October 14, 2011



Finished shop door



Dinga- Can't believe she's comfortable!



Wednesday morning was nice and leisurely.  Too many magazines to read in the mail I picked up on Tuesday.  But once we did get going, we (mainly JB) got the sliding door to the shop finished.  Yes!!  Boy, does that feel good.  However, in the middle of the night, JB was awakened by a scratching on the metal.  A mouse-sized critter could have gotten under the door, but a large pack rat probably couldn't, although I would think he could have dug under it.  I certainly hope it wasn't something bigger than a pack rat trying to get in. . .

I cut one load of wood for the shop and several for the splitter.  We also put up one of the tarps to close off the shed to keep the rain and snow out.  Then one of our neighbors who was up for a few nights came to visit, which was so enjoyable.   Probably the last time she will be Up Here til Spring.

Thursday I had to go Down There again, even though RJ changed his mind about buying his windows this year.  I had ordered meat that was ready, and needed to take a last, big load of cardboard to recycle.  It was a "short" trip, but very tiring since it was my second trip in three days.  When I got back to Rose Camp, I ate lunch, shrink wrapped the meat for the freezer, did the dishes and took a nice, long nap.  JB put the finishing touches on the shop door - the edging and handle.  He also worked on organizing the inside, so he can pull the little trailer in to work on since it is supposed to rain the next day or two.  He has to build fenders for it, then we can take the garbage Down There.  He thought he could use the fenders off the big trailer, but they are too small.  The little trailer has much larger tires as it is a car frame.

I think the cloudier-than-usual Fall weather is a bit depressing this year because we had such a short summer.  Either that, or we just over did it with building the shop and deck, and thus did not get the other projects done that we had planned.  Plus we have to drive down the road a little ways to pull logs up to be cut.  During the past three years we have cut all the downed logs near the house.  Well, I guess that's just all part of living in the mountains, off the grid.  And it's the life we chose, so I don't want to complain.  A younger couple would probably have finished all the projects, but at our age we just don't want to (more like can't) go full bore all the time.  We want to enjoy our life.  Which is not to say we don't enjoy the work.  We really love doing so much for ourselves, we just don't want to kill ourselves doing it.  So leisurely mornings, breaks and naps are the order of the day.

Wednesday night was the first of the season that we had a fire all night.  When I awoke at 1:00 a.m. I re-stoked the fire and added wood, but had a hard time getting back to sleep.  Same thing when the dogs woke me at 5:00 a.m., which is another reason I took a long nap on Thursday.

Deer hunting season starts on Saturday, which means we really have to be on the lookout for trespassers.  Hunters are the worst of all.  Many of them think they have a right to go anywhere they want to, even when your land is posted.  No wonder this last full moon is called a Hunters Moon.  So, on that note, I will have a hunter's thought of the day:

If God had wanted us to be vegetarians, He would have made broccoli more fun to shoot at.