Opening Day 2012

LSW here. The Vermonster has requested a blog post from me, although Opening Day 2012 is already a distant memory. (Note to self: increase fish oil supplements.)
As he already reported, we arrived at Shangri La only to discover that we had forgotten pillows, towels, socks and underwear. Much better than forgetting the keys, though, so there's no need to complain.
I had a deadline to meet, so I spent much of our Saturday down in Brattleboro writing an article and searching for underwear while The Vermonster framed out the back deck. He also installed the hose thingy in the picture above. Now we're ready to host Shangri La's first annual fundraising car wash and sprinkler party. 
Hopefully over the next few trips we'll be able to finish off the deck, prime the bathroom and install the vanity. Despite the fact that the sink isn't hooked up to the water yet, I consistently try to turn it on to brush my teeth and wash my hands. Old habits die hard.

Opening Up the Season (in Brief)

Our first trip up was in April, and the next one is soon. On the first trip, we forgot towels, pillows and underwear, and we learned that we have to drive (seemingly) 2 hours to get them. Another valuable lesson learned.

While there I finally got the hose spigot installed and built the base for the rear deck. The deck is small - 8'x8' - and is meant primarily to have a space off the kitchen for the grill. Rough wiring for the center track lighting rounded off the weekend's work, and the rest of the weekend was spent 'enjoying'.

We met the neighbors at the bottom of the hill, got plugged into the local historic preservation efforts, and took a very long hike on the abandoned roads at the top of the hill. 'Movie night' with the boy was Tin Tin and Hugo (Friday and Saturday, respectively) - both really good animated flicks!

Forgotten tidbit from last year: While delivering some woodworking tools to a neighboring town here in CT, I was offered a working refrigerator that the buyer wanted out of his garage. It works great and will go up to the cabin in June.

Mistake this year: We went up in early April, turned on the water, and - based on a rosy 5-day forecast - left it on. This resulted in an unexpected trip on day 6 to turn it off in advance of a cold snap. Lesson learned (at least until the crawlspace is insulated).