Rafters On Cabin Now In Place

Got the rafters in place now. Also continued wall installation today. The cabin is now really looking like a cabin!

Looking forward to an icy cold bath when I get home after walking 8 miles to Bell Mountain there and back.

Cathie McCormack staying tonight again and then its off to the west as she continues her bike trek across America. I will be cooking her supper when I get home.

Tomorrow all of the churches in Idaho Springs are having a joint ecumenical service. There's a bit of controversy regarding this one however. The newly installed Lutheran Pastor is a transgender a female who became a male. I maybe attending the service; but, I doubt First Baptist will attend nor will Clear Creek Neighborhood Church attend.

I believe some from the United Church will be in attendance. Sexual identity is a tricky issue made even trickier when it involves a church Pastor. Stay tuned.

Well, I need to go over my lines and practice a bit for the Melodrama when I get home. Grace and peace to y'all.

BR Schoenbein

August 28, 2015- Met with Christian Author Phillip Yancey

Pastor Bill Robertson of Clear Creek Neighborhood Church arranged a meeting at Starbucks in Idaho Springs between me and Christian author, Phillip Yancey.

We discussed a wide range of issues including the state of the Church in America, political situation, his books and my prospective book.

He is a fascinating man. I read at least 2 of his books including Reaching For The Invisible God and The Jesus I Never Knew. They were excellent reads for sure.

Hosted Cathie McCormack last night and today. She may stay until Sunday. She is riding her bike across America East to West. I'm Facebook friends with Cathie but until last night I had never met her in person.

Cody cooked up a big breakfast for us this morning before he left for his carpenter job.

Last night I attended a memorial service for little Dylan Ellington who passed away a few days ago. He was born prematurely I believe and developed an infection while in the neonatal unit at the hospital.

Christine and Michael are members of Clear Creek Neighborhood Church which I attend Thursday night. Dylan was their first child. I cannot even pretend to know what range of emotions a parent feels upon the death of a child.

Michael and I are planning to spend a weekend up at the cabin during the winter. Cant wait! Mountain men!!

Pics show Phillip Yancey and me, Cathie McCormick and Scott at the Frothy Cup. Last pic shows a magazine Mr Yancey gave me at Starbucks.

Well anyway, its time to go. Ciao!

BR Schoenbein

August 26, 2015- Hiked to Dumont CO Yesterday to Rehearse Our Melodrama

Hiked 5 miles to Dumont yesterday to attend rehearsal for our Melodrama, Goodbody's Gold. Great weather for hiking. Ran into 3 friends on Stanley Rd who stopped to say hi.

Met Pastor Josh at the Starbucks in Dumont. He had to deliver some bad news for me. Life is difficult; if I could just remember that then when  bad happens it won't throw me for a loop. Take the good and the bad and accept reality.

Pastor Josh and his wife Emily have  always been there for me through all the ups and downs. Thank God for them and Mercy Church!

This too shall pass. When bad things happen as well as the good... remember that saying.

Signing out...

BR Schoenbein

August 14, 2015- More Progress On Cabin

Well, we've gained some ground building my cabin in the piney woods on Bell Mountain the last several days. We have about 5 more courses of clapboards to install then the roof rafters and purlins then the door and finally the loft.

I will be chopping firewood for both myself and Bruce Bell next week. He needs 8 cords...that's a lot of wood!

The first frost here is expected in the next 3 weeks so winter is coming quickly. So far it's been a cool summer, it never gets higher than the very low 80s here. On average afternoon highs have been in the mid to high 70s. That's great if you're working outside but not so great for your garden. Bruce's sweet corn can't get a leg up without higher temps. Humidity and rainfall is low too. We are constantly watering his gardens both up on the mountain and below at the base where his house is located.

Lately, after work, I've been reading GK Chesterton works or rather books about Chesterton. Fascinating reads about the best writer of the 20th Century. I highly recommend getting to know Chesterton. I know Professor Mike Foster, Tolkien Scholar and a FB friend of mine is an expert in Chesterton and his literary works. Chesterton was an extraordinarily effective Christian and Catholic apologist. He was able though to talk and lecture just about any subject matter.

Attended Thursday night services at Clear Creek Neighborhood Church Pastor Bill Robertson officiating. Once again, the study material this week on idols we have in our lives was fascinating. Pastor Bill really knows how to keep a study flowing and interjects with very helpful ideas. We all have idols in our life and we need to recognize them in order to cast them aside.

Well, gots to go. I've got a 4 mile hike ahead of me to Bell Mountain to work on the cabin. Would like to move in the next 3-4 weeks to begin my Thoreau inspired stay up in the piney woods of Bell Mountain.

Peace and grace to you all!

BR Schoenbein

August 11, 2015- Framed in my window

We framed in my cannibalized 4 x 4 double paned sliding glass window. We positioned it on the south side to allow for light and heat on winter days. No other windows necessary.

Mr Bell told me the window's perfect size to allow Atticus the 500 pound bear to come crashing through when he gets hungry in the fall and spring. Great.

If he does and I'm home he's going to get buckshot in his big wooly jowls you can bet on that.

Incoming lightening storm forced us off the mountain shortly after framing in the window. So, now I'm rehearsing my lines for the upcoming Melodrama. Practice is tonight at 6pm in Dumont, CO.

Bruce(Mr Bell) is taking off Saturday for a week stay in Ecaudor to visit his granddaughter who works for the US Embassy. I will be spending the week installing clapboards and cutting firewood for the winter. Bruce needs 6 cords as he heats his entire house by his woodburner insert. Don't know how much I need but will figure alot.

Allen is off working today building sheds. He's not sure of his plans to travel to Alaska. In the meantime he's still staying here at the Lucas Mansion.

Last pic shows the electrical tower and my cabin is just to the right of it.

Welp gots to go rehearse my lines! Peace and grace and God's blessings to y'all.

BR Schoenbein

August 9, 2015- Work On My Wood Shanty Going Quickly

We have 6 courses of clapboards installed on my cabin. We cannibalized a 4x4 sliding glass window from down at the house and hauled it up to the cabin site for later installation. The clapboards were obtained free as well as the used window.

The weather was beautiful yesterday cool 75 degrees 15 % humidity and bright sunshine.

Today is my day of rest, thank goodness! I'm tired, sore and sunburnt in places.

I've got a load of laundry to do and groceries to buy...and miles to go before I sleep... Ha-ha! Line from Robt Frost.

We're trying to get a lot done on my apartment in the woods before Bruce Bell takes off for a week trip to Ecaudor to visit his granddaughter so we're picking up steam this coming week.

Ollie and Zador, Bruce's dogs come up with us every morning to the cabin site but get bored easily and then either go back down to the house or go exploring farther up to Santa Fe Mountain and only come back to the house at chow time about 5:15 pm and boy they can tell time better than any Swiss clock!

Once completed my smallish wood hut will provide me with 100 square feet of living space, complete solitude, freedom to think and acres upon acres of piney woods, deer, bear, turkey, mountain lions, rabbits, squirrels, huge rock formations, bottomless gulches, beautiful blue asters, and daisey's high atop Clear Creek Canyon.

I've had friends ask whether I will miss having daily interaction with people and "civilization" and my response is why would I miss the craziness going on in the world right now. The "World" has gone mad, mad as a hatter as they say.

But, I plan on hiking down Bell Mountain twice weekly even in the dead of winter the 4 miles to town to keep my many relationships alive, get supplies and to visit society much as one would go to the Zoo to be entertained by the machinations of human animals.( Henry David Thoreau said something like this in "Walden.")

I love being around people like anyone else; but, I most definitely prefer the society of myself. Having said that, I must continue to remind myself why I walked here from Illinois: to become a literal disciple of Christ to proclaim the Kingdom of God. That necessarily entails being amongst people.

However, I plan on writing while locked up in my cabin in the woods. I have a lot to say about many topics. Being alone unfettered from without will inspire me.

Well, its time to go do some laundry and purchase groceries for the coming week. Gonna skip Church today...just not feeling it today. Know what I mean?

4th pic is of my front yard on Bell Mountain.

See ya!

August 8, 2015- First Script Reading for the Melodrama I'm Playing In.

I'm sitting down for breakfast at the McDonald's in Idaho Springs to catch up on my blogging as the restaurant is on my way to Bell Mountain.

We nailed the bottom first course of clapboards to the uprights yesterday. The subsequent courses should go fast now. Then the roof/rafters.

Bruce and I stopped about 5pm. Then he drove me home so I could get washed up and dressed up for my first script reading/rehearsal for the Dumont, CO Melodrama/play, "Goodbody's Gold" by D. Chapelle. I play the dense yet loveable Bob Faithful the Goodbody Silver Mine foreman. The play will take place at the old Dumont School House built in 1909. Dumont is about 10 miles west of Idaho Springs in Clear Creek County.

Bruce Bell plays the villainous attorney, I.B. Fowler. There will be four performances in October. Bruce and I have been practicing our lines while working on the cabin. 

After the reading Bruce took me over to meet one of his daughters, Connie, and her husband, Greg. They both hunt game with a bow. They had stuffed animals throughout their home including 2 mountain lions. Very impressive.

Greg's biting and sardonic humor definitely won me over even if he is a religious "scoffer". Connie's cooking is amazing. Her chunky venison stew is loaded with tender meat and fresh vegetables from her garden. Connie cooks Bruce's meals and he has been sharing them with me when we take a break working on the cabin.

Bruce will be leaving for Ecuador in another week with family to visit his granddaughter who works at the US Embassy there. He will be gone for a week in which time I will be selecting trees to use for the roofing purlins and rafters.

Well, its time to get walking. Have 3 more miles to go to get to Bell Mountain to start work today. I'm still bone tired from yesterday and now have a full day of work ahead of me. Yikes! Just the hike wears me out as its on uneven terrain along Clear Creek. Just yesterday Bruce told me about a longtime friend of his who walked over to the banks of Clear Creek about 2 years ago to pick up a piece of trash when suddenly a portion of the bank gave way throwing him into the raging Creek killing him.

Anyway, time to go! Ciao!

BR Schoenbein

August 6, 2015- Worked a full day up on Bell Mtn

Bruce Bell and I completed our micro project expanding the first switchback on his jeep trail up to the summit so we could transport the 200 odd pieces of clapboards which are about 10 foot in length up to the cabin site.

After the switchback was done we loaded up the pick up and did 2 trips hauling the clapboards up the mountain.

It was hard back breaking work to be sure. Tomorrow we will be nailing the clapboards onto the framing members.

Last Wednesday I gave my good friend, Alex Komodore, a tour of the cabin site. He remarked about how walking the jeep trail up to the cabin was a great cardio workout and this comes from an athlete who runs marathons.

When I get home I immediately plunge myself into heart stopping freezing cold water( I have no hot water) in my huge cast iron tub with the clawed feet to clean the grime and sweat off. Since my old frame is so racked with pain and stiffness its all I can do just to read and fall fast asleep in my bed.

The soles of my feet remain blazing hot from standing/working all day on steep slopes and hard rocks while my hopelessly blistered hands throb with pain from a million odd splinters from handling the rough clapboards.

It's very difficult to get a good nights sleep even though I'm extremely tired.

Oh well, the final product will be worth it for sure! I plan on writing my book in this cabin. The book will be about my experiences walking across the Plains between Colorado and Illinois, peoples reactions to my unorthodox life style, current state of the Church in America and my winter stay up on Bell Mountain in a cabin partially built with my own hands.

My book I can assure you will be unvarnished look at many topics including some not mentioned in the preceding paragraph. I will not pull any punches nor engage in political or religious correctness.

The pics show Bruce Bell helping to unload the clapboards at the cabin site. Bruce says to tell you that his left side is his best side! Ha-ha! The humor this 86 year old has. Very pointed and well honed humor I might add. Even though Bruce is 86 he can work me into the ground any day of the week!

Bruce is my Homer Davenport. Read Peter Jenkins book, Walk Across America, to see what I mean by that.

The other pics show the clapboards we will use for the cabin siding and Clear Creek about 2 miles west of Bell Mtn where I usually take a 10 minute break from hiking from town to Bell Mtn each day.

Well, its time to go. Shalom and grace to you all.

BR Schoenbein

August 5, 2015- Breakfast Club and working at Bruce Bells

Joining the breakfast club this morning at the Sunshine Cafe then its off to Bell Mtn to work. Bruce and I are enlarging the first bend in his jeep trail going up to the mountain so we can use his pick up truck to transport the wood clapboards up to the top for the cabin.

We started on this micro project yesterday. I'm hauling 2 5 gallon buckets of rocks up the trail to use as a base for enlarging the bend in the road. We are cementing the rocks as well. Lots of heavy hard back breaking work.

I am amazed at Bruce's ability to lift large rock considering how thin and frail his frame appears.

Bruce called me late last night and advised that the person playing the role of Bob Faithful in the town melodrama quit and the group wants me to fill in. I have been rehearsing Bobs lines as well as some of the other characters with Bruce who is playing I.B. Fowler the villain. After work Bruce and I practice the lines so Bruce will be ready for the plays performance in October.

I don't really want to play a role in this melodrama because of the time commitment but Bruce has been so kind to me. So, I suppose I will accept.

Sipping a cup of coffee at the Frothy Cup right now but will have to leave soon to attend the breakfast club.

Pics show the used clapboards and the jeep trail with Zador Bruce's Hungarian dog accompanying me up to the summit to retrieve a pick axe and shovel.

Peace and grace to all.

BR Schoenbein

August 1 2015- Attended my son, Joshua's wedding in Missouri

Cody Yates and I drove to LaMonte, MO on Friday to attend my eldest son's wedding on Saturday. We both had to go shopping Wednesday and Thursday for dress clothes. Itinerant missionaries usually have no need or even the ability to purchase dress clothes. I cannot pack much in my backpack only the essentials necessary for the road.

Even though I'm not traveling now I cannot collect things as I will have to dispose of them prior to leaving Idaho Springs.

Anyway, it took about 13 hours to get to LaMonte. It was great to see my children after almost a year and a half. And though our gathering together was tense at times due to familial issues it was cathartic for me and I hope for them as well. The tension wasn't limited to my children. It spilled over into my family, my siblings and neices and nephews as well as to my former wife's family.  But, we were all civil and everything worked out.

It's hard for me to come to grips with the fact that my kid is married. I can remember 30 years ago when Joshua was born he entered this life with the cord wrapped around his neck and he was as gray in color as a field mouse. We had a midwife helping with the delivery but Josh was admitted into the hospital's neo-natal unit. His mother and I feared the worst but prayed for the best.

As we could see last Saturday all things worked out for the best. I'm proud of all the challenges which Josh confronted and overcame. I'm proud of the man he has become and I look forward to seeing how Josh the husband and father turns out.

Met Yoshi, Joshua's new wife for the first time. She's a peach! Beautiful. Gentle personality. She and Josh seem.so natural together! 

I'd like to thank the angel who provided the funds for me to make the trip to the wedding possible. This person prefers to remain anonymous.

Thanks to Cody for his truck. Thanks to my mother for her generous donation as well. Thanks mom for supporting my trip and reading and collecting my newspaper columns.

Thanks to my sister, Marty Zimmerman and her husband Marten for their continued support! Without their help I wouldn't be able to afford my phone on which I write my articles and blogs.

Tomorrow, I will get back to reality and continue working in my cabin in the forest ontop Mt Bell. Looking forward to finishing it and moving in.

Andrew Schoenbein is my second son he's pictured here below. My mother is featured as well. Last pic is of the massive dust storm we barreled through near the Colorado/Kansas border in the way back to Idaho Springs.