Friday April 29, 30, 31, 2016, May 1, 2, 2016 Boonville CA.
Headed for Boonville
I passed through Boonville and went another mile or so and turned off north on a dirt road and proceeded up that to the gate. I tried the combo and it worked, as you just never know for sure, as it gets changed sometimes.
I drove on down to Marty’s cabin and found him just cooking his dinner at the grill. We spent the rest of the evening sitting around the wood stove in his cabin shooting the bull.
The next morning, we sat around for a bit getting it going. Marty was admiring the new skull he just installed on the top of his cabin, you can see it there. It looks good. That’s his van there, not mine, they look very similar.
The outhouse with it’s flush toilet and hot shower makes a scenic picture.
We sat on this bench for awhile then I took the trail past the old stump up the hill, taking my shovel with me.
Trail work
With the ground still wet from the winter’s rains, it’s the time to cut trails. This turn needed defined and it was a bit steep to walk across, so I started digging. I worked on it for about an hour before I got tired out and went back down the hill to the cabin.
Roto Mouse trap
Back at the cabin after a good break, Marty said he needed to clean out his new mouse trap as it had two dead mices in it.
Something all campers and RV’ers should know about
I discovered this mouse trap on Utube a few weeks ago and was impressed and told a few people about it and Marty put it into practice at the cabin right away as he has mouse problems on and off. You can find stuff on Utube about it if you do a search for, best mouse trap on Utube.
This trap has a lot of neat things about it. First, it can be made from what’s on hand, a bucket, a plastic bottle or aluminum can and a piece of wire or a string might work in a pinch.
The bottle is pierced on both ends and a wire coat hanger or something like it is used to suspend it across the top of the bucket. Peanut butter or some thing like it is splotched onto the bottle. Some water is put in the bottom of the bucket to kill the mouse and keep it from jumping back out of the bucket. A small ramp or something is leaned against the bucket to help the mouse get up there to the bottle.
The mouse has to get out on the bottle to get the food and in the process, the bottle spins from it’s weight and the critter gets dumped into the bucket and things are set just waiting for the next one.
Marty had dumped out the water and the two dead mice and is putting some water buck into the bucket and refreshed the peanut butter.
The next day we repeated the process. The mouse trap had one mouse in it. We sat on the bench for a bit. 
Cutting out a tree
We needed to take the chainsaw up to the trail to cut a small tree that had fallen across the trail last winter.
Marty got his saw out and decided to join me, so we walked the short distance up the hill to where I had been digging and cut the tree out.
Marty had packed his rack up the hill so I got a little work out of him before he tuckered out.
Break time
That done we went back down to the cabin for a break. This was the view from the bench by the old redwood stump.
We mostly took it easy the rest of the day just sitting around enjoying the place.
The next day Marty declined going up and working on the trail, but I went, going past this little poppy on the way.
More trail work
I worked for an hour or so on this part of the trail before I pooped out and returned to the cabin.
Took a ride in the van
Later in the day Marty wanted to check on a gate and get some wood to make some new shelves for the cabin so we took his van for a little ride.
Here we are just approaching the gate he wanted to check on. Turned out it had a new lock on it and he had the wrong key, but that’s what he wanted to check out. He had to back up a ways to turn around to get out of there.
Lumber yard
On the way back we stopped at the ranch lumber yard to pick up a couple boards to make shelves with. Here, Marty is tying the lumber on the rack for the trip back to the cabin.
We stopped to pick up this bench that needed some new legs made for it as the old ones had rotted. Marty was taking it back to the cabin where he will make new legs.
We drove to the hooch in front of the cabin and put the boards inside here until he gets ready to make the shelves.
Leveling my camp spot
One of the things I wanted to do was level my van camp spot. I’d been waiting for the ground to get soft enough to do it, so now was the time. I needed to take three to five inches of soil off the top and put it in the low spots to level the spot.
The tools are in the spot I’m working on leveling off for my van. I’m not quite finished yet.
I finished moving the dirt and tried my van on it. My van level gauges said zero so I got it right.
Once I’m satisfied with my leveling, I’ll sprinkle some leaves on the sight to finish the job.
Today I’m writing this blog, then we’ll sit around for a bit and head on home around noon time.
Nice relaxing trip.