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| The amazing Hanna Rose with Grandma. |
It took us almost a month to get back to the property and it is going to be a very short stay. We arrived about noon today (Saturday) and leave to head north again tomorrow morning. Why the short stay? Because we had to rearrange our schedule a bit based around the birth of our granddaughter! Our original plan when we headed north last month was to stay up north for a week or so after Hanna Rose was born so I could help my daughter get settled at home when her husband works 12 hour night shifts (He is a 911 dispatcher). Well, Hanna decided to be more than a week over due and we had an obligation down here we had to meet before the 13th, so while waiting for Hanna we came up with the new plan - bring a truckload down a couple days after the birth and make a quick return to be available when Hanna's dad has to return to work next week. This plan actually works out well because we are now fitting in one more trip down with the truck than we had planned this fall.
We didn't buy too much to bring down on this trip, we mainly packed the truck with things we already had waiting to come down along with some household items and clothes from up north. We did buy Truck a new set of tail pipes for the trip as he has managed to knock one or the other loose on each of our previous trips (we have now broken 3 pipe hangers). Our mechanic made up some custom pipes, moved the muffler, and welded and cross-braced everything! I am also including a picture of a new game we bought to add to our collection down here, I thought the name of it was very appropriate.
One other purchase I am proud of is yet another 'Oops' from the Home Depot paint department, yes I was checking them out up north as well. I found four various gallons ($5 each) to use, but the best was a 5 gallon bucket of Behr deck stain that retails for about $150 and I paid just $20 and it is a dark stain like I had found for the deck stairs. Hopefully 5 gallons will cover the entire deck, if not I will need to get creative.
As usual, when coming into the property we were a little apprehensive as to what condition we would find everything in. As we pulled into the drive way the checklist was:
The creek is still dry
Rodney (Kia Sportage) still in the drive way
Gate at the top of the deck stairs still closed
All the doors still closed
LP tank still there
Oh look, the hummingbird feeder is empty
The chimney cap is still on
Inside the house...
Charge controller showing batteries fully charged!
All looks fine
All smells fine (no more mustiness in the office - Yeah!)
No critters or insects have taken over - not even in the cupboards
The rain water trough outside the bathroom window is full!
As we were driving through the nearest town, we were wondering how the water level in the river would be compared to last month. The last time we were here, we kept watching the water level drop in a local swimming hole at that river. When we originally came down to look at the property this spring, the water was flowing over the dam next to the swimming area. On the next trip, the water no longer reached the dam and on the last trip the level had visibly dropped each time we drove by it. We had heard there had been several rain storms while we were gone so we figured the level would be up a bit. We were wrong. This picture above was taken from the bridge and shows the dam and what is left of the swimming hole.
We went for a drive tonight during the 'Golden Hour', that hour in the morning and again in the evening when the sun casts long golden shadows that photographers love so much. On our road we saw 50 deer, and on road we had not explored before we found a herd of buffalo! Alan got to see a road runner this time too!
Speaking of driving, I shot this video and thought my readers might enjoy it :-)
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