox lengths to be picked up either later this fall or during next summer. Just didn[t have the energy to do so today after I finished reducing several piles of slash into much smaller piles filling holes in the landscape. Now you can see/walk though some of the area. Still a lot to do there and eleswhere but that will have to wait.

After three days in the woods wielding the chainsaw for 5-6 hours a day I've suffered two maladies.

1. My left thumb seems to lock in place every so often. It's been responsible for gripping the chainsaw almost nonstop and can't seem to understand that there's no need to clamp onto...well...nothing while I'm typing on the laptop. Not as bad a Peter Sellers doing his Nazi salute in Dr. Strangelove, but similar. Muscle memories over riding the brain.
2. I woke up last night to a bout of cramps in my let hammy. Had BOTH hammies cramp up on me this afternoon when I took a rest on the couch and tried to stand. Very painful those cramps! All that bending, lifting and chucking of log sections and branches, I guess. I've been drinking two liters of water a day while working and a beer or two when I'm finished but I guess my potassium levels are lower than they should be. I used to get calf cramps back in high school after two-a-days in late August/early September that would have me screaming in the night.

 As you can see, neither has anything to do with knees or lower back pain. Which is GOOD! The back does pain me when I stop working and try to relax in the recliner or when I go to bed, but NOT while I'm working in the woods tossing logs around. Go figure!

It was nice to be awakened this morning by the chattering of the red squirrels and the snort of a doe in the backyard (with two youngsters)  instead of the howls of Shadow and Chester at the door. That same deer (or another doe at any rate) has snorted outside the front door two of the four evenings I've been here. Lots of droppings in the woods, too, but I haven't seen any deer out there and wouldn't expect to with the noise form the ATV and chainsaw. (In the past I have had deer show up while using the chainsaw and/or lawn mower. They are curious critters sometimes. Skitish as hell at other times.)

My work in the woods is done...for now. It's supposed to start raining tonight and continue during the AM hours on Thursday. I'll be cleaning up and winterizing the cabin and then loading the ATV onto the trailer to haul it home. (I'll try to do that inside the barn so as not to get too wet.)

Terry leaves for points south on Saturday and will be gone for about two weeks.

Working at the Bolt Hole...Finally

Up at the Bolt Hole for a few days to do some work trying to clean up the mess the logger made. And install a replacement window I built for the octagon window in the bedroom.

As for the window, I used the old, mostly rotten window as a model and built the new one based on that. It fit the opening perfectly...before I fastened the hinges in place. Then it jammed in one corner and I had to shave the edge until it did fit. Nice. And. Snug. At least it's cool enough at night that I don't have to worry about opening it any time soon.

I've been meaning to spend more time at the Bolt Hole working in the woods and on the cabin, but things kept getting in the way. Last time i was here I tweaked my back and it just never responded. After a month of taking things easy..sort of...I went to the doctor and had x-rays taken. My lumbar spine is...unusual. I knew I had stenosis (small openings for the nerves to pass through) but I was never told I had six lumbar vertebrae rather than the usual five. And they all have spikes and spines on them which is a sign of arthritis. Oh, and they were not in alignment. Solution: Take it easy but try to do the "normal" things you usually do. If it doesn't get better I go back.

Well, I managed to build the parking area for the RV despite the occasional stabbing pain in my lower back. The pain never went down the leg as it would if the sciatic nerve were pinched or a disc herniated. Terry assisted with much of the "heavy" work: moving 6"x6" timbers, for example. The Kubota helped move the stone.

The refrigerator died and we had to find a replacement, The RV needed servicing and new tires and those folks took their sweet time. Then the Toyota lost its muffler and exhaust, needed brake discs and pads. Then Terry's aunt passed away and we had to go into New Jersey for the funeral.

So almost two months after I was last up here, I finally got back.

Spent the day working in the woods under a beautiful blue sky and in 75 degree weather while being attacked by some nasty little biting flies that deceptively look like house flies. They bit right through my sweat-soaked, long-sleeved cotton shirt. And the little suckers really hurt! Luckily, their bites do not itch afterward or I'd be looking for some hydro-cortisone. The ones that itch are either blackflies (not many of them around this late in the season) or fleas (probably carried by the mice). Those bites will itch for a month!

What I'm trying to do is reduce the amount of slash the logger left behind. I need to fill in some of the wet spots he created, too. Several of my old ATV trails are impassible because of those wet spots and rocks and ruts the logger's skidder left behind.

I'll be working outside the next day or two before winterizing the cabin and heading back to the Aerie. Terry starts her "Convention Season" on Saturday when she leaves to go to Orlando, Florida for one convention. Along the way she'll visit her cousins in South Carolina and my cousins in Weeki Wachee, Florida. I'll cat sit.

This and That

Last Friday I had to go to the DMV to get my photo taken for my drivers license renewal. I dred going to the DMS as most sane people do. Normally it's a place of nightmares...or at least it was in New Jersey. Long waits, confusing signage, unhelpful, snide clerks who believe they are doing you a favor by just showing up...that sort of thing was the norm in NJ.

Our little DMV office in Wellsboro is open just three days a week (Wednesday, Friday and Saturday) and I thought it would be pretty crowded so I went over at 8:30 AM when they open the doors. Turns out I was very, very wrong.

Wednesday is the day they have set aside for tests. Saturday is a catch-all for everything else. Friday...ah, Friday. That's the day they do nothing but photos. I was third on line behind two older women. The only delay was waiting for the laminating machine to warm up. In and out in a flash (no pun intended).

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Monday, Terry and I went over to Murphy's Blue Berry Farm and picked a tad over 14 pounds of blue berries...in about an hour. (Terry beat me by about half a pound.) We like to go on Mondays because Murphy's is closed on Sunday so the bushes have an extra heavy crop of ripe berries when you get there bright and early (8 AM)  on Monday morning. Although we rolled into the parking area at 8:10, there were already a dozen or so folks, whom I'll call professionals, hard at it on the eastern end of the berry patch. Murphy's pays these folks 80 cents a pound for their effort. We paid $2 a pound for the berries we took home. (Is "blue berries" two or one ("blueberries") word?)

At home we put two cups of berries in a quart freezer bag ending up with 16 bags for our larder and about three cups left over for immediate consumption. (Ice cream, cereal, vanilla yogurt, bakes in muffins, added to or on pancakes...blue berries go with lots of things.) Since we still have lots of jars of blue berry jam, strawberry jam, and, thanks to our friends, grape jelly, we're probably not going to be making any from these berries. Come August when the blackberries on the hillside start to ripen I'm likely to try some blackberry jam, however.

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After berry picking, I took the title to my ATV over to the notary to (finally) get it registered. I've had the Yamaha Pro Hauler since 1991 but never got it registered because I was just using it on my own property in New York and Pennsylvania. New York regs say it doesn't have to be registered if being used for "agricultural purposes or not for hire snow removal on your own property." Well, the 34 acres in New York is not listed as agricultural and any CO or State Troops with a bee in his butt could make a case that hauling firewood out of the forest in July and August or a deer in October or November--even on my own land--does not meet the letter of the law.

Of course, I also had to pay the sales tax which I did not do back in 1991. At least this time it went to PA and not NY or NJ which is where I lived when I purchased the thing. (The dealer--in New York--told me I didn't have to pay him the sales tax but could be liable for it when/if I registered the ATV. He also told me that, at that time, using it on my own property would not warrant registration.)

I also had to stop at the local Allstate office and get the dang thing insured. Hellow! I'll not be taking it on any joy rides with souped up teens and twenty-somethings guys. Heck, it's only 250cc and was meant to haul stuff through forest and glade. The 1989 Yamaha Pro Hauler was one of the first if not THE first ATV that could be classified a UTV. Seats one but it has a three foot by three foot deck behind the driver to haul just about anything from hay to firewood.

By getting the ATV registered and insured, I can now take it up the hill in Pennsylvania and legally ride through the state forest. Not that I have any intentions of doing so--too damn dusty!, but if I wanted to, I'm now legal.

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So today, Tuesday, I loaded the ATV on the utility trailer and drove up to the Bolt Hole to 1) see what needs repairing. (Not "if anything needs repairing" but "what needs repairing." There's always something.) and 2) do some more work cleaning up the mess the logger left behind. Other than a quick one day up-and-back I did in early April, I haven't spent any time at the Bolt Hole since the end of the first week of July, 2013. Little thing called "bilateral knee surgery" has kept me away.

Fifteen minutes into the trip north, I suddenly remembered that I had left the gas can for the chainsaw back in the Aerie's garage. *sigh* I decided to soldier on and scavenge a can from the supply in the Bolt Hole's garage. I'd also take a larger can to get real gas (no ethanol!) to use in the lawn mower and other small engine beasts.

One thing I noticed upon arriving at the Bolt Hole was that Mark has been doing a great job cutting grass with the wreck of a riding mower he purchased last summer. The second thing I noticed upon opening the door was all the cob webs. Would have made Indiana Jones feel right at home. With all the bewebbed tombs, catacombs and caves he travels--many sealed for eons--one has to wonder what all those spiders who spin those cobwebs eat?

The first thing I did was fire up the well pump and check the system for leaks. One year three pipes (PVC) had cracked and the basement was a shower until I got the pump turned off and did all the cutting and splicing. This year...nothing! Not one leak. I turned the cold water faucets off in the sinks and shower and waited for the hot water faucets to flow freely before shutting them off, too. Time to turn the hot water heater on. You do NOT want to turn it on before you fill the tank. Fifty-five degree water hitting a hot heating element inside the tank produces a very ominous "PING" telling you it's time to turn off the pump, drain the system and replace the heating element.

I needed to get some tools from the fist floor utility room/closet so I could open the basement window for ventilation purposes but the damn latch (old fashioned thing that drops a bar into a notch) would not open. I finally had enough jiggling and lifting on the handle to see that this was not going to work so I picked up the splitting maul that stands by the front door and gave the thing a shot. Popped open like nothing. I then removed the latch from the door and the catch from the slightly worse for wear door frame. THEN I could go back to the basement to open the screwed shut window and install a screen.

Now I could unload the ATV and put it in the garage, park the trailer in the barn, scrounge around in the garage for (and clean out residue from inside of) a couple of gas cans, and then head back down to get some premium, no ethanol fuel from the Citgo (Nice and Easy) station.

I had stopped there on the way up to pick up some groceries (OJ, eggs, bacon, butter, English muffins) and noticed they had the right stuff (non-ethanol gas). This time I also picked up some bug repellant (left it in my fishing bag), ant killer, and a few other odds and ends. But, damn it! I forgot to pick up coffee! I've got plenty of tea and one or two coffee bags (like tea bags) but that won't last me long.

Back at the Bolt Hole (and kicking myself for the forgotten coffee) I proceeded to vacuum up as many of the cob webs as possible. All the dead bugs' wings (bodies must have been eaten by shrews and/or mice) also got sucked up.

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So here I sit at the Bolt Hole with (few) cobwebs thinking of the work I've ahead of me tomorrow out in the woods. If the predicted T-storms arrive first, I've plenty to do inside in the form of cleaning with sponge and mop. (I wonder what it was that died under the tarp folded in the living room? No bones remain but a nice six-inch diameter smear of dried goo decorates the floor.)

In the meantime, the pitter patter of tiny feet on the tin cans on the shelf reminds me I've got to go bait some mouse traps. I'll try some zucchini bread tonight but should have some bacon fat soaked paper towel for tomorrow.

Wednesday Morning Ramblings on a Personal Note

Saturday morning I emptied the rain gauge here at the Aerie. It had rained pretty hard all Thursday night and again, although somewhat more briefly, Friday night. I estimate we had 0.7 inches of rain from the Thursday-Friday rains and another 0.2 inches in the wee hours of Saturday morning. Those, however, were what I would call Camelot rains, that is, they occurred over night when we (the cats and I) were safe and snug in our home.

Saturday, Sunday and Monday were lovely fall days with bright sunshine and cool temperatures topping out around 60 degrees. There was plenty of wind to go along with that, however, and leaves were falling line crazy. I would estimate that 80% of the leaves have fallen from the trees. Only a few of the oaks and aspens continue to hold on to their reddish-brown and yellow foliage. The locusts on the edge of the yard are still green but they are slow to emerge in the spring and late to give way in the fall, and when they do drop, the leaves are often still green.

The rain returned on Tuesday morning just before daylight and it's been falling off and on since with varying degrees of intensity.It won't be a surprise to find close to another inch of rain in the gauge when it finally stops later today. (At least that's what the weather gurus are saying--that it should end this afternoon.)

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Terry has left on the second half of her fall tour of sewing conventions. She got back on Sunday from going to New Jersey to visit her Mom and daughter Jessica. This after she had been down to South Carolina (family) and Atlanta (SAGA). She spent Monday doing her laundry and packing her bags and the Aveo for her trip to Hattiesburg, MS (military reunion of her Dad's old unit) and Santa Fe, NM (EGA). Early Tuesday morning she headed south in a slight drizzle, hit a few pockets of heavier rain in southern PA, but then saw the sun come out as she crossed Virginia. She stopped in northern Tennessee just off I-81 for the night. That's about half way to her destination so she should make Hattiesburg this evening.

The military reunion used to be for the remaining members of the Polar Bears who served under Gen. Omar Bradley during WWII. As time and age have reduced their numbers, the offspring of those soldiers have continued to meet more or less as a commemorative of their parents' sacrifice and service. Hattiesburg, MS was the place most of them did their basic training before heading over seas and so marks the beginning of  their involvement in the war. With so few left, it may also mark the end of the original members' involvement in the reunions. (I think, at last count, those able and willing to travel to these events was down to half a dozen as most are now in their nineties.)

A few days in Mississippi and then Terry will be heading west to the Embroiderers Guild of America convention in Santa Fe, New Mexico for hours of classes, interspersed with banquets, barter, and sight seeing.

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Yesterday I went to the local Agway to purchase a new collar for Miss Kitteh. She had slipped out of the fancy red rhinestone job--again--and I couldn't located it. That red number was just like any belt with a series of holes through which a metal bar would go, but it was too lose on her little neck. Not only could she get her front leg through it to wear it like a bandolier, but she could, through vigorous scratching, undo the catch mechanism.

So I got her a bright pink job with a click catch instead...and a metal food bowl of her own...and a Tick Twister tick remover. The Tick Twister worked great in removing the large, swollen tick that was on her neck just behind her right ear. It  looks like the claw end of a hammer and is used almost the same way as that claw hammer would be used to remove nails with one important difference: instead of pulling the tick out, you twist it out. It took me about two minutes to get the thing out but that was more because Miss Kitteh has some very fine, long fur. And the Vasoline I had applied the day before was still gunking that fur up a bit even though it had little affect on the tick. Any way, tick is now toast.

Kitteh has a new collar. I had to put a bell on it but when she gets her shots, the tag will replace the bell. I did find the old one stuffed along side the cushion  of a chair in the basement where she has been known to nap the afternoon away. The collar was unhooked and not merely squirmed out of. The chair is convenient to the litter boxes, the dry food, and the water dispenser. She may be young, but she ain't stupid! It took her one day to figure out that when the other cats make a racket outside our bedroom door in the morning it means someone is going to show up in the kitchen and put food in the bowls for her to eat! And, now, she has her very own stainless steel bowl.

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I got a call from up north Tuesday morning from the logger. He and his assistant moved some equipment over to my place on Monday and marked the state line a bit better in preparation of removing some trees. They will be taking firs for molding and pulp wood as well as hardwood. I just hope they take enough of the firs to open things up a bit. I was going to just cut the damn things down and let them rot in the hope that sunlight might dry up some of the marshy areas that have been created by the dense trees. With luck, any tire ruts he makes will also help drain the area. There are no marsh flora or fauna involved here, it's just plain wet with cedar and fir trees. Some drier areas have hemlock too. Al of these keep the sun from reaching the forest floor and prevent any sort of understory from developing.

Closed Up the Cabin

I woke at the Bolt Hole early Thursday morning and, after a quick breakfast and perusal of the internet, began to close the place down for the winter.

The hot water heater and the pump get turned off at the circuit breaker box. All the water is drained from the pipes and RV antifreeze is added to the traps. The fridge gets emptied and any food stuffs packed to come back to PA. Then it and the phone get unplugged.

The most time consuming part in this is draining the water system. I've a 50 gallon hot water heater in the basement that needs to be emptied. Once upon a time I would just open the faucets and then the spigot at base of the heater's tank and let it drain into a pit dug in the earthen floor. Then Mark and I realized this was just adding way too much moisture to the building. Oh, the water would sink into the earth alright, but then it would evaporate back into the basement's air space. Then condense on any and all surfaces (especially metal) during the following months. Now I've a 5-gallon bucket sunk into the ground into which I (slowly) drain all the water and then use a submersible pump and garden hose to lift that water up and out of the basement to spill on the sloped lawn outside. The pump works faster than gravity so I'll fill the bucket 3/4 full and plug the pump in to empty the water. Over and over and over again until all the water is gone. It takes 45 minutes to an hour to get rid of those 50 gallons of warm water. But get rid of it I did.

I had already packed the Tundra with everything except the groceries so when the fridge was empty I was ready to hit the road. It was 11 AM.

Some four and a half hours and 220 miles later I was back at the Aerie in PA after a very uneventful drive.

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Closing up the cabin doesn't mean I won't be back up there this winter although with the limited amount of firewood in the shed, I won't be staying long when I go. I'll haul drinking water with me and also some buckets so I can melt snow for washing my face and hands and flushing the toilet. And if there's no snow, there is a spring a few miles away that flows all year long. Potable, too. (If it wasn't so blasted cold in February, the lack of water would be a great reason to dig a pit for an outhouse. But when it can get to minus 10 or minus 20, who wants to voluntarily go sit outside to take a .... er, do your stuff.)

Home on the Range

I spent the morning and part of the afternoon in the backyard of the Bolt Hole throwing lead.

This morning I took both of the scoped long guns out there and put 10 rounds through the slug gun--a Remington Model 870 Express Magnum in 12 gauge-and another 25 rounds through the Remington Model 700-a bolt action in .270 caliber.

My "range" is 50 yards long and has a pile of old logs as a back stop and miles of forest behind that. The target area was in and out of the shade as the breeze blew the tree tops about but the scopes certainly made things a bit easier. I also do not have a bench rest to work from so I was sitting in a plastic lawn chair and using a 3" diameter apple tree to steady my aim. Talk about real life scenarios!

I hadn't fired either one in a looong time so I was pretty pleased with the results. The .270 needed some adjustments on the scope and the slug gun still needs some fine tuning to get it where I really want it but these aren't too bad.

I shot 12 gauge, 2-3/4", 1-14 oz Lightfield slugs and they can and do pack a wallop-both on your shoulder and the game you're targeting. They also shoot very, very flat for a slug. I haven't had to, but my buddy Joe has killed deer out to 175 yards using the Lightfield Hybred EXP slugs. The box shows a trajectory of +2 inches from the line of sight at 50 yards and 0 inches at 100 yards. (It also says I purchased them back in October of 2008. Shows how little I've been shooting.)
 

All ten shots of the slug gun. 

As you can see, the shots are a little to the left and almost exactly 2 inches high. It actually looks worse than it was because I hit the copper pipe that was holding the target in place-twice. The first time caused it to lean into the bullseye zone and the second time I cut the pipe in half. Those two shots ricocheted off to the 2 o'clock position and tore up the target just a wee bit. ;-) I also made an adjustment on the scope when it seemed too many hits were to the right of center. But I think I turned the dial the wrong way!


The bolt action Model 700 has been my field weapon for a couple of years now. I just wish I had gotten one with a flat matte finish to the stock instead of the high gloss. The ammo here was Remington's Core-Lokt 130 grain soft point. My notes on the box say I purchased these in "pre'91" days. While Joe has reloaded some for me, these are off the shelf cartridges.

Five shots with the .270. 

I was pretty happy with this final five group as four of the shots were exactly 2" high and on either side of the center. (The fifth shot was 3" high but pretty close to dead center.

The muzzle loader had to wait until after lunch. The .50 caliber Knight inline smoke pole is a lot of fun to shoot even though I haven't outfitted it with a scope...yet. And, using 209 shotgun primers as an ignition source, it has never misfired even if I load it on Monday and carry it through the rain for four days. You can ask Mark about that. He doubted it would fire until I proved him wrong. The only problem is that, like most muzzle loaders, it's not really meant to be fired a whole lot without at least a swabbing out. Sit down and put five or six shots through it and you better get the cleaning rod and a patch out. I didn't do so today and shots seven through fourteen were all over the place. On a couple of occasions I'm pretty sure it was because I hadn't seated the 245 grain bullet atop the powder properly--a dangerous situation!--but I escaped and damage to myself or my rifle.

The first six shots with the muzzle loader. 

Not too bad for iron sights. That little 5 inch diameter circle that is the outer orange ring was darn near impossible for me to see as the sun and shade battled to expose and obscure the damn thing. I'm also pretty sure I messed up my sight picture a little as the apple tree kept swaying and the chair sank deeper into the forest floor. Still, it's the first shot that counts! Right? And numbers 1, 3 and 6 were just an inch away from center at 10 and 11 o'clock. At 50 yards, numbers 2 and 5 may have produced a kill, but number 4? Unlikely unless the deer tried to duck in preparation for taking off. 

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On a side note...

There is a logger working some lands around here. He's taking hardwoods AND soft woods, something the fella that logged here before did not do. The soft balsam and cedar may be going to Canada to become molding while the birch and maples become saw logs for area mills. Hemlock may go either way depending upon what it looks like once cut. He's also taking pulp wood (balsam and fir and hemlock too small to be used up in Canada).

My shooting was interrupted this afternoon when he and I finally met. I've been wanting to open the woods up a bit for quite some time and this may be a chance to pocket some cash in the deal. I spent an hour and a half walking him and his helper around and showing them the property corners and three of the four lines. (I'm not 100% sure of the location of the fourth corner up here on the jeep road. But I gave him a pretty good feel for where it might be and he felt he could stay away from the line without losing too much timber.)

We discussed places to stage his logs and where he could easily get his machines in and out. I mentioned the sanctity of the rejuvenated apple orchard and how disappointed Mark would be if any of his babies were damaged by anything mechanical. We talked about where he might leave some logs as firewood should they not be suitable for the mill. He promised to take good care of the woods and not tear things up too badly nor leave piles of tops and limbs all over. (Especially since some of those tops can become pulp.)

We also talked price. Essentially, this is a percentage deal. We will go 50-50 on the hardwoods, 40-60 on the soft (I'm the "40" in this split) and a flat $12 per cord for any pulp wood.  Since he and his helper are doing ALL the work from cutting to hauling to finding a market, I thought this a fair deal.



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Also...

Terry reports that they came to the Aerie to take water samples today. The person who was taking the samples had a little better idea as to where Shell--for it is indeed Shell--will be drilling in the next six months or so.Seems they will be on the top of the hill near the existing windmills. Now, there are windmills on both sides of our road and the intersecting Mountain Ridge Road at the top of the hill and I estimate that there are five or six within a mile of our property, so, while the water sampler's information was nice to have, It didn't really narrow down the location to be drilled terribly much.