Aug 3rd - Dutch Oven Day

Since Double D is Dutch and also a great chef, Joe is teasing him about us building a Dutch oven to cook powder post beetles. The folks at the rental center in Telluride are curious why Joe is renting a propane heater in the middle of the summer. When he explains what our intentions are, everyone laughs him out of the store.

Since the trailer is now emptied, this morning we erected a wooden frame on my flatbed trailer out of scrap lumber. Joe has picked up a roll of heavy black plastic and within an hour we have erected a makeshift cover for the full set of infected logs now on the trailer. A slight mishap on transporting the logs down to Joe’s lot on the highway; the top bundle of logs tipped over and partially rolled off the trailer. The way I have them stacked they won’t sit upright easily as the stacks are narrow and tall. But no problem...Fabian, using his forklift, eases them back onto the trailer.

The Dutch Oven is now completed and the propane heater is stuck under the black plastic monstrosity near the highway. Time to turn on the oven to see about roasting our little friends…. After some hours it’s obvious the tent isn’t hot enough and next week we will have to seal it up better and try it again.

Alison and Chloe, my granddaughters as well as Lynn's nieces (it's complicated), along with my son-in-law, Roger, arrive tonite from Boulder where they have been vacationing. Donna, my landlord, has gone to Utah to pick up a young male German Shepard that was destined to be destroyed because of its lack of aggression during police dog training. She has been kind enough to let us have the use of her house while she is away. We have dinner at the Enterprise, watch a good part of Groundhog Day on TV and retire early. Tomorrow will be a full day of sightseeing and everyone is tired.

Dylan, my neighbor, has located a conduit bender for me. Thanks Dylan. I have some electrical boxes to install within the concrete wall tomorrow morning.