Hart Hill with Bob
Trip Date: April 9, 2025
Kristen brought me coffee in bed as she was leaving for work and that got me going. I was able to load up the ice chests and shove off about 8:30. We stopped at the Soda Springs exit and crossed back over the freeway to a firehouse that had cleared enough space in the snow to park and let puppy play in the snow and stretch our legs. There was 5 feet of snow piled up everywhere along the roads, probably from the snow plows but nonetheless, there were very few places for us to be able to stop and get out and take a little break. The sun was already warm in the calm, clean air.
After that, it was real smooth sailing through Reno and on up Highway 395 to the Food and Agriculture check station. The lady asked if I had anything exciting in the truck and I said no with a little bit of a smirk to her silly question and just then puppy stuck his head out the window to both are surprise. “You lied to me” she let out with a big smile as we shared a good laugh. The rest of the drive was real smooth and uneventful stopping for gas in Litchfield at the Chevron as usual and then heading on up to the property. We stopped again just out of town for a quick reprieve and arrived up top about 1:30.
I backed up the truck to the kitchen to unload the bed and the big cabinet into the new annex cabin and unhooked some of the straps and brought some stuff up to the deck of my cabin. There was no sight of Bob so I walked down to his cabin where I began to hear him talking, so I snuck up to his door and knocked. The banging startled him and we had a good laugh at the notion of someone knocking on his door and trying to sell him a vacuum. He was on the phone with his brother Mike so we had a quick talk and a couple laughs until I heard Braiden’s rig coming up the hill.
It was just 2 o’clock as Braiden was punctual as always which forced us to get going and begin unloading the truck. Braiden was super helpful and we got the beds in place and then unloaded the huge haul that was buried inside the cavity of the massive cabinet. Bob came down to help us maneuver the giant cabinet and then we enjoyed a celebratory beer on the deck with Braiden before he left. The cabinet and bed fit perfectly side by side just as I had imagined all these months so I was much pleased. I gave Braiden 60 bucks for coming down here and helping us which was well deserved although I meant to ask him how long it took him to drive down here as I’m not exactly sure where their place is off West Side Rd.
With the big stuff in place and resting comfortably in their new home, I unpacked the containers and set all the contents up inside the cabinet. The shelves are awesome and didn’t even use one of them. I was very pleased with how much space there is as all the pots and pans, utensils, dry goods, canned food and fresh food for this trip was laid out with plenty of room to spare. I took everything out of the kitchen cabinet to expose that stuff to less and hopefully no mousy business, and still had plenty of space to add more goods and supplies for longer stays.
I set up the water system just as Bob came down from his cabin hoping to take a hot shower. He attached the two way valve to the propane tank under the cabinet and we were back in business with that tank serving both the stove and the shower/sink hot water. He said he found very little mice poop on the counter and none in the sink when he arrived yesterday, so at least for these early trips of the year, poop up on the counter has been very minimal. I assume it might be a seasonal situation as it’s still getting down around freezing at night, but we’ll hope for the best and deal with moor mousy business if need be. There is another huge pack rat nest in the shed but no sights or sounds of activity thus far.
After Bob got out of the shower, I was done unloading and we relaxed with a cocktail before he went off to call Marya I went over to my cabin to unpack my clothes and make my bed and put all that gear away and then we both reconvened at the cocktail bar and got dinner going. Bob barbecued some delicious marinated teriyaki steaks. He did a great job cooking them and the marinade was perfect. Some potato salad in a really good tangy green bean salad made for a perfect dinner although puppy tried to take Bob’s steak off his plate before he got knife and fork into it.
After dinner, we took a walk around the loop and I talked to Bob about all my plans for the tipi, another outhouse and shower, and another cabin and he was supportive of most and had some real good recommendations and ideas and so it was fun to continue to plan and imagine the continued growth and development of the Hill with him. For this trip, though we’ve got kind of light duty with some chainsaw work for some firewood and kindling for the barbecue, caulk and window sills inside my cabin, feed the trees and try to wrap up the damage that the rabbits had done by chewing on the bottom of the stems, but mostly, just kind of enjoy the time up here so early in the year.
After Bob took off for bed, I called Kristen and talked to her for a little bit before immediately falling asleep. Puppy was again pretty anxious at night hearing all kinds of things, but I slept really well. I only got up for 2 very brief pee breaks as the moon was huge and bright and I did not want to look up or wake up too much. I should have closed my curtains, but the stupid bright moon didn’t bother my slumber at all. This morning, as almost all mornings, is perfectly calm and cool and full of birdie chatter. I can smell the coffee that Bob made. I let puppy out and he was raging around and barking at things he’s not sure of.
Bob and I had our first coffee on the upper terrace as the chairs on the cocktail lounge were wet not getting any morning sun yet. It was lovely to sit and look out over the plain and chat a little bit and slowly get into the morning activities. I wasn’t quite sure what to do, but there’s always so many things that I want do, even though I always have an action plan for the trip. Once I get up here, other things catch my attention and interest and it’s hard to pick one and get to it and stay on it and make any progress. Bob went over to the Yellowstone and worked on the door latches and then he got into the screen door that Ralph made and some of the bug screens for the windows. I decided the complete and utter lack of any kindling or wood of any kind required me to get busy cutting up all the Juniper limbs that have been trimmed here and there, so I started with the chainsaw and made pretty good progress. After a spell, my right elbow began to hurt so I switched to the new battery operated 8 inch chainsaw I recently bought as an extension pole saw and that thing was spectacular. It cut 4 inch 5 inch pieces which I was not expecting to be able to do and the vast majority of the limbs were a lot smaller than that so that chainsaw really went through everything very easily.
We stopped for lunch and I had the tuna on crackers that Kristen made for me and a beer and a couple ibuprofen and Tylenol and that got me going for a second round of cutting up the Juniper branches. I was taking breaks pretty regularly because my arm was aching and I got to working on some left-handed which really helped spread the pain and allowed me to push a little bit to finish cutting up everything. That was a big accomplishment for the day. With a little time left, I laid out two possible locations and perimeter for another cabin attached to the kitchen deck. It’s not where I had imagined it in my mind before getting up here, but I think it’s a much better location in terms of not blocking the view and not boxing in the deck. Bob approved of leaving it more open so I’m real happy with this new plan.
I had sap all over my hands so I cleaned up pretty good and while I was at the sink, my nose started dripping blood pretty aggressively with big drops of blood falling all over the sink and deck. It took 3 or 4 paper towel plugs to quell the flow and get it under control. The air is so so dry here and if you don’t keep drinking water to stay hydrated, something is going to remind you like coughing from that sore dry throat or a stuffy nose or bloody nose or a headache and itchy eyes. The wind is blowing a little bit too now so after my reminder, I slammed a bunch of water. Puppy has been so good. He just runs back-and-forth to where I’m working and then to where Bob‘s working and then he found a good spot here on the deck for a long long afternoon nap so he’s very happy.
My shower was fantastic as usual and it was great to get some of the dust and sawdust off of me. It really is always so refreshing mentally and physically. I poured myself a glass of our nouveau Zinfandel/Cabernet wine that I brought up because it was in the right sized bottle for a good night between Bob and I. It’s a bottle of our fill wine for the Zinfandel/Cabernet blend that we just put in the barrel so it’s only a couple months old, but it was very tasty. I waited for Bob to come back and get out of his shower and we had a toast to a good day and then futzed around a little bit before finally starting the fire in the BBQ to get the briquettes going.
I started a fire in the woodstove in the cabin at the same time to help burn off the chemicals and coatings on the new stove pipe. I filled up a cool metal bucket Mike must’ve brought up with some of the wood and brought it inside the annex. I burned a good long time in there so I think we got a pretty decent burn-off , so hopefully when somebody starts a fire next time it won’t be so stinky.
I had four New York steaks that Kristen got me from Costco that looked really good that I had marinated in a sauce some days ago. I haven’t marinated meat in a liquid sauce for quite some time so I was really looking forward to how the alcohol tenderizes the meat. I used a couple beers, a little bit of honey teriyaki glaze, a little soy and a little bit of pineapple juice and set them out to warm up. I baked a couple yams and taters at home and warmed them up in foil on the fire as the briquettes were heating up. I couldn’t help but be nervous about the steaks because of the debacle in Yosemite where I just burnt the outside and left the inside raw. Brett had to take over for me and finish cooking for everybody. I thought I did a pretty good job but had Bob came over to give them a finger test and he thought they were good so it was time.
I could’ve had it a little bit more done as I have leaned a little more medium than medium rare lately, no doubt because of Kristen. The marinade didn’t impart much flavor, but it certainly was tender. A little S&P made it delicious. Puppy got a little bit of steak and a little potato and yam to augment his dinner and we were all pretty satisfied. We got a little fire going in the fire corral and sat around there sipping some wine for a while, talking family and watching the moon shadows. It was real nice. We were both very tired and so I think we were probably off to bed about 9 o’clock. I slept really well again except for a terrible dream about Haley and her pregnancy and birth, but I had some good dreams about my friends so all in all it was a good night.
Puppy was so exhausted he got up with me the first time I went outside to pee, but instead of wandering around like usual, he just kind of stood on the porch and then turned around and went back to his bed ahead of me. The next time I got up, he didn’t even stir from his bed, so we definitely got him good and tired, which I’m happy about. I have long imagined having a dog up here with me and he is just the perfect companion for me. He is so good and so smart and instinctive and still only 6 months old. I hope having him neutered doesn’t change him too much, but I am sort of worried about it.
Bob was up early as usual and had had coffee and packed up by the time I got out to the kitchen about 7:30. We chatted and had a coffee and a banana and made plans for the week. We talked about future trips and helping Joe prepare for when he comes up with his friends in early June. I was soon watching him drive off down the road and watched as puppy followed him. I didn’t think anything of it and I didn’t call him or anything. I just let him go, figuring at the outhouse or the upper gate for sure, he would stop and come back. Kristen had already called from the airport with Beth flying to Utah and so I called her back while staring down the road waiting for puppy to come back into sight.
Eventually it was evident that he possibly wasn’t on his way back so I walked on down the road and I got to the upper gate and was calling out for him. I was beginning to get nervous so I hung up with Kristen and I called Bob and he picked up the phone by saying, “Hey I got your dog”. Just then the call dropped, but that was all I needed to hear. I waited for him at the gate and he came up and said the puppy had chased him all the way to the pavement of Termo-Grasshopper Road. I was shocked. Puppy did catch up to him at the lower gate and Bob told him to go home and go back and he didn’t see him anymore so he assumed he had and got going again. Fortunately, Bob drove out to Termo-Grasshopper Road instead of his usual route out South Grasshopper which is dirt and would have allowed puppy to keep up with him. He might have run himself to death or exhaustion.
I’ll have to ask Bob why he went out to Termo-Grasshopper this time, but by heading out to the closer pavement, it required Bob to stop and again catch a glimpse of Mowgli still chasing him, instead of driving the dirt South Grasshopper Road for 6 miles or so out to Highway 139. As it was, puppy was running for a good mile down the hill, down the diagonal road, down South Grasshopper and out to the pavement, so I was relieved and happy to get him back and then watch as Bob made a second attempt to get off the hill while making sure puppy sat and watched.
So with Bob gone I got my 2nd cup of coffee up on the cocktail lounge and imagined what my view down the road towards the outhouse would look like with another cabin. I really like to look down there and imagine critters crossing the road or a pack of wolves coming up the road or some kind of interesting visitors coming, but that’ll be blocked off if we stick with the current location of the new cabin. As with just about every spot on the Hill, there are plenty of other places to look. It was real overcast and muggy and cool but very very pleasant. I couldn’t help but start picking at the flat rock up there at the lounge as I often do, but this time I took a crack at the big boys on the main path and I definitely improved it. It probably isn’t in its final state, but it is much better and then I stood up a bunch more rocks to line the edge of the path so it looks a little better with each little effort.
I was conflicted with my commitment to stick with the plan to get going on the plants right away and knock that out, feeding the trees around the cemetery and putting the repair paste and gauze on the stems that had been gnawed on and then put the wire fencing around them. Bob thinks the damage has been done by rabbits but, regardless of what type of rodent or mammal is doing it, it’s very very painful to have put all that effort and money and labor into those trees and then just kind of watch them die. It now appears we probably lost 3 more trees around the cemetery and we may only have four of the original 12 alive at this point. One of the trees that I had put the paste and gauze on last year and surrounded with a wire cage still had been girdled by the chewing rabbits and now was dead. They just hopped through the fencing and ate the gauze and ate through the paste and still girdled the tree so I’m a little disappointed in that, but I’m kind of also intrigued to be bringing up all the cactus and aloe and agave from home and see how they fare.
I also forgot the miracle grow food for the deciduous trees so I was halfway down the road, turned around to come back up and looked all over the place for it only to realize I must’ve left it at home. Before we finally got all the way back down to the cemetery, I gave puppy his first ride in the back of the truck which he seemed to like. Instead of running up and down the hill he got to ride in style, so that was cool. Once we got back down to the trees, I put a little bit more of the paste and gauze on one of the trees that had been fenced in but still got eaten. Then I gave them all a stick of the evergreen food, which I gotta believe, even though it is supposed to be for evergreen trees, it is tree food after all and should provide some benefit to help these deciduous guys survive.
With that, we came back up the hill and I put the stakes in the trees that look to be surviving. It looks like the one maple is dead, which is very disappointing, but hopefully the other one will really take off. We lost one of the Juniper‘s and certainly the gigantic Cedar that I think we declared dead last year, but all the trees at the end of the parking lot – the two Pines, the Incense Cedar, the Spruce and the two Crabapples are really looking good. Also, the three Burr Oaks down off the deck and the two Mountain Mahogany are doing really good so that’s a plus. Since I forgot the Miracle Grow tree food, I didn’t have enough food for all of them, but I’ll bring it up next time or maybe I’ll ask Bob to doctor them up a little bit when he comes back before I do.
Puppy and I had lunch and I finished off the tuna from yesterday and then kind of put one of the steaks in foil and just left it out in the sun and it certainly warmed up. It was not at all cold when we ate it, and he seemed to like barbecued steak, slightly more rare than medium rare. We had a good lunch and a little rest, and then we started plugging away at the little wind wall at the end of the counter in the kitchen. We had to make several trips down to the boneyard to get material and puppy followed me very closely in the truck each time. I did a pretty good job of covering up the wood pile as the cover did not move an inch as it was weighed down by an immense number of heavy objects. However, the plastic billboard material is deteriorating and leaked in many places which caused mold to grow on the Pine 1×12 boards I needed for my pony wall.
My cutting was not in midseason form either so I went through a few more boards than anticipated, but I’m happy with the final product and I think it’s gonna be effective at blocking the wind. The little shelf up on top will be handy as well. In walking here and there and back-and-forth, I checked on the water in the 3500 gallon tank and it was already starting to grow algae so one of the Clorox bottles I brought up would need to be used to keep that growth down rather than putting it on the rat nest in the shed. I dumped it in the big tank and then I loosened the wire that’s holding the screen in place and the put the lid on as best I could to keep the sun off the water. Then I plugged the 2 inch overflow hole on the 1500 gallon tank that we got from Kelly, added some Clorox to the kitchen tank and put the lid on it as best I could, so hopefully now it is somewhat mousy proof.
I added some of the mosquito control discs in the plastic water tank down by the outhouse, the metal tub by Mike’s trailer and the kiddy pool at my cabin so that should help reduce the mosquito population. Then I started to attach the head and footboard to the new daybed we put in the annex room here and it went pretty smoothly. It took me a while to figure out where it’s screwed together and how to prop up the top to screw in the head and footboard, but allow the daybed part underneath enough clearance to be pulled out freely. I also used a drill bit to screw in the hex bolts on the headboard so it really went fast.
Bob helped me put the screen on the frosted window in the annex before he left, but I guess it was designed to not be removed so putting it back in was a bear. I already mangled it on my first attempt and Bob and I did more damage, but it was mostly in and just needed to be straightened out as best as possible. I’ve got it back into the window somewhat securely but just having it up in there is a big improvement. While I was over there futzing with the screen, those big wasps came out of the wall and I saw where they were coming from. It’s hard to look up as wasps or hornets or whatever they are are falling down onto your face, but I saw their entry point. They’re about an inch long and have even longer wings but so far haven’t been stung or bitten me, but we need to end them, or at least keep them on the outside.
I was adding the filling of the gap they are using to enter the annex to Diego’s “To-do” list when I figured I would send him a text asking if he was gonna be around for Memorial weekend hoping that he could just come up here for a couple of hours and I could explain to him what I want with the new cabin and finishing up the annex and a couple little jobs. Once he understood what I wanted, he could just come up on his schedule and not have to wait for me to be here a few days every other week. Also, I wouldn’t be around all the noise and commotion and music while they were here. It will be better for both of us. He responded right away so hopefully we can get together sometime that weekend.
While I was working on the screen for the window of the annex, I scooted the ladder over to check out where the new gutter connects to the gutter that takes the water into the kitchen tank to take a look at how it’s attached now and how I think we can improve it. It needs a bit more slope to really catch all the water coming off the roof. I will add that to Diego‘s list as well. I lubricated the sliding door for the shower, which was very hard to move. I had visions of Dave McDonald’s bad back in my head every time I had to open or close it. Then I did the same with the slider to the annex, which was much easier to open and close, but now both are much improved with a little bit of WD-40 on the track.
I had to push pretty hard to finish all these little things up so it was a tad later than I had hoped before I knocked off and prepared for shower, cocktails, and dinner. I cranked the temperature dial to the max on the Joolca to get a good hot shower as yesterday’s was subpar. It worked. I put some tunes on and poured a stiffy and got out the chicken, sausage, and zucchini’s I was going to BBQ. The evening was great and the breeze died down as always. We had a great meal and puppy enjoyed his share. Bob didn’t drink his share of the wine last night, so I had some making up to do. I was feeling great and we had a great walk around the loop before pouring the last of the bottle at long last.
Of course, this was by far the largest pour and I should have taken it as a sign. Instead I rose to the challenge not taking the last swig until I was almost asleep in my bed bed. I slept really well and again had many crazy dreams. The weather had changed overnight and when I got up it was cold and windy but my head was a tad warm. My coffee wasn’t that good and the Joolca heater wouldn’t start. It was a rough morning. The wind was coming out of the North rendering my Eastern wind wall as effective as the Maginot Line. I could not even think of working as I was sore as hell, thrashed, and my hands and fingers were freezing. Plus the caulk was near solid and would not be squeezed out of the tube. The Hill was telling me I was done and I was in no shape for a fight. Once the decision had been made, it didn’t take much to load up. I was leaving so much behind now in the new annex cabinet and the bedding in my cabin for future trips that it really minimized what I needed to load up.
I checked a few things on the water tanks, then tried to dump out the insect poison onto the pack rat nest in the shed. I had to move Vince’s 4 piece cabinet tower and ended up just knocking them all over. Then I realized the caps on the insect poison containers were made for the lid not to be unscrewed but only to be sprayed out with the nozzle attachment. This was the final straw. I hit those one gallon plastic jugs with everything I could find and they took a beating, but did not open. Finally a well placed shovel stab ripped open a gash in the midsection and although the poison splashed up all over my arms, it still wasn’t coming out. I had to bend down into the nest to flip the jug over and get it level so that it would empty right onto the nest, but I eventually got both of them settled onto the nest, gashed side down and oozing fluid. I was able to keep puppy away this whole time be keeping him distracted and then we went over to the boneyard to pick up the barrel bands.
It was the final act for a great trip up the hill. The annex is really coming together and next trip hopefully brings the leather couch. I let puppy run alongside the truck down to the lower gate but I went slowly so he could easily keep up so he didn’t get worried about being left behind again. We stopped at the Vista Point by Emigrant Gap for a nice picnic and got home about 4:00. I was hoping Laura the Craig’s List lady who wanted the barrel rings would pick them up right away and then I’d be done, but she didn’t respond. It was just as well as I was totally thrashed when I got home and enjoyed doing nothing but stuffing my face with leftovers and watching NBA games.
Hart Hill w Bob Gallery