John Hotze's Trip Report
10-6-2002 -I tried the new heater that Brett & Mark Hotze left for the cabin but I had some difficulty in its operation. I imagine it might have just been the operator rather than the heater. It appeared to be a great heater but I couldn't get the flame to adjust as low as it should have. I had left it unattended for awhile (I had it sitting on the metal floor in front of the wood stove) and when I returned the flame had crept up pretty high. I had the flame adjusted as low as it would go but when I saw the flame was way to high, I immediately turned it off. If anybody decides to try it out, I suggest that you do it outside until you can see how to adjust it and you can see that it is burning correctly. I also tried some new batteries in one of the other heaters but was unable to get the battery operated igniter to work. I guess I should have tried the other heater but since I had just used most of the kerosene on that one I decided to take the cover off of it and manually light it. This time I worked with it on the porch table just to be safe.
I was able to get a nice amount of wood all chopped up for only $10. I may have used about 5 or 6 logs the last night I was at the cabin. I went over to the wood mill near the Big Piney. To get to this mill you turn off Interstate 44 at Highway 28 and get on the South outer road & head East This road turns into the old route 66 dual highway. Head East down into the Big Piney valley and across the Big Piney. You will come to a stop sign. Turning right takes you over to Devils Elbow but you want to turn left. The road wraps around and dead ends at the mill. There is a trailer house on the hill on the right side of the road when you get to the mill. I found the guy working on his car and asked him if I could buy some wood. He looked around and asked where my truck was. I said I just had a car. He asked if $10 sounded OK. I said that would work. He said fill up your back seat too if you want. I put my back seats down and proceeded loading the trunk, back seats, and floor. As you can see from the pictures, I got pretty much for $10. I want anyone who visits Mossy to feel free to use the wood. When it runs too low for another weekends worth of fire, it would be nice if it got replenished. I know the next time I get down to the cabin, I plan on getting another load unless nobody uses what I got.
We need to find a source for Kerosene down around St.Roberts somewhere. I use to fill a 5 gallon can at a gas station on Lindberg just south of 44 on the west side next to Steak N' Shake, but all my cans are at the cabin right now. I hate to have to transport Kerosene all the way from St.Louis but I don't know where to buy it down there. If anybody know where to get good grade kerosene somewhere around Mossy, please leave a note in the logbook or email me at this website - johnhotze@mossyspring.com.
After smelling gas for the last few years at the cabin, I decided to see if there was anything I could do about it. I tried making sure that all the pilot lights on both stoves were lit. After doing all but the inside stove oven pilot (I'm not sure if there is one), I still could smell it even sitting at the porch table. My brother Bob and sister in law Vi were also smelling it and we all went to work to see what we could find. I crawled under the cabin by the tanks and it seemed to have a fairly strong odor at the first coupling just a few feet under the cabin from the tanks. I was able to tighten the connection a little and after that most of the odor seemed to be gone. I guess I'll have to see what other members find. I have also smelled gas in the big room the past few years when I'm down there. Especially in the winter time. When I'm down there this Christmas week, I'll see if it helps any by lighting the pilot light for the oven on the inside stove. We may need to make a closer check on all fittings that the Propane gas flows through. I don't feel that we are in any danger, but I do feel that it would be nice to not have the gas odors around all the time.
We have a lot of rats, packrats, or whatever you want to call them in the attic. I slept in the single bed in the middle room and they were quite active. At times I had to shine my light around because they sounded like they were right in the room with me. Didn't see any though. It sounded like there might have been a larger rat or animal above the big room. I thought I heard him a few times even during the day. I was also visited by a bat on the porch one evening. Other than the packrats and the bat, I saw a lot of squirrels in the yard scurrying around hiding food. Maybe they know something we don't. I also heard turkeys on the hills in back of the cabin and barn. I couldn't tell you whether they were hens or gobblers. I don't know my turkey calls but I do recognize the sounds they make.
Bob & I nailed up one of the ceiling boards that was
coming loose in the fireplace room. It actually had a pretty good gap above O'Brien's
storage cabinet. You could see a lot of dirt was on his cabinet from the
crack in the ceiling. I also removed the tattered flag from the flagpole.
I'm not sure why it was still up there. Shouldn't we be bringing it down and
storing it in the cabin when we leave. The one that was up there definitely
needs to be burned. I wasn't sure of the correct procedure to do that so I
think I just left it in the cabin on the refrigerator. Also, I am sorry but
I left 4 small fish in the spring. I was hoping to add enough to the 4 for a
meal but I never did. I completely forgot about them until I was on the road
back home.