September 3, 2011



Cloud formation on 9-1



More pine berries



If you are a first-time reader, please be sure to start at my first posting for our whole story.

 I had forgot that JB had to put in one little, final piece on the deck, so he did that yesterday and I caulked in around it.   Also did a little caulking under the eaves about the deck.  Now I am all prepared to put on the sealant today.  Can't believe how that keeps getting pushed out.  Reminds me of my procrastination days.  I used to be one of the best procrastinators around, second only to my son.  But living Up Here off the grid has changed all that for the most part.  There are so many thing that have to be done on time if we want to live the life we dreamed, daily, weekly, monthly.  Firewood has to be cut.  The cistern has to be checked and filled.  The wood stove must be cleaned.  Supplies must be restocked.  Winter must be prepared for.  The solar panels must be tilted correctly at specific times of the year.  Our shorter growing season must be planned for.  The deck must be sealed.  Etc.  Etc.  Etc.  So, yes, I will get that done today.  And tomorrow I will crawl under the house, and try not to scream when I meet our croaking friend.

After lunch I cut firewood.  One load to the woodshed and stacked.  One load to the splitter which I split and stacked.  I have been finding a lot of pitch wood lately, which I keep separate from the rest of the wood and use mainly for fire starting.  Or just put one piece on the fire at a time, as it burns hot and fast.   I remember reading in The Klondike Fever, by Pierre Berton, that the first people who arrived looking for gold complained that the firewood was so full of pitch that they could hardly sleep at night because the wood burned so fast.  They kept having to get up and put more wood on the fire because it would burn down so quickly.   That is so true and why I keep it apart from the rest of the firewood.  Last winter we had a lot of wood from one specific log that had a much higher pitch content than normal and was all stacked together.  That made more work for me in trying to mix it with the other wood when bringing it inside.

After fitting in the final deck piece, JB worked on our trailer yesterday to make sure it would be in good enough shape to make the trip back from Seattle with a full load of wood.  I am sure we will not be able to get all  that wood in our trailer.  JB will have to make a second trip later this month or next.

The dogs and I took a short hike after their dinner and before ours yesterday.  Haven't taken time to do that as much this summer as we usually do.  I noticed that in just the past few days, the leaves on many of the bushes have started to turn yellow and gold.  Probably because of the last few chilly nights we have had.  It was 42 at 7:00 yesterda morning.  I really do love autumn with all its brilliant colors, and really don't mind the chilly temperatures that create those colors.   Our general weather forecast for September is for warmer than average termperatures and mainly dry.  That will be nice, but I'm sure the nights will still be cool as usual.

My brother, RJ, will be Up Here at his cabin when we return from Seattle.  We plan to help him get his sod roof going that week.  He had been cutting a lot of sod squares in preparation last time he was up, so we can get right to it.  None of us have ever done this before, so it will be quite interesting.  We always refer to our place as rustic and his as primitive.  It may be primitive but it is very well built, and that sod roof will be great insulation.

Still can't believe how many yellow jackets there are in the traps, and by JB's grow boxes with all their water.  They are certainly making up for being gone last summer and most of this one.  Hopefully my caulking under the eaves will prevent them from spending the winter inside with us.