Alone with My Thoughts

Each time I draw the rake over the ground, new rocks
pop up in the place I have just finished raking.
A mysterious phenomenon know also to others
who have tried to find soil while raking a house that
is constructed on a gravel pit.
This picture is taken from the corner of the cabin moving down
over that small patch of grass and then through the Douglas Firs.
The tracto makes a cameo appearance at the lots edge.

I usually like to be alone with my thoughts when I am doing mindless physical work, rather than turn on the radio or have a TV programme going on in the background.

This is also true when trying to beat the snow that is coming on Tuesday by getting every possible rock pick up from the new landscaping between lots 3 and 4.

One twentieth of the new landscaping is mine, and 19/20th is Richard’s, so in the spirit of good neighbour, my rake strays over to land between us, their place, which is beginning to look more like a golf course to me, rather than less than 50 yards between us.

Because I can think so fast, I can run through a lot of thoughts just in one small sweep of the rake.

So I have turned to Spotify to make the time pass.

Diana Krall singing.

Me humming along.

A great life.

Arta

Gardening on Lot 4

... chain saw wrapped in hammock rope ...

This summer, every time I watching Michael, Alice and Betty at the lake side of their cabin at the Shuswap,  I was wondering long it would be until a tractor or a bobcat came to land so that a little bit of clearing could be done.

I was imagining taking out the brush on the lake side of the cabin so that we would have better view.

I was imagining widening the path between the cabin and the house, just getting a few rocks out of the way.

... David has used his chain saw on trees,
cutting them into 8 foot lengths
to be dragged to the pile of debris and burned ...

And when I let my imagination soar, I wondered if we could clear out the sand pile, the pile of clay and the pile of loan, having done all of the gardening with those three soils that I think I want to do in a lifetime.

"Now let's see if I can fix this?"

So today was that day when the brush was cleared between the lots and the slope was graded.

I could never figure out why the land was so bumpy beside the boat house, or at least the space where the boat house was and is no more.

Just memories are attached to the land there. But my guess is that when it was first cleared, all of the large rocks were dozed over there – getting them out of the way then, but making it impossible to walk in that area.

David has to carry the chain saw and drag the tree
that the rope is attached to, to unwind the rope
and get his chainsaw ready to work again.

So that has changed. The largest rocks (oversized – too big for me to carry) have been transported down to the lakeside perimeter of the land and that area has been smoothed a bit, and some fill added. I am pretty sure someone is going to put a picnic table there and then never leave.

Arta

Mary Cleans the Cabin

The children wonder what is the protocol:  bury the bird,
take it into the woods, leave it out for the scavengers,
put it in the composts, leave it by the side of the compost
for the raccoon whom we know is near by.

Or as Alice wanted to do, just arrange flowers around it.

Mary speaking: 

Rhiannon, Naomi and I went to Lot 4 where we discovered a woodpecker who had gotten into the cottage but couldn’t get out.

We discovered this a few days too late.

It was dead. We took it outside, a Northern Flicker. Betty, Alice and Michael came over to look at it.

Then my family went back into lean the bird poop. We swept and mopped the floors in the living room and kitchen. Then I released the girls from work, I was having so much fun that I stayed and swept and mopped 3 or the 4 bedroom and set up the beds. Now I have the bathroom left today and another bedroom.

A few days earlier and
Alice could have saved this Northern Flicker.

The 2 families, Doral & Anita, and Richard & Miranda, have done so much work to bring that cabin up to a spot where it is livable. It is just perfect. I know that there is so much work they did that no one will never know since that cottage has been empty so long.

I have never been so happy in my life cleaning.

The cabin seems so much smaller than when I was a child.

Especially the roof. Maybe because I am bigger, the roof seems smaller.

What a blessing it was for 4 families to live there in the past.

Watercolour by Wyona Bates

As a child I had no clue how much work was going on around me to make that happen. Just no clue.

Now I am going to move deck furniture up onto Arta’s place and then get back to Richard & Miranda’s cabin for more happy cleaning. Right now we are very happy living in Doral & Anita’s place.


Mary

Before and After

Doral and Anita are wondering what is going on as we try to transform the area around Lot 4.

So going out with my camera I took a few shots.  Tomorrow Glen, Laynie and Connor return to do another morning's work, together with Amir and me.  I am mostly a decoration.

This is the path that Richard forbade me to travel.  The forbidden is always a problem for some of us.  But I am thinking that the path is going to be there for a long time, and there will be someone who comes along who can help with that last /14 of the trail I am not allowed to travel.

This is a lovely view of the lake opening up.  I want to sit and admire it myself, when I see this picture.

The Slacker Line equipment is tied to the Douglas Fir trees.  Tomorrow you may be able to see the view of the lake from here.  That is what I am hoping for.  So this is your "before" view.

Amir and I thinned the apples on the tree today that is just at the road-side door.  This might have been a useless exercise, for Tonia told me that they spotted a bear and her cub just at Five Corners.  Bears like apples.  Perhaps they will like these even better if they can just wait a while so that I get a chance to see them grow.

I am up behind the boat house and finding huge rocks, well manybe only two feet high, but too heavy for me to move.  I just have to take the moss off with my hose.  Tomorrow I am going to take my new weed whipper over there and make a nice space around the rock, though I have no reason why I think this is going to be fun.

I was raking this area that is just beside the chimney.  You can see some a sheet of metal in the bottom right hand side of the picture.  The yellow power line is going over it.  I have no idea what it is there for, but I can remember it always being there.  I was thinking of moving some rocks onto it so that no one gets cut on it.

My tools:  a mop, 2 rakes, a shovels, and I think the pitchfork has that neon pink handle.  And the wire cutters are janging over one of the cedar beams.  I have to say it is fun to have all of those tools and then rake and shovel, and move rocks and take out dry grass.

This picture doesn't do justice to the size of the pile of branches and fallen trees that is waiting to go on the truck.

This is another before picture.  It is the path back to my house.  Tomorrow I hope there will be a lake view here.  If not tomorrow, then some other time.

An animal home, just at the base of the tree by the sandpile.  I always think of the Wind and the Willows when I pass this spot, though I hated that story as a child.

The climbing hydrangea is on an electrical line just at the lot line. I have been watering this plant for a long time, and tying it to the pole, hoping that it would take off.  A few years I was ready to give up with it.  Glen said, just be patient.  He was right.  Now it has twisted itself itself up the wire just behind the yellow pole, although you can hardly see that detail from this photo.

So those were my before pictures. for July 18, 2018. 

Tomorrow comes the "after" pictures.

 Arta

What is going on in the cabin?

In a phone call from Doral, he reminded me that if I don't send pictures of the work that is going on, then he won't know what it is that Miranda and Richard have done.

Fair enough.

I took some pictures of ongoing work, so reader be cautioned.  Now might be the time to just move on to another post. Essentially, this is written for Mary, Doral, Anita and Catherine who have asked about the progress on the cabin..

I think I would be curious too, if I weren't here and watching it done everyday.

So here are my pictures from the morning, in random order, with what I think is going on in each picture.

Miranda has taken the cupboard doors off of the kitchen and sanded them.  She told me I could take a picture of those doors as well, but they are downstairs.  Maybe tomorrow.  For right now, notice she has also sanded the framework, getting ready to get the cupboard doors back on.  The stove is gone.  She wants an outdoor kitchen (I have yet to google that concept, but will.)  Miranda has some shelves to install where the stove was previously.

You are looking at the drawers from the kitchen on the left, and the old cedar table, which Richard sanded.  This picture has not been staged.  Nor have any of the pictures you will see.  I just thought it was better to give you the real truth. On the table are the Jenga Blocks, the dominos and a deck of cards Betty was playing with.

Here is the second cedar table.  Again, it has been sanded as well.  I don't know if the holes will get filler, or if the stain and coating will just be put on as is.  

Glen, Laynie and Connor said that they want to be invited over for the first game of "Quarters" on this table, for this is the table where that game was played the most for them.  Right now it is holding tools, screws and some cleaning products.  There is a white garment hanger on the right side of the photo against the wall, and you are also seeing just a bit of lampshade on the upper right hand corner.  Apologies again for a picture not that well thought out.

Ah, the bathroom, the blessed bathroom.  You are looking at two of the marvellous joys.  The first one is that there is cold running water to the bathroom.  The second is that a toilet has been installed, and had it maiden voyage as far as flushing is concerned.  We have all tried a flush.  Just a practise, since it is hard to believe this working.  The bathroom was the spot Richard did not want to tackle.  Now we all look on it with great joy.

Bedroom on lake side.  Miranda has already put up a double twin bed here.  This is compliments of Trish and Jack who sold their place in Sicamous and offer many of the contents of that condo to Richard and Miranda.

I have been trying to level the ground in front of the house.  Richard didn't want a deck.  There is a high cost and a lot of maintenance involved.  So the area that was under the deck is going to be grassed in.  This was a disappointment to me.  I don't like change.  But I am getting used to the idea of having grass in the front yard.  Many people do have a front yard full of grass.  The area can be mowed.  And it will be lovely to sit at a table out here, or on lawn chairs and watch the children play in the shade of the trees that are between the house and the lake. Now I am becoming accustomed to the idea of having grass out here.

These are the new steps.  There are no railings which might be an issue for some.  You see four steps and on the bottom one is a tarp purchased for me to move twigs on.  By my good luck, I found to old and shredded ones that can still do that job, so I will save the good one for later.

Another bedroom that has a new mattress waiting to be put up.

Another bedroom with mattresses.

Richard uncovered the stones that were outside of the cement patio in the back.  It is hard for us not to keep picking away at them to see if another one will surface.  Bonnie found just one more.  Richard bought a special tool that scraped the dirt and grass away to reveal these treasures.

The view from the bathroom window.  Just thought you would like to remember it, for anyone who ever opened that window up.  I suppose we will eventually pull the frosted glass back over the window, but it is good to see that apple tree outside when checking out the plumbing in the bathroom.  For right now, when the bathroom isn't in use, why not enjoy the view.

Under the sink in the kitchen.  The place where Richard had crawled to make the last tightening on the faucet to make sure it was straight. A pair of rubber gloves can be seen, ready to go to work.

There have been two overwhelming moments so far.

One is when the lights went on in the cabin.

The second was when water was re-established to the cabin.

And there was great rejoicing on the land!

Corner cupboard in the kitchen.  I have no idea how the tea kettle got there.  There is a job ahead to go through the appliances and see what is already in the cabin and what needs to be purchased.  My guess is that this will be a "purchase as needed" job.

The beautiful new stainless steel fridge.  Capacity is small.  Be ready to have to eat up everything that is cooked each day.  No room for left-overs.

The fireplace.
Doral said he was going to think about checking out getting  an inset.  Many other people have made the same suggestion, including Glen again today.  The landscaping crew stopped in to get a drink of water.  We don't have a cup by the tap yet.  The crew were overjoyed to see the cabin.  Floods of memories came back to them.  As well, they did big wow's to the kitchen, to the cedar tables, to the roof that doesn't leak, to loving the big picture windows, but I think it was that old familiar smell of cedar that was the highest on the list of "things-I-love" about this space.

Stuff from Trish and Jack.
Though not that yellow ribbon of a tape measure.  This measuring tape is not of much value, Betty, I am sure, pulled it until it broke.

A mess of electrical chords on the floor, just to let you know, we are still in the midst of jobs that need electricity.

A difficult image?
This is the picture of the cabin, painted by Wyona, and now framed and given to the Richard as a gift. You are seeing it hanging on the wall, the south wall of the cabin. I think I can see the picture, and then in the glass, the image of the real outside, table in front and picture windows behind.

The cedar table, now devoid of toys.

I got it backward.  I cleaned after taking pics, not before.
Doral, if you read this and want to see more pictures, just give me a call or leave a note in the comment box of this post.
The same to anyone else.
Was this enough for you, Mary?

Arta

The First Day of Work

Michael in the bottom of the trampoline pit on Lot #5.

Do the faces on these two men really look like their muscles
are gong to be aching  at night.

There is an old saying that goes, the better the day, the better the deed.

 I always used to take this as any work done on Sunday was multiplied in goodness, since it was done on the Sabbath, the best day of all of the week.

That made Sunday just the right day to begin with the roof renovations on Doral and Richard’s lot.

Multiplication was part of what happened, for Glen put in a full day of work on the cabin and as soon as David Wood got home from church he changed from his Sunday best to his working best.

Glen only minutes before the double puncture wound.

David’s truck was the vehicle that moved the shingles down to the burn pile.

 As fast as a trip could be made, there were that many more shingles to drive to the fire. 

David’s truck is meant for heavy duty work.

 I noticed that the first thing that happens when turning on the key, is that the windshield wipers start working, whether there is ran or not.

 The wipers must be wired to the ignition key.

Michael cleaning the snow off the deck for one last time.

Taking down the deck was the time when the puncture wound to Glen’s arm occurred.

I was on the opposite side of the house and saw him come toward Janet, Moiya and me, staggering, bending over and saying, “I have been punctured.”

I thought the wound was to his stomach but he held out his arm.

As Richard said later, “I have never actually seen Glen in shock before.”

Glen understood he needed to go to the hospital, at least for a tetanus shot, which was what everyone around him was saying.

 So off Janet and he went, the rest of us at home, only worrying, or texting one another to see if we had heard anything.

This morning he showed me his arm.

He though he had only been punctured once, but there were two places where nails had gone in.

 Bonnie and I were thinking we should draw a line around the redness in his arm, in case it got any better. Bonnie was saying, “When this happens to me I can’t really tell that the infection is moving until it gets right up my shoulder."

Betty in the cab of the truck.  Everyone gets a one-on-one ride
as the truck goes up and down the hill.

“Don’t worry,” said Glen, “I have been at work all day and the first aid people have been watching me carefully as well.

Not only that but there is a colleague at work who told me that I should grade up a potato, make a poultice of it and then put it on my arm for the best healing effect.

I am only using him as a back-up.”

The Grocery Run

The dirt on Betty's forehead is from the "splash each other in puddle mud"
fight that we were having on the road in front of the fire.

David Wood ate pizza with us tonight.

Miranda made the pizza from a recipe that she uses often.

Recipe:  2 ½ cups of water, 1 tablespoon of yeast, 4 tablespoons of sugar, 4 tablespoons of olive oil. Leave for 5 minutes. Add 3 cups of whole wheat flour and 2 cups of white flour. Mix but do not let it be a sticky dough. Roll out immediately or in an hour of two – everything will work out though the dough might have to relax a little after the first rolling.

And there you have it.

The pizza dough that was turned into 4 large pizzas. Two children’s and two adults. Or two with simple toppings and 2 with every topping known to man. Yum to both.

Sumarga playing with the dry grasses.

Why I started out talking about David Wood is that after eating he said he was going down to top up the fire for the evening.

Alice and I went with him.

He gathered sticks and logs from the side of the roads, ones that had been frozen in with the snow but were now able to be moved.

When mixed in with the dry shingles the fire began to sizzle. At first there wasn’t enough warmth to make us comfortable, but in ten minutes or so, the cedar branches were crackling and Alice and I warmed ourselves on the fronts of our body’s and then on the backs and then on each side. We stayed past dark, for there was a cavern of flame and the whole thing looks so beautiful to me. Alice was busy explaining to me who important it is to the fire to have oxygen. “I don’t know where you learned that,’ said Uncle David, “but it is true”.

Sumarga working his way over the rocks and
down toward the cold mountain water in the stream.

Sumin Poon and I finished loading the dishwasher when I came home, and then she swept the floor.

Sweeping the floor is a special gift anyone can give to her hostess.

As she was sweeping she explained that in Nepal her people sweep the floor with a low small broom/whisk, which women must bend over to use.

Often it gives them back aches.

Sumin was saying how lovely it is to sweep a floor with a long handled broom.

Sumarga weighed down by his snowsuit
snow pants and his heavy winter boots.

Doral came in the door later and with groceries. 

“What didn’t you ask me to go to town with you,” I asked him. 

“I looked for you,” but couldn’t find you.” 

That is because I was down at the fire with David Wood and Alice.” 

I began to look through the groceries. 

 Potato chips – 4 large bags and 2 cartons of dip.

“That is because I was loosing so much water in sweat today and I was looking for something salty.” 

 A big supply of the best kinds of chocolate bars. 

“That is because I love sugar.” 

Mushrooms. 

“That is so I can put them in an omelette tomorrow morning.” 

Tomatoes and sandwichbread. 

 “So I can make a nice toasted tomato sandwich.” 

 Blue berry muffins. 

 “For breakfast.” 

 There was a boxed cereal of some kind. 

 “For breakfast as well.” 

Betty and Alice Johnson helping to burn the shingles
off of the room of the cabin on Lot #4

 Then Doral laughed.

"I bought all of this because my body is aching so much from the work we did today and I am was looking for anything I thought would healing my aching muscles. I even bought Gatorade.  I have no idea why I did that for the Tylenol 3’s that I got from Moiya are working just fine. As well, I had some Robaxiset and I am ready to do seconds on both of these meds. I feel a lot better than when I didn’t have them on my body, though I am sure the muscles ache just as much if I weren’t on the meds."

In spite of his pain and because of of the meds, the old shingles are off of the roof and the men are ready to put on the tin roof, either today or tomorrow.

Arta