Critter Cabin Christmas 2010

Christmas Eve has arrived and that means off to Critter Cabin we go! Pack the truck with the things that we need for dinner, make sure that we have the chains, shovel and extra battery for the lights. Off we go early in the morning.

We arrive at Critter Cabin, 33 degrees inside~~burr~ well its 31 outside! Get a fire going!

It looks like there is about 14 inches of snow. The road in was great, Thanks to Josh!

This is the new sign that I made for the Cabin. The sheds were found here at the place, compliments of the previous owners.

The pond out back is frozen over. Lots of animals wondering around looking for food in this area.

This set of bear tracks was heading right for the cabin. These have snow in them, so they were  from the last storm a few days ago.

This is our Christmas Eve dinner. Grilled Shrimp, potato salad, cheese and  smoked salmon topped off the menu. It sure was yummy!

Hey, guys! I just want to Thank you for all the salt, cracked corn and chips that you have been putting out for us! Please don't forget us in the coming year.

While eating breakfast these young hen turkeys were running around looking for some breakfast also. I think that they found the chips and corn that we put out for them.

  

Hey!!! Over here~ there is a lot of stuff!

Hello in there~ can you see my horns? Someday I will grow up big and come back to show you!

Pat cut a lot of tree branches that were hanging over the road. Now it is better to drive and see down the road.

Thought that I would try and Black and White photo of the snow. How many of you remember the old black and white photos?

The snow and the freezing fog sure made this tree top pretty.

These are the two deer from earlier, they hung around the truck for quite sometime.

We had a great Christmas Eve at Critter Cabin. Was sad to leave, but had to get home and get the home place warmed up. We will be back soon.

Plowin' Plowin' Plowin'

We get a phone call from Josh, he wants to plow out the road to Critter Cabin for us. I think that Pat had something to do with this also, as he knows that I want to spend Christmas up there. The snow has added up and was going to make it very challenging to get up the hill around the corners and through the woods!  So off we go late in the afternoon, of course we all have to chain up the trucks, lots of snow on the road and ice in lots of places. No one has driven on the road to the gate yet. Deer tracks are all over the place, they are here, but hiding I would say. We arrive at the pond, what a beautiful site! Sure does look cold here! The trees are so beautiful!

This is a picture of the field next to the cabin. How clean everything looks with all the snow! There is about 14 inches of snow here.

 Picture of the driveway to the cabin. This will make it so much easier for us to get here later in the week.

The plowing machine!

 Making sure that the gate area is all clear and won't be a problem. It was dark by the time that we got done and headed home.

We didn't spend much time here at Critter Cabin. But we will look forward to it later in the week for our Christmas eve dinner of shrimp, a nice warm fire inside and a nice adult beverage! 

Everybody have a great Christmas and I will post again when we arrive back home from our Christmas trip to Critter Cabin!

Fun ! Friends! Photos!

Time to head off to Critter Cabin again! We have our good friends from Alaska here and want to show it off! Well we decide to get going by 11 am. Stopping by Safeway to pick up a few shrimp to put on the grill on the campfire first. We have lots of other things to eat, but Shrimp just tops it off!

We drive to Mosier and up towards Critter Cabin. Getting towards the top of the hill and close to the private drive road, we encounter snow on the road and decide to put on the chains!

Pat and Bruce jump out, get them on in record time, think that they were in a private race to see who was the fastest one! Well, we girls were sitting in the truck and not paying attention to them!

Then on the road again, the snow is about 6 inches deep. Not many people have been on the road for sometime.  Come to the first gate, frozen and needs some extra beating to get it opened up. Moving along, we drive always and find a tree that has fell across the road! We all unload and just then Josh drives up! Great another chain saw! With all of us on that tree, it didn’t take long to get it cut and loaded in the truck. Off we go!

Arrive at the cabin~~~32 degrees inside the cabin! Burr~~ Get the fire going and FAST! It is cold in here! I know that it won’t be long and it will be a toasty 70 degrees! After getting the fire going, Pam and I head out to start the campfire for our tasty Shrimp and Little smokies on the grill! YUMMY~~~~ Just take a look at this and tell me that you wish that you were here! We had a great lunch, and of course we ate inside in the toasty 70 degrees!

The hore frost is so beautiful here! Just look at the trees and see what I mean! I just know that JACK FROST was here!

This is Bruce and Pam from Alaska. We have a great time with them and I just know that they will want to come back to Critter Cabin someday!

                                            Josh came and brought his two girls with him!

                               Now I have to say I think that they are posing for a photo shoot!

Heading home, we decide to show them the barn. After getting inside we see 2 squirrels running around inside~ now I would have to admit that I would be in here also. That snow would be cold on my feet also!

We head off, Josh takes the lead and puts his plow down and plows a lot of the road out! Wow, how very nice of him! This will make it a lot easier to get back in here next time! Thank you Josh!

After getting down off the hill Pat and Bruce take off the chains! Burr it was cold out there, and I was just taking pictures!

We all jump in and off we go~ home here we come! What a nice trip to Critter Cabin we had, great friends, great food, beautiful scenery! Now this trip will be hard to beat!

                          Till we talk again, be safe and be sure to keep following my blog!

A Great Get Away!

Off we go to Critter Cabin, forecast is for snow. That is ok, as we have lots of burning to do and alittle snow won't hurt anybody! We arrive and it is cold in the cabin~~burr 35 degrees, hurry and build a fire in the stove! After getting a nice fire going and unload our food and things that we brought we decide to head off to the piles to burn!  We have covered all the piles alot earlier and so they are dry! Light that baby and let it burn, so we did! This is the biggest pile to burn and will take most of the day.

 Pile number two is alot of rotten logs and sticks around in the woods. Have to clean it up for the critters to get around alot easier. We did have two more piles going also. Needless to say, it was nice to get rid of all the junk wood around the area.

This is a bird house that I made awhile ago, decided to put it up and see if someone will move it!

Photo of one of the windows that we put in. Great job Pat. Check out the great looking pictures on the wall. This is some great art work by Artist " Pretty Bird" ! He does great work. We have got a new table by the window, donated by the Browns. We will use this for a puzzle. It is just right and comes with 2 stools!

Thank you! 

 The other window is in the kitchen area. Makes a great view from the table and best of all alot more light in the area.

 Critter Cabin in the snow. We got 4 inches of snow by the morning time. Not much at all. Makes for some great pictures. Oh, remember the 35 degrees in the cabin, well it is now a toasty 70 degrees.

Not many wildlife tracks around this morning, while I was out walking around the area. Must still be in bed!


 Picture of the window from the outside. This looks great.

 Other side of the cabin, and the photo of the new window!

The one and only REBA! Wonder what she thinks of the snow? 

 On the way out we find this buck laying in the oaks. He just lays there like no big deal. This is a big deer, but little horns. Must be a old buck that has went back to small horns again.

Well we got lots of things done around the cabin, piles burned and lots of wood, sticks picked up. Cut some branches off trees and burned them also. We got lots done inside, trim back up around the window area, curtains hung up and most of all stuff put away. Now it is back to a home again, instead of a shop! Most of all I got ahead of Pat in Rummy!!!!! It is a running game, started in Feb 13, 2009.

We had lots of fun and hope that we can get back soon. I just know that we will fine a excuse to go!

Rainy Day At Critter Cabin

Sounds like the snow level is coming down very low, better get over to Critter Cabin to a put things away! Decide to stop and get a trailer load of chips for the critters, as we know that the acorns are far and few this year. We arrive at the cabin, no deer or turkeys around this trip. We dump and spread out all the chips that we brought for the turkeys, deer and the crows! Guess that it has been to long since we have been here. Have lots of things to do, drain the water tanks so that they don't freeze, put away chairs, table and most of all cover the piles so that we can burn them later this winter. Fun time for me, I love to burn!

We get all our things done, decide to take a walk around, find some wood that is easy to cut and load. Guess that we will need more wood anyway. Below are some of the things that I find to take photos of. Lots of mushrooms around this time of year. I would say that these are not the kind to eat! Sure look pretty though!

What do you think this is? Well it is a outside toilet!

These are sure interesting things that grow on the oak leaves!

Well Pat gets the camera and catches me in the trees!

Now this mushroom looks good, but BEWARE it carries a deadly punch!

Now this one could be just as BAD! Lets just look but not touch!

Well kind of a sad day, as we both love to come to Critter Cabin, but knowing that the snow level is going to drop low for several days, and that the elevation is 2500 feet here, it doesn't look good. We will have to hope that we have a mild weather so that we can make it back real soon!

Oh, Did I forget to tell you that we go the window trim up and it looks great! Rats, I should have taken a picture of it!

Till we get back to Critter Cabin, good bye for now!

Where have all the deer gone!

Looks like a good day for a trip to Critter Cabin. Overcast sky and time to get some more wood, finish the wall around the window and see what was on the game camera. We were driving in and next to the cabin were these turekys! I just bet that got there fill of chips just before we arrived here. I could hear them say Gobble ~ Gobble which means in turkey talk: Thank you! They just wandered on there way like they had some place else they had to head too.

We worked on the walls around the window for several hours, had a nice lunch and decided to cut some wood for home. There is lots of little logs that was left here from the previous owners, most of it is still good enough for firewood ~ atleast for us that is! So we cut away and load up a pickup full and also the little trailer.

Maybe we could make a fort out of these instead! They seem like the right size of logs? What do you think?

Lunch time we get out the game camera and see what is on it. To our dissapointment there are not many pictures on it. Rats! I just knew that I would get a large buck or maybe a bear ~ what did we get ~~~~ a raven!

We had a great time, as always and can''t wait to get back to Critter Cabin again! Till then, keep the smile on and be safe !