This is Jeff posting. I promised I'd share my wife's recipe for white chicken chili which seemed to be somewhat of a hit. Here it is:
Ingredients: 2T olive oil, 4 onions (diced), 4 cloves garlic (pressed or chopped), 4 cooked chicken breasts (use a rotisserie chicken), 5 cans northern beans, 2t cumin, 2t oregano, 1 1/2 t cayenne, 2 cans green chiles, 1 32 oz package of chicken stock or broth, package of Monterey jack cheese (for topping), Bunch of cilantro (for topping), Sour cream (for topping)
Directions: Saute onion, garlic (about 10 minutes) in olive oil until translucent, add cooked chicken, broth, chiles, spices, bring to boil. Add beans. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 30 minutes. Top soup with cheese, cilantro, sour cream.
Thursday, October 27, 2011
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Cabins Update
Well, it's been a while since I updated this blog. Seems like there have been a million things happening and I know with this update, I'm still missing a lot. At this point we have a functional cabin; beds, functional bathrooms and kitchen, and furnished to the point where we can sit down on chairs or a couch. We are getting there. It will take a while before the cabin is appropriately furnished. I think we have a great start but we'll need to go through a season to get into an appropriate rhythm.
These 31 pictures are from this past week. I've added captions where I thought they were appropriate.
Here's our washer and the dryer is in the entry. These are a full size stackable washer and dryer thanks to Bob and Verna Norland.
This is to show you our water softener and above and to the left is our water filter. The filter is thanks to Peggy and Floyd. Peggy also asked that Brad Glad install the filter and it seemed fitting that he installed the softener as well. This has made a nice change for showers, drinking water and coffee.
Sue has painted the kitchen floor and the main bathroom downstairs with this paint. We may not need it to last 20 years but it makes a great difference as compared to the cement.
The kitchen looking into the mudroom.
We cleared off this area to make room to host the firefighters with hot dogs, Polish dogs, chips, water, pop, and beer. We planned for 50 firefighters and about 15 showed up so we have lots of this stuff leftover for MEA or deer hunting.
The old Cabin Thursday Morning
The Bunkhouse Thursday morning
We had the Lancaster, Lake Bronson, and Hallock Fire Departments. Here you see them filling a canvas tank from the tankers for the water they needed to help fight the fire.
One of the tankers from Lancaster
They called this thing the Evinrude. It was placed on the pond. This charged an 1 1/2" line and ran the whole time they were fighting the fire. There was still lots of water in the pond when they finished.
Here they are going in with gasoline to start the process.
Throughout the process the firefighters were controlling the fire and providing protection to the power lines, the power meters and adjacent structures; the outhouse and the garage.
It didn't take long for this fire to get going.
You can see Chuck Olsonowski spraying down the outhouse. They also spent a lot of time spraying the trees; the oak trees on the right side of this picture and the Popple trees on the north side of the cabin/bunkhouse. They did tell us that these trees could get damaged.
More fire control and protecting trees/buildings.
The firefighters did a great job backing each other up.
Here's the cabin fire getting started.
Here two firefighters are controlling a small grass fire on the west and north side of the cabin.
This is Terry Kukowski (TK) who was instrumental in getting cooperation from Lake Bronson and Hallock and getting this coordinated so fast . . . like two days!
The cabin fully engulfed (I always wanted to use the word, "engulfed")
More engulfment.
I should know the name of this firefighter. He was in the old cabin with an SCBA during the early stages of the fire when they had a "rollover" fire which started the ceiling on fire and some of it landed on him. He and 2-3 other firefighters had to run out of the cabin. Here he was relating the experience to us. He was pretty, "amped". Buy the way, during this time Floyd was close to the old cabin and was ready to jump in and help if he thought he was needed.
You can see it was quite a job to protect the power line and the power meters. You can't see it but there's a water curtain to protect the meters. The only evidence of any damage was a slight wrinkling of the plastic around the yard light. We still don't know what happened to the webcam. As you can see in this picture, it was on the southwest corner of the garage and didn't show any physical indication of damage. Chris will be checking it out.
Some of the firefighters taking a break. They are a great and competent group.
Once all the walls were pushed into the middle the fire was left to burn itself out.
This is what it looked like Friday morning. The cement was still warm and there were still embers but you can see how complete the burn was. You can also see what a difference it makes to the property.
These 31 pictures are from this past week. I've added captions where I thought they were appropriate.
Here's our washer and the dryer is in the entry. These are a full size stackable washer and dryer thanks to Bob and Verna Norland.
This is to show you our water softener and above and to the left is our water filter. The filter is thanks to Peggy and Floyd. Peggy also asked that Brad Glad install the filter and it seemed fitting that he installed the softener as well. This has made a nice change for showers, drinking water and coffee.
Sue has painted the kitchen floor and the main bathroom downstairs with this paint. We may not need it to last 20 years but it makes a great difference as compared to the cement.
The kitchen looking into the mudroom.
We cleared off this area to make room to host the firefighters with hot dogs, Polish dogs, chips, water, pop, and beer. We planned for 50 firefighters and about 15 showed up so we have lots of this stuff leftover for MEA or deer hunting.
The old Cabin Thursday Morning
The Bunkhouse Thursday morning
We had the Lancaster, Lake Bronson, and Hallock Fire Departments. Here you see them filling a canvas tank from the tankers for the water they needed to help fight the fire.
One of the tankers from Lancaster
They called this thing the Evinrude. It was placed on the pond. This charged an 1 1/2" line and ran the whole time they were fighting the fire. There was still lots of water in the pond when they finished.
Here they are going in with gasoline to start the process.
Throughout the process the firefighters were controlling the fire and providing protection to the power lines, the power meters and adjacent structures; the outhouse and the garage.
It didn't take long for this fire to get going.
You can see Chuck Olsonowski spraying down the outhouse. They also spent a lot of time spraying the trees; the oak trees on the right side of this picture and the Popple trees on the north side of the cabin/bunkhouse. They did tell us that these trees could get damaged.
More fire control and protecting trees/buildings.
The firefighters did a great job backing each other up.
Here's the cabin fire getting started.
Here two firefighters are controlling a small grass fire on the west and north side of the cabin.
This is Terry Kukowski (TK) who was instrumental in getting cooperation from Lake Bronson and Hallock and getting this coordinated so fast . . . like two days!
The cabin fully engulfed (I always wanted to use the word, "engulfed")
More engulfment.
I should know the name of this firefighter. He was in the old cabin with an SCBA during the early stages of the fire when they had a "rollover" fire which started the ceiling on fire and some of it landed on him. He and 2-3 other firefighters had to run out of the cabin. Here he was relating the experience to us. He was pretty, "amped". Buy the way, during this time Floyd was close to the old cabin and was ready to jump in and help if he thought he was needed.
You can see it was quite a job to protect the power line and the power meters. You can't see it but there's a water curtain to protect the meters. The only evidence of any damage was a slight wrinkling of the plastic around the yard light. We still don't know what happened to the webcam. As you can see in this picture, it was on the southwest corner of the garage and didn't show any physical indication of damage. Chris will be checking it out.
Some of the firefighters taking a break. They are a great and competent group.
Once all the walls were pushed into the middle the fire was left to burn itself out.
This is what it looked like Friday morning. The cement was still warm and there were still embers but you can see how complete the burn was. You can also see what a difference it makes to the property.
Thanks to all of the partners for their support of this activity.
Bob
Friday, February 4, 2011
Cabin Update - 4 February 2011
Good Morning,
This past Wednesday (1/26) we went up north. On the way up Sue and I picked up a special order toilet (10" rough-in) and purchased the water heater (80 gallon electric) and a 26" sink. Thursday we went to the benefit for Bill in TRF Thursday evening and were joined by Dick. The benefit went very well. On Friday we went out to the camp. Tom and Billy Vig and a friend were mudding sheet rock. Mike Whitlock and Keith Schmeideberg were working on rough-in plumbing. On Saturday Dick and I went to Menards Grand Forks to pick up two 48" special order vanities, buy a 26" sink, and took them out to the camp. The following pictures were taken on Saturday.
This is the entry and is mostly for storage. This area will be insulated and sheet rocked. We will also have a baseboard heater. We didn't have to order any additional steel for this entry.
As you walk in the cabin, you notice the heat is on right away. All three zones are running and holding the temperature at 65 degrees. Here you can see the stairs going up to the loft and a little of the vaulted area.
This is the area under the stairs. We decided to enclose the stairs and add a door which should create a nice storage area. Tom Vig pulled a wire into this area so we could add a light for this closet if we wished.
This is looking south from the loft area into the vaulted area. We have six windows on the south side and for this picture, the top three are covered with translucent plastic and the bottom three were covered with sheet rock (they just hadn't cut the sheet rock out yet). This will be a very bright area.
From the previous picture I turned to my left and took this picture so you are looking east toward the "Tree Stand" area. By the way, the scissor trusses have really made this area feel large. Originally we talked about 7' ceilings and standard trusses. We changed to 8' ceilings and scissor trusses. These trusses are 6/12 on the top chord and 3/12 on the bottom cord so from floor to peak is 12'. It really feels spacious.
This is what you see when you walk into the cabin. Three of the lower windows are covered. They are not quite done sheet rocking and none of the taping, mudding has started here.
Here's the view through the patio door
Here's the Kitchen. The door for the mudroom is on the left. The pressure tank and regulator are in the cardboard box and the opening to the vaulted area is on the right. You can see the framing for one of the two 30" pocket doors. This room looks nearly ready for paint.
Looking down the hallway and it looks like it is close to paint.
This is the mud room showing the boiler system. We have three zones; kitchen-mudroom-bathrooms, vaulted area-west bedroom, and the northwest-southwest bedrooms. In order to fire up the heading system we asked Todd Truedson to do this work. He installed the "off peak" meter in the box on the yard light pole and ran a run from the "off peak" panel to the boiler.
This the shower/bath for the main bathroom in the lower level. This bathroom will also have the 48" vanity.
This is a picture of the west bedroom.
This is the northwest bedroom.
This is the northeast bedroom.
This is the loft area where you can see the northwest bedroom, the hallway, and the northeast bedroom. We have to wait to complete rough-in electrical before we can sheet rock. We are wondering if we need to have framed closets in these two bedrooms. You can see they are framed but I think the cabin committee will decide which we will do. We are also considering if we have enough lighting in this open area. We currently have a fan/light planned for the center of the room but are wondering if we should add sconce lights as well.
This is to show the open area in the loft. In the future we could create a sixth bedroom. It's maybe a little hard to see but none of the ceiling has been taped yet.
The "tree stand" area. You can see the entry door to the bathroom on the left side. The triple combination window is currently covered with plastic.
A little more detail for the northeast bedroom in the loft.
Northeast bedroom
From left to right, you can see the doorway to the northeast bedroom, the north bathroom which will have the 48" shower and 48" vanity. The bathroom on the right has a 36" shower and a 26" pedestal/sink. On the right side you can see the edge of the "tree stand" area.
The notion of these pictures is to give you a sense of the current construction status for the cabin. The next activity is rough-in electrical for the loft area.
Bob
This past Wednesday (1/26) we went up north. On the way up Sue and I picked up a special order toilet (10" rough-in) and purchased the water heater (80 gallon electric) and a 26" sink. Thursday we went to the benefit for Bill in TRF Thursday evening and were joined by Dick. The benefit went very well. On Friday we went out to the camp. Tom and Billy Vig and a friend were mudding sheet rock. Mike Whitlock and Keith Schmeideberg were working on rough-in plumbing. On Saturday Dick and I went to Menards Grand Forks to pick up two 48" special order vanities, buy a 26" sink, and took them out to the camp. The following pictures were taken on Saturday.
This is the entry and is mostly for storage. This area will be insulated and sheet rocked. We will also have a baseboard heater. We didn't have to order any additional steel for this entry.
As you walk in the cabin, you notice the heat is on right away. All three zones are running and holding the temperature at 65 degrees. Here you can see the stairs going up to the loft and a little of the vaulted area.
This is the area under the stairs. We decided to enclose the stairs and add a door which should create a nice storage area. Tom Vig pulled a wire into this area so we could add a light for this closet if we wished.
This is looking south from the loft area into the vaulted area. We have six windows on the south side and for this picture, the top three are covered with translucent plastic and the bottom three were covered with sheet rock (they just hadn't cut the sheet rock out yet). This will be a very bright area.
From the previous picture I turned to my left and took this picture so you are looking east toward the "Tree Stand" area. By the way, the scissor trusses have really made this area feel large. Originally we talked about 7' ceilings and standard trusses. We changed to 8' ceilings and scissor trusses. These trusses are 6/12 on the top chord and 3/12 on the bottom cord so from floor to peak is 12'. It really feels spacious.
This is what you see when you walk into the cabin. Three of the lower windows are covered. They are not quite done sheet rocking and none of the taping, mudding has started here.
Here's the view through the patio door
Here's the Kitchen. The door for the mudroom is on the left. The pressure tank and regulator are in the cardboard box and the opening to the vaulted area is on the right. You can see the framing for one of the two 30" pocket doors. This room looks nearly ready for paint.
Looking down the hallway and it looks like it is close to paint.
This is the mud room showing the boiler system. We have three zones; kitchen-mudroom-bathrooms, vaulted area-west bedroom, and the northwest-southwest bedrooms. In order to fire up the heading system we asked Todd Truedson to do this work. He installed the "off peak" meter in the box on the yard light pole and ran a run from the "off peak" panel to the boiler.
This the shower/bath for the main bathroom in the lower level. This bathroom will also have the 48" vanity.
This is a picture of the west bedroom.
This is the northwest bedroom.
This is the northeast bedroom.
This is the loft area where you can see the northwest bedroom, the hallway, and the northeast bedroom. We have to wait to complete rough-in electrical before we can sheet rock. We are wondering if we need to have framed closets in these two bedrooms. You can see they are framed but I think the cabin committee will decide which we will do. We are also considering if we have enough lighting in this open area. We currently have a fan/light planned for the center of the room but are wondering if we should add sconce lights as well.
This is to show the open area in the loft. In the future we could create a sixth bedroom. It's maybe a little hard to see but none of the ceiling has been taped yet.
The "tree stand" area. You can see the entry door to the bathroom on the left side. The triple combination window is currently covered with plastic.
A little more detail for the northeast bedroom in the loft.
Northeast bedroom
From left to right, you can see the doorway to the northeast bedroom, the north bathroom which will have the 48" shower and 48" vanity. The bathroom on the right has a 36" shower and a 26" pedestal/sink. On the right side you can see the edge of the "tree stand" area.
The notion of these pictures is to give you a sense of the current construction status for the cabin. The next activity is rough-in electrical for the loft area.
Finally, on Monday Sue and I were with Peggy and Floyd for Peggy's surgery to remove a small malignant tumor in her right lung. The surgery went really well. Peggy went home on Wednesday and is expected to have a follow-up appointment next week or so.
Hope you are all doing well. If you have any questions please let me know.
Bob
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