September 11, 2017 Work & Wash

Wood stacked on the porch. . .

. . .and in the shed.

Friday 9/8. After morning chores, including laundry, I split wood while JB moved the shop generator a little further away from the shop wall enabling us to clear out the snow more easily.  Now we can get the snow blower in there.  Then we cut four loads of large branch wood in the wood cradle.

After lunch I loaded the tractor bucket five times with green wood from the huge pile I have been splitting and JB drove it to the wood shed.  I stacked it, starting the fifth row.  The fourth row had dried and settled enough to add quite a bit of wood to the top of it.  The rest made about 1/4 of the new row.

We have had a mouse in the hen house for a couple months now.  He must be pretty smart to have survived that long.

We were above the smoke today and our high was 80.

Saturday 9/9. It was 56 with a breeze this morning and sun in a partly cloudy sky.  A lovely cool day in which we accomplished so much.  It was my nephew's nineteenth birthday and he will be on his way to college in less than two weeks.

I trimmed more of the large fir branches while JB ate breakfast, then he took two tractor bucket loads of branches to the wood cradle where we cut three cradle loads.  I then loaded the bucket five times with that wood and JB took it to the shed where I stacked it, beginning the sixth row.  I also took four large arm loads to the splitter.  I finished splitting the green wood and made a separate pile of it to be stacked on the porch.  JB took the rest of the split green wood to the shed where I stacked it, making more than 2/3 of the fifth row.  Whew!  Makes me tired just writing all this.

The breeze escalated to a strong wind in the late after noon, bringing smoke in from the southwest, probably from fires near Cle Elum.  Our high for the day was a very pleasant 70.

Sunday 9/10. It was 50 with a smokey haze this morning.  I was on my way Down There at 8:30 for my annual visit to the laundromat to wash our winter coats, quilt and blankets.  A nice break.

I was back before 1:00 pm and had met my brother and nephew on their way to their cabin for a few days.  They will be up for breakfast tomorrow.

After lunch, JB moved the last of the split green wood to the porch in four loads and I stacked it on the south end.  A month early, but we have to have everything done early because of JB's back surgery on 10/9.

It was a fairly pleasant, but smokey, day with a high of 72.

Monday 9/11. This sad day of remembrance has begun with a temperature of 56 and smoke on the horizons, but blue sky above.  My brother and nephew will be here around 9:00 for breakfast and hopefully a long visit.

Thought for the day: We are continually faced with a series of great opportunities brilliantly disguised as insoluble problems.  John W. Gardner