Yet more work at the cabin

I just got back from 4 days at the the cabin. Some additional electrical work was needed, and a couple jack posts were installed to firm up the floor. Some minor changes to the weather station were made to improve temperature reliability. Al in all, a productive trip. The nights are starting to get a bit cool. Sunday night it got down into the mid twenties. I was burning about 50 pounds of coal a day to maintain a temperature inside of around 70 degrees. The lack of insulation and drafty construction are beginning to rear their ugly heads. These are issues that will be addressed in the future, but for now it can make for chilly nights, but, then again, that's all part of the cabin experience. A cool evening, a roaring fire, a movie on DirecTV, a bowl of popcorn, and a fuzzy blanket...what more could anyone ask??

Fall in the Endless Mountains

If you've never experienced fall in the Endless Mountains region of northern PA, you owe it to yourself to do so. The peak foliage color usually occurs dating the first two weeks in October, more or less. Because of the extreme variation of the local micro-climates, peak color tends to happen at different times in areas only a few miles apart. We saw areas with very little color next to areas where many of the leaves have already fallen. Here's a video with some pictures from our trip last weekend...enjoy!!

Cabin video

OK...I admit I never knew about Microsoft Movie Maker. My brother (http://ourwellsfamilynews.blogspot.com/) introduced me to it. So, like a kid with a new toy, I immediately produced a video...and here it is!!

Enjoy!!

PA fall foliage

Have you ever been to the northern part of the State in the fall to see the fall leaves? No?? You should!! There are any number of places one can travel to look at the leaves. One, of course, is The Grand Canyon of PA, http://www.visittiogapa.com/canyon.html.

Our favorite, as you might guess, is in Sullivan County at Worlds End State Park, http://www.dcnr.state.pa.us/stateparks/parks/worldsend.aspx Be sure to travel both to High Knob and Canyon Vista. Stop by the park office for a map, or down load one from the web site.

This years Flaming Foliage Festival in Forksville, http://www.thesullivanconnection.com/events.html only a couple miles from the park, will be Oct. 4 and 5. Free admission!! Try the french fries!! We will be at the cabin that weekend and will definitely visit all of the places I mentioned...hope to see you at one of them!!

Bradford County Weather Now on-line!

Yes...it's true! You can now check out the weather in southern Bradford County form the comfort of your computer! We installed an old weather station and APRS radio set-up (the apprentice has been in mothballs for at least 7 or 8 years) at the cabin. It checks limited weather parameters every 10 minutes and broadcast then, via ham radio, into the APRS radio network. The radio traffic is then picked up and sent to the web for all to see. The link is:
http://www.findu.com/cgi-bin/wxpage.cgi?call=N3HCP-3
The perimeters recorded are temperature, wind speed, and rain since midnight. Because this is a very old weather station, some things don't work as they should. The wind direction part of the anemometer has failed, and the rain gauge only reports in .1 inch increments. The system expects .01 inch, so the reading from the station needs to be multiplied by 10 to get the correct rain fall amount. It is my hope that this set-up will survive long enough to prove that a weather station at the cabin is a viable idea. Hopefully I will be able to improve it later.

Northern PA weather

We just got back from a camping trip to World's End with our friends from Myerstown. As usual, the nights were a bit on the cool side. Wednesday morning it was down in the 40's. Part of the problem is that the camp ground is in a Vally near the Loyalsock Creek. on calm, clear nights not only do we get the normal heat loss to the dark sky, but all the cold air from the surrounding hills drains into the valley. Add to that, there was rain on Tuesday do we had evaporative cooling to add into the mix. Put it all together and we were glad we had a heater in the camper!!

Labor Day Weekend

Catwoman and I will be heading to the cabin for Labor Day. This will be the first trip that does not include clean up, repair, or painting. I won't be surprised if some of that happens, and we might need to mow the lawn, but it's not the primary purpose of the trip. We plan to sit on the deck and enjoy the wilderness. (This in no way precludes the odd trip to Dushore the stimulate the local economy at Pam's Restaurant, the Jolly Trolley, or the Sub-Way at the Pump 'n Pantry.) Anyone who feels the need for a road trip, feel free to drop by. For obvious reasons, I'm not posting the location of the cabin on the Web, so e-mail us for directions.

The Late, Great Miss Ebony

It is with great sadness the I report the death, this morning, of our beloved Miss Ebony. The last of out three black cats, she was just shy of her 21st birthday. She has suffered from kidney failure, very common in older cats, for about three years. With the help of modern veterinary medicine, she was able to enjoy a good quality of life until the end. She will be sorely missed.

Trash total

We got the invoice from the trash hauler who provided the roll-off for our cabin clean up. The weight of trash hauled away by them was 1280 pounds. Combined with the pick-up truck loads we hauled home, we estimate the final weight of trash we disposed of to be about 1800 pounds!

Some updates..

We just got back from another couple days at the retreat. After a bit more painting and a conversation with a local contractor, we've now done about all we can do by ourselves to bring the cabin up to snuff. It's cosmetically much improved, the leftover "stuff" is gone, and we added window treatments. We are now able to go for a few days without taking tools and wondering what to do next.

Due to technical issues, the cabin web site has been moved to a new page at:

http://n3hcp.com/cabin.htm

When you look at the pictures remember two important things...first, this is, and will remain for some time, a work in progress. And second, this is a cabin in the woods, not a cottage. It's "rustic" to say the least...or, if you prefer, "cabin chic".

Yet more clean-up!!

Last week we went to the cabin on Tuesday for some more painting and clean-up. This time we had a 12 cubic yard roll-off dumpster to help us out. It looks to us like this cabin was, at one time, a true hunting camp. The number of mattresses and the amount and type of other stuff points to that, so there was a lot of stuff of get rid of. It took us less then half a day to fill the dumpster up! I had to actually go inside (yea, I know...dumpster diving) to pack the junk as tight as we could in order to get it in. We put 10 pieces of bedding, an old TV, several radios, a bread maker, a deep fryer, and old gas grill, and a whole bunch of other stuff in. We also replaced the out house door, so the old door was also in there. Now, at last, the place is starting to shape up. A little more painting, some porch roof work, and we will be done for this season. There's much more to do, but we can now use in in reasonable comfort, devoid of all the junk!

A few days at the cabin

So we went up to the cabin last Thursday to do a little painting, clean-up, and just watch the Ruby Throated Hummingbirds. When we arrived we realized we had been the victims of a theft! A 20 pound propane tank, better then half empty, an old, cracked, bird feeder, and a bottle of hand sanitizer from the outhouse were missing. Stealing from an outhouse...how pathetic is that!!

Otherwise, it was a good and productive trip. It was cool enough to have a fire in the mew stove a couple evenings. Very cool indeed!!

Today we ordered a dumpster from the local trash hauler so we can complete the clean-up. The only really important thing left after that will be to repair the porch roof. We're getting there!

Blogging from Canada!

Well, here we are in Prince Edward Ialand, Canada. Here at the visitor's center they have computers for the public to use, so we'll take the opertunity to blog from Canada! For the first time in years we have had no rain for the entire trip!!
Got ot get off this computer, so Greetings From Canada!!!

Cabin update...

Ms. Nettie and I were at the cabin last week. There were a number of firsts in a couple of days. It was the first night Ms. Nettie spent at the cabin. The beds consist of an old frame with a piece of 3/4 inch plywood and a very old mattress inside a plastic mattress bag. Sleeping is done in a sleeping bag, thus eliminating the need for sheets and blankets. She said it was the best night's sleep she's had in weeks! With no Moon it's very dark there in the hills and the silence is defining!! The very definition of "getting away from it all".

In the morning we had our first cooked breakfast, bacon and eggs, of course (how cool is that?). Later that morning the chimney guy came and was able to repair the thimble between the stove and chimney so the new stove can be used.

We are beginning to put our own touches on the place, making it "ours".

New pictures have been added to the cabin web site at: http://www.n3hcp.com/pictures_form_the_cabin.htm

Stay tuned!

Cabin update and Bradford Co. weather.

Well, it was time to start clean-up and to do some electrical work at our cabin. After three days the cabin is now usable, although much remains to be done.

It's amazing how the weather only 120 miles north varies from here in Lebanon County. The days are almost as warm, but the nights are a good deal cooler. A good window fan is all that's needed most of the time to keep the cabin comfortable, or even down right cool at night.

While exploring the surrounding woods I found several large piles of bear scat. This answers the question once and for all about bears and body functions in the woods...well you know, they do. On Sunday evening a large black bear (Ursus americanus) walked across the side and front yards.

There are pictures, but to avoid unnecessary band with here I have posted them on my web site. Check them out at:

http://www.n3hcp.com/pictures_form_the_cabin.htm

Weather may warm up...finally!!

Well, it looks like the upper level low and the omega block that have plagued us for the last week or more may finally be poised to depart. With any luck, Friday should show some improvement and the weekend looks down right pleasant! There might be a bit of rain mid week and the following weekend (so what else is new), but for the most part the weather is looking a bit more seasonable.

A blast from the past.

I just heard from an old colleague from my Air Force days. It's hard to believe that was over 35 years ago!! Seems like yesterday. It's also amazing to realize how much things have changed over that time. Back in those days we were always on the alert for those pesky Russian Bear bombers sneaking over the North Pole. We always had a couple birds on the ready line to go up and save the day!

My nephew Keith is now following in my foot steps and is serving in the Air Force...but with a twist. Instead of freezing important body parts off in the wilds of northern Maine with only moose for company, he is stationed in warm, sunny Italy. Oh, well, I must console myself with the fact that I served back when men were men and airplanes were held together with bailing wire and spit...and we kept them in the air!

You Can follow Keith's exploits on my brother's blog at http://ourwellsfamilynews.blogspot.com/
Enjoy!!

"Survivalist" explained

I have had some feed back on my use of the term "survivalist" in a the "Back to nature..." blog entry. Unfortunately, the word has come to have some negative connotations in the last few years. For many people the term conjures up images of camouflage wearing para-military types running around the deep woods of the western US preparing for some apocalyptic future there paranoia has conjured up. Let me assure you, I am not one of them.

The term, as it applies to me and others like me, refers to something a whole lot more main stream. We believe that it is only good common sense to be prepared to survive any of a number of disasters, both natural and man made, that can and do occur every day. One need look no further then New Orleans for a prime example.

There is a very good article on Wikipedia that I refer you to:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Survivalism

Hope this clears up the confusion, and, oh yea...how prepaired are you???

So this is Spring??

N3HCP and Catwoman decided it was time for another camping outing. To take advantage of KOA's "free night" promotion, we needed to go the weekend of May 10. We decided, some time ago, that Watkins Glen would be a good destination. Unfortunately, I came down with what might just be the worst case of the flu since 1918. But, being the determined individual I am, we pressed on. The weather was, of course, cold. We managed to do some walking, Geocaching, and visit the Watkins Glen Gorge to view the falls. The temperature was in the high 30's or 40's at night. We were lucky in that we only had a little rain on Monday morning before heading home.

Through it all, I was, as always, stoic, never letting my terrible flu symptoms interfere with my day. Oddly, Catwoman seems to have a different take on that matter. She has been heard to use words like "wuss", "wimp", and "needy". Well, in all honesty, my extremely high fever may have colored my perception of the facts.

At least the weather seems to be ready to warm up a bit. I don't know about anyone else, but I am more then ready for Summer!!

Back to nature...

Mr. and Mrs. N3HCP have bought a cabin in a secluded areas of northern Pennsylvania. There is electrical and phone service, but no water or sewer on the 2.5 acres the cabin sits on. So, in the future we will be able to report on weather and other interesting happenings both here in Schaefferstown, but at the undisclosed location of the cabin. Undisclosed location?? You bet. As an unabashed survivalist, the cabin is not only our get away spot, but also our bug-out retreat. As such, the location needs to be kept secret from all but a trusted few. Call me paranoid, but when TEOWAWKI (the end of the world as we know it) comes, you're on your own! While urbanites are fighting over food scraps in the streets, we will be warm and comfy somewhere in the wilds of up-state PA.