We had humidex levels in the mid 30's followed by cold fronts that brought a sudden and severe overnight frost. I first noticed an odd look to the sumac trees, and after checking with a nature group that I follow online, heard that many other varieties of trees in the area were affected by that same frost. Rob later noticed that our oaks were also hit. We aren't sure yet what this means for the trees - it's highly unusual for such a late, hard frost.
May brought the return to Canada of our "old" friend Joe, and we were extremely happy to see him on the two occasions that he kindly took the time to drive up here to visit with us. I hadn't seen him in 25 years, and Rob hadn't seen him for a good number of years either. Within minutes of his arrival though, it was as though he had never left. I was amazed to find that even hearing his voice in our new house seemed totally familiar. We sure have missed him, and it was lovely to reminisce a little, and catch up on some of the details of our lives.
We also were lucky to have a chance to see our friend Mose, who we hadn't seen in about 7 years! When he called to say he was about a two hour drive away, we dropped our plans for building that day and made a quick trip down to see him. It was a short visit - as we have to try to organize ourselves around cat and dog feeding times, meds for feline diabetes etc. but still - it was a chance for a quick chat and we were glad to be able to do it.
May is also the month that I get to accompany my very sweet and generous friend Elizabeth on her yoga retreat in the beautiful Northumberland countryside. It was a wonderful weekend of terrific vegetarian food, great yoga, kirtan and a "therapeutic art experience", all in the company of 20+ amazing women. A big "thank you" to Elizabeth for the awesome weekend!
(And kudos to Rob as well - as he had to look after our 4 cats (with various diet and medication requirements) all weekend while I was gone, while still working on building the new house, and doing the volunteer work he does each April/May for the amazing group of people that work so hard to put on the spectacular fundraiser "Sounds and Tastes" for ACCESO International!)
The May Long weekend fell a touch early this year, and we both thought it would cause problems for the unsanctioned annual "float down the river event". Usually the river would be high, fast and extremely cold. This year the river was slow, low and warm! The floats cruised slowly in the current, and often would hang on the rocks below. Some of the occupants would casually hop off into the river and push the float along a ways. The lovely weather brought out a lot more entrants, and it was fun to watch them go by during the day.
While we were both busy with visiting old friends, weekend escapes, and river gazing, we were also admiring the annual return of the migrating birds. This year, for the first time, a male Baltimore oriole showed up, singing away, and I was fretting that there was no female in the area. Sure enough though one showed up, and they have stuck around, so hopefully this will become an annual occurrence. As well, another one of our favourites - the red wing black birds, have set up on our side of the river! This is the first time we have seen them here, although in the past we could hear them on the other side. We hope this will be a regular occurrence as well.
Every day we noticed more of the spring flowers in the forest, and loved inhaling the rich scent of the woods and river on our daily walks. Somewhere in there - there was also some progress on the new house!
Sometimes Rob laments that he is not making progress, especially after a day of planning, or redoing drawings and calculations. But I am always amazed as I look back at the photos for the previous month at just how much work has been done.
Putting the foam up on the outside of the house has been a bit of a learning curve, and as always, Rob was keen to work out some interesting ways to approach the project.
Cutting foam can be a messy job and a tricky one. Rob rigged up some cool looking hot wire gizmos that easily cut the sheets at different angles, with little mess.
Just to show how it works, he cut some fancy shapes too!
He is putting up two layers of foam on the outside walls, and three layers on the roof. Wood strapping, and house wrap follow, then a layer of plywood. The metal roof will be added as soon as he is finished (after we finally decide on the type of metal roofing, and get it ordered!) The wood siding will be added much later. (Hopefully some time next year)
The foam board is quite pink when it goes on. I could get used to a pink house! The pink fades pretty quickly though. Rob was pleased with the way the corners worked out. (If he wasn't so busy building - he would fill this blog in with a lot more details - like how he has to stagger the layers so the seams don't line up)
The foam cutting hot wire gizmos worked beautifully.
The windows were covered over briefly. We sure missed the view of the river when we were sitting inside having our afternoon tea break!
(And yes - one year later we still don't have all of the windows we ordered. Sigh.)
Rob cut away the extra wrap, tucked extra foam in around the windows and tucked the wrap in around them.
Then the eaves went in as he started his way up the first roof.
Rob was really dreading the roof work. It's a lot of ladder work, and pretty hard on knees, calves, and hip joints! It also means moving the scaffolding around. A lot. Taking it down, moving it, and putting it back up isn't the most fun part of the job.
Luckily the foam isn't too heavy to carry around.
It's hard to believe, but when it rains, water still works it's way through some areas and drips inside. Not a lot, but some. We will be so glad when the final roof is on!
And so, June arrived, and with it came early sunrises and late sunsets. Rob manages to put in a pretty long day of work at the new house. Even on rainy days, he can continue to work on projects inside the house. For the most part, he tries to take advantage of any decent weather and work as long and hard as he can outside.
We do try to take time together to sit out in the morning for a few minutes in the screened in porch of the cabin, and enjoy watching the hummingbirds come to the feeder, and the sounds of all the nesting birds in the area. One morning I saw what I thought was a shaggy dog, trotting down the path between the cabin and the river. Rob says that I could only stutter - "Rob, Rob, Rob.... Bear!" A few seconds later Jet got a whiff of it and started barking. My first bear sighting! It was a smallish one, so presumably young. We called the neighbours to let them know it was heading their way, just in case their grandkids were outside. They said in all their years here, they've never seen a bear.
For those of you who know how much Rob and I used to love our daily walks in a stunning wetland area where we used to live, and our devastation when that area was destroyed, along with the wildlife that lived there - you will understand how very pleased we are to have a gorgeous area here, that is home to beavers, and muskrat and turtles and other wildlife. When a snapping turtle showed up in the garden and tried to lay her eggs, we were in awe.
We think the area is too rocky though, as she moved out of the garden, and stood staring up at our doorway for quite a while and then left. Later in the week she tried out several spots near the new house. We don't think she was successful there either. Still, it was lovely to see her.
And just as lovely to stand in a rather spectacular spot, just steps away from the new house. It's filled with channels that the beavers and muskrat and turtles use, and we hope that we spend many, many more years here, in this lovely space, as we learn a little bit more about the wonderful creatures that live here.
We do try to take time together to sit out in the morning for a few minutes in the screened in porch of the cabin, and enjoy watching the hummingbirds come to the feeder, and the sounds of all the nesting birds in the area. One morning I saw what I thought was a shaggy dog, trotting down the path between the cabin and the river. Rob says that I could only stutter - "Rob, Rob, Rob.... Bear!" A few seconds later Jet got a whiff of it and started barking. My first bear sighting! It was a smallish one, so presumably young. We called the neighbours to let them know it was heading their way, just in case their grandkids were outside. They said in all their years here, they've never seen a bear.
For those of you who know how much Rob and I used to love our daily walks in a stunning wetland area where we used to live, and our devastation when that area was destroyed, along with the wildlife that lived there - you will understand how very pleased we are to have a gorgeous area here, that is home to beavers, and muskrat and turtles and other wildlife. When a snapping turtle showed up in the garden and tried to lay her eggs, we were in awe.
We think the area is too rocky though, as she moved out of the garden, and stood staring up at our doorway for quite a while and then left. Later in the week she tried out several spots near the new house. We don't think she was successful there either. Still, it was lovely to see her.
And just as lovely to stand in a rather spectacular spot, just steps away from the new house. It's filled with channels that the beavers and muskrat and turtles use, and we hope that we spend many, many more years here, in this lovely space, as we learn a little bit more about the wonderful creatures that live here.
