The forms for the footings arrived today and will be installed tomorrow. Not much going on today except my figuring and checking dimensions to make sure that everything is right. With the orange lines on the gravel, it will make their job much easier. The forms are the telescoping style, easy and quick to use. What takes them days would have easily taken us weeks. I had originally ordered and had delivered concrete forms made from foam. Foam stays on the walls and helps insulate. However, Chip, our new concrete man says it will cost more to use them than his forms as they are much more labor intensive. I will have to check in and see about returning them.
Kathy calls this morning and we meet after lunch at their house to do the closing on the loan for the project. The loan has taken months and is quite involved even with stated income. It is such a pleasure dealing with her as she explains every form I have to sign and within the hour our closing is completed. If you ever need someone great at loans in the Southwestern Colorado area, give Kathy McJoynt a call at Vectra Bank in Telluride. She is a true expert in her field.
My friends, Jack and Lynn Garner, came up today to say goodbye and head back to Chino, Arizona where they live. I could tell they weren’t all that crazy about leaving. They love it here as much as I do. At lunch they announced they had been talking about possibly selling their house in Chino and moving to Rico. I am happy to show them the lot that Joe and Kathy own behind my place and catty-corner across the alley. Right now I am storing some logs and large boulders we excavated there. I could tell they loved the lot and the view. Jack and Lynn…if you are reading this…I hope you decide to move, I would love to have some more great neighbors…
I’m back at the cabin now trying to make room for all of my tools and Joe’s tools which will be brought to the cabin next week. Lots of the artifacts that I found over the years have been stored on shelves in the cabin. I now pack up and sort most everything into old dynamite boxes left over from the Rico Argentine Mine and move the boxes into the attic of the cabin. These old dovetailed boxes are really well made and have branded labels from Dupont on the ends, most all date just before WWII. They were in the cabin when I purchased it back in 1994. I will put them to good use when I build the kitchen cabinets, using them as drawers in the base cabinets.
The Mike Curran family lives across the street from me and they have been so friendly to me over the years. The house they live in is where my great uncle Hartley Lee lived for many years. He was a newspaper man and wrote a column called “Harts Stuff from Rico” for the Dolores Paper. He even published a small book titled the same during the 1960’s. I was lucky enough to find a copy on e-bay a few years ago. Mike has completely remodeled the house, and when I first started my project more than 10 years ago, I remember seeing the inside of the old kitchen. I remembered the black and white tile and old stove where it stood in Hartley and Irene Lee’s house when I visited there more than 40 years ago.
Hartley was my granddad's (Charles “Chuck Lee’s”) oldest brother. They had come to Colorado around the turn of the century with their mother, Harriet Lee, who had divorced her first husband in Ohio. Her first husband's name was Hall. Harriet and the two boys had settled in Goldfield, Colorado and then moved to Rico sometime after 1905. Harriet met Victor Lee in Rico and they were married sometime after Victor’s first wife and baby died in child birth. What his first wife’s name was is still a mystery, but we believe she and the infant are buried in the Rico Cemetery. I am hoping to find out this summer. During his life Victor had numerous occupations and one had been running the local blacksmith shop and livery stable in Rico. City Livery was located on Glasgow Ave in Rico, but no longer exists. An old Rico newspaper from 1903, that I inherited, has a large ad with his name on it.
On one of my first trips to Rico I had stopped at the Enterprise Bar and the owner at that time had been kind enough to give me permission to remove an old framed newspaper clipping from long ago showing what the blacksmith shop looked like. The photo is no longer there and I wonder where it ended up. Luckily I have a copy… My cabin & the subject of this blog is where my great grandfather Victor Lee lived when he first came to Colorado. My grandfather’s youngest sister, Virginia, who passed several years ago told me about the house and said it was called the “big house” jokingly as it was really so small. Sometime in the coming weeks I will write about how I was able to purchase it…..
Next to Mike’s house, his parent's, Jack and Rhea Curran, own the home which was the hospital in Rico for many years. Doctor Koplowitz’s sign is still on the outside of the house. Mike’s cousin Judy and her husband Jeff Godard have been staying in the house for several weeks. Jeff came over tonite and wanted to see a copy of my house plans. I was happy to show them. Several minutes later he returned and said they would be leaving for Denver in the morning and wanted to know if I would like to join them for dinner tonite. What a treat for me to have not only a home cooked meal but to also spend the evening with such nice people…I was disappointed they had to leave so early.
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