Tarping

We tarped up the boat for the winter.   I think it's cool to see so I took some pics.  The system is so sophisticated and sturdy that you could literally live inside the boat and be quite comfortable!

We had a close call while Jim was working on this by himself.  He was coming down the ladder in the front of the boat and caught his foot on a wire while stepping over the tongue of the trailer.  He landed on his leg that is still healing from the accident and rolled his ankle.  He went down and rolled down the driveway.  He called for help and Grace and I came running out to find him on the ground holding his leg.  I thought we were in for a repeat surgery!  He sat there for awhile and then walked it off.  It is a little sore tonite and he iced it for a good long time but he seems alright.

It's funny that Hops the therapy dog showed up on the scene right away.  But instead of comforting Jim, she came to me for some love!  She had the right idea but was comforting the wrong person!  Silly girl.

Bower Cave and Diana Falls

We went on a hike to Bower Cave and Diana Falls today - New Years Eve 2017.  It was a beautiful sunny, mid-60's day.

All locked up - fine of $5000 for entering

Bower Cave, perhaps most accurately described as a grotto, has been well-known to Indians for hundreds of years. People of the Me-Wuk culture called it "Oo-tin" or Home of the Evening Star. Just who among the early miners and settlers saw it first is a matter of dispute. One of the first known to have written about it was Belgian miner Jean-Nicolas Perlot, who lived in the vicinity in 1852-1857.
Miners Nicholas Arni and Frederick Schoebel were the first to lay claim to the land around the grotto and the first to promote it as a tourist attraction.

Jim and G looking down into the cave - they could see the old dance floor

Visitation to the cave grew steadily with the area's growth due initially to mining. In 1874, a tollroad from Coulterville to Yosemite was completed. Bower Cave was directly along this route, providing cool respite for stageline travelers on hot summer days and becoming a favorite spot for picnics and Saturday night dances.

Originally, people were lowered into the grotto in a bathtub-size bucket and windlass. A long, steep wooden staircase was later constructed to the grotto bottom where a dance floor was also built. The attraction led to construction of an eight-room hotel in 1874. Guests and locals continued to use the grotto as a dance and party place into the 20th century. After changing owners several times, Bower Cave was closed in the mid-fifties when an individual was killed in a fall after part of the rotting staircase gave way.

In 1991, the US Forest Service acquired Bower Cave and the nearby Linkletter Ranch, as a part of a land exchange.

View from the cave

Looking down into the cave

 Follow the Bower Cave exploration, we hiked to Diana Falls.  It was running despite our lack of rain.

Sporty Weener

Diana Falls

Epic Boondoggle

Loading up 3 kayaks

Cherry Lake is the lowest it has been in 37 years because they have drained it to fix a valve in the dam.  Since it likely won't be this low again in our lifetime, we decided we needed to go check it out.  We loaded up 4 of us, two labradors, 3 kayaks and a picnic!

View from the boat ramp

Unfortunately, there is a gate across the top of the boat ramp so we had to haul the kayaks down to the water - which was about 1/2 a mile.  It wans't too bad because it was down hill.  The problem was when we got back after paddling all day and had to haul them a 1/2 mile UP hill.  That was brutal!

Hops had a ball playing and swimming all day!

 We enjoyed exploring - we found a sunken old car, an outboard motor and a couple tackle boxes.

It was Oakley's first kayak trip and she was a natural!

Hauling the kayaks downhill

The weather was amazing for a January day in the Sierras.  We actually had to pull out the sunscreen!

Getting ready to start paddling!

It was an epic boondoggle that was probably one of the hardest we have ever done - and that is saying a lot! The good news is we were all a little bit stiff the next day but not what you would expect with the activity level and effort we had to put forth!  I was just glad we didn't have any one with us - it would have ended that friendship for sure.  But for us - it was all in a days adventure!

The dogs were asleep in the truck before we even had the first kayak loaded

Sushi Time!

The fish!

This will forever be known as the Xmas of the sushi debacle!

We decided that it would be great fun to have a make your own sushi nite over Xmas break and set about to making it happen.  I started gathering all the supplies, such as wasabi, furiake, seaweed wrappers, sesame seeds and sushi rice.  Jim set about sourcing the fish.  He found a place in San Diego that overnighted sushi grade fish.

He placed a large order and waited for it to arrive on the next day, a Friday, which was 3 days before Xmas and the day before we headed to the cabin.  Friday morning comes and the shipping company calls him and says that the order was labeled incorrectly as for being for a business and was set aside for a Monday delivery!  That was way too late so we headed down to Fed Ex to pick up up. 

FAIL!

The fish was in a bin at the bottom of a stack of bins and would not be unloaded until 4 am.  So the Fed Ex guy said he would pull the fish for us so we could pick it up on Saturday morning and then head to the cabin with it.

FAIL!

Instead of being pulled, it was put on a truck for delivery!  Which is a problem because our Fed Ex deliveries usually arrive at about 8 pm.

So G and I headed for the cabin and the boys stayed behind to wait for the sushi.  Luckily I got a text from a neighbor that a package arrived on our doorstep at about 1:30 pm, while the boys were at lunch with Big Dan.  My neighbor grabbed the package to store it in a cool place until the boys could get back and get it --- it would be a disaster if the fish thawed!

They finally got the fish and headed for the cabin, arrive at 7 pm!

The next debacle was the soy paper wrappers.  I had ordered them from Amazon to be delivered to the cabin but they had failed to arrive on time.  I got a call on Sunday morning from our local post office who said I had a package and could pick it up there.  YAY!  Wrappers!  Unfortunately I celebrated too early because when I opened the package, it was hot flash medicine!   LOL!  So I set about searching out where the package of wrappers were delivered and found then in our mailbox.  YAY - sushi nite is ON!

Next debacle....the sushi rice!  I followed the recipe from the Sushi for Dummies book and it left me with crunchy rice.  Luckily I saved it by adding more water and cooking it longer.

Finally we could get to the task at hand - rolling our own sushi.  We set out all the supplies and rolled like mad.  G and I made a bunch of veggie rolls while the boys made the fish rolls.

The grandpas sat on the couch and watched football while Grandpa Tom took care of Paisley.

It was an enormous feast!

Everyone had a great time and enjoyed sampling all the different types of sushi, the miso soup and the tempura.

My new sushi plates and bowls

Grandma Kathy made the tempura

Christmas 2017

My new Instant Pot - first thing made: acorn squash - it took 10 minutes

We spent Christmas 2017 at the cabin in beautiful 65 degree weather! (But were super sad there was no snow for skiing!).  

Xmas eve games

My folks were in EDH until mid day on Xmas so we had Xmas eve with just Jim's folks at their house.  Grandma Anna made us potato leak soup and a big salad.

Stockings filled with goodies

Christmas day was spent doing the usual - opening gifts, playing games and eating too much.  Some of my favorite gifts were a bivy sack from Grace, an Instant Pot (I have wanted one for a long time!), my own pocket knife and my sushi bowls.  I am not sure what Jim and Drew would say that their favorite gifts were but for me....I loved that they both got nose hair trimmers!  LOL!  Grace was pretty happy with her new tripod and her fish eye lens.

sushi bowls - I have always wanted some!

Even Tre got a gift - a hammock.   Plus - it was his first trip to the cabin!

Elf!

 The dogs got tons of toys and stuffed animals which were all over the cabin the rest of the week!

Lots of games were played- Liars Dice, Nibs and Farkle

Prime Rib for Xmas dinner - cooked on the barrel

All in all it was a wonderful holiday and we were so happy to be able to spend it with both sets of our parents - what a true blessing!

Spent some time in the driveway with a bonfire....and the dogs!

Weather Station

We got a weather station at the cabin for xmas.  Now we can check indoor and outdoor temps, wind and rain from an app on our phones and ipads. 

What the....?

When G and I were heading to the cabin for xmas, I looked down a side street while going through Chinese Camp and saw what I first thought were turkeys.  But then my brain registered that these were pretty colorful turkeys!  So we did a quick uturn and went back to see a bunch of peacocks strutting through town.

The Tale of 5 Dogs!

Paisley after a bath at 12 weeks old.

I realized the other day that with Amanda's new dog, Paisley, we have 5 dogs for 5 people.  We know that Oakley is Drew's and Paisley is Amanda's.  And Daisy is so devoted to me that she is mine.  Hops and G share a special bond as Hops helped G recover from her head injury.  That leaves Jim with the Weener!

Hops - just sitting like a donkey (as per Uncle Don) - 3 years old

Then I started thinking....do you think in 15 years we will say, "remember when we had 5 dogs....that was crazy"!  Or....will we say, "remember when we had ONLY FIVE dogs"!

Oakley watching her daddy - 11 months old

All this thinking made me want to capture each of the hounds in this moment in time so we will never forget the chaos and happiness they bring.

Daisy Mae - loving her cabin time - 14 years and 3 months old

Ahi Wasabi (aka - the weener) - 9 years and 8 months old