What ELSE have we been doing?

Ya know how I said there's ALWAYS something to do on or in the Refuge?  Well, apparently, there's been an ongoing signage update project for about 2 years now.  New kiosks have been designed and built, signs designed and printed, even the maps were updated. But there was never enough time or manpower to get them all in place.  Plus, some of the trails (and the Quarry Canyon parking lot) weren't fully developed, but they were notated on the signs.  Couldn't put THEM up, people would be all confused and go off into the wilds, wreaking havoc on, and possibly destroying, the environment. Well, apparently all the stars aligned properly, and the time is nigh!  Time to install the new signs and kios  ks!  Of course, we started with the easiest and most visited one.  This kiosk was already in place; we just needed to replace the actual signs.  Zip, Zip, Zip went the screw gun, and BAM!  All the old signs came out and the new ones went right in.  Easy-peasy!  This is gonna be a breeze.  Or so we thought.  And it was, for a while....

No sooner had we installed this one, up by the Sunset Deck, at the top of Warbler Vista, than we turned around and found it in use by a hiker, studying the trail.  I'm serious, we had only just turned our backs and taken a couple of steps, and there he was!  I took this picture on the sly (not sure he would want his picture plastered all over the internet and viewed by my thousands of followers, haha) and quick texted it to our boss lady.  She was very happy to see that her efforts were being noticed and appreciated so quickly.

We did that for each of the trailheads; there were 4 individual panels in all.  Down at the bottom of the hill, we put in 3 more new signs.  This one was the beginning of our tricky ones.  See that middle panel?  It used to house a locked, plexiglass/metal/corkboard bulletin board, sort of like a medicine cabinet.  That had to come out to make way for the new sign.  And panels one and three certainly wouldn't look right had we not been able to insert panel two, would they.  Well, it came out easily enough.....but we needed to replace it on the BACK side, so that the sign would be held in place correctly.  And, THAT is where our troubles started. I don't know why it's so, but things almost NEVER go back in easily, and never on the first try.  Rarely on the 2nd try either.  But, eventually, with a little persuasion, we got 'er done, and got 'er in.  

So we came back to do the board by the office.  Took us a while to disassemble the frame around the chimney (the display is for chimney swifts, (agile, graceful & beneficial little birds). That sucker was HEAVY.  The frame and existing panel, not the birdies.  When we finally got it down, and over to the bench for examination, we found, number one, it was made of Hardi-board, which, in case you don't know, is made out of cement & fiberglass.  And cement is HEAVY.  And, two, it has these veeeeerrry interesting little security rivet fasteners on the back:

There were four of 'em, and we didn't have any sort of tool to facilitate their removal.  Good thing, I guess, because if we HAD gotten it off, we would have had to install the NEW sign, and that promised to be a bugg-a-boo all by itself.  We contemplated just installing the new sign right over the old sign, but then it would have taken 4 strongmen to reinstall it into the chimney surround, and we didn't have that kind of availability.  Guess that one is gonna have to wait for a more fully staffed crew.  And maybe a less hot day would be good too.

The next day, we got an early start and went out the Shin Oak Observation Deck.  We THOUGHT that sign had been painted shut, so we made sure to take a putty knife and hammer, to break the seal.  HAHAHA.....apparently the Big Guy upstairs wanted to test our creativity.  The sign frame was IRON.  Painted IRON, that had RUSTED TOGETHER.  Oh.My.Gawd.  We called Ben, whose house was nearby (still on Refuge property, but about 10 minutes away, and down a dusty driveway) to see if he had any WD40.  Cuz, you know, that'll fix just about anything, right?  He did, but he was on a tractor, an hour away, so we had to go get it out of his truck, which, luckily, was in his front yard.  We came back and gave it a few more whacks with the little hammer we had brought with us.   Did.Not.Budge.  Not a smidge.  Called Ben back, did he have a maul?  Why, yes, as a matter of fact, he DID.  On his OTHER truck.  Soooo, back to his house we went.  Was actually a nice break, sitting in the air conditioned truck for a few minutes.  Got the maul, and managed to scrounge up a few paper towels and a grease gun, too.  Went back to the sign, put up the board and gave it a few more whacks.  And whatdoyaknow?  IT MOVED.  Just a wee bit, but enough to give us hope and keep us going.

We both very carefully avoided that prickly pear cactus you see down at the bottom left, and after a few (very minor) mishaps (like, "hold it" meant hold the frame, not the board) we finally got all the old signs out and all the new signs in.  And the frames wedged back in on the backside.  I bet they aren't coming out for another hundred years.

When we got home, we cleaned up and went swimming.  My, my, that was enjoyable.  As we were relaxing, a very interesting cloud formation appeared.  I posted this in a Facebook group and several people commented that it looked like the Enterprise.  I supposed it did, once I realized what they were talking about.  (Star Trek spaceship)

And then it was our days off. Hmmmm...what shall I do?  Oh, I know, I can finish up that fishermen quilt!  It's only been sitting out for a few weeks now, and y'all know how much Driver dislikes having my sewing machine take up the entire buffet, blocking all the light, and making it darned near impossible to pull the shade down properly.  Besides, if we were to leave early, as we had requested, it (the machine, the quilt, take your pick!) was going to have to be stowed properly for travel.  Or, if I could get it finished in time, we could gift the quilt.  So, pedal to the metal, and let's get it in gear!  After just a couple of all-day sews, I could finally say, "it's DONE!"  Soooo, yeah, maybe I cheated a little bit and sewed the binding on by machine.  True, I normally enjoy the handsewing of the binding, all snuggled under the quilt, and putting the last bit of finishing to it, but, ya know, it's really HOT, and our air conditioners are working overtime, trying to keep the place cool.  I wasn't so sure I wanted to spend another 3 or 4 nights handstitching, and under a quilt to boot.  So, I whipped around it, took some photos and dropped it in the washer.

I really love how the quilting motif looked like water splashes from jumping fish.  And this is the first time I ever used a contrasting thread on the back - came out really nice, if I do say so myself.  (truth time - I didn't have enough matching green, but I had a spool and a half of soft matte yellow, so that's what I used.  I sure do miss my little local quilt shop, only 5 miles away, that has a huuuge selection of thread colors for only $2.99 a spool.)

And just for a little excitement, we thought we'd catch up with Hurricane Hanna, to see where she might be and where she might be headed.  Oh, lookee there....she's gonna hit down by Corpus, and if we had stayed in Rockport, we'd be gettin' wet.  As it turns out, she headed down to the Valley, and from what Diana relayed, it was a doozie.

Soooo, Monday dawns, and we are all heading out to Doeskin Ranch, to see about putting in a couple new kiosks there.  Along the way, our good friends on Cow Creek Road were out again, this time, the babies were having breakfast.

If you can't see the video up there, just give it a little click right HERE and you will go straight to YouTube to view it in another window.  Go ahead, I'll wait right here.

When we got to the ranch, Ben and Cixto were already staking out where the sign should go.  The had a laser level and everything!  Color me impressed!

The Refuge has a skid steer (Tonka Toy, to you 'n me) that has different attachments for the front.  Once they decided where to put the holes for the kiosk posts, they used a small auger to drill a starter hole, then they switched over to a larger sized auger and drilled a really BIG hole.  Through rock, of course.  And in the course of drilling through the rock, yep, you guessed it, some of the holes moved just a bit.

Check out the concentration on Cixto's face!  He was really diligent about doing a good job.

Finally, one side is in place:

And now we have to have a discussion about the other side.

These suckers were HEAVY.

Looks kinda like a barn raising, doesn't it?  Minus a few hundred dudes...

Finally, after a few adjustments and a little bit of digging and undigging and filling and unfilling, the sides are in place and the sign panels are in place.  And, hopefully, within specs of the roof.  Concrete was poured, and we all went back to our respective homes.  Tired, sweaty and stinky.  Ben and Cixto crashed by 8 pm, while Driver and I were still up at 11, to watch the news, as usual.  Aaaaand, as usual, I was up again at 2, not falling back to sleep until 5:30.  Ben said I would make an ideal babysitter with sleep patterns like that.  Ummm, maybe so, but I'm not changing any dirty diapers!

So, the next morning, everyone contemplated how we were going to get the heavy-a$$ roof over there and up on top of that kiosk.  Yeah, the base pieces were heavy, but that roof outweighed us all, put together.

They finally got the roof loaded up onto the flatbed trailer and carried it, and the skid steer, back over to the Ranch.  After a bit of maneuvering, Cixto got it up on top of the side pieces.  And that's when we discovered that the twisted pole was going to matter.  A lot, as it turned out.

It's a wonder no one lost any fingers in the process, but they'd get two sides on and the other sides almost on.  Then they'd get another corner settled, but it knocked off the first two corners.  It was a chore, to be honest.  One that took quite a while.  Cixto used the forks to nudge the roof over, and finally, three sides were on properly.  Ben had to get that maul and persuade the final pole into place, much like Driver had done with the iron sign, over at Shin Oak.  It was quite the engineering feat, and I'm pretty sure there were some safety regulations violated along the way.  Jennifer, you didn't SEE anything, and you don't KNOW anything, k??

Here's Ben, putting in the bolts that would hold the roof down in a high wind.  We all agreed they probably weren't necessary, as tightly wedged on there as it was...but, ya know, just for safety's sake...he did the job right.

Then it was time to move down to the trailhead.  Dick drove Cixto's truck, Ben drove the skid steer, Cixto backed the flatbed trailer down, and I brought up the rear in our pickup.  What a sight we must have been, going down what is usually a foot path!  It is really a gravel/dirt road, but it was badly eroded and a bit overgrown, since no one had brought any vehicles down in ages. Once we got down there, the old two-panel kiosk was uprooted (see it in the background, balanced on the forklift?)

So I thought you'd want to see it up close.  Quick, look, because it's going away soon!

And the new kiosk holes were dug, and the new kiosk was emplaced.  Thank Goodness for power tools!

 

Somehow, the laser level didn't make it down to the trailhead, so Cixto and I used our special powers and let Ben & Dick know when it was level.  Thankfully, THIS roof was a whole lot easier to place than the 3-panel up at the parking lot.  I tell you what, these boys sure earned their nickels today!

A job well done....VERY well done.

So that's a good review of some of the work we've been doing around the Refuge these last few weeks.  We've made some obvious improvements that should last for years, and we've had lots of fun doing it.  We did NOT, however, loose any weight in the process.  I guess making brownies and chocolate chip cookies every few days didn't help any.  Oh, wait, I bet you want to know what I did with that quilt, don'tcha....I wrapped it up and gave it to Ben and his wife, Laura.  They've been so kind to us, sharing tomatoes and peppers, even a nice fat zucchini, and she's gonna have a little girl, come December.  They're living in Refuge housing, and I know it'll be drafty and cold this winter.  They seemed to really like it and I know it'll be a good reminder of the hot summer days we all spent together.

Soooo, this is yet another catch-up post.  We left Whitney, TX, early this morning, headed to Texarkana, TX.  Well....Dick Luck struck again.  Hush up Charles, I can hear you giggling all the way from Florida.  :)  Yup, when we went to pull out of our campsite, we heard a distinctive grrrroooooaaan, coming from the front end, my side, that we had never heard before.  Hmmmmm, we said.  And kept going.  We followed the GPS when we got back to the main road (30 mile mistake, but we got to see Lake Whitney), and when we went to turn onto the frontage road, to get up on I35, I looked over to see Driver absolutely struggling to turn the wheel.  Whaaaaa???  He got us going the right direction, but instead of pulling up and getting on the on-ramp, he pulled off the road, onto the shoulder.  Long story short, we are in Dallas tonight....at the FreightLiner service center.  Until Monday, minimum.  So, our 6 day journey across country has now morphed into 9 days or more.  Stay tuned for the rest of the story!  After all, tomorrow is Sunday, and if COVID didn't close everything up, Sunday will!  We have nuthin' but time.....

Stay well and safe!