While progress on building plans continues to be frustratingly slow, Nature has been much better about not slipping her schedule.
I was able to spend a good part of the Memorial Day weekend at the property. It started out damp and drippy but ended as an absolutely beautiful late Spring weekend.
The view south from the Trestlewood Chalet deck. Note the contrast between the bright green, living trees and the brown oaks behind, which did not survive.It looks like the Rhododendrons are enjoying the lack of competition.Native wildflower seeds that my brother scattered across the hillside have established themselves.Even the driveway was sporting some Spring fineryMorning drizzle has accentuated the contrast between blackened Manzanita and bright wildflowers.The vast majority of the new wildflowers were these yellow and blue varieties. Anyone care to identify them for me?On the other hand, these California Poppies are easy for me to identify.This is the hillside just north and west of our property
It is odd to see a landscape that had been only last year completed covered with Manzanita and Bear Clover, now exposed as a barren, rocky slope.
In this view north you can clearly see the transition from ground fire to crown fire, now visible as the transition from bright green to black and brown.Another view, this one looking east, showing the trees that survived below, and above them those that did not.A morning view south. The Railroad Fire started just over that cloudy ridge, not more than a few hundred yards away from here.Bear Clover is taking hold again, helping to stabilize the steep slope above the area where the railroad-tie retaining wall used to be.
As I explored the area above the property I came across many yellow and black signs on National Forest land, all of which marked a “Sale Area Boundary.”
This view look North, from the fire road, near where the Sea Train container used to sit. The boundary between our property and National Forest land runs down the middle of the dirt road.A closeup view of one of the signs.These signs are adjacent to the forest service gate at the southern edge of our property.
For a moment I thought that perhaps the Forest Service was planning to sell (!!) this portion of the National Forest. But soon enough I realized that they are not selling the land, they are selling the timber. It is likely that many, if not most, of the dead trees on the National Forest lands around our property will soon be harvested as salvage timber. They are already doing this along Hwy 41 on the way up to Fish Camp.
Time Out to Explore
On Sunday, the drizzle was gone and the weather turned absolutely beautiful. After a trip into Fish Camp, I took the opportunity to drive back by way of the forest service fire road.
It is barely recognizable! Instead of a secluded road through dense forest, now it is open and exposed. Along much of it you can easily see the traffic on Hwy 41 below.
This is the east side of the former Happy Camp clearing. Many trees are still standing, but nearly every one of them is dead.And this is the view to the West. This was the target practice area where our kids used to collect lead slugs.This is what it looks like to drive down the fire road, through the “forest.”But all along the road, the scorched forest floor is now blanketed with this bright green and orange ground cover. The recovery has begun!
Back to Work
Oh yes, we did get some work on the property. For instance we have repaired the winter’s erosion damage near the two large Ponderosa pine stumps.
Unfortunately nearly every tree on the Logger’s Retreat property is dead, like the ones still standing in this picture.Here you can see the early stages of our efforts to line the edge of this section of the driveway with large boulders. The challenge here is to make sure they don’t get away from you … and roll down the hill. (!!)
On the following weekend we returned with another large (rented) excavator to do some heavier landscape work. For instance, we used it to take out one of those two Ponderosa stumps.
Here you can see the excavator digging a hole around the tree stump. That pile of dirt in the photo just came out of that hole.Here is the stump, now removed. It was larger than the excavator’s cab!Here’s another view of the stump. Note that the root ball was larger than the exposed portion of the stump!And finally — a new gate across our new driveway!
Oh, About Those Plans…
The construction plans were (for the most part) finished and submitted last week .(Yay!) Current estimates are that it will take at least a month for the county building department to review and approve them.
I have asked for bids from several contractors. By now any possibility of having a house completely built before Winter is long gone. Now our hope is to have at least one, if not both structures roughed in and sealed up before the snow flies (November). Meeting that challenge will be a big factor in our decision of who gets the job.
Where were we? Ah yes, atmospheric rivers and the “Pineapple Express. ” Five and a half inches of rain over two days. Warm rains that melted all the snow from just the week before.
It was pretty early in the storm that I first heard from our caretaker. She wanted to warn me that our driveway was in danger of washing away. The small creek that runs under our driveway had completely overflowed and was now running down the driveway instead of under it.
Also the culvert where the creek runs under Hwy 41 had clogged. Muddy water had completely filled up the creek’s ravine and was now overflowing the road.
I called a friend who works for Caltrans to let them know about it.
They were already there.
A bit later our caretaker sent me some blurry photos from her camera, taken in the thick of it.
This is the bottom of our driveway, now with about 2 inches of whitewater rushing down it! (These photos courtesy of C.Murray)Here you can see the whitewater rushing past a Caltrans truck……and back into the creek’s ravine, where it then normally flows under the road about 15 feet below the road surface. That ravine was now filled to the brim and overflowing with muddy water.
After much effort Caltrans did manage to unplug the culvert under Hwy 41, as well as the smaller one above it — the one that goes under our driveway.
We drove up later in the week to inspect the entire property for damage. This is how it looked then:
The ravine after Caltrans was able to unplug the culvert and the water level had mostly returned to “normal.”Caltrans still had to pick up some of their toys.Looking up the driveway from close to the bottom, near Hwy 41. I took this photo from nearly the same place as the “whitewater” photo aboveThe worst damage to the driveway was just below the first switchback, near where the creek runs underneath it
We inspected the entire property, and although there was plenty of evidence of mud flows and erosion, overall it wasn’t that bad — especially considering the amount of rain that had fallen in such a short time.
Above the Trestlewood Chalet the driveway was virtually untouchedLooking down the driveway, just below the last switchback, you can see some evidence of mud flows, but no damage to the driveway itselfAt the Logger’s Retreat breezeway, again there is some erosion, but the driveway itself is still intact and functional.On the fire road near the south gate, a lot of muddy water did flow across the road, but the road itself was not damagedA good-sized boulder is now parked on the road up to the top of the knoll where we want to place our water tanks.
And north of our properties, where the creek normally flows under the fire road, it chose instead to cross here. But again, the damage is minimal.This is where the worst erosion occurred — where the path to the picnic area went past the tall Ponderosa pines, behind the garage.. We’ll be reworking this area anyway during construction
Flower Power
Hey, anyone remember these, from before the fire?
Well, they’re back!
I can’t tell you how gratifying it was to see those Daffodils come back.
Of course there are no guarantees that we are done with snow for this season — last year we even had snow in June! But even so, I think we can safely say that Spring has officially sprung at the Logger’s Retreat.
Although we had hoped to have the structural design of the house finished by the end of the month, we were not that lucky. But still March did provide several big deliveries — specifically in terms of weather.
It was almost as if the one in charge of these things suddenly realized that Winter was running late and Spring was already queued up. Suddenly there was a big rush to deliver both Winter and Spring together, all in the same month.
We had several cycles of rain and snow — big rains, which often melted most, if not all of the snow. The two largest snow events came at the beginning of the month (March 2) and in the middle (March 16). By the end of the month the total precipitation since last July 1st had reached 25 inches, with March alone bringing us 13 of them!
This is what the month looked like from the perspective of our weather station:
Note that snow doesn’t show up here as rain until after it melts!
And this is what the first wave (March 2nd) looked like from a more human perspective:
Short on time, I stopped plowing the driveway about 50 ft above the Trestlewood Chalet.
This storm left about 8 inches of snow on the ground and was the first time this season where I really needed the snowblower. The equipment worked well; the only unexpected problem was that first I had to dig the Bobcat and its attachments out of the snow, which took me an extra 45 minutes or so. Before the fire I had always kept the equipment inside the garage at the Logger’s Retreat. It made me really appreciate what a luxury that garage had been!
You can see from the charts above that the majority of this storm came first as rain (about 3 inches). A good rule of thumb around here is that 1 inch of rainfall usually translates to about 1 foot of snow. So if that the storm had been just a little bit colder, instead of 8 inches we would have had nearly 4 feet of snow on the ground!
After I finished plowing I was not particularly interested in digging the Bobcat out again. So I left it in the garage instead of outside under a tarp.
There were no guests scheduled for the entire month. So I was able to leave the Bobcat in the garage, ready for the next weather wave.
This turned out to have an unexpected, added benefit. Shortly after we headed back down to our Southern California home, a friend of ours asked to borrow it so that he could clear the driveway of a neighbor who lives a few hundred feet up the road. Her husband had passed away early this year and the storm caught her by surprise, leaving her snowbound. Thanks to his thoughtful kindness, a few hours later her driveway too was clear of snow, and the Bobcat was back in our garage, ready to go again. (Incidentally it was cleaner than I had left it, too!)
The Second Wave
The middle of the month brought another storm, also starting as rain and then followed by two days of snow. We arrived late Thursday night, just before the rain turned to snow. We woke Friday morning to cloudy skies and about 4 or 5 inches of snow on the ground.
For a special treat our daughter was able to join us on this trip. She and my wife went up the hill exploring while I cleared the lower driveway.
New snow on the driveway above the Trestlewood Chalet. Photo courtesy of H. Holland-MoritzTrees that were stripped clean by the fire are actually quite beautiful when frosted with fresh snow. Photo courtesy H. Holland-MoritzThe view south with more fresh snow on burned trees. Photo courtesy H. Holland-MoritzThe Bobcat at work on the driveway. Photo courtesy H. Holland-MoritzThis time I tried plowing uphill — and actually made it all the way to the top! I could not have done that had the snow been any deeper. Photo courtesy H. Holland-Moritz
After I finished plowing it continued to snow on and off all day. But the temperature was warm enough so that the new snow did not stick.
We awoke on Saturday morning to a few more inches of new snow, bright sunshine and a beautiful blue sky.
Last fall many oaks did not drop the leaves that were singed by firel. I am anxious to find out whether or not those trees will sprout new leaves this coming Spring.You can see here the total amount of snow that fell over the two day storm.This Jay seemed to be guarding a nearby feeder with its new stash of sunflower seedsOnly one day before this, I had cleared the driveway of snow, all the way to the topBut this time the warm sun did most of the plowing for meAnd yet only a few hundred feet up the driveway, the snow there was still cold and freshBy now I must have a hundred pictures of these iconic reminders of the old Logger’s Retreat. They are like old friends to meI find it difficult to describe the beauty of that morning; perhaps this photo helpsThat day’s menu featured toasted Manzanita with snow and sky. Photo courtesy of H. Holland-MoritzA friend tries to thread a needle with a snowball. Photo courtesy of H. Holland-Moritz
And Then Came Spring
Shortly after we got back home, California was hit by another “Pineapple Express” atmospheric river. In the chart above you can’t miss it — it’s that spike of nearly 2 inches of rain, followed by another 3.5 inches the very next day.
That was a lot of rain! I’ll share the photos and details of that with you in my next post.
I know it has been a long time since the last post, but that does not mean we haven’t been busy!
I’ve spent most of the last month working with a contractor to create a buildable set of drawings. Come along if you would like a quick tour!
The Main House
Drawing of the north side of the Logger’s Retreat, as it will look from near the top of the driveway. Not shown here are details of the north (i.e. kitchen) deck.
The new design of the main house is very similar to the original. It has essentially the same footprint & only slightly more living space. Since the design has not changed much, I’ll mostly just point out the differences.
The front door and breezeway, looking East. Again the details of both north and south decks are not shown here.
Looking North from near the garage. As before the decks are not shown here, and also the details of the steep eastern edge of the driveway between main house and garage, which will have to be stabilized and reinforced to accommodate the hot tub.
Because of changes to the building code, we may not be able to have quite as much window space in the master bedroom upstairs.
The old design had wrap-around windows at the southeast corner of that bedroom, but code may no longer allow that. These days they generally want at least 32 inches of wall space between a window and the nearest corner or door. This is one detail we have the structural engineer looking into now.
This is approximately how the house will appear as you look West, from near the picnic area.
The eastern face of the house will look similar to the old design. In the drawing above it shows a sliding glass door on the left and a standard door in the middle. However in the current plan those will both be double French doors instead.
The new upper-level floor plan is essentially the same as the old one.
Here you can see the upstairs floor plan, as well as the upper-level decks. The only significant change here are the decks themselves. The north deck will be a few feet larger than before, extending eastward in front of the north-facing window of the octagon.
Not shown in the floor plan above are all of the kitchen counters and cabinets, but our plan is for all of that to be pretty much the same as before. At this point the plan still is to have bar stools around the kitchen counter area, but they will probably not have swiveling tractor seats, and not be anchored to the floor.
On the south (master bedroom) upper-level deck, we plan to add a set of stairs connecting it to the lower-level deck. That u-shaped deck area on the right will be attached to, and one step down from the south deck. It will wrap around the hot tub.
The lower-level deck will now be rectangular and significantly larger. It used to wrap around the large oak tree that grew there, close to the house. Since that tree is now gone, there is no longer anything for the deck to wrap around.
And here is the lower-level floor plan.
On the lower floor, the south (right side) bedroom gets a larger closet and a full bath instead of a 3/4 bath. Double French doors open onto the lower deck instead of a sliding glass door.
The middle (“family”) room also gets French doors opening onto the lower deck but is otherwise no different from the old design.
The north bedroom gets some additional square footage plus a larger closet, and its own outside door too! The drawing shows it opening onto a small deck, but I am pretty sure that won’t be necessary as the hillside there will already be at door-level.
The Garage
The garage as it will appear from the main house
The new garage will be quite a bit different from the old one. The footprint will be wider by two feet and longer by one foot. But the biggest change is the living space we’ve added above the garage.
Looking West at the east side of the garage. At the south (left) side, the roof extends over the deck and covers it completely.
On the south end of the garage there is an upper-level deck which wraps around the southeast corner of the building. Stairs on the east side will provide a way to get to the deck (and the living space) when coming from the main house.
Since the deck provides the only entrance to the living area, the entire deck and east side of the building will be protected from rain and snow by an overhead roof.
Looking North, at the south end of the garage.
This is what the south end of the garage will look like, looking North. The old garage was separated from the railroad-tie retaining wall to the West (to the left in this view) by a narrow walkway. Our plan is to push the garage directly up against the hillside and use the west wall of the garage itself as the retaining wall. This should save some construction costs and will also provide more usable yard space on the east side of the garage.
Another benefit of pushing the garage directly up against the hillside is that the west side of the deck will actually be at ground level there. We’ll landscape a ramped path up to that spot as an alternative way to get to that deck (and into the living space).
This is looking East, at the west face of the garage. The lower half of this wall will be a retaining wall — i.e. holding back the hillside above.
Now for the floor plans…
This is the lower floor of the garage. In this orientation the main house will be to the left.
The lower floor will be two separate 2-car garage areas connected by a fifth (internal) garage door. This internal door will allow us to move vehicles and equipment from one garage to the other without having to drive all the way up and around the property.
The second (southern) garage area — which in the old garage was a shop — will provide sheltered parking for anyone using the living space above.
The upper floor of the garage has two bedrooms and about 1000 sq ft of total living space
That living space itself will be a comfortable 2-bedroom, single bath home, with large East-facing windows similar to the main house. The kitchen will have lots of cabinet space and be large enough to accommodate a round 4-person dining table. It will be well-equipped of course! 🙂
The east bedroom has the best view and is large enough to fit a king bed. The west bedroom is a bit smaller but still large enough for a queen bed.
So that’s the tour, and that’s “The Plan.” After our structural engineer is done with his part, we should be able to submit the plans to the county for approval, and also to send out for bids. With any luck that will happen by the end of March!
As we come to the end of the month, this winter in the Yosemite area is shaping up to look more like Spring. While the eastern half of the country has been in the deep freeze, out here in California we’ve been mostly warm and cozy — as long as we’re not getting swept away in mud slides. of course
That same storm system in early January that buried Montecito in mud brought this region of the Sierras south of Yosemite at least 4 inches of rain!
Yes it is true that snow would have been much better for the state’s continuing water problems, and might possibly have even tempered the severity of the Montecito mudslides. But for us personally, it was probably a good thing that the storm was so warm. That much rain could easily have been 4 feet of snow.
The former breezeway after 4 inches of rain. Not bad considering!
And while we did have some erosion, nothing rose to the level of a mudslide for us.
A wheelbarrow-sized portion of the hillside above the former retaining wall slumped onto the building site.
The worst erosion occurred in the area behind where the garage once stood, where the path to the picnic area begins.
Erosion channels cut deeply into our path to the picnic area, where our grading work had softened the soil.
Those two tree stumps in the photo above mark where the two gigantic Ponderosa pines once stood.
The Second January Storm
Around the middle of the month the forecast warned us of several inches of snow possible at our 5000 ft elevation. There were guests coming to the Trestlewood Chalet for MLK weekend, so we had to make sure the driveway was clear for their arrival. We drove up the night before the storm came through.
As has been typical this winter, the forecast was for the storm to start out warm and then sometime later drop below freezing. Exactly when is hard to predict, and that “when” can make all the difference between a lot of rain with a dusting of snow, or a lot of wet snow topped with a hard crust.
Our morning view across the valley, with the snow line clearly visible only a few hundred feet above us
We awoke the next morning to gray skies and the sound of rain. We actually did get some snow, but it was not even enough to stick to the driveway.
A large pine cone on the deck briefly tries on a winter coat.
The rain continued until about 10 am and washed away all of the remaining snow at our elevation. For the rest of the day Mount Raymond played hide-and-seek with us amongst patches of blue sky and wispy clouds.
A sunlit, snow-covered Mount Raymond peeks through a break in the clouds
Hints of Spring in January?
As we went about our weekend business at the property, we saw plants that were convinced it was time to get to work. A botanist-friend of ours had mentioned that we should expect the Bear Clover to come back fast. She felt this would be a good thing as the native species is very good at preventing hillside erosion.
And sure enough, little green sprigs of it are now covering the property.
Those bright green patches below the tree stump are all happy little Bear Clover sprouts
To be honest, once established Bear Clover is not one of my favorite ground covers. It grows so thick it is hard to walk through, and if you do you’ll find yourself covered with an aromatic, sticky sap.
Still, at this point I do appreciate any help with erosion control that Nature can provide.
Yes even the Daffodils are optimistic!But this tiny little Oak seedling is not fooled by the warm weather. It seems to know that it is still the middle of winter around here.
So far this winter has been very mild, and while we would prefer long, gentle rains over mudslide-inducing torrents, still it has been very helpful to have the property free of snow and easily accessible. I’ve even been able to have several contractors visit the site and provide me with estimates.
We are now working with one of those contractors to turn our design sketches into a buildable (and biddable) set of plans. This has been a regular source of frustration, so I am quite excited now to see him making real progress.
After those plans are done, we’ll post some images of them here — so that you too can look forward to the future as much as I do!
Happy New Year everyone! Let’s hope 2018 is more constructive (or less destructive at least) than 2017 was.
After an enjoyable holiday break with family, we returned home from our travels with one of our two adult sons. Although he had seen many photos of the fire and what it left behind, still he was very interested in seeing it first hand. So last week we all went up for a quick visit, our first of 2018.
While the eastern side of the U.S. has been battling snow and ice and record low temperatures, out here on the western side of the country it has been unseasonably warm and dry. Really warm. As in pushing close to 70 degrees in January! This is not normal.
Of course this is bad news for a state still struggling with extended drought conditions and massive, record-breaking wildfires. But at least for us, a warm snowless January means that we can get more work done on the property.
And there is a lot of work to do! But our son still liked the prospect of work, because this work involved the Bobcat. And let’s face it, Bobcats can be fun.
One of the two wood and brush piles that we wanted to move. This is where the old garage used to be, and where its replacement will go
Back in September when I ordered attachments for the Bobcat, my order included a “Grapple Rake.” It is a simple device that pretty much does what it says on the tin. It’s good for raking up sticks and stones, and also carrying them from here to there.
But given that it attaches to a skidsteer, it can handle pretty hefty sticks and stones — i.e. logs and boulders. We’ve got a lot of those around here. So back in September this seemed to me to be a worthwhile attachment to have. This visit was our first chance to find out whether or not that was true.
If this is work, then why is this man smiling?
This was also a chance to use our newly-graded “back entrance” to the Logger’s Retreat.
The new “back entrance” driveway had a section that was almost too steep for the Bobcat to handle, but the added weight of the grapple rake and its contents helped keep the Bobcat’s front wheels on the ground
We added the larger logs to the pile we had already created when we took down the two Ponderosa Pines. And we created a new, separate pile for all the smaller, brushy pieces. We’ll try to cut the larger pieces into useful lumber. The smaller stuff will probably become firewood.
Our son grappling 3 logs into position on the top of the pile he’s created
It took us two afternoons to finish the job. The weather was sunny and mild and as a reward for our labors we were treated to a most beautiful sunset on the surrounding hills.
This is where the new road meets the old fire road, near where the storage container used to be
The sunset progressed quickly and relit the patchwork of burned forest on the mountainside across the Lewis Creek valley from us; this time much more pleasantly than last time. (Don’t worry; those are clouds, not smoke!)
A closer view of the ridge across the valley, now with some low clouds drifting past the sunlit trees. Yes it really was that color!And finally the trees became silhouettes as the clouds themselves lit up
But enough with the visual distractions; back to work! Yes we did finish moving the wood piles.
And the wood piles are all gone! This is where we will build the new garage. In the background of this image is where the house itself will go, where you see the orange breezeway support posts
Now that the lot is clear and clean, it is almost too open. I feel like it needs some structure. Yes, in fact it needs Structures. I want the building to begin!
While we were installing the new weather station at the Logger’s Retreat, my wife noticed something was different about the old ore car near our picnic area. She asked me to take a look.
The ore car was rotated 90 degrees from its normal position, and the rails it normally rests on were scattered across the yard.Someone had left these heavy tow chains, a long tow cable and several cargo straps stretched across the hillside above the ore car.
It was pretty obvious that someone had tried (and thankfully failed) to drag the ore car up the hill to the driveway. Apparently they gave up after the cargo straps snapped several times.
That made me wonder what else they might have tried to move.
You may remember this old steam engine flywheel resting on the hillside above the retaining wall.The flywheel is gone, and directly below it are some very clear, very distinctive tire tracks.
There were other things missing too.
Notice the large ore shovel sitting on the hillside between two of the breezeway support posts.Here are the support posts, but the ore shovel is now gone from the hillside behind them
Further investigation revealed some interesting clues. In addition to the tire tracks, there was now a pink coat hanger lying on the ground nearby. That was new.
This was right next to the tire tracks, as if it had fallen out of the truck while they were loading the flywheel into itApparently the thief has a young daughter (or a thing for My Little Ponies). This Pinkie Pie is from a McDonald’s Happy Meal circa 2016We even know what brand of beer he drinks.And indeed, we also know what the uniquely-customized getaway truck looks like.
We filed a stolen property report with the Madera County Sheriff and sent them photos of the missing items and the getaway truck. They began an investigation.
Then we got a tip from a local that the thief might have tried to sell the items to Rust Brothers Antiques and Collectibles in nearby Coarsegold. And sure enough, look what we found there!
Here is our flywheel and several other items missing from our property
We have now recovered most of the stolen items. As we understand it the thief has been arrested and has confessed to the crime. Once again our sincere thanks go out to the Madera County Sheriff’s Office!
By the way: if you recognize the getaway truck and know who its owner is, please tell his young daughter that we are keeping her Pinkie Pie pony safe and sound. We will gladly return it to her, if she wants it back!
During the week before Christmas we had a small storm come through the Yosemite area. The forecast called only for rain, but the actual storm was cold enough that (surprise!) it left about a half-inch of snow on the ground. This is what we have been preparing for since September.
The amount of snow was not enough to make the driveway impassable, but it was enough to make it icy. We decided to make a quick trip up before Christmas to clean off the snow and also to install a new Davis Vantage Pro2 Plus wireless weather station — to replace the one destroyed by the fire.
We arrived sometime after noon on Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year. Although it was cold and close to freezing , the day was beautiful and the low afternoon sun had softened the snow and ice. The conditions were perfect for brushing so we got right to it.
The brush was all we needed to clear away this small amount of snow.It was a good first test of the Bobcat for snow removal
I was even able to brush uphill, which allowed me to clear the entire driveway of snow.
View from the top looking down the drivewayBrushing off the rest of the snow from the upper driveway
Afterward, the driveway was as beautiful as the sunny day itself. And we still had time to install the new weather station too.
The new weather station is mounted in exactly the same position as the old one. It will be interesting to see if the local weather conditions are different now, after the fire.
At the end of my “Clearance: Half Off” post I mentioned that we still had a problem with the Bobcat: its glowplugs were not working.
Unlike gasoline engines, Diesels do not have spark plugs. To ignite their fuel they use the fact that the temperature of any gas will increase as you compress it. The piston compresses air inside a cylinder until it is hot enough to ignite diesel fuel. Then at the proper time the engine injects fuel into the cylinder to ignite it, which then drives the piston back down.
But this only works if the temperature inside the cylinder gets hot enough to ignite diesel fuel. If the engine is too cold a diesel engine can’t start without some help. This is what glowplugs are for.
A glowplug is essentially a small electric heater installed at the top of the cylinder. When the engine is cold the glowplug will heat the air in the cylinder enough to ignite the fuel. Once the engine is running and warm, the additional heat is not needed. So glowplugs are only needed when the engine is cold.
When it got cold enough outside, our Bobcat started warning us that the glowplugs were not working right. And sure enough: the colder it got outside, the more difficult it was to start the Bobcat.
Now remember, the main reason we need the Bobcat is to clear snow from the driveway. So a glowplug warning in cool weather is quite likely to become a show-stopper in cold, snowy weather, right when we need the Bobcat most. This was a problem that we needed to fix before we got snow.
Fortunately, glowplugs are pretty simple devices. And a quick review of the Bobcat wiring diagram confirmed that the circuit was pretty simple too. The problem had to be either a bad glowplug or a bad relay. And since there is one glowplug for each cylinder, the Bobcat would likely still start easily if only one glowplug were bad. So it would seem that either all glowplugs had failed (not likely) or something common to all glowplugs had failed (much more likely).
The only thing common to all glowplugs is the relay, which supplies power to them when it is cold out. The relay is located in the Bobcat’s fuse box, plugged into a socket there.
The Bobcat’s fusebox, with relays installed
So our problem could be that the relay was bad, or there was a bad connection in the relay socket.
Last weekend I finally had the chance to investigate on-site. I quickly proved that it was the glowplug relay itself by swapping the relay with another, known-good relay nearby.
No more flashing warning light, and the Bobcat fired right up. Victory!
I could have just left it at that, with the relays swapped. (The known-good relay had controlled the rear floodlights.) But I noticed that it was possible to pop off the relay cover and peek inside. This is what that looks like.
The relay and cover separated.
It was pretty clear that the relay had gotten wet; it was dirty and corroded inside. But mechanically it still seemed to work. So I spent a few minutes cleaning it, blowing out the dirt and exercising the mechanism.
After that, poking around with a volt-ohm meter suggested that it was working again. So I snapped the cover back on and tried it in the Bobcat. Joy ensued.
Now I have working glowplugs and rear floodlights. Bring on the snow!
The last task for the excavator was to open up a “back entrance” to the Logger’s Retreat.
Prior to the fire, the only way to get heavy equipment like the Bobcat into the area behind the garage (including the path to the picnic area) was to actually drive through the garage itself. The original owners had built a third garage door into the back of the garage specifically for this purpose.
While we still had the excavator available, we rearranged boulders in that area to create an additional driveway.
The new driveway where it meets the old path to the picnic area. The stump visible at lower left is from the first of the two Ponderosa Pines we felled.
This new driveway meets the forest service fire road right next to where the old Sea Train storage container used to sit.
The new driveway meets the fire road at the right. In this image you can also see the broken remains of the large oak tree that was directly behind the storage container
We are currently exploring the possibility of adding living space above the Logger’s Retreat garage. If that becomes a reality, we’ll use this new “back entrance” as the main driveway for that second residence.
