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11-11-2022

63. A Victim of the Life on the Mountain

11-11-2022

62. Another installment of our "Nice Neighbors" series

We came home after a week in New Mexico . The weather was beautiful, not too cold but windy. The roads were dry.

It had snowed about two weeks ago, so we expected a little snow higher up

What we did not think of was the wind. Here was the first fallen tree. Fortunately, it was already in some one else's way who had a chain saw. He did not cut the tree all the way to the edge of the road but enough to get by. And since some one already had used the road before us there was hope it would continue all the way to our place

Snow started above Geyser's

Another amputated tree

Now this was the end. For a short time we considered hiking to our cabin and retrieving our chainsaw. It is about a mile there, plus a mile back, carrying the rather heavy chain saw. We decided to try our luck via Collinson

The amputated tree from the other side

This was Collinson where we had  to turn around because two fallen trees blocked the road

Helga had meanwhile  texted Tim and Becky that we were stuck and hiking to our cabin fetching our chainsaw. That was before we changed our mind. Where we were now there was no cell signal. We decided to drive to Tim's and Becky's place, hoping that they were there and ask them to lend us a chain saw.

Driving on Schierl when we came around a curve there was an ATV driving in the opposite direction. I never knew that a red Ranger could look so beautiful.

What happened was that Tim got the information from Helga about the tree blocking Schierl and us walking home. Tim and Becky did not wait long but jumped into their Ranger with the intent to help us. We explained the situation to them (they pointed out that it should be easy to find the tree blocking Schierl), they continued, we turned around (again) and followed them.

This is the "beautiful" Red Ranger

It took a while but finally the job was done.

We thanked Tim and Becky for all their work. Before they took off Helga had an idea: what happens if there is another tree blocking the road. Tim and Becky agreed  to drive ahead of us to make sure we don't get stuck again

We saw the Ranger a few hundred feet stopped again. There was another tree across Schierl

We cleared this tree off the road

Our hero, the old man from the mountain.

There was even a third tree which blocked the road and  had to be removed. Tim and Becky followed us all the way to our cabin to make sure there would not be a fourth tree preventing us from getting home.

A big THANK YOU to both of you

09-22-2022

61. We have nice neighbors in FWCR. Cont.

As I had pointed out in #60. below we have nice neighbors in FWCR. Some come to help us with trees, other come by just for a chat and a cup of coffee and cake. We have oaths who just drop in for a short stroll around

Some visit us to admire our beautiful view

06-04-2022

60. We have nice neighbors in FWCR. Very nice neighbors.

The story started with Tim offering to split the pile of cut tree trunks in our backyard. I refused the offer, of course, unless I could pay, an offer he refused. He told me it would only take him half an hour which I knew was just bragging. I finally accepted his offer, reluctantly but gratefully. He arrived next day with his splitter in tow. Tim was very efficient with his splitter and he might have finished in an hour had not his splitter given out. A part broke which ended our effort. During a coffee break he asked what we would be doing with the uprooted trees in our front yard. Helga did not like the view of three trees dying in our front yard and we had contemplated to hire some contractor to cut them up and remove them. 20 or even 10 years ago we would have done this ourselves but we're getting old. When Tim heard this he immediately offered to cut the trees himself and drive the branches to the slash pile, no big deal. This was an even more outrageous offer. We grew up self-sufficient, being able to do everything ourselves, without outside help. I put up an even more forceful fight, most likely subconsciously not wanting to admit that I was getting old. But Tim would not have it. I finally remembered that I had helped another neighbor for a few days upgrading his plumbing system, so I reasoned I had helped another neighbor and I should gladly accept Tim's generous offer.

Next day he showed up early with his chainsaw and had started cutting the first tree before we even had time to get our gear ready. When we were finally ready we joined Tim cutting branches and finally the entire tree. We were so busy that we did not even take pictures. After we were finished with the first tree we immediately attacked the second tree. This is where we took the first picture  

The second tree

End of Tree #2

What's left of the first tree; evening

Early next day Tim was here again with his Ranger and a trailer to load the branches

Our first trip to the slash pile

Loading the second trailer load

The third tree

Loading the third trailer load

Cutting up the last tree

A big thank you to Tim who, by the way, does not only help us for a cup of coffee but selflessly supports other neighbors too.

05-15-2020

59. Wind Damage

Wind damage is not limited to uprooted trees or blown off shingles, wind can also damage solar systems.

I don't know if you still remember this picture which I put on the web page on April 4th of this year. When we came home on this day our solar array looked differently

The installation is about 9 years old. The panels were mounted with stainless steel screws, nuts, washers and split washers, as per instructions of the panel manufacturer. However, the manufacturer had not considered the wind conditions at our place in FWCR. What happened was the wind with its constant rattle had loosened the two screws on the windward side. One screw had lost its nut, the other screw was completely gone. Each panel is mounted with four screws. A major wind gust then flipped the panel over on top of its neighbor. I immediately tightened all other screws, all of which were not completely tight any more

Today, with finally little or no wind, I started repairing the panel. It was impossible to bend the frame back into its original shape. I had to cut  out the damaged part and replace it with a piece of  angle aluminum which I screwed to the remaining frame. The tempered glass cover had shattered when the panel hit the other panel, reducing the stiffness of the panel; with part of the original frame missing I wonder how stable the whole system is. We will see.

It took me almost an entire day to de-install the panel, find a solution how to repair it, re-install it, and put the entire array back into summer operation. If you wonder what the two chains are doing on a tracker: after some other bad experience I decided a tracker is not the right support for large solar panels at our location. So, I'm tying the tracker just down with a chain on either side.

The cracked surface glass pane and the missing  part of the original frame replaced by a piece of black angle aluminum

Why I'm telling the story? To let you know that it is a good idea to tighten the screws holding down the panels, especially when you have strong winds and when the panels are mounted on a tracker. I assume that it's not so critical when they are mounted on a fixed, unmovable, structure. A tracker, on the other hand, is constantly moving when the wind is blowing hard

12-15-2021

58. Life and Death, part 2

This time it was not animals but trees which died. We're having a lot of dead trees in FWCR which were killed by the Spring Fire. Most of them were still standing. Last night and today we had an exceptionally strong wind which caused havoc with these trees, and even some living trees. All the following pictures were taken on our lot.

This is a living tree which is still supported by some Aspen

A tree blocking our hiking trail

06-23-2021

57. A Burglar Caught on Camera

It was a dark and stormy night...., well, actually it was about 7:30, still light enough for taking pictures when we heard a short noise in the basement. Helga walked outside on the deck and saw a bear on our steps. She rushed back in to grab the camera and started shooting (only with the camera!)

What happened was the door was not securely closed; I only put a piece of wood between the handles of the two doors to prevent the door from being blown open by the wind. But this was not enough to stop the bear from ripping open the door, breaking the connecting piece of wood. Fortunately this was the only damage we suffered. Helga was waiting for the bear to come out of the garage but apparently it had run under the deck to the other side of the cabin and escaped Helga's attention. Never a dull moment on the mountain

05-03-2021

56. A "New" Neighbor

The other day we met Jeff King, for us a new acquaintance. It turned out that he has owned his lot for many years (it is the lot formerly belonging to Ashley Spears). It's just that we never met him. The main reason I'm writing about Jeff in Life on the Mountain is the fact that he might be of interest and help to some residents in FWCR. Not only is Jeff a nice guy (aren't all of us in FWCR nice guys), but he is also a contractor for all different kinds of projects, willing and able to take on jobs in FWCR. 

10-30-2020

55. Listen to the Weather Forecast!

Last Sunday the weather forecast predicted 2 to 3 feet of snow during the next 36 hours. This was the second out-of-season snow storm this year. The previous weeks were nice and very warm. We still had our pickup in our driveway, but decided that it would be prudent to drive it further down into the valley, especially, since the forecast also talked about temperatures below zero degrees (Fahrenheit!). On Friday we had observed a few hunters in a tent, on Spangle, right across the valley. With the bad weather forecast we expected them to move out on Sunday. In the afternoon we drove our pickup partway down and returned with the Argo. It was already getting dark and started snowing. On the way back we met a pickup on his way out. He stopped and we asked him if the others had also left. He told us that he was the last, he had a flat tire, and he was in a rush to get out before the storm. His wife in Colorado Springs had called him and told him they already had about two inches of snow on the ground. We wished him a safe trip on I 25 and continued our slow (Argo!) trip back. When we got home we were in the clouds and could not see anything but assumed the tent and the vehicles had disappeared.

On the following Monday there was no big surprise, we had received a good two feet of snow

On  Monday we were in the clouds, it was snowing on and off. We did not see much

There was a big surprise on Tuesday, though. We still could see the tent and the two vehicle. Apparently, the pickup driver we met on Sunday, and who had left, belonged to another hunting party

As you can see the guys had already tried to move their vehicles but had not been very successful

On Wednesday morning, the weather was rather cloudy, they got re-enforcement

It took them a few hours to get the Jeep down to Brophy, and  to get the re-enforcement equipment unstuck

Early afternoon. the Jeep had disappeared, only the tent and the pickup with the attached utility trailer were left

All of a sudden there was a piece of equipment which had not been there before. We wondered what it was

Late in the afternoon a side by side appeared

The Jeep was parked at the intersection to Gray place

The side-by-side was heading towards the remaining pickup

Driving uphill in reverse

Now we know what the mysterious thing was: an ATV

But even with the laid tracks it was not easy to drive down to Brophy

They finally made it and are disappearing in the woods

There's some gap now in the reporting. While we were not looking they removed the pickup with the utility trailer and two of them came back and stayed in the tent.

When I got up early morning  on Thursday(it was still dark), I saw some blue light in the tent. Later, when it was a little lighter two of them were trying to get the Jeep going, which, apparently, was not so easy.

They were more under the car than in the car

After they made it down to Brophy, the suspense-packed story ended

We only observed normal hunting activities, with hunters driving along Brophy/Spangle and up to the tent. It will be interesting when and how they are going to remove the tent. But the weather forecast for the next several day calls for warm and sunny weather.

We don't need TV here. We can watch our own live action

08-27-2020

54. Kay Playter, R.I.P.

08-09-2020

52. Farewell Party for the Ericksons

Steve and  Lori have sold their cabin and will be alternating between their abode in  Colorado Springs and traveling in their motorhome, exploring our beautiful country. They invited their neighbors to a nice afternoon party during which they permitted us to take pictures. Here are a few of them

Fingerlickin' good

He is supervised by four very active and helpful neighbors

We'll miss you, Steve and Lori

12-24-2019

51. Sometimes it's not so easy to get to your cabin

Especially in winter

Ed has three possibilities to reach his cabin. During the preceding two days he had unsuccessfully tried two of them. So, we suggested he'd use the third (quite some detour) via Schierl. We offered to accompany him with the Argo 

Ed and his family arrived with a snowmobile, his new side-by-side Polaris General and a dog

First things first: coffee, cookies, situation discussion, warning of danger of sinking into the snow

The world famous tenor singing a dirge

"This is how the Polaris General floats on the snow"

Some exercise before the big adventure

Three teams: 4 with ATV, two with snowmobile, two with ARGO. Off we go

We decided that the snowmobile should go first, then the Argo and last the General (being the heaviest vehicle)

The General following in the Argo tracks

Here, the snowmobile had made a little detour, but was able to extricate itself

In front: the snowmobile

First trouble (actually, it was the second, but the first was minor). With the help of a rope and the Argo the stop was relatively short

All is well again: elk crossings, gorgeous weather, beautiful day

We're rolling again

Second trouble. This time a little more serious. At a steeper incline we decided that the snowmobile rider should lay a track and then return to pick up his passenger. When he turned around the snow was too deep and the snowmobile slid off the track into the abyss

We tried different kinds of retrieval, but only succeeded when Ed parked the General right above the snowmobile and used its winch to pull the snowmobile back up again.

Two critical observers

All of this had taken quite some time. Two ladies of the group decided to use snowshoes to continue on foot and lay tracks for the snow mobile.. When the snowmobile was back up we thought it would be better if the snowmobile would also take off without the passenger and we, by now reduced to two Argo inhabitants and three General riders (plus dog), would follow

We did not get very far before the third trouble stopped us again. I explored a little further with the Argo, but decided that even the Argo would not make it. The General got stuck a few feet further up. I turned around. The remaining party held a short briefing at the end of which we decided to leave the General where it was, the two ladies and Ed would hike to their cabin which was not too far away any more. Fortunately we had taken along two extra pairs of snow shoes which we lent to the ladies (Ed had big boots and no snow shoes)

Helga and I returned home, which was much simpler now, just driving in the existing tracks

What took us about three hours going west on Schierl, now took us only about half an hour

Never a dull moment

12-24-2019

50. Life and Death on the Mountain

On another trip down into the valley we encountered the remnants of a gourmet dinner of a mountain lion.

This looks as if the animal had been killed quite some time ago

But here it looks as if this event had happened rather recently. Or maybe the animal was killed some time ago and another predator took advantage of whatever was left over.

07-16-2019

49. Cutting Corners

On our way to Alamosa, we were almost in the valley, we got a surprise when we rounded one of the last corners on Merlo

The driver of the truck delivering Sam Brown's new log cabin underestimated our roads and took the first major corner too narrow and almost lost his trailer. The road, as you can see, was completely blocked

We did the same as the pickup which followed the truck. We turned around and drove all the way back to Schierl.

In the afternoon, at about 4:00PM we came back and watched how a large tow truck inch by inch extricated the trailer

On the other side other vehicles also got stuck - or were watching

Guess who this is

It was not easy

Finally, the trailer was back on solid ground. But how to proceed? The driver of the truck determined that this was enough and he would not continue. He had checked out the curves further up and decided he would not make it. But turning around where he was was not possible. First he tried himself to back up but did not get very far. The driver of the tow truck came to his assistance and was really able to back up the rig so that it was straight on the road.

Backing up meant the front of the truck had to plow through all the vegetation outside of the road.

I thought they were lucky that there was no major hole, rock or gully covered by the bushes

But he made it and all of us, except the tow truck, drove in reverse down the road

Until the unfortunate truck with the log cabin on his trailer got stuck once again

The tow truck driver helped him once more and was able to get the vehicle going again. We let them pass at the vehicle compound and started on our way back home

This is what Merlo looks now at the spot where the truck got stranded

Never a dull moment on the mountain

04-16-2019

48. Rescue of a Neighbor

Originally, we had planned to come back to FWCR a week earlier, but then we noticed that Ken had no rope and no shovel when he would get stuck. So we delayed our trip by one week and planned to arrive just in time to help Ken.

Merlo Dip

And here he was

As mentioned before, Ken had no rope and ours was below all our luggage. But Helga dug it out.

We hitched the ATV to our Argo

And here it is

Never a dull moment

02-13-2019

47. Taking Pictures

One of our neighbors whose cabin had burnt down during the Spring Fire asked us to send him a few pictures of his property, wishing to see what it looked like in winter. First we told him that the conditions this winter were so bad that he would have to wait a while. Fortunately, Glen with his snow cat had helped Vic to get his pickup down into the valley. And fortunately for us, he laid tracks on the roads we had to use to drive to the place where we intended to take pictures.

We drove down our driveway and turned into Schierl which looked good for a few feet, but when we hit the second snow drift things did not look so promising anymore

These were the tracks of the snow cat, but here they did not help; the snow drifts had melted and refrozen; we did not dare go over the second snow drift, which on the down side was vertical and about 5 ft high.

So, we circumnavigated the treacherous drift

This looks better

As you can see the snow is distributed very unevenly, and there is not much

The ride was very bumpy because the wind had compressed the snow rather dense.

On Spangle the snow was deep and we were following the tracks of the snow cat

However, the snow cat has a much higher ground clearance and we did not think it advisable to follow these tracks risking high centering. So we created our own tracks

The road was rather interesting

Some bizarre snow drifts

And some bizarre tree stumps from after the fire

San Isabel Electric cut a number of trees after the fire to prevent them from falling on the overhead electric lines

Occasionally we encountered other road hazards besides snow drifts

It was not easy to immediately find the right property, with the cabin missing and with all the snow cover, but we finally found it.

We put on our snow shoes and walked to the place where we suspected his cabin was located

Fortunately, the wind had blown the snow off some corner of the foundation

Stowing away the snow shoes

On the way back

And now this spot in motion

httpdocs/images/LoM47 Argo 2019.mp4

11-10-2018

46. Treacherous Roads

At this time of the year as well as in spring our roads become rather treacherous. In the valley the roads are all dry and half way up the mountain the roads are dusty, then patches of very shallow snow and higher up more snow, but not much. Actually, there are plenty of tracks, everything looks smooth and innocent. "If other people drove there why should there be a problem for me"? The tracks in the snow, however, were mostly created by tracked vehicles. So you drive until you hit a lower spot which is covered by a foot of snow. When we started out for our daily walk we encountered a pickup truck on Powers right below our cabin. It stoped and we talked for a short while with the driver and his friends, hunters from Georgia. We warned them that a little farther on Powers there was a bad spot. They decided to turn around, asked politely if they could use our driveway to make the turn, turned around and were ready to drive back on Powers, down to Schierl. However, this is when their luck ran out and they got stuck in the snow. It was a big pickup truck, 4x4, with knobby tires, but it did not help, the wheels spun.

We tried to push

Fortunately, they were well equipped and had shovels and chains in the vehicle. We shoveled and pushed, put gravel under the wheels. It did not help. It was very windy and therefore a little chilly. Helga went back to our cabin to make coffee. While hiking back she took a couple of pictures of vehicles stuck on the other side (the place where I had warned the Georgians against)

The guy who got stuck must have called a tow service to tow him out.

With a lot of shoveling and pushing we finally got the vehicle moving again, but only for a few feet before it got stuck a second time

We tried to hitch it up to a tree using a come-along. Meanwhile I went to fetch additional ropes to be able to connect the come-along to a more convenient tree

The vehicle still would not move

It's difficult to mount chains when the vehicle is immobile and only the wheels spin. So we tried to coax the pickup onto the chains using the come-along

They finally got unstuck (and hopefully they made it down into the valley). This is Jim, George and Ralph

Never a dull moment on the mountain

10-31-2018

45. First Snow Storm