spring is in the air

Can't believe I haven't written since February. The glaciers are finally almost gone and there is a hint of green in the grass. No sign of buds in the trees. There is a symphony of sound from the birds. The ground is still frozen and the heaving has begun. I am so anxious to start the garden.
We decided to try our hand at bees this spring. We will locate them in a quiet out of the way spot and in future years we hope to have honey for our guests.
Nothing much has been happening on the cabins except for rentals. It has been nice to get the occasional winter guest. The ground is too wet and muddy around the Boxcar Cabin to do any work on the exterior.
We took advantage of the time and cold weather last week to relocate my laundry area so we can work on the small room and bathroom in our house, we can work on our place in the summer when the cabins are rented. We will now take a break on that and finish the soffit of the garage. Tally is feeling a bit overwhelmed by the projects left for us to do but we plug away on them and have a feeling of accomplishment when something gets finished.

2/6/09

Wonderful snow we have. We had guests leave the Log Cabin this morning. They were thrilled to finally be staying in the Black Hills and have it snow.

Tally and I x-country skied this morning for a few hours. We follow our hiking trails. For novices we don't do too bad. It is harder to ski down a hill than hike it. I fell twice before I played it safe and side stepped down. Tally just took off his skis and walked. I think we are improving in this Silver City winter wonderland.

We have not been doing anything on the cabins lately. We have been working our second job almost every day at the Civic Center in Rapid City. The Black Hills Stock Show is going on, both of us have been doing camera work and spotlight work for the rodeo. It is a good change of pace for us. Tally has also been doing some finish trim work for his sister. Family obligations are infringing on Happy Trails projects. Luckily he has one window left and then we can evaluate priorities for Happy Trails.

The chickens are happy and laying eggs. Please do not buy eggs for your visit here. I have plenty for guests. They are fun to watch out my desk window.

Cold and Snowy

Mother Nature always manages to take control. We have had record lows and snow. Needless to say it has stopped Tally's digging as we have been diverted to getting the garden harvested and taking care of neighbors frozen pipes. We still have guests coming in and are secure in the knowledge that at least our cabins will keep our guests cozy and pipes will not freeze. It is supposed to warm up this week, during one of the warm days we will drain the cabins to get ready for the winter that has already arrived. We still have guests coming in so we will leave the Log Cabin open. Our winter rental policy is a 2 night minimum and we pick the cabin. We pick the cabin based on which one was just used and still warm and which one is easiest to open and re-drain. Typically we use the Log Cabin, Boxcar Cabin and Cottage the most. With the foundation still in the works, the Boxcar Cabin will be out of the mix for a bit longer.

I am also spending time getting the garden produce canned and safely stored.

Our winter job has also started. We do stagework at our local civic center. The hockey season began so we are working many friday and saturdays. Tally is working a video camera again and I am still doing instant replays. It is fun and helps supplement our cabin rental income.

The chickens like the paint job on their coop and are doing well. One of them is in love with Tally's little excavator. She visits him all the time when he is digging, I think it is the long arm of the digger that she likes. Unfortunately she also likes to lay her eggs under the cabin. I don't know what she will do when we get it done.

stumps and painting

We are done with the busy season. The guests come in smaller numbers this time of year and we are done with the 4-5 cabin cleanings in a day. When we reach this time of year we are so thankful for all the friends that returned and new friends we made.

Now we turn our attention to projects that need to get done before winter. Tally has started digging around the Boxcar Cabin to prepare for the installation of a footing and foundation. We spent the past 3 days digging around a stump and pulling it out. Ponderosa pine trees have deep and numerous roots. Needless to say it is out and sitting in the driveway of the cabin. Now Tally can continue digging the trench.

During this stump project I helped a friend with a metal roofing job. I am not sure how skilled of a laborer I was but I worked 2.5 days. I sure was sore after 8 hours on a roof. Today I put in some painting time. The weather is perfect for painting and staining. As cabins sit empty I try and get a few small projects done. The garden can sit for a bit longer. The frost we had last week put an end to beans, cucumbers, etc, but the beets, onions, carrots and potatoes can sit in the ground almost until it freezes. It is nice to take a break from canning.

The end of summer is official as tomorrow I will put the inner tubes away. The fall colors are sure popping out on the Silver City Road, very pretty.

8/27/09

As our night sky is so dark we are staying up to watch mars tonight.

We have been busy keeping up with the raspberries. We picked 2 ice cream buckets of raspberries this morning and I jelled 4 batches today. As the raspberry went better than the chokecherry I am making more raspberry for next year. Hope everyone has been enjoying the jelly.

No big ventures lately for Happy Trails. Tally is still digging and will probably be digging for awhile, I think he is having way too much fun so I get him to help clean a cabin once in a while. The season is winding down. Labor day will be the last big hurrah though as we are open all year we do have quite a few guests coming in September. There is more time between guests so the cabin cleaning is not as hectic. It is hectic in our kitchen as I jell and can the garden produce. Sometimes it is a relief for the garden to be done. I have put out the notice that we can't grow tomatoes at our elevation so a few of our reliable guests have brought me enough tomatoes from their gardens to make salsa and still have a lot of tomato sandwiches and BLT's. We have been in heaven.

8/19/09

We made it through our own Primal Quest. Silver City came through with great support of all the racers. No matter what time of day or night we had someone cheering and feeding each team. With our background in ultra distance cycling and racing at high levels Tally & I really enjoyed seeing the athletes. It really brought back some great memories, the downside is that we did have to take breaks and clean cabins and get laundry done as guests were still coming in and we do have a business to run.

Though the weather has not been cooperating the die hard guests have been inner tubing. I may have to have some wet suits available for the adults, I don't think the kids feel the cold. For future guests... pack the wet suit. People have still been catching fish and the flowers are totally wonderful.

Tally is busy digging around the Boxcar Cabin in preparation for installing a foundation. We will start the hard part after Labor Day. Can't believe the summer is almost over.

8/16/09

The raspberries are ripe! Time to pick and make jelly. Many guests got a sampling of the fruits of our garden. Hope they were all enjoyed. I did notice the chokecherry jelly was not as well received as the raspberry. More raspberry for 2010.

We made it through Sturgis rally week. It was very busy for the town. Our daughter and cousin with the neighbor girls sell lemonade, brownies, hot dogs and chips to the motorcyclists. They do well and it is a great way for them to learn about business and customer relations.

This weekend the Black Hills are hosting the Primal Quest Race www.ecoprimalquest.com. It is 600 miles of racing throughout the Black Hills and Badlands. Silver City VFD is a check point of the race and it has been fun to see the racers go through.

More later.