My Journey

longhorn1

Observer
Beautiful area. Nice not having anyone around. Sure beats dealing with the masses at Yellowstone. Also not having to deal with stupid. All of those Bison petting fools.
 
Foy.....it's all just rock to me but considering where it's located I have no reason to disbelieve it's not Madison Limestone.....as a matter of fact, I'd even bet it is.....

ITTOG.....good to hear of your progress ! I'm envious (but not jealous one bit).....I haven't actually decided against surgery but I'm simply delaying surgery. I seem to have good days and bad days, even good weeks and bad weeks. Last week was painful, this week not so bad. As of this posting, my plan is for surgery April, 2023.....

Sierra Valley.....I've yet to see a big bear up that road but I'd say / think that it is inevitable with the amount of time we're spending up there.....deer are common there but that's it so far for the wildlife.....

Chet6.7.....I'm not looking forward to it one bit. When the surgeon suggested waiting I was all in. I feel so lucky in so many ways.....some people live with eternal pain with no way out, yet I know that once I get the surgery that my pain will be gone.....I'm pretty darn grateful for that.....

JD.....I'm the only stupid on that road !



I just completed yet one more mountaineering book Shishapangma.....The alpine-style first ascent of the South-West Face by Doug Scott & Alex Macintyre. I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone here.....literally you have to be all in to enjoy this one. There's a chapter at the end of the book on Buddhism (Buddhism & high altitude mountaineering seem to go hand in hand to me) and it's interesting how it ties solitude and happiness together.....here's a few excerpts.....

"How difficult it is for us to imagine how Milarepa could spend more than half his lilifetime in solitude, denying himself nearly all the worldy comforts that we take for granted."

"Mountaineers, especially, may identify with his need for solitude. Is it not one of the great joys of expeditioning, where our lives are less cluttered and more simple, where we can rest in present, content that at least for a time the future will take care of itself and the past seems not so important ? In our task of climbing the mountain, with all its inherent dangers and hardships, we concentrate the mind and stop it wandering. The higher we go the less we carry the less we have to worry about as we climb, grateful to be there on the mountain."

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So it now seems as though we make a weekly trek to the mountains.....our special little place.....

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Load up the truck with stones and take our long walks.....

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My main focus this month has been to finish the exterior of the barn.....I took a step back and took a hard look trying to determine what I could do to make it just a bit better (short of tearing it down).....so I added end caps to really finish it.....

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And I realized that I could add a bit more stone walls where the barn doors slide.....

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So now it's finally done.....I'll do no more.....here's the finished product from all four sides.....

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ITTOG

Well-known member
It is looking good. I like that you added stone where the door slides open to. So what is the purpose of the stone? Is it looks only or are there critters you are trying to keep out?

I noticed the back of the garage doesn't have the end cap on the roof. Do you plan to add it there too?

Glad to hear you have good times and not constant pain.
 

Riversdad

Active member
Barn looks good Jerry, but looking at the barn pictures and the back of that pickup it's easy to see why you have some painful days.
 

Arjan

Fossil Overlander
Goedeavond,

Hope the hip will get back into shape and you have many more years !

That barn looks good !

You're going to fit gutters and save water ?
 
Arjan.....thanks so much ! I've put countless hours into restoring that barn.....funny thing is that I like the exterior of the barn much more than I do the exterior of the cabin. And no I won't add gutters.....and quite honestly, I've got an amazing well here and I simply don't ever consider saving water. My water is so plentiful & tasty, that I think I could bottle it and sell it. That being said, I'm not totally irresponsible.....I recycle, I don't use any chemicals on the property (such as weed killers), my electricity & propane use is negligible, and so forth.....

Riversdad.....that right there is my gym membership.....I've started a new project which incorporates the larger boulders that you see in the bed of the truck.....pictures coming.....

ITTOG.....actually I do have constant pain but it varies probably averaging a 5 or 6 on a scale of 1 to 10 (and that ain't no scientific number).....

The stone walls are only for aesthetic purposes.....I really like the look and in addition I find that building with stone is therapeutic. It almost fits into the category of mountaineering. I lose myself into the world of stones.....

I think we're using the word end cap to describe different parts of the barn.....my guess is that you're referring to this side of the barn.....

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If that's the case, no I'm not adding end caps here.....believe me I've given it a lot of thought. I would have to unscrew the metal roofing panels, cut each truss board back 2", then attempt to reattach a weathered board to the ends of the somewhat rotten truss boards.....I just don't think it's worth it. Plus I love the patina on the existing boards (that's the north side of the barn.....

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This is what I was referring to when I said end caps.....after stepping back and studying the trim that I had added, I noticed there were gaps left unfilled.....

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So I went back and added the end caps.....

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As much as I love my newly restored barn, it'll never come close to being as cool as my neighbors' log barn which they tell me is one of the first structures constructed in this area.....decades of history right there.....as seen through my upcoming forest.....

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Last night I broke the news to the dogs.....the exterior of the barn is finally done.....

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ITTOG

Well-known member
Yes we are talking about the same thing. I agree it isn't worth that effort and the weathered look is good. Good luck with dealing with your pain until April. I hope it all works out for you. Hopefully they gave you some decent pain meds. I started out on them but got tired of taking them every day so I went a while with only taking the pain meds at bedtime so I could sleep.
 

BigDawwg

-[Gettin-it Done]-
Jerry, just check-in on how your doing, I've been out of pocket for awhile, helping an old Marine buddy of mine building a Cabin up in the Talkeetna area, anyway, I did the Hip-Replacement in 2016, about 6-weeks +/- in Recovery, and I was Good-To-Go, had a check-up X-Ray at about the 6-Month, and to tell you the God's Honest Truth, should of had it done a long time ago, I don't even know it's there anymore, my Doc did a Great-Job, and my VA-Medical Paid the Bill, less $55.00,,,,, and I'm still not sure what that charge was for, but hey, I'll take it.
Anyway, make sure you don't get Metal-On-Metal Design, I'll attach what's in my Hip, it's Rated for 30yrs +/-......
You and the Dogs take Care.....
BD & Murphy in Alaska :cool:
 

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ITTOG.....I've yet to take a single medication.....not even anything available over the counter. I just had an amazing stretch of 5 days of living without pain. Of course I have no explanation for that but unfortunately it came back after a long hike in the mountains. I'm about ready to put hip & pain talk behind me.....that's for old people.....

BigDawwg.....I wondered if we'd see you two again.....welcome back. I think maybe I saw that same kit on the O'Reilly's Auto Parts website when I was searching for suspension parts for my 1992 Jeep Wrangler but it says that it only has a one year warranty ?.....



Finally there was a short reprieve from the blistering hot temperatures that have dominated the summer months in southwest Montana this year.....so we took a drive into town for the annual sidewalk used book sale at the library.....always a home run when you're in a literate mountain town.....

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Then we drove north along the western slopes of the Bridger Mountains.....rain has been rare this summer and the land is fairly parched here.....

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With the cooler day-time temperatures this week it felt good as the road north slowly rose to higher ground.....we took the old beater Jeep and with no door windows it felt great riding in the fresh mountain air (we barely made it home due to a faulty clutch).....then we finally got in a climb.....

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What a wonderful day it was.....

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For those interested, we plan to be back on the road November first.....honestly, it can't come soon enough.....days like these remind me that there's more to life than just working around the cabin.....

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The mountains are calling.....soon enough.....just trying to be thankful.....

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longhorn1

Observer
Foy.....it's all just rock to me but considering where it's located I have no reason to disbelieve it's not Madison Limestone.....as a matter of fact, I'd even bet it is.....

ITTOG.....good to hear of your progress ! I'm envious (but not jealous one bit).....I haven't actually decided against surgery but I'm simply delaying surgery. I seem to have good days and bad days, even good weeks and bad weeks. Last week was painful, this week not so bad. As of this posting, my plan is for surgery April, 2023.....

Sierra Valley.....I've yet to see a big bear up that road but I'd say / think that it is inevitable with the amount of time we're spending up there.....deer are common there but that's it so far for the wildlife.....

Chet6.7.....I'm not looking forward to it one bit. When the surgeon suggested waiting I was all in. I feel so lucky in so many ways.....some people live with eternal pain with no way out, yet I know that once I get the surgery that my pain will be gone.....I'm pretty darn grateful for that.....

JD.....I'm the only stupid on that road !



I just completed yet one more mountaineering book Shishapangma.....The alpine-style first ascent of the South-West Face by Doug Scott & Alex Macintyre. I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone here.....literally you have to be all in to enjoy this one. There's a chapter at the end of the book on Buddhism (Buddhism & high altitude mountaineering seem to go hand in hand to me) and it's interesting how it ties solitude and happiness together.....here's a few excerpts.....

"How difficult it is for us to imagine how Milarepa could spend more than half his lilifetime in solitude, denying himself nearly all the worldy comforts that we take for granted."

"Mountaineers, especially, may identify with his need for solitude. Is it not one of the great joys of expeditioning, where our lives are less cluttered and more simple, where we can rest in present, content that at least for a time the future will take care of itself and the past seems not so important ? In our task of climbing the mountain, with all its inherent dangers and hardships, we concentrate the mind and stop it wandering. The higher we go the less we carry the less we have to worry about as we climb, grateful to be there on the mountain."

View attachment 738698


So it now seems as though we make a weekly trek to the mountains.....our special little place.....

View attachment 738699

Load up the truck with stones and take our long walks.....

View attachment 738700

My main focus this month has been to finish the exterior of the barn.....I took a step back and took a hard look trying to determine what I could do to make it just a bit better (short of tearing it down).....so I added end caps to really finish it.....

View attachment 738701

And I realized that I could add a bit more stone walls where the barn doors slide.....

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So now it's finally done.....I'll do no more.....here's the finished product from all four sides.....

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Nice touch. Love the stone wall around the base. Probably unique.
 

tgil

Well-known member
The "stay the trail" Private Property sign is so inviting! Living in Texas, something like 98% of the land is private. I can't think of a single place I've seen here, with public access like that.
I watched a video on yt last night of two guys looking for an old mining site. They surmised no one had been there in close to 100 years. I never did figure out if it was on private or public land, in NV.
That solitude is invaluable!

Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk
 

longhorn1

Observer
We got back from a week at Indiana Dunes State Park and Indiana Dunes National Park Sunday, August 28th. Sarah was scheduled for surgery last Thursday, September 1st to remove a Spindle Cell Sarcoma from her left side that had gone from a small fatty tissue which checked out fine to a 3"x3"x1" hard mass. A biopsy would follow. She had a different idea. On Wednesday, August 31st she had a massive seizure. I rushed to her side. She got up and was disoriented. She wouldn't let us get close to her. We rushed her to the Vet Hospital and after consulting with the vet decided to put her to sleep. At 1:42pm she took her last breath. We are besides ourselves, but we know she had a great life. 3 litters, 18 puppies. We adopted her on June 21, 2015, she was 5-1/2. She lived to 12 years, 7 months. She went on 38 camping trips with us. She camped in 32 states and 2 Canadian Provinces.
 
JD.....DANG ! I sure wasn't prepared for that.....man, I'm just so, so sorry. Sometimes I look at Tanner & Trapper and I tell them that I have to be the next one to go cause I don't think I could get through another dog leaving me. There's just nothing like a good dog.....and few things more painful than losing one.....I'm truly sorry.....I think it'd be cool if you'd share some of your favorite pictures of Sarah here for us to remember her & to share your fond memories .....

On August 30 th at 4:00 a.m. I was awakened to a sound that I thought was indicative of a break in. It turned out that Tanner too was having a seizure. Scariest thing ever. His seizure lasted about a minute maybe two. I bent down to comfort him and he smashed the bridge of my nose causing a one inch gash which bled for 24 hours. It took him about five minutes to get himself together. Thankfully he's been fine since. We have appointments on the 14th.....

They live forever within us.....

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