October 19, 2011



Rose Camp in the evening light



On our evening walk



We are in the middle of a perfect Autumn, and what we are hearing from our favorite weather prognosticator, it promises to be like this until Halloween.  It certainly perks up the spirits.  I think JB and I had been in a funk since mid-September.  We both seemed to have snapped out of it in the past week and are getting re-organized and re-energized.

We washed sheets on Monday and JB hung them outside for me while I got ready for the day.  I can't say enough about laundry that is dried on the line.  It is an absolute joy to take it down and fold it with its fresh mountain scent.  Even after sheets and clothes have been in the closet for awhile, they seem to retain that freshness.

We spent a total of 2-1/2 hours pulling logs up the driveway and got quite a pile.  Like cutting the wood, it is not too time consuming, but it is very labor intensive.  We do take a lot of breaks.  About half way down our driveway on the east slope there still is a multitude of downed timber which we will continue to pull up and pile for cutting until I decide on a new chain saw.  When JB took mine Down There on Tuesday, he was told that McCullough is out of business and it would be cost prohibitive to fix the saw.  So now I have to decide whether I want another electric saw or a small gas one.  I will probably go Down There within the week to check them both out.  I really liked the electric one because it is so light, but if I can get a 12" gas saw that isn't too heavy, that is probably what I will do.  No dragging the little generator around with it.  Meanwhile, JB can cut some of the larger logs into rounds for splitting.

Am still reading our favorite magazines that came in the mail last week, Backwoods Home and Countryside.  They both have some great articles, as usual, and JB and I read them cover to cover.

The other day I noticed the the outside background "buzz" is gone, along with the flying, biting insects.  We still see and/or hear the occasional hardy yellow jacket, but the traps are no longer collecting them and are ready to be taken down and cleaned out.

While JB was Down There on Tuesday, I cleaned house.  After vacuuming, I started to do some basic dusting and found that it was about an inch thicker than I had realized!  So I decided to just bite the bullet and do it all.  My goodness the house looks good!  And, of course, we just had quite a spate of visitors, so we probably won't see anyone else til the 29th when RJ and Mike come for dinner.  By then everything will have a thin coating of dust again.  If we were living Down There, I might be concerned.  But we live in a "cabin" in the woods, so I'm not.  And you thought I was kidding when my Thought for the Day was "My idea of cleaning house is sweeping the room at a glance."

After JB returned and we had a chance to look at the mail, we worked on stabilizing the solar panels a bit more.  JB pounded in some re-bar around the pole and we poured two more bags of QuickCrete at its base.  We may just add two more.  Will have to wait and see.

Larry and Elsie came to visit Sunday evening.  They were duly impressed by the sliding shop door and the fact that the whole project is finally done.  We had an enjoyable visit, as always.  Elsie said she would leave some eggs out for JB when he went Down There on Tuesday.  Well, not only did she give us eggs, but she also gave us some wonderful tomatoes and garlic.  They have been canning tomato and pasta sauce like crazy.  Larry says they now have a total of 17 cases of them both!  I should be so energetic.

Thought for the day: Good friends are like angels.  You don't have to see them to know they are there.