Spring Progress

Well, we may have imagined that spring was just around the corner, but March managed to throw a little more winter at us, and then April did too. Just when we thought that the river was beginning to melt, colder weather returned and the river view was once again a frozen white vista.

We like to remain hopeful though, so set up chairs on top of the snow that covers the concrete pad of the house and workshop, and prepared ourselves for the warm sunny days we were sure would come.

This is the thermometer in the morning of March 29th.

After such a long, cold winter we eventually ran out of firewood. We called around, but of course everyone else ran out too, and our firewood supplier didn't have any dry wood left to sell.  Jet did his best to dig some up out of the snow. Just trying to help!

Fortunately the sun in March still managed to warm the days up a bit, so Rob was able to work a bit in his shelter on the porch, and every time he worked on a timber brace, he would produce some pine off cuts that we could use in the wood stove. It was a good incentive to get some braces cut! We do have electric baseboard heaters, but after checking on our hydro costs after using them for a couple of days, we decided to turn them off as much as possible, and use the wood stove when ever we had some wood. Rob managed to get all of the braces cut, so finally felt like he was making some progress again!

Ever hopeful, each day we would walk around the property and look for signs that the snow was receding. But we soon realized that even with some of the snow gone, the timbers remained firmly frozen into the ground, held in place by equally frozen tarp edges. It would be a while before Rob would be pulling these out to work!

We did finally manage to figure out our exterior window, exterior finish and roof colours. We walked around with this little sample for quite a while and finally stuck it in the snow above the concrete pad so we could see it in natural light. The turquoise broom handle helped us to imagine the darkers colours brightened up somewhat with a splash of turquoise paint here and there!

March is such a funny month. A tease of spring, a blast of winter. Days of warm sunshine that soften the snow during the day, making it hard to walk in any of the snow without falling in over your knees. Cold nights that turn the softened snow and roadways into solid ice. On the days when the sun came out we'd venture out, hoping for signs that we could soon spend more time outdoors. On the blustery days we would hang on to our quiet times spent in the cabin, knowing that this blissful little existence is about to change with the amount of work ahead of us.
And then finally, the snow began to melt, and the river showed real signs that it was breaking up.

I went down to the edge of the river almost every day, watching the sudden changes. One day the center of the river was filled with the most magnificent shards of ice.  The next day they were all gone.

The river opened quickly, and one evening as the sun set, we decided to go sit in my favourite spot, and enjoy the last bit of the sun's warmth, with a nice cold beer in hand. We were still dressed in our rain pants, winter coats, hats, boots and gloves though!

This time last year we were out on the porch in much lighter clothing enjoying our first cold beer of the season outdoors.  And we thought last year it was a late spring!

My March order from the food co-op included the first available and incredibly tasty micro greens.  As much as I love all the root veggies, by March I think we are all waiting for something a little more fresh tasting.

I felt like the snowshoes hares outside must feel, after a winter of chewing on bark, when the first spring shoots pop up....
(Although unlike the snowshoe hares, I am turning grey not brown!)

Suddenly in the last few days, the sunshine and occasional rain has removed some of the snow. Puddles are gathering everywhere, waiting for the ground to thaw so that the water can drain. Jet loves it and splashes in the puddles, diving right in, picking up sticks and dropping his toys into them.

He is unfortunately back to full time long line walks, no running unleashed after a jolly romp after a fox.  Rob was able to track his escape by running after him through the deep snow and up and over to a neighbours. After a really fun game of chase, Rob was able to catch Jet. Unfortunately he had no leash with him, so had to hang on tightly to Jet's harness and try to stumble back through the deep snow and through the woods. At which point the smart little fox sauntered out ahead of them both, and down the hill.  I am really sorry that I laughed at Rob's story about how he gamely hung on to Jet as he plowed down the hill in full pursuit of that fox again....
(And really sorry that I wasn't there with my camera - to catch a photo of the fox of course!)

Finally, the beams are emerging from the ice and snow, so that now we just need for things to dry up a bit and Rob will be able to get working on them again.

For of course, we forgot that melting snow produces lots of muck, and things need to dry up a bit.

It's a bit drier around the cabin, so Rob did manage to get a band saw set up (by running the cord through an open window and plugging it in to the stove outlet) and cut the curves for all the braces. He will still need to sand them all and figure out what look he wants for the edges, but it's good progress!

He also took down the second red oak tree in front of the cabin. We were both really sad to have to take another one down, but it clearly had died, as had the first. Once he took it down we were somewhat relieved, when we saw how rotten one portion was. We park the truck right next to it, so we are lucky it didn't come down on the truck during one of the wind storms!  We are hoping to be able to use some of the sound wood for the pegs for the timbers.  Rob has chain sawed and split it all, and while he wasn't able to get enough straight sound wood for all of the pegs, he did manage to get some. It's amazing how much of the wood has a bend in it, or a knot, or a bit of punky wood, which renders it useless for pegs.  We will be happy to have some of that lovely old oak "living on" in the new house.  The rest will be firewood once it dries.

Unfortunately, it also took down my clothesline! Looks like we were going to have to replace it anyway, as the line broke easily in several places.

Tonight as I write this, it's pouring rain, with a rain warning in effect.  I'm preparing to teach a fabric art course at a yoga retreat in May, and working on my notes and making sure I have enough paints and supplies. Rob is costing house wrap and flex wrap.  The wood stove is on, taking a bit of the early evening chill out of the air. Neither of us can really imagine what the next few months will be like, but I have a feeling there will be a lot more activity than there is right now! We are both anxious to get at it, and a bit nervous about how much there is to do. As the building site slowly emerges from the snow we both are also very excited.  It's a beautiful spot, and every day when we stand there we hear the migrating birds returning. So far, ducks, geese, robins, kingfisher, phoebes, turkey vultures, and yellow bellied sapsuckers have all arrived. Their arrival reminds us that no matter how busy we are, we will always stop to admire the natural beauty, listen to the sounds, and breathe......

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.