wordless thursday

~~~~~

a lovely day

Yesterday was a day of freezing rain, relentless and bone-chilling. But today has been a day of slightly lighter freezing rain. The bored goats are on extra hay rations, to give them something to do while they look out at the rain from their shelters, hour after hour. I don't think any goat has been outside for more than five minutes in the past two days.

Despite these somewhat grim conditions,
the carpenter and his assistant showed up right on time today
and got to work on the last open wall:

And when they left, the fourth wall was
my kind of wall:

mostly window.

~~~
Lots more to do, but it's a good start.
And it's pleasant to have people working here
who don't whinge about the weather.

I just remembered something:
years ago, a forester said to me,
"A good thing about you? You don't complain."
He said this on a bitterly cold December day after we had walked
high up a very steep slope in deep snow to look at a stand of trees,
then walked back down again.
At the time I said nothing but I thought,
"Heck, get to know me. I have better qualities than 'not a complainer.'"
But now I understand what he meant.
Everyone complains sometimes, but
it's just a nicer atmosphere when you're not waiting
for a chronic whiner to sound off about things that can't be changed.

~~~

The carpenters are scheduled to return tomorrow.

The weather is predicted to change tonight.

To snow.
~~~~~

not yet but soon

Remember the screenporch renovation project?
Today it looks about as we left it on 18 November:

After much scrambling, many phonecalls, and two site visits,
I have good news to share with you:

the new carpenter starts next week!

He came out last Saturday morning to look at the job,
when there was all that snow on the ground,
and agreed to take it on. Mid-renovation.

Cheerfully.

I've just been waiting for him to finish up his current job, and this morning he confirmed that he will begin "early-to-mid" next week. So, by this time next Friday (my birthday, by the way), I hope to have major progress to report.
Oh, I hope, I hope!

Meanwhile, I've been busy prepping.
At this point, the only way I can economize at all on this job is to find, buy, and fetch the materials myself, limiting both delivery charges and work delays.

Earlier this week I visited a sawmill and loaded up the hardworking Little Green Sportswagon with hand-selected lumber earmarked for the outside finish work and kneewalls. Today, I went back for a second load, this  time for the ceiling, and that lumber is also now neatly stacked on the porch. Unloading takes me quite a while. It's not hard work, I am just really slow. But it gets done.

A small economy, and a tiny part of the whole process,

but at least I'm doing something.

And I'll be picking up the insulation next.

By the time the carpenter arrives next week, this place will look like...

well, like a little construction site!

~~~

And a different kind of exciting (to me) news!
Tomorrow is the day of my very favorite tag sale of the year:
an annual fundraiser for the Pat Brody Shelter for Cats, in central MA.
Good people with good hearts, doing good work.
I always enjoy this event, and come home with at least one useful treasure or homebaked treat.

Even more incentive to unload the car tonight...
you never know what might turn up for a dollar or two.
Last year I brought home an elegant little rocking chair!

This year, I think Dara would like me to look for
Toys for Good Little Goats.
~~~

I hope your weekend will be wonderful,
wherever you are and whatever you do!
~~~~~

wordless wednesday

~~~~~

authentic murk

Daybreak

We've had a bit of a storm, with heavy snow, downed limbs, power outage, and so on. Would you like to see a few snaps? They aren't much to look at, but they are quite accurate in their degree of murk.

I'd made a trip to the feedstore and gotten all the feed unloaded shortly before the predicted storm. And I've been getting the wood in for weeks, so no worries there. And lately I've been tackling the odd bit of fence-shifting and gate-adding with an eye to Winter access...in short, I was feeling pretty darned smug about this predicted storm!

Sunrise

(Really - it's behind that big oak, see?)

Which is why it is so baffling that I neglected to do one thing I always do: fill several 5-gallon buckets for a reserve water supply. In fact, I was tucking the goats in early and with extra grub on Wednesday when I suddenly thought, "Wet snow. Branches will come down. I'd better head back inside and fill those buckets before we lose power." And as I reached up to turn out the light in the workshop, the light went out.

The view in one direction

The view in another direction.

(I think you can imagine the rest.)

So, it's been two days of kettles on the woodstove,

melting snow to keep the goats supplied with water.

A black goat, very well disguised.

Melting snow for water may sound romantic,

but personally, I find the Rugged Pioneer Effect wears off pretty quickly when it's my own darned fault that I have an extra task to do.

It was nice to have such easy access to clean snow, though;

I filled the kettles dozens of times just by leaning out the door.

Didn't even need to put my boots on.

Piper helping collect the mail

after our driveway was plowed:

This box - light but big - was quite a challenge!

I don't know who was more proud of her success,

Piper or me.

 Late this morning, utility workers from all over the Commonwealth

upped stakes from their encampment at the end of my driveway.

I had trudged down to thank them for their efforts in my area,

long before my power was actually restored.

I do not envy them their work!

But I also will not miss the flashing lights from the trucks

reflecting off my ceilings all night long.

Bizarre dreams.

 

 Sunset

Back soon, hopefully with brighter images!

~~~~~