With no work for DS late last week, we decided on a spur-of-the-moment trip to the cottage. The weather was not forecasted to be great, but we figured any time out of the city is great.
Thursday morning, DS decided to start dismantling the 2x3 walls we had removed when reconfiguring to make our large MBR in December. She tidied the garage at the same time. We ended up with a goodly pile of 8' 2x3's, and some 48 to 72-inch long pieces as well. She re-arranged the doors we had also salvaged from closets and we ended up with a much better organized garage.
I used the time to tidy the woodshed/entry. By rearranging storage areas and removing several empty cardboard boxes, we ended up with a spacious and tidy woodshed.
The afternoon weather was good, so I took advantage and soaked up some sun and did some brief swimming.
Friday morning, DS continued in the garage, while I formed, then mixed concrete (we had two bags left over from the woodstove install) and poured a new bottom step for the woodshed entry. It didn't turn our as nicely as I would have liked. I had forgotten that this concrete needed more water than the bags say. My step surface is not even and smooth and I am not happy.
Again, good afternoon weather, so we soaked up rays again.
Saturday morning, it poured rain. DS did some hobby painting while I got a chance to do some more stripping of the old desk. I was able to detach one pedestal from the back and the other pedestal, and it was quite easily moved downstairs after that. I worked in the woodshed with both doors open, so had good light and good ventilation.
By the afternoon, the weather had again cleared, so I got to work removing the beaver dam. DS cut some of their materials into stovelengths. They've used several maple saplings, and quite a few softer wood small trees of 3- to 4-inch diameter. We're all about recuperating what we can. Once done, more sun worshipping.
Sunday morning, we had to re-stack the one woodpile that had fallen for the second time. The only thing we can figure is that one of the foundation pieces we are using is a length of spruce trunk. I theorized that it's round shape permits too much movement and/or it's excessive length prevents the bottom of the cord from 'hugging' the ground. We got rid of it and hope we have now addressed whatever shortcomings existed in our stacking methods so we don't end up having to stack it yet again.
On this visit, DS and the dog saw a deer across the lake. We were also visited by 3 Great Herons on several days. The loon did a flyby, but did not land. He did let out a call, though, while flying overhead. Always lovely to hear, the loon.
Friends visited Friday for supper and brought their 3-month old chocolate Lab pup, Moka. The two dogs had a blast tiring each other out. When Duster would wade into the lake for a drink, Moka would barrel down the hill, dive in and swim around him. I guess he took notice of the fact that she can swim. On Saturday, while removing the dam, I was pitching rocks for him, each a little further than the last. He ended up going out far enough to have to dogpaddle (front legs only) on no less than three occasions, and once actually did a circle looking for the rock.
On Sunday afternoon, I got out his lifevest. Last summer, it was a fight to get it on him. This year, the minute he saw it, he went nuts and I couldn't follow him to the water fast enough. He stood patiently while I fitted it on him, and we did a repeat of the previous day's swimming. He may well be a waterbaby by the end of this summer!
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Sunday, July 12, 2009
An unexpected visitor
On this most recent visit, circumstances permitted me to stay behind for several days after DS left. When we left the city, there had been promise of nice weather in the second week, but we all know what weather forecasters' promises are worth. Still, I was hopeful for a bit of sun, and figured my staying behind would make the between-visits stretch a little shorter, therefore mitigating the beavers' effects somewhat.
I did draft a list of things I could do, if I felt the need to do something other than just drift through the days. Surprisingly, I did manage to get one of those things done.
I had mentally been moving the two sections of the wall unit from their current positions, and reuniting them on the new wall we built in December. If I wanted to do this on my own though, I had to figure out how to handle the centre piece that is suspended by virtue of it being screwed into it's adjoining neighbours. The wall unit is built of 1/2" melamine. Certainly, this could be expected to make the tall pieces fairly heavy, but the centre piece is about half the height of the tall pieces. This wall unit was custom-built and has a significant difference from those you will find in retail stores: the back is also 1/2" melamine.
Since we had made the trip with both vehicles, we had filled the pick-up with various items we were ready to live without in the city. This had included my rolling tool-box/workbench. I had used it as a trolley to move the old 29" CRT TV when I had come down with the new 32" LCD TV on the previous visit. On a hunch, I rolled it into the nook under the centre piece of the wall unit. It fit like a glove. This gave me the ability to remove the screws without the centre piece coming crashing down. Luckily, the combined heights also fit under the beam in the LR, so long as I crossed under it near it's centre. I figured I could carefully, tilting the unit along the front-to-back axis, slide pieces of wood under it to raise it to the level I needed so that the old TV would fit in the nook and be at the right height for viewing from the LR seats.
Once the other units were in place and levelled, I measured. I'd have to raise the centre part 8" to get the desired result. It wasn't easy tilting it forwards from the back, as I had no hand-holds, but I eventually got it done safely.
One evening, while I'm on the phone with DS 'round about sunset, I see a shadow and movement out of the corner of my eye. I turn my head and catch a glance of a horse's butt disappearing out of the south-facing LR window. A horse's butt??? By the time I process this info, I realize it has to be a moose. I tell DS what I saw as I get up and go to the patio door. Sure enough, standing alongside the deck, about 10 feet from me, is a young moose.
He must have seen the movement of me appearing in the doorway out of the corner of his eye, because he turns his head towards me and places one hoof on the deck. I am convinced he would have strolled over to take a better look at me, had it not been for the dog choosing that exact instance to bark. Meanwhile, I'm telling DS on the phone that there is a moose here. "Where?" she asks. "Right there", I reply in a somewhat exasperated tone...funny how our brains work sometimes.
Then DS, ever the photographer, tells me "Get your videocamera out!" I have to think where it is - right in front of me on the coffee-table, get it out of it's case, flip it open, open the lenscap aim and start recording, with one hand, because the other is holding the phone and I'm not quick enough to think to put it down. While I'm doing this, the moose decides to distance himself. He trots about 30 feet away, towards the picnic tables on the edge of the clearing at the south end of the house. I just manage to start recording when he ambles up the short steep slope, between the two picnic tables, and disappears into the darkness of the clearing. I got video, but all you can really see is a shadow. Bummer.
The next morning, I take the dog out for a walk and let him smell the tracks. Ever the brave one, he sits down near the deck and barks his warning of "And stay out!" from a safe distance and never even thinks of following the tracks. I laugh, because I recognize the behaviour: it is what small dogs do when we encounter them with Duster while walking in the city. They say nothing until he has passed and is a safe distance away, then they bark up a storm. Hilarious to see our 90-lb 'brave boy' doing the same thing.
This leads DS and I to surmise that if we see this much wildlife close up on our infrequent visits, just imagine what we're missing when we're not there! Of course this fuels the desire to be up there full-time even more.
I did draft a list of things I could do, if I felt the need to do something other than just drift through the days. Surprisingly, I did manage to get one of those things done.
I had mentally been moving the two sections of the wall unit from their current positions, and reuniting them on the new wall we built in December. If I wanted to do this on my own though, I had to figure out how to handle the centre piece that is suspended by virtue of it being screwed into it's adjoining neighbours. The wall unit is built of 1/2" melamine. Certainly, this could be expected to make the tall pieces fairly heavy, but the centre piece is about half the height of the tall pieces. This wall unit was custom-built and has a significant difference from those you will find in retail stores: the back is also 1/2" melamine.
Since we had made the trip with both vehicles, we had filled the pick-up with various items we were ready to live without in the city. This had included my rolling tool-box/workbench. I had used it as a trolley to move the old 29" CRT TV when I had come down with the new 32" LCD TV on the previous visit. On a hunch, I rolled it into the nook under the centre piece of the wall unit. It fit like a glove. This gave me the ability to remove the screws without the centre piece coming crashing down. Luckily, the combined heights also fit under the beam in the LR, so long as I crossed under it near it's centre. I figured I could carefully, tilting the unit along the front-to-back axis, slide pieces of wood under it to raise it to the level I needed so that the old TV would fit in the nook and be at the right height for viewing from the LR seats.
Once the other units were in place and levelled, I measured. I'd have to raise the centre part 8" to get the desired result. It wasn't easy tilting it forwards from the back, as I had no hand-holds, but I eventually got it done safely.
One evening, while I'm on the phone with DS 'round about sunset, I see a shadow and movement out of the corner of my eye. I turn my head and catch a glance of a horse's butt disappearing out of the south-facing LR window. A horse's butt??? By the time I process this info, I realize it has to be a moose. I tell DS what I saw as I get up and go to the patio door. Sure enough, standing alongside the deck, about 10 feet from me, is a young moose.
He must have seen the movement of me appearing in the doorway out of the corner of his eye, because he turns his head towards me and places one hoof on the deck. I am convinced he would have strolled over to take a better look at me, had it not been for the dog choosing that exact instance to bark. Meanwhile, I'm telling DS on the phone that there is a moose here. "Where?" she asks. "Right there", I reply in a somewhat exasperated tone...funny how our brains work sometimes.
Then DS, ever the photographer, tells me "Get your videocamera out!" I have to think where it is - right in front of me on the coffee-table, get it out of it's case, flip it open, open the lenscap aim and start recording, with one hand, because the other is holding the phone and I'm not quick enough to think to put it down. While I'm doing this, the moose decides to distance himself. He trots about 30 feet away, towards the picnic tables on the edge of the clearing at the south end of the house. I just manage to start recording when he ambles up the short steep slope, between the two picnic tables, and disappears into the darkness of the clearing. I got video, but all you can really see is a shadow. Bummer.
The next morning, I take the dog out for a walk and let him smell the tracks. Ever the brave one, he sits down near the deck and barks his warning of "And stay out!" from a safe distance and never even thinks of following the tracks. I laugh, because I recognize the behaviour: it is what small dogs do when we encounter them with Duster while walking in the city. They say nothing until he has passed and is a safe distance away, then they bark up a storm. Hilarious to see our 90-lb 'brave boy' doing the same thing.
This leads DS and I to surmise that if we see this much wildlife close up on our infrequent visits, just imagine what we're missing when we're not there! Of course this fuels the desire to be up there full-time even more.
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