New Project

I need a monster project that I can throw myself into completely and escape from other things going on that I can't change. After looking around and thrashing out ideas with T, I think I have it.

One of the things on my 20 wishes list is to build an off the grid small home, and this might be a big enough project to get me through the next few months. I've been walking through the two acres of woods behind the house looking at what's there. If there isn't enough lumber there to build a house, a small barn, a chicken coop and finish the goat shed, it will be close. What isn't already down needs to be cut down for one reason or another.

The first step will be to clean up and sort the timber there. There is pine, red cedar and white ash that will need to be cut for various purposes. The pine will be cut into 1 and 2 inch boards for framing. The ash will be 1" boards for shelving and furniture. The cedar will be barn poles, fence posts, fence rails, cordwood and if I'm really lucky there will be some that can be cut to 1 and 2 inch boards for porch swings a bench and a wood strip canoe.

I picked out the house site that has the best view and actually it will be the easiest to clear. I'm thinking the south wall will be cordwood with lots of windows to generate passive heat in the winter. Solar power, compost toilet, earthen floor.

T says clean up and saw lumber this year, build next year, but I want to build this year as well. Things I'm not sure about are moving big logs and keeping a chain saw running. I guess I'll have to learn some basic mechanics.

Bird Watching

Several years ago at the Friends of the Library Annual Book Sale, I picked up a Smithsonian Birds of North America, a beautiful hardcover book with a page devoted to each species which tells you everything you need to know about each bird.

I don't use it every time I see a new bird, but sometimes a species unusual enough shows up and I have to go look it up.

Yesterday morning while I was fixing a bowl of cereal, I saw a pair of birds swimming on the pond. That doesn't happen often so I got out the binoculars to see what they were. As soon as I saw the black and white head on one bird, I remembered seeing them last year, but I couldn't remember what it was.

Hooded Merganser
Originally uploaded by Rick Leche

I pulled out the bird book and sure enough I did write down that February 27, last year there was a pair on the pond. They were Hooded Mergansers. This year I tried to get close enough to get a photo which didn't work. If I had waited maybe he would have given me a show like he did last year. They must be on their way back home.

Last Sunday a young Red Hawk landed on the deck railing. I've never seen one get so close.

A Gift of Trust

Ashley rescued this cardinal from one of our cats and gave it to me to fix. It sat in my hand and let me check its wings and look for injuries. I couldn't find anything that appeared to be serious, so I just let him sit in my hand. After a couple minutes he got more alert and when I decided he was not injured, I opened my hand flat and he flew off into the trees. He let me hold him for about ten minutes and when he flew off I felt honored by his trust.

Roof Repairs

The worst thing about building your own house is that when something goes wrong, you can't go back to the contractor and get them to fix it. When the problem is with the roof it's even worse.

Two inches of rain in about 24 hours reminded me that I had to fix the roof leak before winter set in. I had been putting this off all summer, now it had to be taken care of.

I borrowed a safety belt from a friend, pulled out the rope and realized I couldn't remember how to tie the sliding knot to attach the belt to the rope. A Google search found it pretty quickly and now I know the name because I'm almost positive I'll need it again, The Prusik Knot or Triple Sliding Hitch.

Next was getting the rope over the roof to tie it off. That wasn't as easy as I hoped it would be, in fact I couldn't throw it that high. Even on the top rung of the ladder I was three feet short of the ridge. Getting it over the ridge required a lot of nerve (read stupidity) and prayer, but at least I'm still alive to tell.

Once up on top, the view was great. I really do need a lookout balcony somewhere. Or maybe just a retreat back in the woods where I have the same view of the mountains from the ground.

The problem was two screws that had worked loose. Unfortunately, while I tightened anything that looked like it might work loose, I found several more screws that weren't grabbing anything, so they will probably be problems in a few years. To do it right I needed someone underneath the roof to hold a block of wood under anything loose.

Unbelievable

I don't usually do this, but when I walked past this man kicking the daylights out of this couch to get it through a door that was six inches shorter than the couch, I just had to take a picture. Too bad the video didn't get him kicking the couch.

Wild Turkeys

GEDC0513
Originally uploaded by tormash9

For the past month a flock of wild turkeys and babies near Muddy Creek have been part of the scenery on my morning drive to work. A couple days ago they were across the road on the hill in the afternoon and I was able to get a photo. They were too far away to get a very good photo, but I counted five hens and about 20 babies between them.

Got Curcurbits?

Doesn't that sound like some kind of bizarre disease? Actually it is the family which cucumbers, squash, melons and the dreaded zucchini fall into.

Last year the squash borers killed all my cucumbers, yellow squash and zucchini before I got a handful of vegetables from them. No relish or pickles in the pantry for us.

My sister said all her plants had all died as well. According to her father-in-law it was because she didn't plant radishes in her garden last year. According to him the radishes discourage the borers. Since no one eats them we both skipped planting them.

This year I sprinkled a few radish seeds down the row and now I've got more curcurbits than I can possibly use. I've canned dill pickles, bread and butter pickles, zucchini relish, yellow squash relish, and dill relish and they're still coming on strong. Since everyone loves bread and butter pickles I'll do another batch of them and another batch of yellow squash relish. And I think I'll try drying some zucchini chips and see how they taste.

Anyone need curcubits? Right now everyone sees me coming with a bag and runs the other direction.