Adventures in Retirement
I’ve been trying to knock a bunch of things off the job list before we head east for a couple weeks. Made pretty good progress too, with only one small job left to do before I can either work in the yard for a couple weeks or start the next major job. I spoke with that client a couple days ago and she’s not totally convinced to go ahead yet, so maybe I get some time to do my own thing soon
Shed doors going up. So glad we decided metal frames and barn boards.
It must be July.
Thirty plus temperatures, packed village parking lot and long ferry lines are once again harbingers of the return of summer and our thousands of seasonal visitors.
This means the end of any rainfall for the next three months. We entered shutdown mode for construction two days ago and fire bans are in place. So naturally we have already had our first fire department response to a campfire that got out of control. It is just insane that anyone would even think about lighting a fire when the forest is so dry. Sad to think about. I’ve lost one home to forest fire and really don’t want to lose a second.
On the work front I have a few projects I am moving along. New flooring and a fresh coat of paint for a guest bedroom, sliding barn doors for a large storage shed and managed to sneak in one last lawn mowing for someone just under the wire before shutdown made that not possible.
I’m not sure if I will start any new work projects before the fall. I have enough in my own yard to work on without adding to the list. I still have three of four weeks of client work in cold storage so if I change my mind I can always from something to work on.
It has been a wet early summer for us. May and June saw more rain than I think we have had during that period than any of the years since we moved here. Not complaining, I think it is a wonderful and very welcome change from the drought like conditions of the previous several summers.
The rain has aided in my quest to do less paid work and more work for myself on the property. Good thing, because there is an endless list of things to do.
Our tomato starts were the best we have ever grown. Nice big stalky plants. Carefully babied and planted later so they don’t get cold shock and stop growing for weeks (ref: every other year we tried ☹️).
We started almost 100 plants and I think I planted 75 which is a ridiculous number of tomato plants for us. We will see in a few weeks whether we get a crop off. Stay tuned.
Also put a new rhodo in the yard and two new blueberry bushes that as of a couple days ago had a nice little crop of berries forming. Yay! The Saskatoon bushes have never bloomed in 5 years so fingers crossed for the blueberries.
Most of the damage from the January tree fall was cleaned up a couple months ago but this week I finally got around to moving the shed deck. This move, from the side of the shed to the front (door side) allows what we hope will be better parking for the fleet.
Moving wasn’t too hard either. My little electric Warn winch and some tow straps and a couple opportune tree trunks together with a collection of spare 2×6’s and it moved reasonably easy.
I’ve managed to split half of the rounds stacked in the yard from the last couple of trees that came down. I figure another day and I’ll be done the rest and I can start to haul it over to the mother inlaw’s .
After a couple years being embarrassed at the state of my enclosed trailer I finally got around to working on it. I installed the two extra vents to hopefully get a better handle on the condensation problems it has. Nice because I bought them two years ago.
As part of that exercise I completely reorganized the inside. Much much better. So much so that I think I could use it as a mini workshop and not just a cold storage place for seldom use tools. All I have to do is figure out how to get power to it, or how to fit it up by the house. Unfortunately those are both difficult to solve right now. I either have 1) not enough money to trench a power line or 2) too many vehicles sitting on the driveway.
That other trailer which we will call Peter needs a new deck. A new deck means I will need to do from frame straightening as well because the existing deck has quite the bow in it. Someone in Peter’s past really overloaded the poor guy. I haven’t started this work yet but it is floating higher up in the to do list.
After a year hiatus work on the landscape steps has restarted. I had hoped to be farther along this weekend but once again the rain chased me indoors and I had to settle with watching sports on TV.
I was asked by a client a year ago to add a window to her home. Initially I said sure and wasn’t too concerned about it but as time went on I became less and less enamoured of doing the job.
It was delayed for a variety of reasons. Some health issue for me, some weather (didn’t want to open up a wall in the rainy season), and some workload.
I finally got around to it this week. She is a sweetheart and I didn’t want to back out after saying yes to it.
I had cause to spend a few days going to the medical day care ward at our local hospital over the last couple weeks. A stubborn infection that did not respond to the first round of antibiotics meant IV treatment for a few days. Thankfully I got the all clear signal at my last appointment and hopefully that it is all behind me now.
In the hall at the clinic I saw this…
In each of the ceiling lights they have a different image of the sky. Sometimes there are trees or birds. You may have seen these before but this is the first and only time I have seen it. The effect makes the lights look like a skylight. Pretty neat, and a very welcome sight in a hospital where all the good feelings you can provide a great idea.
Saw this on the beach this weekend. Pretty cool I think.
Sometimes I think you spend your life
Defined by calluses
As a child your skin is thin; you feel everything sharply
Pain is close to the surface
You age and the rough abrasions of experiences begin
To thicken your skin and you develop the first callus
You can moderate the world’s impact
By mid life you have grown a coarse bark that protects you
Age reduces your ability to repair the damage
Your shield weakens and the bark thins
Calluses wear away.
In old age once again you feel sharply.
Sadness and tears come easier, unexpected and unbidden.
My calluses are thinning
Winter has been hard
The world connected with some good punches
I needed a rest
Back soon I hope
My shed build was paused a couple weeks to fit in two client projects that have been on the list for months. First is the fifth and sixth fence of the year. It was originally only the fifth fence until the neighbour saw us there.
We’ve done wood privacy fences, wire deer fence, mesh deer fence and cedar slat fence. This time it will be a combination of three different ones.
Thankfully no 4” pencil posts on this job. I’ve had enough solo pounding those with a 40 lb post pounder. A complication is bedrock six inches down in some places. We also have ground water problems for the privacy fence. It will be another job where we have to pour piers for some posts.
Second project (third?) is a rustic storage shed. Simple three walled on a slab with sliding barn doors. The marsh right behind the shed made for an interesting couple days. Barn doors will have to wait until the new year.
My Elysium 