Saturday Evening

First, a shout out to my Mom, who recently celebrated her 90th birthday! Love ya Mom! Mom is as sharp as she ever has been, and that is saying a lot because Mom is a sharp cookie. You go girl!

We haven’t visited our Camp since last autumn, when we visited to shut things down for the winter. This spring we didn’t travel to the Camp because we had not had access to Covid shots, and I felt that it wasn’t worth the risk to travel until we had received our vaccinations. Then, after we had finally received our first shots (so far still only first shots), and let the two weeks go by so that we had developed some immunity, the number of Covid cases exploded in Canada, and Ontario went into a State of Emergency, with Stay At Home orders. This will continue until early June. So we haven’t traveled to the Camp in 2021. Many people are traveling to their recreational properties, but we have decided we won’t do that, and will stick to the letter of the law. Sticking to the letter of the law is what we do.

I was poking around on the internet last week, and discovered a new local program in our municipality. One can now purchase a Burn Permit where we live, that will allow for a backyard camp fire. There are a myriad of rules to setting that up. So I applied for and purchased a Burn Permit for Mist Cottage. Attila then obtained a truck rim from a mechanic friend where he works. Soon thereafter, Attila had installed the tire rim to local specifications, and we were good to go!

This spring Attila wanted to purchase a pole saw to prune the Crab Apple tree, and our other trees on the property here at home. It was a huge investment for us, using all our discretionary money for the year of 2021. So Attila pruned the Crab Apple tree earlier in the spring. It is an old tired tree, which has not been pruned since it was planted probably over 60 years ago. There was a lot of deadwood, and branches over the roof of the house. Attila removed all the deadwood, the branch over the house, and did a good pruning of live branches as well. The tree is in now in bloom, and it is magnificent! The blossoms are large, numerous, and aromatic. The scent in the air reminds me of Niagara, when fruit trees blossomed everywhere, and there was such a thing as Blossom Sunday to celebrate the blooms, and the heavenly scented breezes.

The purchase of the pole saw has proven to be a blessing. We had three Ash trees on the property when we bought the house. Then the Emerald Ash Borer infected the entire municipality, and the Ash trees all began to die. We watched helplessly as the Ash in the front yard weakened and died. Luckily the Hydro company came and felled the forty foot tall tree. They left the trunk and brush for us to deal with. I contacted some wood turners who were glad to have the wood, they came, sectioned the trunk, and took away most of it. We have been processing the brush and the branches ever since. But now our two remaining Ash trees have died as well. So very sad.

So, three unrelated elements of chance have been brought together: the pole saw, the dead Ash trees, and the new backyard camp fire pit. Yesterday, Saturday, Attila cut two large branches from the Ash tree furthest from the house. He cut them into sections and piled them near the fire pit.

Our Saturday evening saw us relaxing around a crackling camp fire, right in our own back yard!

Eventually we will burn all of the dead Ash wood from our two dead trees. It will take a few years, and we will enjoy it!

Attila continues to plant the garden. He has started hundreds of plant starts in his little greenhouse, and about half of them are now in the ground. He spends many happy hours out in his garden! The rain tanks have provided him with copious amounts of cost free water to keep the plants happy. Some insect is chewing and killing some of our brassicas, so tonight Attila is out there spraying them with a castile soap and water mixture. I hope that works!

We experienced our very first hot day today! The temperature on the back porch, when the sun shines into it in the afternoon, gets very hot indeed. The thermometer read almost 30C! It was time to install the sun shades! To mute the afternoon sunlight, I devised shades using curtain rods, and bed sheets. The curtain rods are hung along the roof at the outer edge of the porch, and the bed sheets are strung along the curtain rods. There is still plenty of bright light, but the full force of the sun does not penetrate. This helps to keep the temperature down on the porch, and allows us to sit comfortably out of direct sunlight.

I’ve been experiencing issues with my back just of late. This happens from time to time, for no reason at all. I hadn’t been straining, or overdoing things, so who knows why my back would suddenly go. But it did, about four days ago. Last night was awful, as every time I moved my leg my back would spasm, which would awaken me with a terrible start. I did sleep between the spasms, and since it is the weekend, I was able to rest until I felt like getting up. So today I am taking it very easy indeed. Slow and steady wins the day.

I’ve been surprised though, at how much I actually did today. My list consists of baking bread, turning a harvest of Rhubarb into Rhubarb Squares, paying bills, putting up the sun shades on back porch, and puttering around the house putting things away, which is a constant occupation in a very tiny house.

Worldly

Weather

Updated on Sun, May 16, 8:25 PM
20 °C
FEELS LIKE 19
A few clouds
Wind 8 SW km/h
Humidity 42 %
Visibility 25 km
Sunrise 5:39 AM
Wind gust 13 km/h
Pressure 102.2 kPa
Ceiling 9100 m
Sunset 8:29 PM

Quote

Old age is always fifteen years older than I am.
Bernard M. Baruch
1870 – 1965