303 of 365 of What it is Like to Run a Resort

Thursday, May 12, 2011

The picture is of Alder's new windows and wood flooring that is finally finished. Yeah!

It was a big day today - we turned on the water to some of the old cabins. The cabins that were built in 1938 weren't insulated underneath, so turning on the water had to wait until the weather was warm enough.

First I had to put the last coat of varnish on the floor of the Birch cabin. It was already 60 degrees in the morning, so I put on my painting shorts and t-shirt (full of previous paint & stain colors) and went to work. John had to go into town to get some supplies, so I had to watch Orla, our puppy. First I took her on a little walk down by the lake and onto the lake trail. Then I barricaded myself into the area I needed to varnish so Orla wouldn't be able to walk onto the floor. She complained a little but she could go outside or come in and look at me varnishing. She chose to lay just outside the barricade and watch me. Soon she was asleep and I was just finishing up when John came home from his errands. Orla ran out to greet him and I could hear John laughing about her antics.

The floor was getting really cold for some reason so when I finished I felt chilled. It turned out that the weather was changing fast. It was now 58 degrees. I quickly changed into warmer clothes. John was working on the Cedar cabin's pipes - hooking them back up and getting ready for the cabin to be cleaned on Friday. When he was ready, I went down into our basement and turned on the water for Cedar. I ran outside to hear if he was yelling to shut it off. All was well. He had to tighten some bolts and stuff to stop a slow drip or two but Cedar went fine.

Then we went to Hemlock cabin. He went into the cabin to wait for me to turn on the water. In order to do this, I had to go into Aspen, take the hatch door off of the crawl space entrance, look around with the flashlight for snakes or anything scary, then descend into the crawl space. I crept along to the water pipe and turned on the water to the Hemlock cabin, which was accessed in the basement of Aspen, and then quickly crept out and up through the hatch. I didn't hear John yelling to turn it off, so I went outside, walked around the Hemlock cabin, and saw that the outside pipes were okay. I asked John, who was checking the pipes inside the cabin, if all was okay and he said it looked good.

After awhile, John and I went up to the Alder cabin. Dave had just about finished the wood floor up there, and I swept it, took some pictures, and figured out what we needed to do to help. I would stain the window frame that was now around our two new windows in the dining area. So I got out some of our various cans in the basement, found one that would match well, and went up to Alder to start. I found my palm sander, some 220 grit sand paper, and sanded down the pine window frame. Then I put a coat of stain on, wiped off the excess and stood back to see the result. It blended in perfectly with the older window's color that had to be matched.

Dave came into the cabin when I was finishing up and finished the last board of the flooring, put the thresholds on the doorway floors, and put the heating vent covers back into place. He was going to be gone for the weekend so he wanted this job done. He left later that evening.

John came into Alder to see the results too and asked me if I could go into the crawl space to turn off the water spicket (sp?) that was open so we could turn on the water tomorrow. I opened the hatch, looked around with my flashlight for anything ugly, and then descended into the crawl space. Its much easier for me to do this because I am so short. John would have to sit on the dirt and scootch around on his butt. So I found the water nozzle and turned it off. Then I got out of there fast. I hate creepy crawlers.

I took Orla on another little walk and then John finished up with his plumbing projects. We had a nice dinner and I was very tired from all the work we had done today. Tomorrow the Cedar cabin will be cleaned, hopefully, and maybe even Hemlock. We'll see.