Trip Date: June 1, 2022
Find this SpotUnfortunately, it is already too late for me to recollect much from this specific trip, but as I write the other way too late stories, some stuff is coming back to me. Too much time has gone by and too many trips are blending together, but as I am writing the other stories, some of the timelines are unraveling into distinct trips. One such distinction is the realization that our first mousy hunting expedition was successful. I recall from the prior story that I had set out the water bucket and peanut butter trap when I left. Well, I am happy and saddened to report the death of 2 mousies, a big one and a little one. On a related note, there was no new poop all over the counter, sink, and drawers. It is sad, but a necessary thing.
I know Bob brought up a bunch of 2×4 and 2×8 for the roof rafters and we got those all in place and braced with metal brackets and blocked at each end and one in the middle. I remember Bob had to make a run back into Susanville the next morning to get the last of the 2×8 and the first load of OSB. I remember on each of the past trips up, I brought both of the red 50 gallon barrels full of water and would pump them into the kitchen tank. I did that 4 times probably and once we pumped what water remained in my cabin tank up into the kitchen tank as well. At one point, we estimated we had over 500 gallons in the kitchen tank, hopefully enough to get us through the summer.
This had to be the next trip up after driving the screw into my cabin window and blowing out the inner pane. I was anxious to see if the glass stayed intact or if both panes were gone or what. I was relieved after coming into the cabin and removing the pine boards I screwed across the window that most of the glass was still intact and the outer pane was fine. I carefully scraped and scraped the tiny glass fragments out of the frame and onto the floor. They danced and scattered all over on the hard surface making it difficult to contain them under the window. I swept and swept, then knocked more down and repeated a dozen or more times until I had half a 5 gallon bucket of glass. It was so heavy, it broke the handle, but I had gotten the vast majority of it cleaned up.
I know I did not finish all the interior paneling on the first trip and had to buy 3 more panels. Unfortunately, I bought the wrong stuff, these sheets much thinner. While their flexibility allowed me to pack the truck with everything I needed to bring up, the thinner panels were much lighter and flimsy and wouldn’t hold a nail or screw and were much harder to deal with. I did finish paneling the North wall though and I used a Sharpie to color in some of the flooring marks and spots where the surface shipped off. I believe I used some of the 1×8 Blue Pine boards to finish off a section of wall behind the door also. I swept more glass probably a half dozen times and also swiffered the floor a few times to get up the dust and more fine glass. I remember it drizzled off and on that day, only once enough to make me stop working. It cleared up the air and added a delicate sweetness to the air, adding to an already fantastic day.
This also had to be the trip where we first brought up the Joolca Hottap hot water system and the Renogy power source and solar panel. Mike also brought up a sort of quick connect for the RV solar panel to connect in line rather than having to take the battery covers off the 2 RV batteries and clamp them on. Mike had bought a couple different wires and connectors to make something work and after working with it for a while, he finally got a set up to work. This is another time saver and just makes setting up and taking down the solar panel that much easier.
The Joolca hot water system we had talked about for almost a year now. I had looked a little at other options and products, but I always liked the looks of this one. It is Australian made and by the time we got around to pulling the trigger on it, they had come out with the second version, what improvements they made I don’t know, but I was stoked to get it. Mike and I got to setting it up. We got the deluxe package with the sink faucet, a 2-way valve, and a shower set up. I had always envisioned a shower on the South side of the kitchen water tank and have taken one there several times using variations of garden hoses and half inch garden irrigation tubing. They actually were pretty nice especially with the shower fitting that allows you to shut off the water at the shower head.
With this Joolca set up, the shower hose line wouldn’t quite be long enough to reach the 8 feet out to the front end of the water tank platform, so we just decided to have the shower on the Western Addition, just outside the kitchen sink. The deck made a good enough shower platform and the decking allowed for plenty of drainage. The main unit that heats the water was tiny, barely a foot across and maybe 18 inches high. We made a nice spot for it on the shelf in the corner of the kitchen so it didn’t even take up any counter space. We attached the sink faucet directly to the grocery store doors along the West wall of the kitchen and I just hung the shower head on a screw on the outside of the Western wall. It works there as a shower head or you can take it out of the holder and use it as a hand held.
We futzed with the hoses for a while, red for hot and blue for cold. The quick release connections are super easy and straightforward. Eventually, we got the hoses configured the way we wanted and plugged her in. The pump was incredibly loud and annoying, so we moved it outside and realized we could leave the pump switch on and it would only be activated by switching on the water at either faucet. This was a game changer as it allowed us to get the pump as far away as possible, which isn’t too far, but outside the kitchen at least. I covered it with a tarp and that helped with the noise considerably. We corralled the lines as best we could, hooked up the propane line, and Viola!, we had hot water. This was huge; an enormous improvement for the Hill.
I believe Mike brought up marinated chicken to BBQ. I may have brought our first yellow squash and a couple peppers from our garden. I recall taking an evening walk down to the cemetery and then on down the road to the SE corner of the property. Then we walked out to South Grasshopper and back up to the main gate. We saw tons of wildflowers and stopped to look at many of the different species. We stopped at a giant circumference Juniper that had its top blown out so that it was very short. Like a giant cotton candy.
By the time we got to the main gate, we were almost constantly swatting away flying insects. The bug situation is far worse down below than it is up top. I assume that has something to do with how much rockier, drier, and less vegetation there is up top. The soil down below I would say is downright good, easy digging and very little rock, not even much small stones or pebbles as Bob and I found out when we set those railroad tie posts for the gate down by the cemetery. It is easy to see how much more sage, other brush, and flowers there is at the bottom versus the top. We had to stop for a rest by the upper gate and took in the incredible sky. The sky up here is one of the best shows on earth.
I think Bob left the day and I spent some time on my cabin, and cleaning out the cabinet drawers of mousy poop. Since we had eliminated 2 suspects, I hoped we wouldn’t have any more, not for a while at least. Then I got to a little bit of house cleaning. I moved the last of the Blue Pine boards under the RV cover and brought 2 massive railroad ties over by the end of the trailer in anticipation of using them to brace the bottom of the RV skirting. I brought 4 of the shortest railroad ties over to the poop pit to use them as the legs for the cover framing. The rest of the wood I loaded up and brought down to the bone yard.
At the boneyard, I moved all the trusses left over from Joe’s shed from alongside the road to behind the Juniper. I pulled out the non-moving panel of the sliding doors which I hoped was the same size as the one I broke and removed the frame. I cleaned up the rubber tree ties, and the foam pieces so only the 2 sliding doors remained along the road. I organized a whole new section of wood remnants and moved the big pieces of rough sawn redwood away from the road. I unloaded all the materials I had brought down with me, organized the railroad ties, sections of chain, etc. until everything was neat and tidy.
As I was working down there, out of the bottom of a pile of wood shot a black cat. It startled the hell out of me because I was really close when it darted away behind a Juniper and pile of rocks. I stopped working for a minute and called to it a few times, but figured it had ot be more spooked than I was, so eventually I just went about my business calling to it occasionally, but not expecting much in return. Back up the hill, I moved all the tools that were by the Juniper at the back of the RV over by the trailer and out of sight. This cleaning up eliminated the pile of wood alongside the loop road by my cabin, and the pile of tools by the road by the Juniper at the end of the trailer. It really made an improvement.
Hart Hill; Running Hot Water Anyone? (Photo Gallery)
