The last two weeks

The last two weeks have been wonderful.

The thaw started and we were outside taking down the skirt around the house (see: Evil Frost), listening to the melting snow on the roof, seeing the colour brown, meeting many deer, woodpeckers, chopping wood, taking the tarp and roof off the camper and leaving only one tarp on, muttering about gumbo, and my ultimate favourite activity: scavenging! Yay!

The pictures say it all but we enjoyed our excursion to the Cariboo Mall to scavenge for some lumber. We wanted to create a temp path over the gumbo so that we could safely navigate from the front door to the van without losing our boots in the mud. It does happen. It was a sunny day as usual. When we entered the dump there was someone burning the very, very old wood products in a large container. The heat was intense. We skirted round the fire and made our way to the back. And there was our answer! Someone had kindly removed their old deck and put it in the dump. Excellent. We loaded up as much as the old girl could handle on the roof racks (that's me and the car) and brought it home. On the way home we passed my son and his friend; I believe they were laughing a lot. Then we had to unload! We decided to go back for another few pieces. It made a deck from the front door and up the side.

When we were in the dump we drove past some wonderful 4x10s with massive spikes in them and commented on them. After a cup of tea or two we decided to check the next day to see if they were still there (so much competition). And they were. So, another shoulder breaking load was lifted on the van (poor thing) and we brought it all home. We now have a good walkway (albeit a little tippy) to the car. Lovely. Recycling at its best.

We have quite a bit of spruce and pine in large burls at the front of the property and Bill has spent a lot of time and sweat splitting them. The spruce is wonderful; it burns fast but creates a lovely heat.

One of his other many projects was to build a shelving unit over the stove; the fan pipe needed to be covered and I wanted a particular design for the shelves. They are only for decorative bowls, etc. Another job was to create an outdoor workshop so that he could move his tools outside and start building shelves, counters, cupboards, etc. We put up the tarp between 4 trees and we think it will serve him well.

During this time I also marked out the property a little better (never perfect but it gives one an idea) so that when we build the wood shed on the east side we aren't on our neighbour's property....always good not to cross boundaries. It was a little frustrating going through bush and lining posts up but I did it. I still have nightmares that someone is going to come and say we are on the wrong lot. Bill and my son just roll their eyes. Well, it's happened! A few times. Anyways, nothing wrong in double checking everything.

And then it SNOWED! Can you freakin' believe it? My Aunt in Saskatoon always, always said that there is one last snowfall after Easter...no matter when Easter is. I am gobsmacked. But, thankfully it is melting immediately on the roads and car but the whole property is white again, no brown...and my poor Mungo!

In between all this, we had to replace the axle on the poor little car and we now have found out the wheel bearings need help. The roads out here have done their damage. Thankfully, the Horse Lake and Mahood roads are going to be upgraded this summer. Woohoo!

So, I sit waiting for Digger. I'm not sure if G will be able to get him in a crate. When I picked him up he had muscle power he never had before and it was hard then to get him in a crate. We shall see. C'mon home you silly pussycat!


Pictures of course; consider yourself let off lightly...I weeded them like a good librarian.

Omelettes with red peppers, green onions and cheese/Asparagus on the side.
Video: Australia