Rainy Summer...

I know I live in the North West, I know it rains here quite a bit. It doesn't mean I can't express frustration at this rainy season. Yesterday, we were trying to get some more stump removal done, that is some tough work in the best of conditions, and it starts to rain when we get out there... We decided to rough it out a few hours, but it got to be a muddy mess quickly. We got some good work done, but at the cost of wet feet and muddy clothes. We got inside to the warm house and called it a day.

The Roof, the Roof, the Roof is on...

Well we have a long way to go still, but the coop is coming together nicely. We are having our babies spend the night in the hen house, and they seem to be adjusting just fine. We haven't put on the chicken wire around the run, so they are stuck inside.
The rain has really slowed our progress in getting the coop finished. We can't paint the whole thing, so we have been waiting till we can to even tackle it. I don't want to put the chicken wire up until we have painted, but the girls would greatly benefit from running around the coop area. We were able to get a lot of things built, even in the rain, thanks to the roof.
The installation of these panels was super easy, and we used a shaded UV protected plastic, kinda like sunglasses, but a little lighter in shade. These are light weight, easy to move, and perfect for the coop! It allows sunlight all day inside the hen house, and not a leak to be found.
Once the wood dries out, we will take a day and paint the whole thing, wire it up, and be done with this project!

The Coop Build, part 2.

We got going early and started putting all the wood together. I am going to post on another website after the build is finished, with a much more detailed description of building the coop. We have been working slow and steady, so we don't make any mistakes, but it is coming together nicely.

The Coop Build.

Well after a few days of research and soul searching, we came up with a design for our ladies' home. We dug and leveled the ground around a 6' by 10' area and then laid sand and paver stones down for the foundation.


We went to Home Depot and got a lot of our lumber cut small enough to fit it all in the car, and then we made some cuts at home. In order to make real nice cuts, we bought a circular saw and we built saw horses out of some pallets I got from work. We bought a piece of plywood for fifty-one cents, and used it to finish up the project, so I am kinda proud of our two saw horses for under a dollar!



After we got all the wood cut to size, it was starting to get late. We decided to call it for the night, and have our first twilight camp fire of the year!

Jogging...

So, in preparation for the Moose Lake hike, I had been doing an aerobic exercise program that consisted of a lot of leg and ab exercises. I am so glad I did, because without it, I might have actually had a leg muscle blowout or something.
After coming back though, I didn't really feel like working out, but I still wanted to continue exercising daily. My buddy Seth and I had been talking about his new found love of jogging and it got me kinda fired up to try. The route I am starting with is a 1.3 mile run up and down a few hills and loops back around to my house. I am only on the second day of this jogging experiment, but who knows...

I would like to do some more hiking this summer and I am starting to do some research on a place I can go with my wife and see some of nature's beauty. Hopefully this jogging thing will help me have a fun hiking summer.

Moose Lake, or Hurts Going In, Hurts Coming Out...

Well the big hike up to Moose Lake was this last weekend, and it was a great success! On Friday morning, my buddy Seth came to pick me up bright and early, and we headed off to Cascadia in search of adventures.


We spent part of the day heading up to Tombstone Pass. I had never been there and it was great to see snow in May, old snow but cold nonetheless. We attempted to head up to Iron Mountain, but the snow on the road there stopped our progress.



We decided to head over to Pipe Rock, it was a pretty awesome sight...Hiking up to the rock was very easy and quick from the logging road, and we had a nice time roaming around. We couldn't climb the rock, but I can imagine the view was spectacular.
The rest of the day we hiked around on Seth's Dad's property, checking all the sights that are always enjoyable.



I love going up to the other houses that were built by hippies on Mike's property. When Seth and I were done partying in the woods, we had Mike tell us stories about the people who built the homes, and also tell us the story of how he built his house. It was really cool, and I had a great night, listening to my good friend's Dad talk about his life.






The next morning, Alex, Seth's older brother, showed up and we headed off to the Moose Lake trail. I have posted some videos I took on the hike to Moose Lake, and the eventual getting there. It was a lot farther then we thought when Seth and I tried to get to Moose Lake last year, but after crossing a few ridges we made it to the log jammed, yet very beautiful, Moose Lake.




We set up camp, and I started a fire, relishing in our victory of arriving to our destination. We were a little worried about the rest of our seven bro army making it when out of no where Nate Standridge comes through the woods into the camp site. I was so happy to see him since I had not hung out with Nate since my wedding...He came with his dog, Cyrus, and we all had a great time catching up on life.

After a few more hours, we all started wondering when the rest would show. Dan Kohler, Joel Kinunen, and Lee Alworth were suppose to show up, but it was starting to get later and later. Nate and I headed down the trail a bit and in Moose Creek the crew were heading up scaling the creek side. We had all made it! It felt great to have all the guys together rocking Moose Butthole!




The next morning, Joel brought out some topographic and Google Earth maps that showed the area surrounding Moose Lake. After pondering the way out, Nate and I decided we would hike straight up the mountain side and meet up with the logging road, and then walk back to the vehicles. Everyone else thought it was as good as anything else, and that it might even shave a few minutes of the hike by not having to go up and down these steep hillsides. Heading out on the first slope was an intense climb up almost vertical mountain side terrain. The only thing keeping me from tumbling back down the mountain were the strong rooted sword fern and maple trees littered along the terrain to grab on for support. Not long in the climb, Alex decided to head along the creek instead of trail blaze the mountain to the road, and we lost sight of him in our trek to the top. After an hour and forty-five minutes we hiked two and a half miles to the logging road, ascending one thousand feet! Alex was already at the vehicles, and had been for over twenty minutes! I guess vertical climbing a mountain with almost fifty pounds on your back isn't going to be a speedy trip! Joel sent me the maps and it is great to see the way we hiked around the area. I am so glad I got to hang with some very good friends, and I hope we can make a more regular thing of this...