Father’s Day, A Drive by Gray’s National Wildlife Refuge, Roofing the Shed

Father’s Day neared and I really didn’t think much about it. That is until my son and his wife called and invited us over for dinner. So we headed over the mountain and spent a delightful day. Patty and Matt combined their cooking skills and made heart healthy chicken fried steak, with country gravy. Patty gave me a lesson on cooking and the meal was simply great. Thanks Matt and Patty for a wonderful day!

They had also just started to receive their yearly water allotment and so we had to walk out and watch the pond filling up. Now it might not be such a big deal to most but to actually have water rights and to receive it is a huge deal in the arid west. They use their water to grow hay for wildlife, and to recharge their ground water. It was really neat to watch the water flowing down the dry channels.

The next day was a day of discovery as Dave and Jane picked us up and drove to Freedom, Wyoming and toward Soda Springs, Idaho. Freedom got its name as it was founded by polygamist’s who sited the town exactly on the Wyoming Idaho border. It got its name from the practice of the people fleeing to Idaho to escape raids from Wyoming authorities and also fleeing to Wyoming when the Idaho police would try to raid the place.

We didn’t see anyone running from the law, but we did see quite a few sand hill crane pairs nesting near Grays National Wildlife Refuge. The cranes here are in the breeding colors and are much more colorful than the drab grays we see when they winter in Texas. Thanks Jane and Dave for sharing the day with us!

So company headed south and the metal roof arrived. After spending time watching online videos, I started placing the metal roof panels on top of the felt roofing. I got into a pattern and it only took me about four hours to get the roof covered and the cap on. I almost finished but of course I messed up the order and so I had to temporally put two small pieces of white panel to finish the roof. Now it’s back to the hardware store to order another piece of the right color metal panel.

At least the shed is now dry and ready for use. Now I am waiting for the vinyl siding and the two windows to arrive, but I am not in a hurry anymore and I can now store rocks, instead of lugging them all over the country in the fifth wheel. Isn’t that what most people build a shed for? Clear skies.