Remembering the Firsts

Arriving

It's been four weeks since our frantic closing up of the cabin and the toboggan ride down our long, steep, snow glutted driveway in our SUV.  It was an exhilarating first stay in the beautiful completed cabin, and exhausting too, feeling driven to get this image I'd been working towards for a year and a half out of my head and into reality.

Bottom of the toboggan run...oops, I mean driveway

We had to move out of the trailer to move into the cabin.  And then there was all the stuff we'd brought with us and a huge truckload of things stored in our friends' basement in Colorado Springs which required fetching.  After a couple of nights of sleeping on the floor on pads we realized our 60-something bodies were none to pleased with that and a 100 mile round trip run to Costco for a bed was an imperative.  We decided to stop by the Broadmoor Consignment stop, not far off our route in The Springs, just to have a look.  We ended up buying a table, a couch and an antique dresser; another trip to pick them up.  All the shelves in the kitchen a bathroom had to be lined before moving into those rooms.  And there was the kitschy fake white Christmas tree to get up and decorate and the colored lights to be put up on the porch.  Artwork I'd been collecting needed hanging, the bathroom towel bars, hooks and holders had to be installed, as did the swing-arm reading lamps in the bedroom.  Firewood had to be fetched from the pile and moved near the back door, and the fire needed tending relentlessly.  There was a lot to do, but it was exciting to see the vision of a finished, furnished cabin become a reality.

There were a lot of firsts:

First running water EVER!

First fire in the wood burning stove

First morning's light on the knotty pine ceiling

First snow storm

First cabin Christmas

First sub-zero (note the minus in front of the 13)

First overnight guests

First snow for a desert dog (an unhappy desert dog)

First hypothermia for a desert dog

First watching of ice skating on the lake below the cabin

We also had our first family visit; Bob's three nieces made the three hour trip from Denver for lunch and a hike, pre-snow (and we also had the first announcement of a pregnancy during that visit, a great-nephew with whom to look forward to sharing the cabin).  We had our first dinner guests, our dear friends from across the lake -- after years of incredible hospitality from them it was such a thrill to host them in the comfort of a real cabin.  We had neighbors stop by for hot chocolate, and other vigilant ones to check to see what the lights and chimney smoke were all about (they were relieved to find us there and not interlopers).

Each day was so fraught with "firsts", so thrilling, and yes, so exhausting.  After a year and a half of planning, consulting with our builder, Brian Shelton, two months of being on site during the construction, deciding on materials, looking for just the right things to help make it an "instant" home, and writing checks that made my hands shake, we were finally able to live inside the dream turned to reality.

It was so hard to leave right when I could see that I might be able to just sit and enjoy our labors for a day, but duty called.  The white knuckled, but successful 4-wheel drive sleigh ride down the long steep driveway behind us, the road slowly improved, and soon -- too soon -- we were heading south to our other home in the Sonoran desert where we'll once again dream of the reality of the cabin and look forward to a long, and often lazy, summer in the cool Colorado Rockies.

Desert homeward bound

Winter Storm Flashback

December 30th.  Happiness.  Complete.

Morning of the storm, pre-flakes

It started, at last, as a few lazy flakes dancing their way to the ground around 11 AM.  We had just made a run to the Ranch House to use the phone to make some calls and cancel a January 2nd motel reservation “just in case” we got snowed in.  There’d been talk of this among the few folks we’d seen a couple days ago at the grocery in Divide and the hardware store in Florissant -- storm moving in Wednesday or Thursday with snow and highs in the teens -- and we’d restlessly awaited it’s arrival.  Well, it’s here.

At first I watched from the loft window as the snow picked up a bit, seeming to disappear upon reaching the ground.  Downstairs in front of the fire I watched the flakes grow to the size of doll house doilies.  The far mountain across the valley started to fade as the snowfall increased until it could only be seen in your imagination.  One by one the ridges between have ceased to exist.  Looking through the windows on three sides of the living room one had the feeling of living inside a snow globe.

Four hours later the view is cloaked in snowfall

The ground took on a glazed look and before long the red rocks towering outside the back door looked sifted with powdered sugar.  Soon the ground was hidden under a few inches of soft billowed snow and the upper sides of the tree boughs became covered in white.  First the firs and spruce with their closely spaced needles caught and kept the snow, but now the ponderosas are clutching the flakes as well.  The red rocks have become almost totally hidden and every so often there’s a mini-avalanche.

Stellar's jay tests the insulative properties of feathers

We are three hours into a storm predicted to last well into tomorrow, and we seem to be getting over an inch an hour.  Some birds persist at the feeder; the mountain chickadees have outlasted the Stellar’s jays and white-breasted nuthatches, though the juncos bravely left their ground feeding ways and tried the feeders for a bit.  The sky continues to darken though it is early afternoon.  The colored Christmas lights hung on the deck are cloaked with snow.

Despite the decades of history on this site my husband says he could count the number of times he’s seen this big a snow storm here on one hand.  The old cabin was not built to be comfortable in these conditions, and with temperatures falling from below freezing towards single digits a trip to the outhouse would have taken some serious thought.  Despite the storm our wood burning stove is easily keeping us warm in this tight snug cabin.  We’ve books to read, games to play, puzzles to work, lots of good food and good wine, and a genuine winter wonderland outside to watch.  We are well on the way to being snowed in, and having everyone else be snow out -- a wonderful experience with the one you love best.  We couldn’t be happier.

Best winter storm strategy

Fabulous First Stay

Same view as banner photo above, but with snow and a cabin!

We had an amazing first stay in the finished cabin.  It is more beautiful than we could have anticipated and while Mother Nature massively challenged us with a serious winter storm, the incredibly well built snug cabin handled it magnificently, allowing us to stay warm only using the wood burning stove.  Briefly, it is more wonderful than we could have imagined and to realize this dream and live inside its reality was overwhelming.  We are thrilled -- exhausted, but thrilled.

Welcome home!
The wreath a gift delivered by ATV by our good friends across the lake

There will be several posts about this inaugural stay in the cabin, but we worked ourselves to near exhaustion and drove 900 miles in the last two days, so here are a few photos to whet your appetite with more to follow soon.  Enjoy.  We certainly did.

The view from the loft the day after arrival...

...and a week after arrival

We hope you too had a joyous Christmas and a very Happy New Year