Rain Delays

Well, while June may have been glorious, July really was not. It's been unusually cool, wet and rainy.  Cooler weather isn't such a problem, and generally makes working outdoors a bit easier. But the rain, when it comes, which is most every day, arrives unexpectedly and in torrents and has proven to make the work this month more difficult. The cooler weather also seems to make it so that the mosquitoes have been relentless, which is not normal for this time of year here.

As Rob works outdoors with only an overhead tarp for protection from the rain, the logistics of staining and sanding the timbers, and moving them around, became a problem. We tried covering the finished ones with the tarps that we had, but unfortunately, not all tarps are created equal, and most of them leaked, staining those lovely timbers.   We ordered some heavier duty ones, and while we waited for them to arrive, bought polytarp and tried to cover the timbers with rolls of it.  We couldn't get the width we needed so had to be creative in trying to cover everything. Unfortunately, while it protected the timbers from the rain, the sun, when it shone, pulled the moisture out of the timbers and trapped it beneath the plastic - so the timbers stained even more.  So the dance began - uncovering all the piles when it was sunny, scurrying to cover them all at the first sign of dark clouds. Last summer's weather was exactly the same as this year - we seldom see a forecast for a day of blue skies and sunshine, so it's been a bit of an ongoing concern. Still, those finished timbers sure look beautiful!  We may have to re-sand and re-stain a few of the stained areas though.

And no - this isn't all of the timbers - they are stacked everywhere!

Rob left a couple of the more difficult timbers to carve until the end, but finally there was no avoiding it!  He fretted a bit in the days leading up to it, but had a giant grin on when he managed to pull it off - hopefully successfully! I guess we'll know if they all fit together when we put them up.

He also had to re-size a couple that he had done to the wrong size, and finish the extra ones that we picked up earlier in the summer.

He isn't happy with the quality of the one in the above photo, as it has a lot of knots.  (More on this on a later blog post!)

Rob rigged up a means of carving the pegs too, and tried it out on the porch, thinking he could work on them at night. An ambitious plan as he gets home most evenings between 8 and 8:30, and we head off to bed at 10 p.m., leaving an hour and a half to get cleaned up, eat, do dishes, and catch up together on the day's goings on.   It doesn't leave much time for working on projects! (And yup - look - there are more timbers stacked on the porch!)

This jig didn't work at all for him, so he came up with another one that uses a plane, and it seems to work better.  I thought I had a photo, but guess I forgot to take one! He rough cut a bunch of pegs with the band saw, and will do the finishing smoothing with the plane jig.

He needs to go find another oak tree though as he needs a lot more pegs. Both of us are reluctant to cut one down, but it is supposed to be green wood, so I guess we are just going to have to do it.

Things are slowly moving down to the building site. I get excited anytime I see something arriving there. We are trying to stack most things on the concrete pad of the workshop, so they won't get in the way too much.

These towers are on the house pad, and will be used to help keep the timbers in place, as he moves them into position. Rob assures me they will hold far more weight than that of any timber.

This area seems to be home to a lot of garter snakes, and I have learned not to lift up that black plastic that's on the concrete pad!

While I am getting better about snakes being around, they still startle me if I don't expect them to be there. They seem to love the warmth under the plastic, and are often curled up there. Jet was pleased to find a long snake skin that one had shed, although he usually leaves the snakes themselves alone.  It is also home to some happy chipmunks who seem glad of the nearby vegetation and stuff their little cheeks each evening while we check out the concrete pad.

I have been working more, so haven't had as much time to spend in my friend Sally's garden.  I did manage to get out one week though, and was surprised (and dismayed!) to find the weeds choking out her lovely onion plants, and that the deer had apparently snipped off many of the pea plants.  Something else is gnawing on the basil plants I put in between the tomato plants.  After doing a bit of weeding, I came home with bags of garlic scapes, fresh lettuce, dill, radishes, and some of the surviving snap peas.  Sally gave me some recipe ideas, so when a friend donated an enormous bag of arugula, I made up some pesto with the arugula and garlic scapes.  Sally suggested I just freeze some blobs of the pesto on wax paper in the freezer, and then transfer them to a freezer bag once frozen and it worked beautifully. We toss some on the delicious new potatoes that we buy down the road from the Mennonite farmers. Delicious!

This past week seemed a little out of balance, although I'm not sure why. It's possible we are both just a tad stressed by the weather, and it's effect on the timing of the building process.  It may just be that we both put in rather long days and could use a little more down time.  It might just be that the actual building process is about to begin, and we are both anxious about it.  Whatever it is, I realized it was time to go sit by the river for a bit, and slow down.  I like to bring my camera and just sit at the river's edge.  My first thought is that "nothing's happening", but I make myself sit still, and sure enough, the sound of the river will creep in, then some bird song, the sound of the wind in the trees, and the sight of the insects along the river edge.   Sometimes the fish will jump, or raven or turkey vulture will sail by overhead.  The kingfisher flies by, swooping and diving into the river.  It helps me every time to just sit still, breathe, and observe. If I'm lucky, I'll even get some photos!

Walking helps too.  Although we take Jet out three times a day for play time and walks, it's always good for me to go for a long walk by myself, with my camera. Rob and I are amazed by the number of different wildflowers that are filling in along the "new" road.  When we first put it in we were worried that the sides would erode, after we had cut through the wooded hillside. I studied some native plant web sites, and got some information on erosion control. I ordered 20 different types of native plant seeds that might help to anchor the earth,  without impacting on the other species of plants.  My order included enormous amount of seed for one of my favourites - black eyed Susans! I was disappointed the first year when not much came up, so started seeding in some hardy grasses and clovers.   I don't know if it's just the amount of rainfall this year, but the black eyed Susans arrived this month in huge numbers, along with columbines, wild bergamot, evening primrose, mullein, thistles and burdock, cow verge, cinquefoil, buttercups - you name it! But it's the Black Eyed Susans that surprised me the most and make me smile. I remember how much hope I had as I scattered them everywhere! Maybe some of the other plants I seeded will show up over the years as well.

Although I sometimes feel like we haven't made much progress this month, I guess we have.  The last year has all been in preparation for this next step, as we will soon move the timbers down, and start putting them up!  Our windows are ready for delivery, and the insulation has arrived and is being held for us.  We have boxes of screws  ( I keep meaning to post a photo - some of them are over a foot long!) and special staples and caps. We have a good house wrap on order, and everywhere I look there are things stacked ready for this next stage of building.

It will feel strange to be walking to the new house site to take drinks and refreshments to Rob, and occasionally help out. I am used to walking up along the river, through the woods, and past the green pastures to where Rob is working. There is always something lovely to look at as I walk along.

Of course, I will still take long walks that way. Although Rob seems to think that we are about to move into an even more intense building time, I hope to always make time for a good long walk. If not in the next while though, the river views are lovely too!