Then: The Rest of September 2009 Now: July 9, 2011



Fall colors



The bird bath isn't just for birds



Then: The rest of September 2009

By the last week of September JB had finished wiring the cistern pump to the controller panel in the house. Our propane handyman then came up to hook up the flash hot water heater that we had mounted on the wall in the dining area. I can now turn on the faucet and actually get hot and cold running water! Now not only can we take a shower, we can have a hot shower! How in the world did we manage for a year without this? No more lugging water into the house. No more heating hot water on the stove. No more hose through the bathroom window for the washer. Oh my, this really is heaven.

Of course, this is can all happen as long as the generator is on.  It looks like we will finally be able to afford the solar panels next summer.  Did I mention how much of our 401K's we lost in that Wall Street fiasco of last Fall?  I'm sure I did.  But don't get me started, because I am in the mood to rant.

The days are cool enough now that we can take the dogs to town, so towards the end of the month we all go Down There for the first time since July when we picked them up at the kennel. It is quite an adventure for Dinga and Jesse. They both love riding in the car and smelling all the odors of town.

After putting it off as long as possible, on the 9/26 I finally climb up on the roof to clean out the chimney. It is a steep roof and a long way down to the ground, so not my favorite chore. But I get it done without dropping anything or falling off. Thank goodness it only needs to be done once every year or so.

JB shot a rattlesnake that had somehow got into the dog pen.  We have 1/4" screen 2' high all around the bottom of the pen, so he must have slithered under the gate.  Wouldn't have even known he was there if he hadn't coiled and rattled as we walked by the pen on our evening walk.

On 9/28 we have dry wall delivered for the bedroom and bath, the only two rooms in which we will have it. JB's car has a problem with the radiator, so we both lead the truck out and I follow JB to the garage to get his car repaired. There goes a quick $600.

It was very cold when we awake on the 29th, so we put our first fire of the season in our wood stove. We then put up six sheets of dry wall in the bedroom. No more plastic walls. Sure looks different! Got more done than we had anticipated, so we should be done with the walls in another couple days and be able to get the closet built. We are still using the wardrobe boxes we had from the move. But we are getting closer and closer to a finished house.  Maybe next year we will be able to get the stairs to the loft built, if we can ever agree on how they should look.

We make a "speed" run the next day to pick up JB's Jeep. Wow, can't believe it will be October tomorrow. The soft Summer pastels have turned to red and gold. The green grass has turned brown. The few tamaracks are turning orange, but the evergreens are still ever green.

Now: July 8, 2011

It was 40 degrees when I got up yesterday morning. 20 degrees cooler than the previous day. Just fine with me because that means a cool day Down There. I was able to get down and back by noon with everything on my list and more. Wasn't going to get more ice cream, but toppings were on a twofer sale so. . . . I admit it. I'm an ice cream junkie.

And speaking of junk, It is unbelievable how much junk mail can accumulate in just one week. It usually doesn't seem so bad receiving it on a daily basis. I do look forward to my magazines though.

Town always wears me out, so we all took a nice, long nap after the dogs and I went for a short hike.

Larry and Elsie came up for a visit and brought two dozen fresh eggs. They also brought up a bathroom sink that they had replaced. We are going to use it for our wash station by the outhouse.  They arrived just as I was putting a fire in the wood stove.  I had been sitting out on the porch all bundled up, enjoying the evening with a nice warm cup of "sweetened" cocoa, but after going inside and unbundling, it was still chilly.  We had a great visit around a nice, warm fire.  The perfect ending to the day.