Back to the City one day, Hiking Trails the next

Tuesday was my day to drive into the city for a double dentist appointment and to run some errands. Arriving in the city, I was somewhat overwhelmed by the noise, the construction, and the general hustle and bustle. At the same time, there is a familiarity with it all, that I don't yet have here.

I ran my errands, comfortable in my route, and knowing where to pick up what I needed. Where to park, where the entrances are. However my grocery store had totally revamped it's interior - a reminder that nothing ever really stays the same!

Coming home almost 12 hours later, I was tired and tense, until I pulled off the highway and onto the back country roads. I could feel myself begin to relax and unwind and I was happy to be back at the cabin before the sun set. It was wonderful to sit out on the porch, enjoying the quiet, and talk about each other's day. I don't really mind driving back to the city, but I think I will be happy when we can do it less often.

On Wednesday we woke up to cooler temperatures. It was 6 degrees in the cabin, and we dressed in layers as we headed out to meet up with our friends Bob and Judy, as we had agreed to go on a hike together for the morning. The Calabogie area has a number of trails that Bob and Judy had already explored and they were pleased to be able to show them to us.  There is an area for parking at the side of the road so we all met there, and then we headed up the Manitou Mountain Trail . Bob and Judy went first and scrambled up the steep trail like little mountain goats, and I had a few minutes where I wondered if I could follow, but they assured me this was the steepest part. Sure enough, the trail levelled off to a gentler climb, and we stopped and caught our breath and carried on. We were heading for an area called the Eagle's Nest, which boasts a marvellous view, but even before we got there there were numerous places with sheer rock faces that I tentatively stood on with views of the valley and trees below.

As my camera is in for repair, I had brought along my older camera, but unfortunately brought only my telephoto lens, so couldn't get back far enough to take any panoramic photos! We will have to go there again. It would be beautiful in the fall too, although due to the drought, they don't think we will see our usual spectacular fall colours this year.

At Eagle's Nest they say you will often see Ravens, Hawks and Bald Eagles. Sure enough, we could hear the Ravens even before we got there.

There is a beautiful sign that tells you a bit about the Eagle's nest. It's a very spiritual place and I would love to go there again and sit for a while. There is a huge rock outcrop that you can sit on, and the sound of the wind was lovely. We watched the ravens soar below. It would be a great place to just sit and meditate.  We didn't see any bald eagles but Bob picked up a lovely big feather that we should try to identify. Although later on we passed a few people on the trails, we hadn't seen anyone else at this point.

Judy and I are both a touch nervous about heights, so while Bob and Rob got close to the edge and looked at everything far below, I retreated back a bit!

Bob wanted to explore further along the trails to see if we could get down to a river, so we carried on, chatting and walking, and admiring the woods. These trails are apparently great for snowshoeing in the winter . We did see a couple of ATV's as they are allowed here as well.  Due to the bit of rain we had on Sunday, there were still a few areas that were deep and muddy, but we could always get around them easily enough. Some of them still held water, and I was surprised to see frogs hanging out in them!

Hopefully they survive when the ATV's go through. As we passed they all disappeared but if you stood quietly they would all surface again.

We eventually did make it to the river, but couldn't find access, and with Jet back home in his crate, we knew we had to turn around and head back so that he wouldn't be in it for too long.

A few people were now out on the trails, and everyone passed with a cheery hello. I noticed that a lot of people bring walking sticks, and Judy herself had one as well. They would be pretty useful on some of the steeper and rougher bits, but most of the time we were on more of a road type trail.

The trail loops past a swampy type area, that was beautiful. I was sure it was the perfect place to spot a moose, but didn't see any! It would be a nice place to plop a little kayak in and paddle around to look at the plants and wildlife. While I was looking at frogs, Bob discovered a snake practically at our feet, and I was pleased that I could say with pretty much certainty that this was a Northern Water Snake!

There are a few area where trails branch off, and they aren't marked so we aren't really sure where they lead to. But over time I hope to explore more of them. Both Bob and Rob of course showed up with their GPS in hand, and they had fun using them and trying to figure out where we were, and how far we had gone.

You want to be careful not to be looking at the GPS when you go back down that steep trail though!
Between their GPS's and Judy's pedometer, we figured we had walked about 13 km in about 3 and a half hours.
I have to say I could feel it in my knees and hips, and we walk a lot every day. It would have been nice to go have a leisurely lunch somewhere, but it was about a 40 minute drive back, and we knew Jet would be waiting, so said goodbye with promises to go on another hike soon! We drove back through some gorgeous twisty back roads, past pretty lakes and cottages and arrived home tired but relaxed and happy.

Today the concrete gets poured at the shed, and we know that we are going to have to step things up in order to get things done before winter arrives, so we are glad we were able to take some time with friends, on a beautiful sunny day, while we had the chance.

"S" is for Sheds, Snakes, and Sunshine

This week saw big changes up at the top shed.The stone base has all been laid, the plastic sheeting is on top, and the rebar and wire mesh are all in place and tied down. I finally got to help - by tamping down the gravel with a nifty tamper that you pick up and drop 6 billion times, while trying not to hit your feet. There is a particular sound that it makes when you get the angle right, and I didn't hear it very often.  I couldn't complain too much though, as Rob had to first move and place all the gravel (mostly with a tractor, mind!) and then was busy putting in the wood forms, rebar, mesh etc. Actually, he had to do a lot by hand as well. Plus he had tamped it down first with a compactor that had we rented, that basically shakes you and the stone all over. But after he used it, he realized that the level of the stone needed to be adjusted in some areas after measuring the levels, so he had to rake some up and do it again.  He's building up some pretty good arm muscles! Of course this was all done just as the temperatures went back into the thirties, so it was hot work as well. The concrete should be poured sometime this week. We will be getting someone in to do that part. It was a rough week for LCD displays though, and this is what happened to his level after it fell over.

 

 

The shed is looking pretty good! The form outside of the shed will also be filled with concrete so that Rob has somewhere clean, dry and sturdy to put the timbers as he slides them into the shed.

 

 

 

 

I try to go down to the edge of the river every day and look for fish, frogs, birds etc. When I could see something coming up the river, with a small wake behind it, I never once thought of a snake. I don't know why not - I know they are in the river, but I'm just a tad nervous of snakes, so perhaps chose to not really put that idea in my head. At the same time, something large was flying overhead, so I was torn between shots. I went with this one. (Kind of wishing I went with the bird instead!) I went on to some web sites to try to identify the snake, but couldn't decide if it was a Milk snake or Northern Water snake. I'm a member of a google group called the Naturelist, so I asked them for help. This sparked a great discussion, as the members had different opinions. In the meantime I learned it would have been far more useful if I had picked up the snake and taken several photos from different angles. Like that was going to happen..... Anyway, the consensus is that it was a Northern Water snake. Totally harmless, but fond of checking out people in the water in case they are food. Great. I will have to learn not to be so nervous around them!

I visited the farmers market on Friday and found the selection to be much better, as of course the vegetables are now ripe for picking in the farmer's gardens. I have learned not to hover in a 10 foot buffer zone around the vendors - but to plunge in and go talk to everyone, and not feel like I then have to purchase something from every table. I know that next week I will buy from someone else. I do however, have some favourites, and this week I picked up some great organic onions, and yellow beans. Picked up fresh basil and roma tomatoes from another vendor, some mustard base pickled beans from another, and then lingered at the wood oven pizza vendor. We already had a good dinner planned, and I couldn't see eating pizza mid-afternoon no matter how delicious it looked, but discovered they sell their own Italian sausages, made from pork from their farm, so bought some of them. We ate them last night (and the remainder on Sunday!) and they were absolutely delicious. I can't wait to go get more this week. As we have not yet found a local butcher, buying direct from the farms may be the way to go.

On Saturday after dropping off the garbage/recycle, I visited the local library's fundraising event. There I came across a person who was weaving lily leaves, and we struck up an amazing conversation. He scours the land for various plants that he uses - sweetgrass, spruce roots, etc. and weaves beautiful baskets from them. I would have liked to have bought one of his baskets, but our space here is at a premium, so instead chose one of the painted cards his wife makes. We chatted some more, and I was hoping he offered courses, and it turns out that it's something he is thinking about, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed! I would love to take one. Then, just before I left, after telling him that we had just moved here, and a little bit about us, he reached over and handed me a lovely candle holder that his wife had painted. "I want to give you a gift" he said. I was so moved I almost couldn't speak, but did manage to thank him, and we shook hands, and I left to visit the rest of the vendors. I have his card, and I did email him later to thank him again, and I just know we will connect again sometime in the future.

On Sunday it was sunny and in the 30's, so we decided to do a few things in the morning and then head for the beach again. I don't think we will have too many more days like this! We walked through the woods for about 2 hours in the morning, trying to mark some walking trails. We also want to create a path for Rob's tractor so that he can go up our new road and up into the sheds without marking up any of the common road. It was really good to walk the land and see just how much there is around us. 

 

 

 

We used Rob's GPS to help us find our way, and to keep track of where the property lines are so that we aren't making trails on the neighbour's land. Sprayed a bit of paint on the trees that we will have to remove, but we will try to mostly remove the dead ones. Spruce bud worm has taken out a lot of our spruce trees, so they will be the ones we remove the most of, in order to make some trails.

 

The woods vary a great deal throughout. Sometimes the forest floor is rich in vegetation, and sometimes it's not. There are grouse in some areas, but it's hard to get a photo of them as they head off into the brush and seem to disappear. Rob found a feather though!

 

 

No signs of any fresh bear poop so I guess there is no bear around this year. We could see lots of deer tracks and we've been seeing and hearing the deer a lot, especially around the sheds.

In the afternoon we drove back up to Round Lake. It was surprisingly quiet for a Sunday in August - this really is a secret location I think! It was lovely, the lake a bit choppier due to the wind, but we swam, sat in our chairs on the sandy beach and watched the few people that were there, and then swam some more.  It was sunny and 31 degrees, so a perfect day to be at the beach.

Back home in the early evening, where there was a cool breeze but the air still quite warm. Cooked up some burgers on the grill, and made a nice big salad. Two hours of hiking in the woods and two hours at the lake, and several walks with Jet. A good night's sleep on it's way.

The Bad, The Good, and the Beautiful

The last few days have been a bit of a see-saw for us. We were unable to find the documentation we needed that told us the size of the septic system we installed here 20+ years ago, and this determines whether or not we are allowed to put an addition on the cabin.  We had to put in a request with the township to find the information for us, and then wait for the results. In the meantime, we tried not to worry, and to think of some contingency plans.

In the meantime, Rob saw some signs that a couple of the shed posts may not be in the best of condition, and began to worry that his plan for laying a concrete floor in the shed may be of no use, if the building wasn't sound enough.  So we had to talk, and think and talk some more, and see if there was something else we could do that would give us some storage space, and a covered in area to work on the timbers.

And then the bill for the upper road, and final road stone came in, and while we got a very good deal on the stone and equipment that was used, we are of course over budget. We had only planned on the lower road initially, but it looked so good that we went with the upper road as well, and of course, that was a much bigger job than originally thought. At the same time poor Brennan has a leak in his bulldozer and was unable to use it to finish the final part of the road - where it meets the road to the cabin, so we are still unable to drive on it. Seems a shame to have spent all that money on a road we can't yet use.

The sun is setting earlier, and the nights have been cooler. We had our first dinner in almost 7 weeks inside the house, instead of outside on the porch. We are all too aware that the summer is passing quickly. We know we need a lot of things in place if we are going to be able to stay here for the winter.

And then, yesterday, while I was out shopping, I dropped my new camera in a parking lot. A quick check led me to believe it was o.k., but when I got home to check it out properly,  I realized there was a dent on one side, a crack in the case and the upper LCD display was no longer working.

There are definitely some nights when we go to sleep somewhat discouraged.  I guess at 2 a.m. when you are lying awake worrying, it is all too easy to think you've not made any progress the last few weeks and wonder about some of your choices....

But a trip up to the municipal office, and 40$ later, we found out that we put in a larger septic system than necessary when we first built the cabin after all, so we are now able to submit some plans to the building inspector. Good foresight Rob! It's about a 20 km drive up to the township office, but it's a lovely one, and I enjoyed the views of the lakes on the way there, and even more so on the way back!

Rob did some work on the end of the road with his tractor, to at least give us the shape we need, and to clear away some of the trees and branches that were in the way. The truck has a larger turn radius than we thought, so it took a couple of tries to get it right, but we can now drive up the last section of the road, and successfully make the turn towards the cabin. The stone that is in the last section is still just the rough base, and needs more grading, and it will then need the final base of stone, but at least we know it will work. Brennan is hoping to get his 'dozer fixed up and will be able to finish the job soon.

Rob came up with a quick re-design of the concrete floor base in the shed, so that the structure will be sound and safe even if some of the posts prove to be unreliable in a few years. We'll continue with that plan, and see how it goes.  The concrete should be laid next week.

The weather is warming up again, and we have a good forecast for the next few days, with warmer evenings again.

And my camera still works at least. I bought a extended plan on it, and although obviously not covered by any warranty, it gives me a bit of a discount on the repair job, and I will take it in next week and have it sent out for repair. It will take 6-8 weeks, but I still have my old camera to use while it is in for repair.

While we may not be able to drive the road just yet, we walk it every day, several times a day. There is always something beautiful to look at and here are just a few of the things we've seen in and around us this week.

A lovely butterfly, possibly a White Admiral or Red Spotted Purple Butterfly.

 

 

 

We laugh at the antics of the Hummingbirds, and they always cheer us up! We are delighted by the sounds they make, especially when they are vying for the feeder.  They begin early in the morning, and are still there as the daylight fades.

 

 

 

 

I watched a Yellow Bellied Sapsucker for a good long time as it carefully peeled back section after section of bark, taking it's time, doing it right, before it could set to the task of extracting the sap. A good reminder that all things take time, and to perhaps have a bit more patience!

 

A beautiful view of the land around us, on a road that is far, far, steeper than our is, so I'm sure ours will be fine!  I almost turned around, but got brave and drove down this road. But I had to stop for a photo first as the view was breathtaking!

And of course, sweet Jet, who says he has not been featured in this blog near enough. He offered a good sympathetic look when I was checking out my broken camera, and then convinced me that nothing would cheer me up more than a nice walk with him. Which it did.

Time to explore

Yesterday it was sunny and warm with a projected high of 27 degrees or so. With a forecast of cooler weather coming for the next week or so, Rob and I decided to take advantage of the nice weather, and follow up on the advice of a friend to visit a local lake and beach area. I hesitate to even mention it on our blog, as it seems to be a bit of a local secret! But as mostly family and friends are reading this, I don't think it will send droves of people to this truly beautiful place.

It's about a 40 minute drive, up past Wilbur Lake, and Golden Lake and up to Round Lake and it was a beautiful drive, past many lovely little cottages (and some not so little!) with glimpses of the lakes and river through the trees.

The Bonnechere River that runs past our cabin, begins in Algonquin Park, and the first lake it empties into is Round Lake, then Golden Lake and then it winds it's way down past us and empties eventually into the Ottawa River. The beach we were looking for is located in Foy Provincial Park, on the east side of  Round Lake. There are no facilities at this park, and it seems to be used mostly for hiking and swimming. We were told to look for a trail just after the park gate, which we found easily, and we set off down a very lovely path. We were also warned not to stray off the path as there is lots of poison ivy in the area, but we are used to that here!

After a short walk, we came to the beach. It was as lovely as described, and we made our way past the few people that were using it, to a sweet area in the shade, and unpacked the few things we had brought. Rob was off into the lake before I even had a chance to think about it. There were just a few feet of small rocks at the edge, and then lovely sand. The water was warm, but there were some odd little cold currents that would come in every now and then. But nothing to complain about, it was lovely. The water was clear as can be, and the view across the lake was wonderful. It's funny because I dream about swimming almost every night, so this almost seemed like a dream!

Looking back at the beach from the lake, we couldn't believe how beautiful it was, with a line of pine trees all along. Our friend had told us that if we had a hammock, to bring it, as this is a perfect spot to hang one between trees, and she was right.

So, we swam for a while, walked the beach a bit to dry off, took a few photos, marvelled over and over at how lucky we were to be so close to such a fabulous spot.  Made plans to return again soon, maybe bring a picnic lunch along. Lamented that Rob's Mom wasn't along - it was her birthday and she was already in our thoughts, but we knew she would just love this pretty beach and lovely lake, and would have enjoyed the sun and swimming.

Gathered up our stuff, wandered back along the path, and made our way home. All that sun and fresh air and swimming of course meant I fell asleep in the car! Luckily Rob was driving.

There are so many places to explore here. We are lucky to have friends that live in the area that can point us to some of the places to go, and things to do. Tomorrow is the Annual Algonquins of Pikwàkanagàn Traditional Pow Wow and we hope to be there to watch and listen to the opening ceremonies and to stroll around.

There is of course lots that needs to be done around here, but we try to make sure we take some time to explore the area too, especially while the weather is so nice. Today we will get what we need to get ready for a concrete pour up at the sheds, and Rob will probably try to fix the bottom edge of our road up a bit too.  It's sunny, but windy and cool, so we are really glad we went for our swimming adventure when we did!



On the level

We are just waiting for yet more stone to arrive. I've lost count of how many truckloads we've had delivered so far, but we will tally them up when we get our next bill. We are lucky that the quarry is across the river and close by, and they deliver so quickly to us. We've had loads of larger stone delivered for the lower and upper roads, and finer stone for the finishing base. We've had stone delivered for the base in the large shed. Today we ordered more stone for the shed, and more stone for where the lower road joins in with the original cabin road. The original cabin road is more like a path now, and there is a sharp corner where it joins the new road that needs to be a bit rounder and wider so that we can actually get the truck around it. Then we will be able to use our new roadway! We tried driving it, but get stuck at the corner, or have to pull in and back all the way down to the cabin.  I'm getting pretty good at backing up the truck these days, although I could use a booster seat sometimes to see over the tailgate!

Once the final stone was laid on the upper road, Rob was back out with his level to measure the grade.  Being a bit of a MacGyver (remember that TV show?) he rigged up a way to measure it of course. 

(And just as an aside, we were in Vancouver many years ago when they were taping a MacGyver show, with our nephew Zack who was maybe 3 years old and they came out and asked if he wanted to meet the actor, but he said no so we didn't get to meet him either. At the time I thought it would have been fun! Oh well, I have my own MacGyver anyway.)

So the road measured out o.k.  There is still one little steep bit, but now that we have driven it a few times we think it will be just fine. They worked really hard to make it a bit less steep, by regrading, dropping it down, and adding more fill. Where the hill ends there is a rather good curve, so we wanted to make sure we got it right. I guess we will know for sure once winter arrives!

If I was impressed by Rob's level device for the road, I was equally impressed by his level device for measuring the levels of the floor in the sheds. When I first saw it I thought it was an odd chair setup, but of course, it turned out it wasn't a chair after all. And here I thought he was sitting down on the job... although it didn't look that sturdy. Handy place for his glasses though!

While sitting out on the porch, keeping on ear out for the sound of a truck arriving with our stone, I heard lots of splashing in the river in front of the house. I popped Jet in his crate, and ran down with my camera. I was thrilled to see that two of the mergansers were out, but as soon as they heard the click of my camera they got nervous, and flew up the river. There was a group of three hanging out earlier last month, and if these are two from the same group ones, they have grown quite a bit and their feathers are filling in with more colours.  They are such beautiful birds.

This week when I was out walking Jet I saw a lot of movement in the bush, and out popped the bobbing heads of a group of wild turkeys. I didn't think I needed the excitement of Jet seeing them, so turned around and came home at a good pace. I went back out with my camera, but they were long gone, I could only hear them somewhere in the bush. I saw them again yesterday briefly down the road, but they were off into the bush in a few short seconds.  No doubt we will run into them again at some point, so hopefully I will get a photo. I don't usually have my camera with me if I am walking Jet, as he is not one to be calm and quiet when he spots wildlife.  (Yes, he knows all too well that he is not the gentle giant that Zuni was!)  But he is getting better about the chipmunks dashing around, and the sounds of the herons and gulls and mergansers in the river so hopefully walking him and taking photos will someday be an option....

Change in the weather

After 5 weeks of hot and sunny weather, the long awaited rain arrived. We are still in a level 2 drought, and under a total burn ban, but we had one or two days of fairly steady rain that has to have helped remove some of that tinder dry base that was everywhere.
With the rain though, has come mud, and lots of it! It has slowed the progress on the sheds a bit, but in between rain showers, we still venture out and get some work done when we can.

Despite the rain, work on the road continued, and while I was in Ottawa for a day last week, running errands, they finished fixing the steep grade, smoothed everything out, replaced the first layer of stone in that area, and covered the entire upper and lower road with the final coat of finer stone! You go away for a day and everything changes. I can't believe how quickly the last of it got done. Rob has promised to post here and will hopefully fill everyone in on the details of the road work with some photos.

In the meantime, Rob has been getting drainage and stone into the sheds, and also cleared a bit of a path to the new house location, I trimmed a few branches away so I can walk easily along the path and try to walk there every day and get a feel for the land there. We are still hoping to start with a timber frame addition on the log cabin, and then progress to a new house later, but need more information from the building inspector this week, before we can finalize our plans.

The woods are quite different where we want to build the new house. We try to go down there at different times of the day, to note the angle of the sun, as we are looking at passive solar options, and we have noticed there is almost always a breeze coming in off the river, so should take that into consideration too.

There is a nice path that leads to the river's edge, and I like to go down and see what is along the shoreline. There are at least four Great Blue Heron's that hang out here, but they are pretty shy. As soon as they hear my feet on the rocks, they fly away.  Yesterday one flew up into a tree, but after I waited about half an hour for it to leave I gave up! It was rather far away for a good photo, but I did manage at least to see it as it landed in the tree across the river. Amazing wing span.

There are some interesting little shore birds that swoop along the river too, but I haven't been able to identify them yet. We hear the kingfisher most days, and in past years there was an osprey that would fly up the river, so we hope one is still around. I need to park myself in a chair, and just sit a while with my camera I think.

I've put up a hummingbird feeder, and within a few hours, the hummingbirds arrived, and we've been enjoying their antics ever since. Yesterday three small Yellow Rumped Warblers flew in around the porch. It's been fun trying to identify what birds are around here.

While the guys were out with their bulldozers, tractors and excavators the last few weeks, they told me every day a doe and fawn would come out to watch them. Now I quietly walk around the same area several times a day and never see them! I can't believe that with their big noisy machines they see the deer so often.

So I was rather pleased to finally see one on the road in, although from a bit of a distance.

The change in the weather has made for a bit of an odd week. We get outside to play with Jet, or walk, or try to get some outside work done whenever the sun pops out for a while, or the showers at least stop. In between we try to catch up on paperwork, make some changes to our PC setups, and work a bit on the cabin.  Rob is also working on the building plans. We track in a never ending pile of mud and stone into the cabin, the next house gets a mud room!

Last night the clouds cleared long enough for us to go out just before midnight in the hope of seeing the Perseid Meteor Shower.  We took our chairs out, walked up our new road to the top of the property and plunked ourselves down on the old concrete pad and gazed up at the stars for a while. Caught a bit of the show. It was fairly warm, no bugs out, and absolutely wonderful to be out there. And the stars - well - with no lights from any nearby cities, (it's pretty dark out there!) the stars are phenomenal.

Yesterday afternoon a small storm blew in while Rob was clearing some trees to give us a good turning point at the end of the lower road. I was out at the river's edge and could see the dark clouds coming in. I ran back to the cabin just as the rain hit, and went to get the truck so I could go pick up Rob. He was already driving back, soaked to the skin, but with a huge grin on his face. "It was the most fantastic rain" he said - "and there were little rainbows every where you looked" .  Next time maybe I won't worry about getting my camera wet.

Other than road work

The new road is not the only thing we have been working on. Rob has been busy preparing the old sheds, so that he will have a covered in working area for when he starts working on the timbers for the timber frame. With some help from his brother Ryan, he first had to get at the old shed, which was overgrown with trees.

Then the two of them started the task of clearing out all the old wood and building materials, debris, and porcupine poop that had accumulated over the years. (O.K. I am guessing it was porcupine poop, but I am sure there is also raccoon, and other critters that have called this shed home!)

Anything that we may be able to use, was moved to a second shed.  I am pretty adamant we won't be using it for interior wood projects (again with the porcupine poop!) but we may be able to salvage some I suppose.

Rob has continued to clean out the sheds, and there were some fun things in there - like an old claw foot tub (missing two claws) and a pile of old brick  - there's got to be something we can do with those! I'm thinking the tub would be great in the garden...

Finally he was able to get the tractor in to the shed, and start the long process of scraping out the soil, and getting everything level and ready so he can add stone, and a concrete floor to work on!

At the same time he has scraped down all around the shed to give him more access too. That process brought it's own great finds - a big old metal spring harrow for my garden, or maybe at one of the bends in the new road.

In between this work and the road work, we spend a lot of time walking the land, trying to get a good feel for what is around us, for when and where the sun shines, and the breeze blows.  Trying to find our survey pins, and determine where our property ends and the neighbour's begins.  When it is hot and sunny, we are pulled outside again and again, and we must walk it 4 or 5 times a day or more.

At the end of the day, tired and dirty, Rob comes home, but always has enough energy to spend some time playing with Jet.



Then we usually all go for one more long walk, and enjoy the evening sounds and sights, before we all settle in for dinner, and some time together on the porch. Listening to the sounds of the river, the constant wind in the trees, and the rustlings in the forest, we plan our tasks for the next day, sometimes do some web or book research, chat with family and friends on the phone, and head off for a good night's sleep.

Exploring the area

Yesterday was sunny and hot, 35 degrees before the humidex, but with a good strong breeze to keep us cooler. We are trying to take one day off a week to explore the area, and to enjoy a bit of this lovely summer weather.  After we dropped off our garbage and recycling (there is no curb side pick up here!) at the municipality office, we headed out along the lovely country roads, skirted around the top of Lake Dore, past Golden Lake and over to Killaloe. Years ago we rented a cottage with friends on Golden Lake, and every time we drive past we try to figure out where that cottage was! It was probably 25 years ago, so things have definitely changed a bit since then.
Killaloe has a farmer's market on Saturdays on the grounds of the Hoch Farm Museum. Driving up to it, we were amazed at the size of the old barn, and thrilled to be able to go into it, where there is a small flea market running. Amazing old beams inside this barn!

We checked all the wonderful vendors at the market, bought some pretty amazing dill pickles from Andy's Wicked Pickles and met one of the owners of Donegal Heritage Farm. Lots of other great vendors there of course, and we will make sure we take more time to meet them as we tour some of the local farmer's markets. We need to get used to this slower pace - we still have the feeling we have limited time and need to rush off !
After we toured the barn and vendors we took a walk through the Hoch Museum. We are definitely going to return for another visit. It's located in a 108 year old farm house, filled with all sorts of artifacts, and gives you a really good idea of life back then. We joined a group that were listening to someone giving some wonderful information about some of the history of the house. There are really informative writings on the walls that tell you a lot about what you are looking at, and how the family lived. I was really interested in the "summer kitchen" as I had read about them before. They actually had a room that was only used in the summer, and would move the wood stove into this room, (no small feat!) so they could cook there without heating up the rest of the house. And cook they did - as they would not only be feeding themselves but any additional farm hands, or the neighbours when they showed up to help bring in the crops. Not to mention the every day cooking, canning, washing, heating water etc.

Here is a photo of the summer kitchen.

We then bought a BBQ'd Bratwurst on a bun, and sat at a picnic table in the shade to enjoy it. We were joined by a local Pembroke resident, and his wife, and spent a very enjoyable time as they shared some of their stories with us about living in this beautiful area.  They will be celebrating their 60th wedding anniversary this month, so they had lots of good stories! We could have sat and listened to them all day, but it was time to get home to let Jet out of his crate, and give him some play time.

We took a nice drive home, stopped briefly to admire the view of the Ottawa Valley in Foymount,

(unbelievably hazy!) and drove around Lake Clear, wishing we had time for a quick swim in the clear and inviting water.

We arrived home to discover just how hot it was! So we hopped in the river with Jet for a while, splashed around, and then went for a good long walk to dry off in the breeze.

All in all a very lovely day.

The day to day stuff

While our original intention was to close shop and leap into a frenzy of house building, the reality has been slightly different. Closing shop was a huge undertaking, and we haven't finished dealing with it all yet. Moving into the cabin meant making a few changes to it, and it's taken us a while to fit some of our things into it, and make it comfortable for living in full time.  But things are progressing! While Rob is busy working with his tractor to clear out the sheds so he has somewhere to work on the timbers, and helping with the building of our new roads, I have fallen into the role of cook, cleaner, cat caregiver, and errand runner.  The kitchen is coming together,  the cabin is cleaner, and I'm learning that putting things away help keep this small space less cluttered looking.  The cats are settling in, and Jet seems more content. Running errands means I get to meander through the country roads, sourcing the best places for fresh produce and supplies, and tasks like finding a new local vet. The cabin is in need of some maintenance after all these years, and I hope this month to get to work on re-staining the outside porch. The interior will need a wood finish on some of the logs, and there a few walls that have never been painted so they should be done too. In the mean time, we eat well and every meal so far has been enjoyed out on the big lovely porch, breathing in that lovely fresh air.  We walk several times a day, along the river and through the woods. Listen to birds, watch the wildlife, look at the clouds. At night after a great dinner, we sit out late, listen to music, enjoy some wine.  Fall into bed and are lulled to sleep by the sound of the river. We still can't believe that we get to do it all again the next day.

Road Work

Well - it will be 4 weeks tomorrow since we arrived here. Hard to believe.  We have woken up to sunshine almost every day. Perfect weather - except for the drought conditions. But yesterday and today we had a bit of rain, not enough to help the farm crops and livestock, but a little bit of rain at least. The air smells sweet with the bit of moisture we've had.
I'm sure we will get better at this blog thing as we go along, but for now, just a quick update. We've put in two sections of road, what we call the lower and upper. (Yeah, we could probably come up with more innovative names) The lower section has the base rock added, and still needs a final layer of finer stone, and the upper section is still being bulldozed as it has a pretty steep grade. They have been working hard on it today, so it's just about time for me to go look at the progress.  We had a lot of fill sitting at the top of the property, some that we had created ourselves this month while clearing out the shed, and some that was there when we bought this property 20+ years ago. So they trucked it down and spread it on the road and in an area where the upper and lower roads meet.  I'll know later on how many loads it took!

This is a view looking south along the lower road. It curves around a up a slight hill at the end, and joins into our existing road.

This is a view looking west and down the upper road. We tried to create a road that has some nice long curves to it. You can't really tell, but at this point it is still too steep, and our friend Brennan is working hard to get the grade down.

I should mention that while we had thought about doing some form of a lower road as a way of getting to the new house location, the upper road was Brennan's idea. At first we weren't sure about it - we didn't want to take down more trees or disturb the vegetation. But we quickly agreed that it gave us a way to be in the heart of the woods, to walk undisturbed, and to create some small paths running off of the road and into the other sections of the forest and towards the river.  We walk these now every night, learning the names of the trees and peering into the woods that now have a bit more sunlight coming in here and there. We are so glad we agreed !