Merry Christmas 2021!!
It seems like just last week we were putting together the 2020 Christmas letter!! Like other years, 2021 has been pretty eventful. But as is usual for us, it was eventful in a totally different way than prior years.
We spent Winter 2020-2021 in Florida, visiting friends and staying warm. In late February we traveled to Red Bay, AL to have the final round of warranty work completed on our 2020 Tiffin Phaeton 40IH. We had not been happy with our new motorhome and were hopeful that this final warranty trip would resolve all of the issues we were having. It became clear rather quickly that neither Tiffin, nor the Spyder System's Software Technical team were going to be able to resolve the issues we were experiencing. Bill reached out to the Dealer where we bought the motorhome and they offered us slightly more than we paid for it 10 months earlier. Unfortunately, we couldn't locate an acceptable replacement for it, so we were trying to accept the fact that we would have to keep the Phaeton.
About that time, a house came up for sale in Star Valley Ranch, WY that was larger than we wanted, but reasonably priced. Our Realtor friend toured it for us and the owners accepted our initial offer. So, we sold the motorhome, bought a small freezer (the fridge freezer in the motorhome was full), rented a U-Haul trailer and proceeded to travel to Wyoming from Alabama. The weather the third week of March turned on us and we had to drop down from I-40 to I-10. In all we drove 2600 miles in 4 days. Roxy was having issues with her IBD, so we didn't dare to stop at any motels, opting instead to sleep in the truck. It was cold enough that even as far south as we were we had to leave the engine idling all-night to stay warm.
The house we bought is very striking, being a 3-story with log siding. Here we were getting the fall decorations ready, three bales of straw!
After we moved in and were doing some work on the first floor, we discovered that the first floor had originally been a 2 car garage. In 2006 the owner remodeled the first floor and added a 32' x 36' detached garage.
We found an RV Park/Log cabin motel close to Star Valley Ranch where we rented a cabin room for a month until we closed on the house. Since late April we have been nonstop working on the house, as at 25 years old it has needed more work than we anticipated. And, finding folks to work on it has been challenging. We never did find a landscape company to cut the grass, so we bought a zero-turn riding lawnmower with a pull-behind trailer and a 6’x10’utility trailer. We have used all three far more than their original purpose. It was a good thing we bought the lawnmower as the man next door had hip replacement surgery over the summer and Bill was able to cut their grass everytime he cut ours. The next-door neighbors have been very appreciative.
We found an RV Park/Log cabin motel close to Star Valley Ranch where we rented a cabin room for a month until we closed on the house. Since late April we have been nonstop working on the house, as at 25 years old it has needed more work than we anticipated. And, finding folks to work on it has been challenging. We never did find a landscape company to cut the grass, so we bought a zero-turn riding lawnmower with a pull-behind trailer and a 6’x10’utility trailer. We have used all three far more than their original purpose. It was a good thing we bought the lawnmower as the man next door had hip replacement surgery over the summer and Bill was able to cut their grass everytime he cut ours. The next-door neighbors have been very appreciative.
Bill learning to use his zero turn lawnmower.
We tell ourselves
that the house is worth it, as it has an awesome setting. We are about 50
miles south of Jackson Hole and 60 miles south of Grand Teton Nat’l Park.
Every road out of this Valley is a designated Scenic Byway. We are on the
8th fairway of a Championship Golf Course (good as to the view, but bad due to
broken windows… bad golfers). The views from the second-floor deck are
incredible!! (Did I mention this is a 3-story house?) From the back
of the house, we look westward across the fairway and Star Valley to the
Caribou Mountains. From the front deck we face east to the Salt River
Range and a view of Cedar Creek Canyon. Part of our project has been to
remove trees that destroyed much of the view. So far, we have removed
about 2 dozen trees; some because they were dead, some were too close together
and some were too close to the buildings. We still have 7 large trees to
remove in the back that will open the view to the Caribou Mountains and the
setting sun. There were way too many trees for the .62-acre lot!
View to the Southwest from the back, second floor deck. In the summer it is a view of the 8th tee, the Valley and the Caribou Mountains to the west. In the winter.....well, the snow is really pretty!
One of my favorite scenery subjects is Tin Cup Mountain. It is one of the highest peaks in the Caribou Mountain Range, which runs down the western side of Star Valley. In this shot, the pink color is coming from the sun rising behind it, above the Salt River Mountain Range, on the east side of Star Valley.
Tin Cup again, this time with the clouds below i, covering the view of Star Valley.
And then there are the fabulous sunsets to the west.
Cedar Creek Canyon in the fall with clouds moving down the Canyon.
Early mountain snowfall in Cedar Creek Canyon.
The first
floor of the house contains a Family Room, Laundry Room, Guest Room with a
custom designed Queen-sized log bed, a bathroom and a second Guest Room or
office. The Family Room has a sort of kitchenette with mini fridge,
microwave, etc. So, we have room for guests. Next summer we plan to add a
complete RV pad next to the house. The second floor is a Living
Room, Dining area, Kitchen, Pantry and Half Bath. This is where we
spend most of our time. The third floor is a loft Master Bedroom with Master
Bath and large closet. Two French Doors to an east facing balcony A King-sized custom log bed came with the
house.
First floor kitchenette in the living room. The first floor rooms really could be a separate appartment, except Mary wouldn't have a laundry room. The first floor guest room contains a custom designed Queen Size log bed that came with the house.
Dining area on the second floor. One of the previous owners had enclosed the deck on the south side of the house, so we had a six foot wide room the width of the house to work into our living space. So, we added a bar on one end, next to the dining area. To the right of the photo is a sliding door to the deck, with a view to the west and the golf course, Valley and Caribou Mountains.
View of the staircase to the third floor Master Bedroom Loft from the bar area. Even with blinds drawn, there is a lot of natural light inside the house.
Roxy, feeling silly, being made to wear antlers for the Christmas photo.
The custom designed log bed in the Master Bedroom loft came with the house, as did the similarly designed log bed in the first floor guest room. There are two doors out to the third floor balcony. We just had the outside storm doors replaced, which has made a great difference in how weather tight the doors are.
One thing
we continually talk about is how beautiful it is here and how fortunate we are
to be able to live here. Mule Deer inhabit this valley and in winter Elk,
Moose, Bears and sometimes a stray Mountain Lion can be seen (or evidence of
their presence). Elk and Moose have come down from the mountains. We frequently see deer in the yard. So frequently in fact, that Roxy is not
even intrigued with them anymore. Guess she thinks they are just big dogs
and they don't seem afraid of her. About 12 miles north of us on the main
North/South Hwy is a feedlot for the Elk. They are also coming down from
the mountains and will remain in the state sponsored feedlots until late
April/early May. We’re hoping to get up
to the National Elk Refuge north of Jackson Hole this winter and take a sleigh
ride through the Refuge. It would be awesome to take that tour.
A herd of deer on the outskirts of the Town of Star Valley. The doe in the photo below decided to join us for Sunday Brunch.
Two moose (the 'cow' above, and the 'bull' below) that we saw when driving home from Idaho Falls. We frequently see wildlife along our route through farmland and mountains.
On a
positive note, this house is teaching us A LOT about designing a house for this
climate and we're grateful for the opportunity to have this house (sore muscles and all) before we design and build our own ONE STORY house next year.. We are totally redesigning the house
that we had planned to build this year. We will instead be building a
totally different house design in 2023.
Along with the log beds, we also bought a MacDaddy Troy Bilt Polar Blast 4510 snowblower for $1100, which new was about $2400. Here is Bill clearning snow from the first major snow storm. As you can see he's grown a beard to keep the cold off of his face. Now he just needs too grow some hair on his top to keep his head warm, too.
One of the things we have learned is to align the house so that the snow shed from the roof does not fall on the driveway. Bill added the "wall" along the base of the deck to keep the snow shed from blocking the covered walkway from the house to the garage. So far it is working.
Here is a short VIDEO of the sounds the snow & ice coming off of the roof makes. One has to be sure not to walk too close to the esges of the house,too, because IF one of those chunks of iced snow fall on your head, it CAN kill you. That's why Bill built that half wall on the lower walkway... to keep the snow shedding out of the walk way so we would have a safe passageway to get back to the garage. However, the shedding of snow makes an awful noise (as the ice slides down a metal roof) coming down, which can be heard partly from the outside, but is much, much louder inside the house. So, to get the best effect, be sure to have your SOUND VOLUME TURNED ON to enjoy it better.
(Analog)
Every room has it's own heater ('Cove' or 'Cadet') and all of the thermostats were like the one above (analog). The calibration was not very accurate, so it was impossible to tell what the temperature setting was. Bill has now replaced all of the thermostats to digital versions (like the one below), including the one in the heated garage, for a total of 10 new digital thermostats. Apart from being a great tree-cutter lumberjack and carpenter, he has also become quite a good electrician... a proud graduate of You Tube Videos.
(Digital)
We still plan to do some traveling in the West and occasionally may go east of the Mississippi River, but it will be a different mode of travel than a 41' diesel-pusher motorhome. We don't know what that will look like just yet, but we're having fun looking at all the options available.
Our new mailing address has a note of finality to it:
30 Last Chance Cir #7337
Star Valley Ranch, WY 83127
Homes in "The Ranch" as it is referred to, (short for the Town of Star Valley Ranch) do not have mailboxes along the road, instead we are a Postal Substation of Thayne, WY, hence the #7337.(without this number attached to the address, the postal personnel would not know which box to put it into. Packages (UPS/FedEx) still deliver to the house itself, though.
This photo is NOT from our immediate area, but from Jackson Hole (about 50 miles northeast of us), but it will give you an idea of what some people have to deal with, when living in the mountains. How would you like to snow-shovel or rake that much snow of your roof every week? As you can see that is a shingle roof (which holds the snow on it, which is why we are so thankful our home has a metal roof (as will the new one we design). We can put up with the noise, when it sheds, as long as we don't have to shovel it off.
In closing this year, we hope that 2021 has been kind to you and yours, and we wish that 2022 brings you joy, good health
and safety/sanity, to you and all around you...
Mary and Bill
Merry Christmas
&
Happy New Year!!
