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Friday 6/20. We decided to take down the tipi today, as something was drastically wrong. Took down the skin and all the poles except the tripod. But when we started putting the poles back up, we came to the conclusion that the problem lay in the fact that we are not using lodge pole pine. The top of the poles have bent just enough so that they do not fit right into the top of the tripod. The solution: put up the smaller, 12' tipi. We can use the same poles, they will just be tied together lower down. I actually prefer the small tipi as it is cozier and easier to warm up in cold weather.
So we took down all the poles including the tripod and will put them all back up tomorrow, measured and tied for the smaller tipi. This was enough of being out in the wind. The sun was hot but the wind was cold.
Betty has earned the nickname Bonehead with her pecking on the painted wood and today she was still trying to do just that. So I screwed in another metal strip above the others so she absolutely cannot reach the wood. All was fine until she discovered that the north wall inside the hen house is the same painted wood! No eggs today. Betty was probably driving the other two girls nuts with all her pounding.
I screwed in a long piece of plywood over the bottom of the inside wall. If that doesn't fix the problem, we may be having chicken stew for dinner on Sunday.
JB drove Down There to play Magic cards at Hastings this evening. Didn't have much luck, but enjoyed the company and camaraderie. And that's really what it's all about.
Saturday 6/21. After morning chores and lunch, we put up the 12' tipi. Had to carefully measure where to tie the tripod together and where to tie the skin onto the lift pole. It was time consuming, but turned out quite nicely. Didn't realize how grey the smoke from the September 2012 fire had turned the large tipi until we got the other one out. It is a beautiful tan with dark brown smoke flaps, and the liner is also brown from the smoke of the campfires we have had in it.
Today was the summer solstice. By late afternoon it was a little chilly for running naked in the woods, but we did spend the evening with friends. As we were returning from our afternoon walk, two friends, who live in town and have property Up Here on the flats, drove up the driveway on their ATVs. They are up for the weekend and we haven't seen them in almost a year. They stayed and visited for about an hour, leaving with our promise to bring some wine over to their camp after dinner.
Still lots of wild flowers along the roads to their camp, and we had another great visit. I noticed that they had a water barrel just like the ones we bought last summer and asked where they had got theirs. It seems that he gets them for free where he works and asked if we wanted any! Wow! He actually gave us the one they had and said they will bring up two more the next time they are up. How cool is that!
We finally arrived back home a little after 8:00 pm, and I fixed some cocoa for us. We were enjoying it out on the porch when Larry and Elsie drove up. Another great visit that finished out the solstice quite nicely.
In addition to our human visitors, we had about 15 - 20 hummingbirds jostling for the feeders. Must be another transient group, stopping on their way through. I filled the feeders in the early afternoon and they were more than half empty by the time we went in at 10:00 pm.
It seems as though Betty is over her obsession with the painted walls since she can't reach them any more. They gave us three eggs today.
Sunday 6/22. The temperature was already 62 at 8:00 am and not a cloud in the sky. The first full day of summer and it was our hottest yet with a high of 78. Fortunately there was a slight but cool breeze.
The humming bird feeders were almost empty, so I put on another pot of syrup before breakfast. Filled them again around noon.
After dishes, laundry and lunch, we put the liner up in the tipi. I may be spending a lot of time in there. . . Then we put the big tipi and its liner back in the trunk. Got out the baker tent, as JB wants to cut some of the left-over poles for it. We had three extra poles to begin with and now have six, as the 12' tipi uses three less poles than the 18'. We'll use the rest of the poles for firewood.
I got a call from Larry at about 4:30 pm asking if we would be able jump the battery on their Arctic Cat. They were just a little ways down the road from us getting rocks from the top of their property. JB took his Jeep down to help and ended up having to tow them back home as their battery was completely dead. It is so nice to be able to do something for them for a change.
After dinner we dug out the access to the septic tank as the truck is coming up to pump it out tomorrow. JB has to meet them down at the pavement at 8:15 am.
Monday 6/23. It is 60 already at 7:00 am this morning with a partly cloudy sky. JB is leaving at about 7:30 am to meet this septic tank truck.
Thought for the day: Unjust laws exist: shall we be content to obey them, or shall we endeavor to amend them, and obey them until we have succeeded or shall we transgress them at once? Henry David Thoreau
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