Winter, bring it on!

I left the wood order a bit late. Usually I order it in August, when the ground is dry. We had some surprising rainfall the first few days of September. Ah well.

I cleverly asked them to dump it in two places, after getting wood in for nearly 9 years! I cannot stack all of the two bush cords behind the house, but it would be preferable. I love the exercise, though, deep in winter: going out to the shed to haul wood on the sled.

Wednesday, Sept. 4th

He arrived at 8 a.m., bless his heart.


This is pile #1. You can see #2 in front of the shed.


I took it about an hour at a time, lots of breaks over 6 hours. JB kindly went into town and brought me home a Subway sandwich for lunch. I took a good break, watched a bit of tennis with him, and went back to it.  TA DA! The first bush cord is done. 


Apparently, the cats cleaned up the remaining debris (above) when I was at my client's house on Thursday!

Friday, Sept. 6th

 I'd taken Thursday off, and I'd best get going before the rain arrived. I knew storms were on their way. We ended up with 16 mm!


A 'friend' on Facebook said I should just get a propane insert, but that's a conversion and spending money bests saved for other projects. Besides, JB and his cats love the fire in winter.


Out I went after breakfast. I had a bit of a delay. A baby robin had been closed up in the garage. I usually leave the door open a litte, to let Hooper get in and look for mice friends. Instead, I found the robin locked in. Hooper was at the window of the shed, the robin banging on the window to get out. Her parents were out yelling at us all.

Running to grab her, the parents led Hooper away. Then Annabelle turned up. I grabbed Annie, tried to grab Hooper and they both scratched me. There was yelling and swearing involved. JB brought both cats in.




The shed takes half of it.


Finally, I got down to it. Cameras, gloves, water. I shed my coat, as I'd I worked up a sweat.


You know the best part? That shower afterwards. I was too tired to get into the tub. You know you've done a good day's work when you have debris in your sport bra! Following my shower, an ice pack on my foot!

I iced my foot

Saturday, Sept. 7th

I'd left the last until Saturday morning. I didn't want to push it, what with my foot and back issues.

As I removed the tarp, I drenched my shoe. Yuck! We had 16 mm overnight. Mind you, the dew was on everything until the day warmed up.

JB went out to get me some finger bandages. This is where Hooper and Annabelle scratched me. Then, I was getting boils on my wrist. It felt like poison ivy. Putting on my ointment for that, it was feeling better.
I whittled away at it Saturday, Stopping by 2 p.m. It's such good exercise.

No helpers, thanks to the bird incident. Daisy loved to help with the wood. I thought about her all day.



I went in, happy to put my feet up. My 'tennis elbow' has been acting up, as well as bruising on my left arm from the wood. It was too warm to wear long sleeves.

Then put on my brace

Speaking on tennis: we had a great time watching our Bianca Andreescu win at tennis. #SheTheNorth

"I know you guys wanted Serena to win....I’m sorry.”

She was amazing.
I went outdoors, after the rain passed, and spotted a rainbow. I cooked us some t-bone. The day was done.

This morning there are 500,000 people without power in Atlantic Canada, thanks to hurricane Dorian.  They had over 135 mm of rain. There is a massive clean-up. What havok all along its path.

Perth Art Tour & catch-up

Off we went to the Perth Art Tour. This replaces the Art In The Barn show that is now defunct. When your neighbours are having open house art shows, you really ought to visit them! 

 

On the way to the next studio:


Many locations had several artists showing their work. This spot is amazing, with a beautiful view. Maureen Garner has lived here 40 years. Also showing, Riley Garner, and Laurie J.W. Winter.

Maureen O'Brien

Next stop... Pat Purdy. She teaches art, and has a large basement studio.


We only visited three artists, then went home. There is lots to see here. We have a doe who hangs about much of the day.


As always, I'm curious about homes for sale. Our modest bungalow is lovely, on 16 acres. This will be our last house. With the situation of overpriced homes in Canada's big cities, Vancouver, Toronto, for example, where small homes fetch a bidding war, and go for millions of dollars. This is one we passed on our arts tour drive.

I looked it up, being curious. Homes by the water are called 'cottages' whether they are 4-season or not. Wowsa. That's a pretty penny.

Cottage for sale!

We did Facetime with Isabelle and Caitlin. Isabelle told us about their new car. It's a 2017 Nissan Leaf. An electric car, she can plug it in at its nostril, she told us. That tickled her fancy. Her Papa is running for the Green Party, again.  The federal election is in November. The attack ads have begun. sigh.

His magnetic sign will go on the new car! This is from October, 2015.

More news. Poor Izzy had a fall while bike riding. She's good now, with a great story. They were walking home after the incident, and strangers went into their house and gave her paper towels, as she was bleeding profusely. She walked a bit, then got back up on the bike to ride home. What a trooper!



I had news for them. Along the lines of "Don't Tell The Kids" stories. Of course, I always tell them.
I sat down to put my foot brace on, prior to my wetland walk, and I put it on the wrong foot. Isabelle laughed! "That won't do you any good!"

It's been pretty good, my foot, so long as I watch it, and wear shoes and sock for long walks, the brace when I need it. I had therapy on it a few years ago. Repetitive strain injuries are thing that does me in. Old age isn't for chumps!