And it's been 30 years....


Well, it's a good thing I didn't commit to a daily blog, as apparently it's been over a week already since I last posted. They say time flies when you are having fun - and we have certainly been having fun, but also things have seemed just a tad hectic lately.

First we realised just how lucky we were to arrive here and have two months of glorious summer weather. Last weekend was not so lovely, we had high winds, cooler temperatures, dark skies and torrential downpours for two and a half days. When we put the driveway in at the cabin we used a very fine stone, and on dry days it isn't much of a problem, but on wet days it sticks to our shoes and fills the cabin with a mix of sand and very small, very sharp stones. We would like to get something else down in front of the cabin - a bit of an interlock buffer or something, but we have a lot on the go right now and have to choose our battles! It's a good reminder though, when we build the next house to use different stone, and to think about that mud room we have been talking about.

Work on the shed has been progressing. Slowly, but progressing. It's a difficult task to revamp a building, and I know Rob prefers to build from scratch. He really wants to do the blog posting on that project, but just can't find the time. When he isn't building, he is trying to catch up with paperwork (the business still demands our attention, government form filing, taxes, accountant questions ) and the usual bill paying etc. We are still trying to get a working office space going, and of course the cats LOVE rearranging paperwork so we need to work on that.

In case Rob finds time to post though, without giving too much away about all the work that has gone on all I will say is that here are the walls slowly going up! The windows that are leaning against the walls, are the old ones we found in the sheds. We will try to use some of them here, and I am going to scoop a couple to use for frames for some fabric pieces I have in mind. The old doors aren't as useful, they are all only about 6 feet tall - maybe people were shorter back then ??? Of course, they are fine for me - but Rob would bang his head on the door frame if we used them!

September is always a month of contrasts, and just as we started to turn our attention to fall matters, the sunshine and warmer temperatures came back. Warm dry days make for better building days, but Tuesday was our 30th wedding anniversary, so we wisely (!) opted to take the afternoon and celebrate. We were going to go to Neat Cafe in Burnstown for a wood oven fired pizza lunch, with coffee and sweets, and a visit to the local apple orchard, but we were running a bit late as Rob had been working on the sheds in the morning, and then Jet needed his play time and walk, so we agreed to dine al fresco at the local french fry van! An excellent choice, especially as the van will close soon for the winter. We sat out in the sunshine, and boy, those fries sure tasted good. I was supposed to take a photo, but guess I was too busy eating!

Then Rob suggested we go to Shaw Woods, an old growth forest with a walking trail. On the opposite side of the road from the trail is an old dam, part of the Snake river. We had been there with Zuni a few years ago and we thought it would be nice to hang out there for a bit, and maybe catch sight of some wildlife along the river. When we got there though, we noticed there was another trail on the other side of the dam, so went off to explore it for a bit. Are we ever glad we did! Apparently the friends of Shaw Woods have been really busy, hauling wood chips up the trails (not to mention concrete and timbers to build an incredible viewing platform!) The trail took us along the sides of the river, and then up to the platform.

It would be a wonderful place for a picnic lunch. It was hard to get decent photos of the view from the platform. My camera is still in for repair and I brought my old one with a telephoto lens and it doesn't do it justice.
We clambered back down, and as we were leaving, saw that the trail went off in the other direction along the river so took it for a ways too. What a magical place. Each turn brought a whole new view of yet another lovely spot. We found the remains of an heron rookery, saw a great blue heron fly away from us, and walked along the edges of a lovely wetland area. It's an absolutely lovely trail, and we can't wait to go back and explore it further.

But, it was time to head home, and give Jet his play time, (yes, he gets LOTS of play time - a tired shepherd is a good shepherd) and get working on our anniversary dinner. In our former life, that would have meant trips around Ottawa, picking up sweeties at our favourite bakeshop the Three Tarts, cards from Paper Papier, and a trip to a good butcher - either Saslove's or Lavergne's for our main course. But to celebrate our new life here, we decided to change things up a bit. I had done the shopping on Monday in preparation. Unfortunately the bakery I wanted to visit was closed on Mondays, so I baked - yes me who never bakes - a nectarine crumble, and picked up steaks for the BBQ. We still had lots of organic potatoes and onions left from the farmers market, and some frozen guajillo paste that I had made in May so it was an easy, yet delicious meal. Hmmmm guess we were hungry - there are no photos again!

It wasn't quite warm enough to sit outside on the porch, but we did enjoy a pre-dinner beer outside before we got cooking. We both agreed that we had a wonderful day and couldn't think of a nicer way to spend such a special anniversary. Although we were tired from all of our trail walking, we still managed to walk Jet, and go for another walk ourselves to catch the last bit of sun on our own little stretch of river.

The warm weather is continuing, but we've had a taste of fall weather and you can see that the colours are slowing changing in the trees and plants. We know we have some serious work to do. Although we are in the thick of the woods here, we will need to order firewood, and create some kind of a good dry place to stack it. We cut down some birch and poplar when the road went in, but it probably isn't dry enough yet for burning. There are two dead oak trees in front of the cabin, and we should take them down and see if Rob can use the wood for building, or if they are only good enough for firewood now. It's a shame, we both loved those old oaks! We have just ordered a good Ontario tree identification book, as we are slowly learning to identify the trees here, and learning that they are all good for different things. This week I discovered we have Bur Oak and White Oak - the acorns are totally different. The Bur Oak acorns are sort of fuzzy while the white Oak ones are smooth. I can thank the Chipmunks for that information as they are the ones, along with the red squirrels and blue jays, who have stripped the acorns from the Oak trees this week! They obviously know it's time to prepare for winter too.

　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　

"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.

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....

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.