Here is a car retrieved from the flooded river. It was hidden under tons of rocks and sand. Someone else was driving so I was able to snap a picture of it. There are a few others, but most were removed months ago.



Somebody's sons built this sauna in about 4 days. They are construction geniuses. I love the little side deck on the left side - it makes up for the fact that house where this is sits right on the noisy highway. It's still noisy up there on that deck, but that makes up for it a little bit.



Murray the Electrician was here today. Good news bad news. The good news is that he fixed the flood damaged electrical under our Brown Palace cabin. We were very fortunate that the 220 volt wire powering the well water pump is UF (underground feed) wire, meaning it is meant for use underground and in wet environments, so doesn't have to be replaced after being wet in the flooding. All he had to do was deal with the outlet boxes that were under the house - replace one, remove some others that were unneeded.



Then, he dealt with the wiring on the other side of the house, but it wasn't as easy, and he agreed with us that maybe the flood didn't reach there, so even though he couldn't get to all of it, it should be fine. The true test is what the state electrical inspector has to say about it.

The good news is that the electrical supply to that house is still good - we don't need to get the city utility people to come and fix the wires from the power pole. So, we're ready to go.

EXCEPT: there is a burst pipe underneath the bathroom because I didn't do a good enough job winterizing the place during the flood last September. It was one of those Do Your Best and Pray for a Good Outcome situations, and I didn't pray hard enough.

Mr. Troutbend can see the break in the pipe, but it's not easy to get to, and he has to figure out how to accomplish that. To further this project along, we are mulling it over, including sleeping on it.

This means we are not going to be able to open the cabin for Memorial Day weekend. Sorry, Wayne (the guy who wants to rent it).



Regarding the little red cabin, it still needs all the wiring replaced. We discussed what needs to be done, and there is more hope than the last time I talked to him. It would make sense to raise all the electrical outlets and wiring above what we guess would be the high water mark in the next flood (it floods here every 30 years or so), but since the walls are solid log, it all has to be through metal conduit in the living space. Elevating it will be extremely difficult and expensive.

But I asked him what if we were to use that UF - underground feed - wire that can get wet? So it would not have to be changed after another flood. He hadn't thought about that (because flooding is so rare around here) but conceded that is a good idea. He will run it by the state electrical inspector and see if that might be acceptable. It will cost more than regular wiring, but if it lessens future flood repair costs, it would be worth it.

And we talked about how he could go about the project in general. The complication of it is that the crawl space is unusable, so new ways have to be found to get the wiring into the house and across space from the meter box. I told him to go ahead and punch in anywhere, including taking conduit around the outside walls of the house. So there is hope.