Mountains to Move

Our firewood has arrived and I am now officially a firewood widow. Attila has mountains to move!

Heating with wood is wonderful, there is nothing so comforting as a roaring fire on a cold white night. There is a lot of work that has to be done before that roaring fire becomes a reality. Other years Attila has felled and cut much of the firewood. But this is a hard go for a man who works six days a week, year in, year out. So we purchased firewood that was sectioned and split and had it delivered; it was delivered tonight.

As you can see, despite the fact that a great deal of the work has already been done, there is a mountain of work left to do. All of this wood must be stacked and dried for the winter. All this wood must be stacked by Attila. Then when winter is upon us, Attila will carry that stacked wood into the house and up the stairs to the masonry heater, where he will build two fires a day, 50 pounds of wood per fire.

Luckily for us Attila is one of those people that likes to keep physically active. This will keep Attila very active. Heating with wood is hard work.

Me, I like to keep busy with things that involve thought, organization and data. I am a different sort of animal altogether.

Between us, Attila and I get things done.

We visited the little house last weekend. Attila cut the lawn, which was lush but not out of control. The peonies in the front yard were blooming and beautiful, I sent a bouquet of them home with Terra, in a vase I bought at a yard sale that morning. Attila transplanted a clematis plant that was wasting away under a yew by the front step. Now it is thriving in the sun along the fence in the back yard. The vegetable garden looks great, kept watered by Terra and Lares who made a gift to us of a watering can.

On Sunday we got the gas BBQ going in the backyard at the little house. It belonged to Luna and Janus before they moved, but they decided to get a new one and left this one behind for Terra and Lares. It is our good fortune that it ended up in our backyard. It wintered well, but there was a yellow jacket nest in it when we first opened it. After that was dealt with, Lares cleaned the grill and Terra cooked our dinner!

This week Attila found another great deal on a window. This one was a special order, a very high quality window that is an odd size; it just happens to be the exact size we need for our bathroom at the little house in the city. Right now, the window in the bathroom is two storm windows, one screwed to the outside of the house and the other screwed to the inside of the house. It isn’t pretty and it is barely functional. There is no actual window! Soon though, there will be. Attila got this brand new, energy efficient, custom order window for $75.00, which is a real bargain.

Of course, our little house in the city needs all new windows, but two is a good start.

I just received a missive from Annie in England. She will be coming to Canada in late June and we hope very fervently to be able to get together. It is difficult to arrange visits with Attila working six days a week, and now I work six days a week too, some weeks anyway. I’ve got my fingers crossed that we will be able to share a meal and a bit of time with Annie and Frank.

Worldly Distractions

Weather

23 °C
Condition: Sunny
Pressure: 101.7 kPa
Visibility: 16 km
Temperature: 23.0°C
Dewpoint: 9.2°C
Humidity: 41 %
Wind: calm

Quote

“A man is not idle because he is absorbed in thought. There is visible labour and there is invisible labour.”
Victor Hugo
1802 – 1885