Thanks.    Finished it, literally. I applied a clear finish after completing the boards at the cupola opening and the hip trim.  I don't even want to think about how many times I went up and down the ladders.

Back in March we encountered a problem with the pump and water cistern. The downpipe froze. I believe that was due to water standing in the pipe too long after using the hand pump. The water level was at half or less by that time and while the water in the tank only had a skin of ice the draw or lift pipe froze higher up, above the tank water level.

One of the solutions would have been to convert the Oasis shallow well pump to a deep model. They have examples of those that are used regularly in deep freeze winters. That's a $250+ solution. I think I have a less expensive route, although it does involve some human intervention.

I've modified the pump mount and upper end connections. There is now a ball valve added to the 2 inch draw pipe just below the pump head. Just below the ball valve I've drilled and tapped a hole for an 1/8" pipe thread portable air tank valve. Doing this involved cutting apart the mount and extending its height with scraps of angle iron from the metal pile. The valve assembly is white PVC and I painted it black to keep the UV from deteriorating the plastic.






With the ball valve open water can be pumped as usual. Once I've finished pumping water into the cabin tank or into jugs or cans, I'll close the ball valve. Then I'll connect my small air pump to the air valve and pump air into the down pipe. The air will force the water back down the pipe. Once I hear bubbles I'll stop the air. I also have a small portable air tank I could use for the air supply.

When finished with pumping I might add an ounce or two of polypropylene (RV antifreeze) into the pump head to prevent the piston from freezing to the cylinder. Or maybe just use hot water for priming the pump.

The plan is to reinstall the pump this weekend and wait for freezing weather.

Don,
On page 23 of your post you have the roofers install metal roof.  I could not find a picture with anything on the roof other than #30 roof felt.  Were furring strips installed, or was the roof applied right to the roof felt?

The 26 gauge metal went down right over the #30 felt. That was okay according to the roofing material supplier.

A few years before we built the cabin we had our home re-roofed. Same roofing metal, same supplier and even the same color. We hired a contractor who was working on a new development near us to do the installation. I bought the materials and the supplier said to go right over new felt or underlayment. The contractor agreed and did basically the same thing on the house as we did on the cabin, except he used Titantium UDL underlayment instead of roofing felt. There are a lot of metal roofs in this end of the city where we live. None of them used furring strips and almost 100% used synthetic underlayments instead of felt.

Same here Don with Titanium.

UDL has "dimples" that make it easier to walk on a sloped roof.

There's a nice young DF that was very crowded by the more numerous PP trees. Not any more. It was kind of hard to cut three Ponderosa's of pretty good size, but we do have an abundance of them and not so many DF.



Now the DF has a better chance at growing. Lots of fuel wood from those three PP.

I re-installed the newly modified pump head. That's my home made handle for the ball valve. It's removable. Sometimes those valves are darn hard to turn so this makes it easier. Bright green so I can locate it easier. Karen's not thrilled on the color though.



After pumping water into the cabin tank I hooked up the little ryobi air compressor. It took about 8 seconds or so with the valve closed for me to hear bubbling in the tank. I left the compressor run and opened the valve and the shot of air blew the water out of the pump head nicely too. (Hose was removed for that)  I closed the valve and blew the water out of the downpipe again and left it that way. I believe if I follow that drill in freezing weather I should not be bothered with a frozen downpipe again. Time will tell.

Karen has been redoing the upper sidewalk, from cabin to the shed/bathroom. Now there's a double row of patio paving stones for part of the distance.



Down where we park the Jeep she made a "loading zone" with some salvaged I-brick pavers. Now she wants to find some more free ones to extend it a bit more.



Concrete sidewalks in the mountains?   :oIt's nice when it's muddy!   

So far nothing more found on craigslist or freecycle.

Nice work on the paver path! and I still like the log border, keeps a rustic feel to a "prefab" product

Very inspiring Don!!!!!

THANKS a MILLION!

I am now considering something other then keeping food from freezing (though I like the way you think) but how about warming the composting drum of the Sunmar?

I have a small enclosure which I plan to insulate and am thinking that if I super insulate it and keep it small I could do exactly what you have done only for the purpose of providing additional heat to the Sunmar.

What's more is that I can leave it on pilot when not at the cabin thereby allowing it to stay above freezing (hopefully) but then can open it up some (turn the heater on instead of just a pilot) and get the enclosure warm enough (55 degrees) to compost while we are up there.

Thoughts?

One thing I was also thinking is that maybe with a timer there might be a way to allow the hot water to continue being heated until a specified time after leaving (48 hours maybe)...if so then I could crank it up when at the cabin and let it run for two days after leaving the cabin thereby ensuring some composting of waste takes place while we are gone

So far it seems that as long as temps come up above 55 the composter does it's thing even if it was down around 20 at night (ever noticed that?) so I'm thinking that even short periods of warming above 55 will provide for composting action and might prevent overloading (no pun intended) of the tank in the winter.

Erik

I'm not accepting congrats on that yet. We plan on going up to the cabin Saturday and will see what has happened with the temperature under the counter. I have nearly all the insulating done. mainly I still need to make the foam plug to insulate the s/s sink. I'll do that while up there. Reports, good or bad will be forthcoming.

As for composting with temperatures cycling up and down, I think it all depends on whether or not the cold just makes the bacteria inactive or if it kills them. Hopefully they just take time off when chilled and come back hungry when warmed up.

I don't know of any timer that would work on a propane water heater though. 

Let's hope it works for both of us.

Just before we left for the cabin our neighbor from up there called to say a large Aspen blew over in the strong recent winds. It fell across the gate we share and flattened it. She said we would not be able to get through. So we went anyways and thought we'd come in the back way, our emergency bug-out in case of fire or whatever route.

Good thing I had the chain saw with us. I had to cut three trees, one of them a 20 incher. For the first time in years I forgot to pack the camera.  

I did take one picture of the smashed gate with the cell phone. James had already cut up and hauled off the aspen. The remains of the gate are jammed and need metal cutting tools. James said he'd look after it soon, but was busy replacing metal roofing that blew off his building down at Ponderosa. Don't want to cut it open until it can be replaced at the same time. The pivot/hinge post didn't move, but the latch one was tweaked and jammed the lock and pin.



Not a very good picture, looking into the sun.

No other damages though. 

That tree must have been huge Don

18-20 inches at the base and 80 feet tall. It had a clear fall as it fell over. Nothing else in the way to slow it down. Rotten looking at the base. It was on national forest land. There's a couple others I think should somehow fall down before repairs are made. 

Is it legal to cut the bad ones down before they damage anything on the forest land?
Im sure thats not a cheap repair.

The first answer is NO. It's only allowed to cut trees that have fallen across a road or on your vehicle.

We're in a conundrum. If we ask and explain the problem, the danger, and the rangers say No, then we're stuck in a difficult spot if we do cut it and they send someone out to look at some point. Is that much of a chance?   I know the former district ranger and he would have given a yes reply. I've met the new district ranger at a meeting and came away with the feeling that she has her nose stuck in the rule book. Stuffy.

Or we're thinking to cut them, shave the stumps close to the ground and pile up pine needles, fallen limbs, leaves, etc. 

Another tact you might try is to submit a bill for the gate and labor to repair it.  As the landowner they should be liable for the damages caused by their hazard tree falling on your gate.

They will probably ignore you, but it might give you more leverage.  There are lots of legal precidents about damage to property and life from other folks trees...

http://joa.isa-arbor.com/request.asp?JournalID=1&ArticleID=2306&Type=2

http://pws.cablespeed.com/~minta/downloads/files/Mortimer%20Tree%20Liability.pdf

You should also get someone from the USFS to come out and inspect the remaining trees.  If at a later date one of them falls and causes more damage they will be liable for that as well.  It is in their interest to pay someone to cut down the remaining hazard trees.  A quick look at the links I posted indicates that if a forester or arborist inspects the trees, does not do anything after seeing a reasonable risk, then they are guilty of negligent behavoir if they don't get the hazard trees removed.  

You could offer to help them clean up the mess, or just offer to do it for a fair price...  They have hazard tree removal programs on most national forests

http://www.denverpost.com/ci_13572899

Thanks Pine Cone. We will look into that.

James built a new gate

very nice Don!
it looks like it weighs a ton!

Nice gate!

I can't tell from your picture -  does the gate rest on a lip on the locking post when it is closed?  Makes 'em last a lot longer if it does.  Without a lip the weight of a pipe gate will pull the hinge post down pretty quick in our part of the world.

Yes, it is not visible from this side of the gate. There's a flat plate with a slot cut in it for the lock pin to drop through. The gate swings closed and the plate rides up to rest on a heavy steel bracket that is welded to the post. The pin drops through and the lock fits through a hole to secure the pin. The lock is shrouded to make using a bolt cutter on it a little difficult. The flat plate was recycled from the old gate. A picture would have been easier and maybe more clear than all these words. 

What an exciting weekend we had.

We decided to hike the snowshoe trail to see if any trees had fallen across it. Good thing I carried the chain saw along. Eight trees had fallen and one was a doozy. I didn't think of the camera until we had it half cleared..



There is a trail through there. It would have been rather difficult to get through/over without a chain saw.

The tree had a split running through it for an unknown length of time. We noticed last year that from just the right position we could see right through the tree. So one of the big winds must have caused it to snap off.



At the other end we dropped in to visit our friends where we park in winter after the snow is too deep to drive to the cabin. We were talked into staying for dinner. During the conversations Ron asked what I was going to do now that the cabin was done. (He can not sit still; he has several ongoing projects all at the same time).

By the end of dinner we were formulating plans to build a bunkhouse.   

First job is to sell the old Class C RV we presently use as our guest facilities.  We are thinking of 14 x 20.

Funny how things come along.

Wow, you had your work cut out for you!  Imagine snowshoeing in there & walking up to that mess   

Seems like neighbors out in the country are a lot more friendly, doesn't it?