Summer Hopes

On a blisteringly hot day in mid July with a forecast of 37 degrees C, air quality warnings from northern wildfire smoke, severe thunderstorm and possible tornado warnings, and a humidex that makes it feel much hotter than the temperature displayed on our outdoor thermometer, I open my photos for the next blog writing and find myself staring at a photo of snow.  Taken April 10th, just 3 short months ago.  Somehow I can't help but feel instantly cooler.

At the same time, I try not to think that in 3 months we could be looking at the same scene. Instead I simply marvel at the diverse weather conditions of this place we call home, grab a glass of cold water, and opt to sit quietly in the coolness of the house and think about writing a blog update.  It is a lovely 24 degrees C in the house, the windows are closed to keep out the midday heat, and as soon as it cools off later in the night to an outdoor temperature that is below our indoor temperature, we will open the windows wide, allowing the house to drink in the cooler air.

Back in April we were hoping to begin gathering our firewood (we have this hope every April, but it seldom transpires). We were preparing to travel for a family wedding (hoping the weather would improve not just for travel reasons, but because I was worrying that in our absence ice and snow on the solar panels could cause a loss of power to our fridge and also slightly worried that the house could get rather cold as we heat solely with a wood stove). I had also offered to do a dog sit/farm sit at a nearby farm and was a tad nervous when I found out that I might be bottle feeding a newborn calf for my first time, and I was hopeful that I could manage. Lots of "hope" in our minds for the month of April!

Not unexpectedly, we weren't able to start on our firewood due to the weather.  It was a rather long cold spring, and April continued that trend, with a bit more snow arriving as late as the third week of the month. Fortunately it all melted pretty quickly.

A week before my dog sit/farm sit I went to the farm for instructions on how to bottle feed the calf. First we had to find the calf, traipsing out into the fields, and calling it's name as it would apparently sometimes come running! I was surprised at the how big he had grown already, and how strong he was when feeding! Still, it was a pretty cool experience I must say.  By the time I arrived for my day at the farm though, the calf was no longer in need of a midday feeding, so I didn't have to add that to my list of chores.  I don't know if I was more relieved, or disappointed!  But I did still have an opportunity to collect chicken eggs at two different locations away from the farm, (the first time I've gathered fresh eggs!) had a lovely long walk with Jax the dog through muddy but pretty paths in a forest, and kept an anxious eye out on the herd of cattle to make sure they hadn't broken through any fencing, and that their water trough was always filled. I had also been shown the greenhouse vegetable seedlings and plants and instructed on how to make sure they were all faring well when the day suddenly warmed up. It was a great glimpse into just a few aspects of a busy farm life, and a nice opportunity to "hang out" with a lovely dog!

We were able to make it to the wedding with no weather or travel issues, and the temperatures finally warmed up so I could stop worrying about snowy solar panels, or loss of power, and the house stayed at a perfectly decent temperature in our absence.  It was a very lovely wedding, small and inviting, and Rob and I visited a bit with several family members, and also managed to squeeze in some time for a wonderful walk or two along the Niagara River before heading home.

Cool temperatures in early May saw us still using the woodstove most nights for a short period of time to take the chill off of the house.  We noticed that the blossoms and leaves seemed slow to emerge this year due to cooler than normal temperatures, and hoped that maybe the arrival of the mosquitoes would be delayed as well!  The second week of May we began scouting around the woods for fallen trees suitable for firewood gathering.  We found quite a few that we would have loved to pull out, but they were too deep within the forest, so reluctantly had to leave them where they lay.  Even with ropes and chains, they were beyond the reach of the tractor, and the forest floor footing too tangled to try to safely carry out heavy segments of the logs by hand.  

I was surprised when I checked one of our trail cameras one day, to discover that a bear had strolled by just a few hours earlier, at the very same spot where we were gathering trees! 

By mid May we felt like we had stockpiled enough, and began to get ready to chain saw what we had, in preparation for splitting and stacking.  When we first start on firewood every year, it feels a bit daunting, but as the days progress, it feels much less so.  

A few of the logs were too heavy for us to lift onto our splitter, and Rob had to hand split them first.  We prefer handling smaller logs, but of course have no control over the size of trees that come down during a storm.

One of the logs we had gathered was quite hollow in the middle, and I was super surprised to discover in the debris within the hollow some suspiciously familiar threads and fabric.  After poking around a bit in what appeared to be nesting materials, I realized they were the remnants of my prayer flags ! I had put a lovely long string of them in the garden at the cabin a couple of years ago, and they were mysteriously completely removed just a few days after I hung them up.  I always suspected the red squirrels had taken them, but had no proof.  Until now!  

Although we always hope to finish the firewood as quickly as possible, there are days in between that require us to stop, sometimes due to the weather, sometimes to recuperate a bit, and sometimes just because we need to work on some of our other ongoing projects. 

One of those jobs for me was to get some seeds into my garden, and to pull out my herb pots and get soil and seeds into them as well.  The snowshoe hare in the meantime was busy trimming our "grass" so I didn't need to! 

Some days we would also try to limit our work hours somewhat, leaving ourselves some free time to get groceries and supplies, do laundry, help get our neighbours to appointments, pick up diesel for the tractor, or service the chainsaw. Rob is still making (delicious) beer, and we generally try to make some before the heat of the summer arrives, so he needed to get a couple of batches on while it was somewhat cooler.

Keeping track of the time when we are working on firewood was made easier by this amazing little clock.  I bought this cheap clock for Rob 14 years ago, when he was timber framing up at the top of the property and would lose track of the time. When I bought it,  he made it pretty clear that he thought he would be lucky if the clock lasted more than a couple of weeks. What a surprise to find that this clock, that sits in a unheated shed year round, is not only still working, but it is still running on the original batteries!  

With most people using their phones now to tell the time, I wonder if clocks like this even exist any more ?  Of course, it may just run another 14 years, so no need just yet to search for another.

Although it felt like we were behind in terms of completing the firewood, we finished it on June 1st, one day ahead of when we finished the previous year!  Overall we are pretty pleased with the wood as most of it was quite sound, and should do well for us this coming winter.  It is primarily spruce, poplar, aspen and ash with a bit of cedar and birch.  In previous years some of the wood we pulled out had sat on the forest floor for too long and had deteriorated quite a bit, and although we still used it, we know now to try to scavenge logs that have only been down for a relatively short time. 

We also had some wood left over from the previous winter that we have stored elsewhere.  I always feel happiest if I think we have more than enough, as we never know what kind of winter we will come up against.  

Although this spring seemed slow to warm up, eventually we began to see blossoms, and perhaps because of the long cool spring, it seemed to be the best year ever. Wherever we drove in the valley, beautiful blossoms were in full view.

We always look for the first sign of turtles; in particular the snapping turtles.  We were pleased to catch sight of one making it's way up our creek and into our wetland area.

As well, some baby foxes appeared again this year on our hill, and were still young enough that they were curious and would peek out at us from the underbrush.

With the firewood completed Rob and I went off in different directions, doing many of the usual spring jobs that are required.  We pulled out our slightly tattered garden chairs and Rob fixed them up once again with braces and screws, and we should be able to use them all for at least another year.  I started "spring" cleaning the house, and we both worked to get the cabin open and running ready for the arrival of some family members in June.  

If this was the year of excess blossoms, it was also the year of excess aspen/poplar "fluff", and the air was thick with it.

It gathered along the edges of our laneways like snow!

It also filled our window screens, and the screens of the cabin porch, and we will likely need to use a power washer to get it off of the porch screens again.  Luckily this doesn't occur every year.

We took down our "temporary" firewood shelter, and began to think that maybe this year would be the year that we build a permanent firewood shed.  (How many times have you read that in previous blog postings?)

We also had to deal with a shelter cover replacement, that we wanted to do last year, but had decided to leave for another year, hoping that it would make it through one more winter.  Which it did! But now it really needs to be replaced.  They usually have a life expectancy of three or four years, and ours has been on now for 14 years already. Before we went to the effort of swapping in a new cover though, it seemed like the perfect time to move the entire shelter frame first to a better location.  Rob set to building a site for it, and moved rocks into the perimeter, and filled in some gravel for the base.  Just as he was preparing to dismantle the old shelter though, one of the Phoebes decided to build a nest in the rollup doorway. 

So the site is prepared, but now we will wait.  Approximately 16 days for the eggs to hatch, then a further 16 - 20 days until the little ones leave the nest.

There are also Phoebes that nest at our front door, and they are currently feeding their second brood of the season. I was enchanted to see one of the eggs on our porch (hopefully the adult phoebe was just nest cleaning and tossed out the shell after the little one hatched). 

How tiny is this shell?  Smaller than a penny.  (For those of you who remember pennies!). It is hard to imagine how small the little one is when it emerges from this size of egg.

When the Phoebe adults are busy feeding their young, they like to perch close by, swooping out for insects, and bringing them to the nest.  One of their preferred places to perch seems to be the driveway markers we have, so we moved one closer to the porch area, where they have a good view of the nest. They seem to use it quite happily.

The robins here and at the cabin have also successfully raised a couple of broods already.  Here are two little robins not long before they got brave enough to jump off of the beam and flap away.

This year Rob and I have both noted that the number of bird sightings seems greater than previous years. We have been seeing (and hearing!)  more Rose Breasted Grosbeaks, Northern Flickers, Brown Thrashers, Catbirds, Yellow Bellied Sapsuckers, Black and White Warblers, and Baltimore Orioles than previous years.  The areas around the house are always full of bird movement, and there are several more birds that move too fast for us to identify. It has been really lovely to see all the activity.

One day while I was waiting for Rob to finish up on the new shelter site, I was fortunate to look up and spot the Oriole, and then saw it dive head first into a nest.  I had been wondering where the nest was, and all this time it was right above our laneway. It's pretty hard to spot, but when the wind blows the leaves a bit, it's location is more easily revealed.

One of life's amazing observances for me, is when I am down at the river at the exact time that some of the dragonflies emerge from the river.  I read that dragonflies live first as nymphs, under water, and can live anywhere from several months to several years, until one day, they climb out of the water, their skin then splits open, and the dragonfly emerges. Although I often search the shores to witness their emergence I am not always lucky. But this year I was once again able to see it happen.  I am completely intrigued by the process, wondering what it is that makes the nymph decide that today is the day it shall move out of the waters, shed it's skin, spread wings and fly.  It's an awesome sight, and I am so pleased that I was able to see it happen again.

With the moving of our shelter on hold due to the Phoebe nesting, Rob had gone back to working on the design and placement of a firewood shed.  It will be about 8x20 feet, and a timber frame structure of course. It will look very different from our usual shed, built out of scaffolding and platforms each year!

It was somewhere around this time that Rob started talking about "concrete".  I didn't pay much attention at the time, as I was busy tending to my little raised bed garden, doing some more "spring" cleaning both inside and outside the house and cabin, and all the other little jobs that come up when summer arrives. Friends were arriving in early July and I was making plans for meals, food items to leave in the kitchen for them, and making sure all the bedding and towels were ready after family visited here in mid June.  The local farms were beginning to offer lots of fresh produce and I was happily freezing strawberries, and enjoying making fresh salads from their roadside stalls.

Rob was off sawing wood to use for the firewood shed.

And from time to time I could hear him out using the tractor, and catch sight of him moving stones, and gravel.

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But then he began to talk a bit more about "concrete".  A small concrete walkway between the house and the workshop.  A small concrete walkway and/or pad at the cabin entrance doors.  Concrete posts for a future porch.  And a concrete pad for the firewood shed.  I began to realize that he really was set on mixing it himself, and doing all the pouring and levelling as well.  And then the word "we" began to creep in ! 😀 Not really. Truthfully, I already knew that I would be involved (despite saying I might have to be somewhere else on those days!) and I have full confidence that we will be able to do it ourselves.  Not all at once of course, but in steps and stages.  And with the help of some well planned "concrete gizmos" to make the job easier on us both.  

I have memories of this time, almost 20 years ago now, when Rob did some of his own concrete work for a workshop in Navan.  (I'm pretty sure I did leave the house and go off to work that day, after taking this pic!) 

Rob assures me that this time it will be much more "automated" using the tractor, a winch, a stand, a bucket, a concrete mixer (no getting away from that!) and a well thought out plan to make it all work.

I will do an update in my next blog posting!

In the meantime summer is well on its way.  My little garden is flourishing with garlic, rosemary, thyme, basil, cilantro, dill, tomatoes, and tomatillos all growing well. We have already enjoyed a few fresh tomatoes and herbs, and I have some mint and thyme already drying ready for winter.  I once again did not manage to coax my oregano, chives, or thai basil to grow, and I only produced one head of lettuce before the heat arrived.  But it's a small garden, and I am happy with it's progress.

I had a few concerns when "Chuck-E", a rather stout looking groundhog, showed up and spent a few days sunning on the rocks, when not eating somewhat voraciously the leaves of several nearby bushes.

It was fascinating to see how much it used it's paws to reach the higher branches and pull them closer.

I also spotted them piling dried leaves into their mouth, and disappearing below the rocks, which I suspiciously thought might indicate a pregnant burrowing groundhog.  But there have been no more recent sightings, and so far, my garden seems to have remained intact.  In terms of the raccoons and chipmunks that do seem to like to visit my garden, I regularly spray the wood sides with a diluted vinegar solution, spread wood ashes around the perimeter, place jalapeno powder on the inside soil perimeter, and side dress here and there with some blood meal on the advice of some fellow gardeners.  So far, so good! 

As summer progresses, we've been loving the extra long hours of daylight, and have spent many evenings relaxing at the point above the river.  As darkness falls we have been treated to some wonderful firefly light shows.  We had a good visit with family members in June, and friends in July. More friends are scheduled to arrive in August.

We know that summers pass by quickly, and if some projects don't get done this year, that's o.k. We will do as much as we can, while still making sure to enjoy each and every day here. By the time I do my next blog posting, likely that snowy scene I posted at the beginning will once again be a reality!