Mail Day!!

Well, the plane FINALLY made it in! So, we got groceries and packages and mail!! Not as much as I expected, however. I'm not sure if that's good or bad!! And, our new hired hand arrived also. He's already out fixing fence.

Last night was very beautiful. Totally clear sky and of course the stars are just brilliant out here away from city lights. Today has been kinda weird. It looks like it's going to clear up at any minute, but there have been a few lazy snow flakes just drifting around too.

Here's the current picture of the demo. He has made progress! It's been a little scary (in a look-what-could-have-happened sense) seeing what's inside the walls / ceiling. There was a fire in the attic area at some distant past. The whole center portion is black. We think it was a flue fire as there is an old chimney that goes out right there. And, there was zero insulation in the walls - when Jeff pulled down the sheetrock, you could see right through to outside between the boards. And, the hot tank is homemade- just an old metal drum with holes drilled & propane element stuck in it. And, Jeff found one old electric wall heater in a wall. He'd turned off all the power in the breaker box & he really thought this was another propane heater & just needed to find the connection. So, he pulled it off the wall & it started sparking & cracking! He pulled the wires loose so it quit & then had to track down where the power came from. He trailed it out the wall, along the side, over the roof and down the other side to a SECOND breaker box on the outside of the house. This was apparantly the only thing in that box that belonged to the cabin, all the rest of the breakers in it were for the employee cabins. Brilliant huh? We are scratching our heads a lot w/ this demo, and asking "What were they THINKING??"

Jeff is hoping the new hand can hack it. He seems like a nice enough guy and he worked here for several years, the last time was 8 years ago. But, he's middle aged (no comments here, just a fact) and has been driving truck for the last 8 years and has already noted that he's terribly out of shape. Jeff said he loaded 8 bales of hay and had to take a break. Even I do better than that - the bales only weigh like 50 lbs! But, he DOES know what he's getting into since he's been here before, so we aren't too worried.

Well, I'd better start dinner since I now have someone else to cook for! I did get my floors all mopped today since I got new mop heads in. That was cool - not that I like to mop an entire lodge floor, but it sure looks a lot nicer!