Excerpt from Wilder

It was three days to Independence Day, the fourth day of July….The air was still and cold that night, and the stars had a wintry look. After supper Father went to the barns again…..When he came in, Mother asked if it was any warmer. Father shook his head.“I do believe it is going to freeze,” he said.“Pshaw! surely not! Mother replied. But she looked worried.Sometime in the night...

The mosquitoes are coming

Quick, get the walls up. The skitters are small, but they will only get bigger now that we’ve finally had rain. Finished Saturday putting down more pavers to make the floor fit the larger footprint. Assembled the west wall yesterday. It fit so tight when I lifted it into place that I had to knock it in with the sledgehammer. Good for keeping out...

Let it snow

It wouldn’t be a May Long Weekend without snow.

Lake McRae, crowded and noisy

What meager water our pond holds must be the only stuff available in the neighbourhood. There are seven or eight pairs of geese trying to stake a claim. Good heavens are they ever loud. And they start at 5:30am.

One dormer in 38 seconds

Timelapse of the dormer constructions. Boy oh boy, it was up and down the ladder a bazillion times. It turned out nicely – the roof line matches the rest of the hip rafters very well. Apart from screening and a little decorative fascia, I plan to leave the sides and front open. Once I had all the plywood in place and I stopped to relax and watch a ball game, I looked up from below and swore a blue streak. I...

Something in the wind

Windy day, and hot.  I’ve been hearing sirens up and down the highway all day long. I bet there are some out of control brush fires in the county.

Weeding with cats

It’s like when you’re reading the newspaper, and the cat has to sprawl across the pages. Levi loves that I’m back in the gardens each morning. All the more opportunity to flop on the ground in front of me and demand attention.

How ’bout them angles

3 common rafters, 4 hip rafters, 16 jack rafters – and I still have to figure out how I want to frame up the entrance area (where the 4th common rafter would have been). We want some kind of dormer – skylight – thingy. I’ll do that in 2x6s so it won’t be so heavy looking – and bonus – easier to cut the angles on...

Goose on a hot tin roof

  We think this is a first. Two geese were spotted this morning on the sauna roof. Getting a bird’s eye view, I suppose?  They were there for about 20 minutes, arriving sometime after I came in from feeding the horses.

The Prodigal cat

Midge returned before the snow did. She smells of wet leaves