I know I mentioned burning trash the other day. I probably should have told the story about what was in the trash.
Kids & Careless People, DON'T try this at home!
Have you ever used "Great Stuff" spray foam insulation? You know how it expands to seal cracks? You ought to put one of those cans in a fire once, it's cool. I dumped part of the trash can from the tarsp into the burning barrel and laying right there on top of a very hot fire was a can of spray foam. Too late to grab it, so I just walked back about 20' and held the trash can in front of me and waited. I waited long enough that I had given up and thought it was not going to do anything. I lowered the trash can and took one step toward the burning barrel and Bang, this missle shot out of the barrel. It went up into and thru a tree, over the tarsp and landed in the front yard about 60' from the burning barrel. At least it cleared the flamable Blue Tarp work shop. Ok, this was way cool so I picked out the second can of spray foam that I had seen still in the trash can. I did not want to risk the missle starting the tarsp on fire. That does not mean I am not going to burn the can, I just need a better plan. Being the observationist that I am I had noticed that the bottom is what blew out of the first can when it exploded. This time I dropped the can into the fire head down, You know, so when it explodes it will push its' self deeper into the barrel. My calculations were correct! Boom!!! No can flying, it was spray foam and flames everywhere. I had my own fireworks display for about 30 seconds as this "Great Stuff" went through its full life cycle right in front of my eyes. Bush entertainment! I know I gave a list of what we do around here for entertainment, I guess this was part of my work entertainment. It was fun.
Remember a few post ago when I talked about going for an ATV ride with the boys that helped us unload the barge. I failed to mention that when we got back to the cabin and I was looking around the muddy machines I seen where the Other machine broke a part on the drive shaft to one wheel. I ask Vinnie if he felt or heard anything and he just said, "yea but I was having fun and did not want to stop". Well it looks like I have the parts to fix this drive shaft from the old parts that weren't broken on the other drive shaft that I changed on the other machine. It was cheaper to by the whole assembly than to by the parts I needed so this may pan out in the end. The only thing I don't know yet is if the big hole I see in the hub will hurt anything, or if I have to buy a new one of those. Oh well, more fun I guess.
Today, I got on the roof and pulled out the wood burner chimney. I replaced a few pieces of the metal and re-fastened things in a different fashion so I can pull it apart from inside the cabin and clean it much more easily. I do not want to have to climb on the roof to clean the chimney in the middle of winter with snow on a metal roof. This will be much better, and two of the metal pieces were corroded through and needed replaced anyhow.
I also caulked the window at the back of the cabin on the second floor and and installed exterior trim to that window. These windows were installed in the winter by the previous owner and were never finished. At least that is the only reason I can see for no caulking anywhere, just some foam stuffed in some places. Anyhow, with the spray foam and caulking on the inside and now the caulk and trim on the outside, this window won't leak. I also caulked all the seams and joints in wood siding.
I started putting the roof system together for the back porch. I got the center supports up and the peak support in place. Thunder storms rolled through and put an end to any more of that work for the day. It is still raining. Today was only the second thunder storm we have had. We had real thunder and lightining with this one. The first one about a month ago, we never even seen lighting. The storms are not (at least so far) anything like what we are used to. They have been very gentle and only a little wind. I think the windiest I have seen it here has been about a 20mph gust. It is usually not windy at all. I guess I have seen a continuous wind down at the mouth of the river. I am told this happens with the incoming tide from Cooks Inlet and only last about 2 hours when it does happen. It made it pretty ruff water that day though.
Speaking of the tide change in Cooks Inlet, Did you know that Cooks Inlet has the second highest tidal change flucuation in the world. It changes on the average of 26 feet twice a day. We have seen it change as much as 37 feet in a four hour period. It changes so fast sometimes people actually go surfing on the incoming "tidal waves". There is a famous area for surfing near Baluga point on the "turnagain arm" of cooks inlet. It gets a bore tide that curls like the Hawai surf.
Myra started going through the totes that are under the tarp by the front door and putting things away. I haven't looked around to see how she put stuff away but I heard a lot of hammer pounding coming from inside, upstairs. Things that make me go Hum?
She made real home made pizza for supper. The crust from scratch (flour) and everything. It turned out great! She is getting pretty good at this bush cooking stuff. This may be marking the end of my wieght lose. I guess I may have to remember when to say when.
The river is getting really low. We are trying to put off our last trips to town until next week. We are going to have to keep an eye on the river though. We are going to make one trip for groceries and building supplies etc, then a second trip to get some of the wood and stainless off of the trailer and we are going to put the boat trailer on the boat and bring it out with us. We will then pull the boat out of the water over at one of the lodges and park it for the winter. This will be about 4 miles by water and two miles by land away from us. The only way this will change is if we start getting more rain and the water level comes back up. It may very well be from the first week of September until sometime in December that the only way in or out of here will be to call an airplane in. At this point in time, we choose not to do that. We are trying to have everything ready to just wait for the river to freeze.
Sorry, no pictures tonight.
Talk to you soon.
Thanks for being with us!
Roger
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