"Sunshine on My Jarod Makes Me Happy" (sing in John Denver Voice)

There is no denying it. It is beautiful here. I took this picture on a walk to the lake, about 5 minutes from the cabin.

Green Valley Lake: The Town, Part 1

"Wake the Bard" , providing Celtic music for all occasions, plays at The Lake Inn every Sat night. We can't wait to have a pint and check it out. :) The Lake Inn has a good variety of beer and awesome pizza.
This is our local post office. Mark is our postman. I'll get a picture of him soon. Jarod and his sister, Meghan, in front of the ski slope. Don't ski there now, you'll hurt yourself.

I have yet to take pictures of store front that runs along the main street in town, but these are the pics I have so far! What I can say is that the people that live there have been extremely friendly.

Goobye, Couch. You were good to us.

This couch first belonged to John and Lotte Kober (Jarod's grandparents) when they lived in Chatsworth in the 50s/60s. It made its way to the cabin where it served us well. Couch, you provided the cushioning needs for many naps, game nights and conversations. We will never forget you.
The couch was taken to the Rim Family Services Thrift Store in Arrowbear, off of Highway 18. You can visit it in the storage shed in front.
This is the temporary livingroom set-up. Don't worry. Another comfy couch will arrive pronto. We do plan on keeping those groovy orange chairs in the living room, though.

Clearing out the Cabin...What do we keep?

We're packing up most of the kitchen stuff and saving it. These egg cups are going in our regular rotation, however!
Piles and piles of sheets, blankets, towels and cloths. More than we know what to do with!
Awesome. I'll bring this with me to my grave.
This is one of about 5 vacuums up here.

It's hard to know what to keep and give away. The cabin if full of memories based on all its contents. I associate the cabin with these items based on my visits up there over the past 6 years. It's a time capsule.

Hooray for the Dump!

Back in and throw your trash out. (I've never been to a dump before, so this is a new experience!)

Metal scrap and pine needle/yard clearance heap behind.

We have already made 5 trips to Heaps Peak dump, a familiar place if you live on the mountain. Until recently, trash pick up wasn't available, so you had to take all trash and recycling there yourself. What a reality check for us urban dwellers! Green Valley Lake does have trash service now, so we're lucky.

We've taken bags of pine needles, mattresses and various other items we threw away to clear out the cabin. There is also a thrift store on site called the "Drop and Shop". Convenient.

Painting and Prepping the Big Bedroom

Jarod's dad, Ralph, is helping us with all the cabin renovations. We couldn't do it without him!
Exposed drywall. This is how much of the cabin walls have looked for decades.
Until now! The walls in the upstairs bedrooms have many slanted walls. We took advantage of this design by painting vertical walls gray and slanted walls white.
Again, green carpet and brown door subject to change! But it's coming along!

Painting and preparing to paint a room is some hard work. We took on the big bedroom this week, painting over exposed drywall. We had to help Jarod's dad cover rough areas or nails with drywall compound, let it dry, then sand the whole room down to make it smooth, vacuum, roll up the carpet, tape windows and wall edges, cover the room in plastic sheets, primer and then paint two coats of our chosen colors: Silverleaf White and Creek Bend (gray).

When we get new carpet and paint the door, the whole room will come together. But I think it looks good already!