There's so much to do to open up our cabin. The pictures only tell the half the story. Here's the lowdown.
The winter was really hard on our cabin this year. In addition to the normal opening chores, (which you see in the video) there was actually some significant damage that we had to deal with before we could settle in comfortably. Here's what happened.
1) The pipe carrying propane to our cabin split because of the weight of the snow. Luckily Robert smelled it in time, and our dear neighbors helped us to fix it. They cut the broken pipe, removed the damaged union, rethreaded the pipe, installed a new union, and attached it to the tank. They then installed a post and attached the pipe to the post to prevent a repeat of the rupture next year. Whew!
2) We were not able to put up the deck slats because the deck posts have pulled away from the deck joists. In some places, the posts have pulled away from the deck, and in other places the posts are causing the deck to pull apart. We will have to rebuild the deck framing, too big of a project for this year. So, we will disassemble the deck posts this year before the winter snows and repair next. year.
3) The cabin has settled a little, and thus the front door would not lock in place. We spent Friday night with a chair under the door knob to keep out any interested creatures (We did see a bear on Saturday night!) Robert is so handy that he fixed it on Saturday so we were snug and safe again on Saturday night.
4) The driveway and backyard needed the same treatment as the front yard, and we got that done too. This was Robert's job...and he excelled at it!
5) The picnic table that Robert made us for our 40th anniversary was crushed in the snow. He's going to have to rebuild that sometime before the winter as well.
6) And last, several things have to happen each time we open, and before we can settle in. Robert has to:
a) Open the valves at the water box (this year the water is not potable)
b) Light the propane refrigerator.
c) Light the stove.
d) Light the water heater
Although "lighting" appliances sounds easy, we need to bleed air out of the pipes that accumulated through the winter. How long does that take? It takes until the gas is good and ready to make an appearance--maybe ten minutes; maybe more, depending on how it is feeling.
So you can see that vacationing at our cabin is not all vacation ... but we love every minute!
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