Summer, siding, snow: the second half of 2022

It always feels strange to write a blog posting in December that begins with the warmth of July.  It is as if our world has always been cold and snowy, and to see pictures of greenery and the bare ground are somewhat of a visual shock.  I get much the same feeling when I write in July about December.  I guess our brains somehow envision that the current season is the one that exists all the time. Or maybe I'm just getting better at trying to "live in the Now". 

All pondering aside, on the last day of July the remaining Phoebe babies successfully left their nest.  

Rob had been struggling with the work on the back wall of the house, as he really wanted to save the "best" wood we had for the more visible front of the house. He did not want to later discover that he had wasted it on a back wall that no one ever sees, so with the nest now empty we decided to go back to the front of the house and resume work there.  I should add however, that almost no one ever sees the front wall either !  Just sayin'.

It's always hard to switch gears midway, but it seemed like the best solution.  The work we had being doing was coming along pretty well, and we knew the rest would go quickly when we got back to it.

It was also the weekend that would see a Celebration of Life for Rob's sister Trina. There was to be a butterfly release in her honour during the event.  Trina absolutely loved butterflies and wildlife in general. We unfortunately could not attend, but Rob was gifted the company of a single butterfly while he worked outside the entire weekend.

For a long weekend, it was strangely quiet in the area, and we were happy to use the time to reflect somewhat.  The river levels had finally dropped a bit and we were able to sit quietly in our chairs late in the day, with our feet in the cool waters. 

A bit of a heat wave had arrived, but with it came the threat of thunderstorms so we later opted to sit out at our point, where we had the treat of watching a mother deer and her fawn at the river edge.  The fawn was cautious and leapt around nervously after scaring up some mergansers, which set off the blue heron to screeching in annoyance. The mother deer seemed not to notice, so the fawn quickly settled down. It was a lovely moment to watch.

The first week of August was a see-saw of warm temperatures, cool temperatures, thunderstorms and heavy rains.  We felt like the work on the siding was going awfully slow.  But rainy days can provide time off for taking care of other tasks, so have their own use I guess.  Still, usually in the summer we can depend on more sunshine and the weather this summer seemed abnormal.

On sunny days we would sometimes spot Hoover the porcupine in one of his favourite spots.  Other days a raccoon would nab it first.

August continued to be up and down in terms of weather, but work began on the front wall of the house when weather permitted. We knew this side would take a little while longer as it required an outdoor light fixture, and a lot of finicky work around the front door and porch.  Not to mention fitting the siding up under the interesting roof lines!

It was also a frustrating time as our internet connection started to go down frequently.  We found ourselves sitting in our car, in front of the nearest public library, using their internet connection to reset our lines, and to chat with Bell customer service reps in order to try to get some resolution.  We learned that the lines out here are quite old and unreliable, and they even discovered bats they said, in their connection boxes.  Being in a rural area, we don't have a lot of options, so just had to patiently wait until they could try to repair some of the junction boxes and do further trouble shooting.

We couldn't help but notice this wire connection one day. I'm not sure if it's related to anything internet related. Still it doesn't look right!

We also discovered we were beginning to have solar power battery issues, so took time to do some battery maintenance and trouble shooting on our system.  In the summer we don't really think about the system very often as there is usually plentiful sunshine.  But this summer we had a lot of very cloudy days. Still, it didn't explain our lack of power some mornings.  

A visit from family members for a few days took our minds off of battery and internet problems.  It was nice to spend some time visiting; sitting in the river together, going for a hike, catching up on family news, sharing some memories, and of course, much laughter.

While Rob continued to work on his various projects, I was happily harvesting tomatillos out of my garden, and making Mexican style sauces to enjoy with our meals, as well as to freeze for later.  All of my plants had sprung up unexpectedly from last years fallen tomatillos. More were also growing in our compost pile! They certainly seem to love this spot, although I perhaps could have thinned them out a little.

I had made a note the previous year to start drying some of my herbs in  late August, so began drying basil and thyme, and also made some pesto sauces to freeze. I had an abundance of basil which was wonderful.  However, my rosemary did not do well at all so I had none to use all summer, let alone dry for the winter.  My oregano was most unhappy, and although I did use a bit during the summer, there was not enough to dry for future use.  As it is a perennial, I had hoped to have lots from previous years.  I tried planting some in a different spot so will see what comes up next spring.

I am part of a photography group online (big shout out to Photocoach!) so I was also busy trying to meet the requirement for 5 theme based photos a month.  It's a great group, and I was happy to spend lots of time outdoors with my camera, trying various shots.

A walking stick caught the attention of my camera one day.  This was the first of a couple that we saw hanging around our doorways!

I also spent lots of time down at the bend in the river, hanging out with the various frogs

By early September progress was being made on the front of the house. We installed an exterior light fixture that we had from when we lived in Navan and were pleased to be able to use it on the end of the wall.  It is so nice to finally have an exterior light there!  We still need to install a couple more in strategic places.

September always gives us a gently nudge and reminds us that the summer is coming to an end.  We took a look at how much pine siding we had left, and decided to stain every remaining board that we could, while the weather was still good.

Staining siding is such a rewarding task.  It ranks right up there for me along with splitting and stacking firewood.  In no time, you can see the result of your work, and you know your efforts will be put to a good use later. It took a while for us to get back into the staining routine, but in no time we were working well together, brushing and rolling on stain, flipping the boards over, and arranging them on drying racks.  We would stain in the morning, return later in the day and remove the dry boards and stain another round.  

Any boards that were deemed a bit iffy (i.e. had a split or were not straight enough) were only stained on one side as they would be used for the strapping or batten.  We were hoping we would have enough "good" boards and we did!  And in no time we were done.

The only "down side" I suppose, is that we had to make a choice between putting up siding while the weather was nice or stopping to stain the boards.  Either way, both jobs had to be done, but the staining job won out of course, or we would have had nothing to put up!

Rob got back at it, and managed to get this tricky little area done with only a minimum of cursing.

Did you know that cursing is actually a beneficial coping mechanism?  Well it is - look it up! (I was surprised by the article too, but no longer give Rob a hard time about it!) 

I think the weather in early September was the best we had all summer.  We were happy to see a bit more sunshine for sure.  And happy too, to take a day off by ourselves, and to go for a good long hike in the beautiful Shaw Woods on our 40th wedding anniversary!  And then celebrated with a lovely dinner at the end of the day.

With celebrations over, work continued on the front of the house, and the front porch and entrance way.  We opted for a lighter coloured wood for the ceiling, as we wanted to keep the entrance a bit brighter, using some pine that we had leftover from the interior of the house.  The door frame was a bit of work, but it finally fit.  We are still considering a door colour but that will get painted next year.

By the end of September, it was almost complete!

We were really noticing the changing of the season though.

With the days slowly getting shorter, we tried to take advantage of the good weather to sit for a short while at the point most evenings. It is here that we most notice the shift in the direction of the sun. That, and how quickly it drops behind the trees, dropping the temperature immediately.

When some friends visited we took the time to show them our favourite hiking spot at Shaw Woods, hoping they didn't find the climb too difficult and providing a walking stick to help! 

And then we spotted another visitor hanging around our house:

Hoover the porcupine was visiting!

Well, we certainly presume it was him, as he seemed quite curious and actually came down and had a good long look at me one day before climbing back up into his tree. 

We would joke that maybe he was looking for another ride down to the wildlife rescue center and a warm place to stay for the winter.  It was awfully tempting to toss him a few apples, but we didn't.  We knew he had lots of good things to eat, as he was busy foraging in the areas around the house at dusk every night.  It was nice to see him exhibiting normal porcupine behaviour.

It took until the first week of October to finish up the front of the house.  We still need to trim the bottom edges of the boards, but that will be done along with some of the other areas next year.

The push was on to finish the back of the house before it got too cold or snowy!  We pretty much decided that the workshop would not get finished this year.  As we were pleased with our progress we weren't too concerned.

The back wall had a few challenges to figure out with windows, vents, hose tap connections etc.  And sometimes it just takes an extra few breaths to get started. 

 

And I can imagine that a certain someone was perhaps a little tired of moving scaffolding around!

As usual, October is also the time when we begin to think of the pre-winter tasks that need to be done.

It is far more enjoyable to do tractor, snow blower and vehicle servicing when the weather is nice and warm! So Rob took the time to do some of that one warm October day.

Which is good, as October 8th we woke up to wet snow! I was busy prepping the cabin for the arrival of friends, and made sure to stock the porch with some firewood and kindling, and warmed it up ready for their arrival.  Fortunately the snow melted as fast as it fell.  Rob took some time to re-grade our common road as it would likely be the last time for doing that before the next snow fall.

Fall colours brought the return of family members back to the cabin a short time later.  Recent rains had stripped some of the trees of their leafy colours, but there were still lots to be seen.

It's a beautiful time of year, and we took one of our favourite drives to enjoy the views.  Even on a slightly rainy day, it was still very lovely.

We were waking up to temperatures of about 3 degrees, and began to think our siding days were done. But just in time for Rob's birthday the temperatures rose again.  Highs of 20 degrees made for great working conditions, but we still took the day and went for a long hike, and a drive to some of our favourite places.  And a stop at the Cottage Cup in Golden Lake for pecan tarts of course!

As October came to a close, we were still hoping to finish the final back wall of the house. 

Frost at night prompted me to clean out my little raised bed garden, although I left the kale as it was still growing strong. What a hardy plant it is. 

We had one more group of friends who were hoping to use the cabin, but not until the end of November.  When they gave us advance notice that they would not be arriving after all, I took the opportunity of closing the cabin down for the winter while the weather was still pleasant.  I quickly tucked bedding and towels away in bins, and removed anything that might freeze over the winter.  I stripped everything out of the kitchen, and did one final clean of all the areas. All that was left to be done was draining the pipes, pouring in some plumbing anti freeze, and erecting some tarps around the perimeter of the porch.  As soon as Rob finished his siding efforts, he would head over to do those tasks.

While I was busy at the cabin, work on the back wall jumped ahead, and suddenly - it was done!

We finished up the corner around the mudroom door, and declared the siding done for the season.

I don't think we took more than a few minutes to celebrate though, as we knew we had a pile of pre-winter chores on our list.  The tractor chose this time to completely fail, and we went off to find it a new battery.  That didn't work, so we then tried some new parts, only to discover it was a failure with the battery connection.  Fortunately, we got it up and running again.  As it was time for a new battery too, it was good that we had picked up a new one.

We then "built" our fire wood storage again for this winter, using scaffolding and platforms to hold it.  We promised each other that we will build a proper wood storage unit next year.  In truth though, this one works just fine for the winter!  It just isn't pretty. And then we filled it with rows of the wood that we had cut, split and stacked in the spring.  A truly rewarding job, as it was all wood from trees that had fallen the previous year.  I always feel better when I have a good solid pile of firewood in ready for winter.

We cleaned up all of the building site so that when the snow fell, it wouldn't bury the debris and make it difficult for snow clearing.

Two days later, it snowed!

This snow looked like it was probably going to stick around for a while.

Which it did, and it sure was beautiful.

Surprisingly though, it melted. At least for a while.

We looked out of our living room window late one afternoon to see Mom deer and her two fawns foraging.  That glow on the right is the reflection of our wood stove.   We were happy to see that they at least, had survived another hunting season.

We were well into the middle of December, thinking we might see a green Christmas, when the snow returned.  We woke up one morning to find this lovely view from our dining room window.

As we were approaching the winter solstice, the bright snow was most welcome, and made for a lovely, lovely morning walk.

  The fog however was a bit unexpected!

Christmas was just around the corner so we got busy working on Christmas Cookies (New Mexico Biscochitos - yumm!) 

Finding our Christmas Tree (scouted out earlier in the month from under the Hydro Lines)

Preparing our Christmas meal of Mexican Meatballs in a Fire Roasted Tomato Chipotle sauce (also yummm !)  It was my first time making it, so I decided to make it a few days early.  It turned out to be delicious, so I froze it until Christmas Day.  With white rice, topped with avocados and fried bananas, and roasted carrots with a honey, New Mexican chile, and cinnamon glaze, it proved to be a great meal idea.

Making our Christmas Card:

And settling in for a couple of weeks of pretty much just relaxing.  

This is a time of year I always look forward to.  It's a time to catch up on emails, contact friends and family more, and to think about some indoor projects that I can work on in the New Year.  My little studio has been filling up with sewing projects, and I have a list of online courses to watch.  There are chairs to be painted and recovered, and books to read.  Rob has his own list of course. I can't say for sure what all are on his list, but I know "play more guitar" and "get workshop in order" have been mentioned quite a bit.  He's been playing with some animation software too.  

Unfortunately one of the items on the list is to research new batteries for the solar power system.  But we have vowed not to worry about that until we are into the New Year.  (Which is coming up fast! )

The Christmas tree went up, (although due to power issues we don't light it up too often!)  Our little cat Axle is still with us after a few health scares this year.  (He seems to be planning on seeing his 20th birthday in 2023) He seemed to really like hanging out under the tree this year.  His presence is definitely a gift.

Before we knew it, it was time for that Christmas dinner.

And now here we are heading into the New Year already.

I promised myself I would post this while it was still 2022 so I guess I am coming down to the wire. I've been working on this post for a while, and could continue writing and editing, and adding more photos.  But I think perhaps I will just have to save some for next year.  I'll just add that to my list!

Wishing everyone much Love, Peace, Joy and Gentle Compassion for 2023.

 

Reflections

Ten years ago this month, we "moved" here.  I write "moved" as at the time, we were more or less trying things out for the summer, with no clear idea of how things would go.  We had spent the previous two months in a flurry of activity.  We were still trying to deal with the contents of the warehouse that we had used for our business.  Rob had taken two one-week timber framing courses; one in nearby Perth and one in the eastern USA .  We still weren't sure if we were going to build a new house, or simply put an addition on the log cabin. I was busy going through the contents of the dome that had been our home for over 35+ years, trying to pack, sort and purge.  We had purchased a second hand tractor, mower, box blade and snow thrower in preparation for living in our new location.  We had a new trailer to haul things with.  Rob had spent a week at the cabin, doing his best to prepare it for our arrival, and trying to make some room for us all.

And so, on one hot July morning (which also happened to be my birthday) we loaded up the trailer with some of what we thought we would need for the next few months, loaded 4 cats into crates, (no small feat) and strapped them safely in the rear seat of the truck and drove off.   Rob would return in a few hours to pick up the dog, and another load for the trailer.  The cats instantly voiced their disapproval of the whole plan, yelling in unison.  We had a scheduled stop at the vet for a quick consultation, as our senior cat Leon had been undergoing tests for an undiagnosed illness, and our youngest cat Axle still had his rear leg in a cast due to an unfortunate run in with our German Shepherd.  When we arrived at the vet office, they suggested we should have given them all some catnip to quiet them down for the trip!

Somewhat frazzled, and more than a little bit tired, we arrived a few hours later, and somehow remembered to take a photo or two.

We emptied the truck and trailer, and then Rob left me to sort things out, while he drove back to Navan (stopping off in Ottawa as I recall for a take-out birthday dinner and sweet treats for us to enjoy later) . He arrived back late in the evening and so our adventure began.  We still laugh when we think what a crazy day and birthday that was!  

And of course, within a very short time, we both agreed that we would simply stay where we were in the cabin, and figure out over the winter what we could build. We then began the process of driving back and forth to Navan as we emptied our dome and prepared to sell it.  By mid November the dome had a new owner, and we were officially "moved".

I certainly have had fun these last few days as I prepared to write this; looking back at some of the photos and blog postings from that time. Ten years have passed; that's hard to believe. Especially as every day here still feels fresh, new and full of possibilities.  I think that's a good thing.  After all, that was the point of moving here!

And here we are now, in 2022.  We are working on what we hope is the last "major" building job. The month of June was probably not the best month for getting outside work done.  The first two weeks of June were particularly rainy, with numerous storm warnings and tornado watches.  Rob was anxious to get working on the siding, but instead spent much of his time working on the inside of his workshop, getting drywall up and trying to re-organize the space within. 

I was happy to see some of the incoming rain as it was good for my small raised bed garden and all the seeds I had carefully planted. 

It was June 22 before Rob had a chance to start back on the siding.  It was great to see that he wouldn't be climbing up so much scaffolding this year as these sides are so much lower than the ones he did last year.

And the work on this side definitely went a lot faster than previous ones!

After completing the front, Rob continued working around the right hand corner, (which did require a bit more scaffolding) and of course then a blast of summer heat arrived.  He had been enjoying the unusually cool temperatures as it made it easier to work.

We took a brief break for my birthday (which prompted this posting about reflection) and celebrated with local cupcakes and a delicious homemade meal.

And then we got back at it.  While Rob was working on the siding, I was over at the cabin doing a bit of a clean and scrub after a red squirrel broke in one afternoon and had a wee bit of a party in the cabin.  Luckily we discovered it fairly early (after Rob sent me in to investigate the noise in the cabin!) and we were able to safely help it find it's way out.  Rob had to prop up a board to allow it to get back up to the window it had entered through, where it clung to the frame for a few minutes before tumbling down to the ground with a rather disconcerting thump. I was a bit concerned when it didn't move, but it picked itself up after a few seconds and high tailed it back into the woods.  

This isn't the same squirrel, but it certainly has the same attitude.  I think maybe it is related to the one we turfed out of the cabin.

With part of the east side of the workshop complete, Rob began to prepare to do the front (south facing) side of the house.  Unfortunately the phoebes that had only just finished nesting at the front door decided to begin their second brood in the same location, so we had to change plans as we didn't want to disturb them.  We opted to move to working on the back (north facing) side of the house instead, but this proved to be a bit of a challenge.  We know we want to build a screened in porch on that side, so before we began, we had to take time to make sure whatever it needs was in place.  There is already a door opening for it, which is great! 

When a few more rainy days arrived, Rob moved back into working in his workshop, devising a fancy home made jig that would allow him to trim the ends of the siding in an even line.  When the rain stopped he had a chance to try it out.

We both agreed that trimming those ends made a huge difference to making it look more finished!

We have been keeping a close eye on the phoebe nest progress. As soon as the babies leave the nest, we will switch back to working on the front of the house. This is a rather blurry photo of the nest as I don't want to linger and worry the parents.

We can hear them all chirping for food from early dawn to late evening. It's an amazing sound to hear, but I must say the parents are looking a bit worn out.

Earlier this week, one of the babies left the nest (intentionally or not) and is now being cared for on the ground by the parents.  The rest seem reluctant to leave, or perhaps they are simply enjoying having a bit more space to move around.  It looked pretty crowded in there. 

Although Rob was busy working on the siding he did find some time to add a temporary frame to my garden as my tomatillos have taken off.  I had put in stakes and tied the plants up but in no time they had grown feet above my stakes. It looks like we will have a great crop, if the chipmunks don't steal them.  They stole quite a few last year, but all in all seemed to prefer my tomatoes.  I didn't plant tomatoes this year, so am just hoping that the tomatillos don't make it to the top of the chipmunk hit list.

In an effort not to have to throw two of our plastic chairs into the landfill site just yet, I have been trying to restore them from their worn and chalky appearance. Last year I scrubbed them with baking soda and vinegar, and then applied coats of car wax as suggested on numerous sites.  The wax didn't hold up all that well, plus it made the chairs super slippery to sit in, so this year I scrubbed and sanded them and tried applying a spray paint for plastic.

Before:

After:

They could use another coat but the can ran out of paint before I finished.  I waited 7 days as suggested to allow the paint to "cure", before deciding whether to continue. I wanted to make sure it was sticking properly before I purchased another can.  It seems to me that some of the paint comes off with a powdery residue, so now I am trying to figure out if a clear coat will improve things.   At some point I should perhaps just give up, but I think it is important to try to fix things rather than just throwing them out.  I still have plans to paint and reupholster six dining chairs and a drafting chair.  We have an old metal futon frame to repurpose as well.  Rob may turn it into an outside bench that we can use on one of our paths.  

While I was out working on the chairs I noticed a young rabbit was hanging around.  It seems to like the vegetation around my garden, and sometimes I will find it in the shade under the car keeping the weeds down for us ! It can suck a leaf back in no time, so I am glad my garden is raised as high as it is, or we would perhaps have no lettuce left at all. 

This July has certainly been somewhat of a reflective month for me.  So much has happened in the last 10 years, and going through some of the older postings in this blog have reminded me of a lot.  We still have our one remaining little cat; sweet Axle, now over 19 years old.  We lost our oldest cat Leon when he was 20, and we think Axle is perhaps trying to beat that record.  Looking back, it doesn't seem all that long ago that we were driving up here with the four cats meowing away in the truck.

Somehow, looking back always seems to also make us look forward. Once the siding is completed (hopefully this summer) we are looking forward to not having any "major" projects on the go.  That said, we would like to build a screened in porch overlooking our wetland, and maybe a small gazebo closer to the river. Although last year we arranged scaffolding and platforms to make a temporary wood shed, and will have to do the same again this year, we really would like to build a permanent shed for the firewood.  We need to add fill around the house to bring everything up to the proper grade.  And of course, the cabin is in need of some work, both inside and out.  Rob calls these "small" jobs, and I guess they are compared to what we've done over the past 10 years.

One thing is for certain, we never regret for one minute our choice to come here, and to call this place home.