Archive for the ‘Chronicle’ Category
Local Drama
While I was mowing down by the road yesterday, an Ellsworth police vehicle pulled over to speak with me. He got out of his SUV and walked toward me, so I shut off the lawn tractor engine. He asked me to assist in watching for a missing 16-year-old girl walking on the road. After he provided a description of what she might be wearing, I asked if she wanted to be found.
He said, “No, she doesn’t want to be found.”
If I spotted her, he just wanted me to call the non-emergency number to report it and hopefully keep an eye on where she goes.
The next few times I was in a position to view the road from my seat on the lawn tractor, I saw no walkers, but I did notice several vehicles moving very slowly along the road and the police SUV making a return pass from the opposite direction.
While I was showering before dinner, Cyndie reported there was a man in our yard asking if we’d seen his daughter. Cyndie said he had come out of our neighbor’s woods and was disoriented. He didn’t add much detail to indulge our curiosity except for the fact she had been missing for three days, plus the interesting morsel that there were about 30 volunteers currently searching the woods who may also pop out onto our property.
A short time later, a couple who live up the road showed up at our house with a little more detail. The girl had been reported in a camping trailer on the property of the neighbor whose woods border our land on two sides.
The police showed up and saw her run off into the woods.
That is why all the attention is in the woods around us.
The neighbor couple urged us to secure our outbuildings. Cyndie locked our shop but not the barn.
I don’t know what to think. I feel for both the girl and her family, but not knowing anything about the circumstances, it’s difficult to frame how I want to respond if she turned up on our property.
We now have both the father’s contact information as well as the police.
If this girl decides to hide somewhere on our property, I’m pretty sure Delilah will sniff her out long before we would notice. We will be paying more attention than usual for a while to all the times Delilah starts barking for reasons that evade our perceptions.
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Unexpected Shower
Since the threat of rain had passed yesterday afternoon, Cyndie and her mom invited all the Wildwood members up to our place for a little cocktail hour gettogether on the deck. Before company showed up, Cyndie and I enjoyed a swim in the lake that felt a bit like it might be our last soak of the summer.
Soon after, chips, dips, veggies, and heated appetizers were set out along with plates, napkins, chairs, and seat cushions for the ultimate social gathering. Everyone arrived and conversation flowed delightfully for over half the anticipated duration of the visit.
Then, the sky darkened considerably and a sprinkle of drops fell from the cloud. Plenty of comments were made about the unanticipated probability of precipitation. This wasn’t what we expected for the evening.
Maybe it would pass without significance.
Nope. Suddenly the shower nozzle opened up and watered everything in an instant. Everyone grabbed something in each hand and scampered back and forth to the protection of the porch until all the food and gear were brought inside.
Like any good social gathering, conversations picked up right where they left off. Of course, then the sunshine reappeared and, though wet, the great outdoors was simply gorgeous once again.
Mid-sentence of someone’s interesting story, there was an interruption with the alert: “Rainbow!”
Yes. Yes, there was a rainbow out there now. The widest and most brilliantly vivid rainbow I had ever witnessed.
Most everyone dashed out for a view beyond the trees and phone cameras came out en masse. Cyndie provided this shot for my use.
I stayed on the deck to watch with confidence there were enough cameras capturing the spectacle that I would be able to borrow a shot from someone. Thank you, Cyndie.
After most folks decided the rainbow excitement created a convenient opportunity to head back to all of their respective evening meal plans, we started putting things away. I went down the deck stairs to return a table and chairs to storage and discovered the rainbow was still visible.
Now it was reflecting off the water, too. I took some pictures of my own. A different version of a “double rainbow.”
So, our little party got washed out early, but at least the woodshed shingles project was completed well in advance of the surprise rain shower and no firewood was dampened by the minor deluge.
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Barely Damp
To call the precipitation we received “rain” would be disrespectful to raindrops. Misty would be a better description. Just enough to make portions of exposed surfaces damp. It’s not that I’m complaining about it, but the only reason we rushed to get the shingles on the new woodshed was due to the expected rain.
What we did receive all day long was gale force wind out of the south. There were white-capped waves rolling across the lake throughout the afternoon. It would blow and blow and then suddenly it would gust even harder for a spell.
This morning the contrast couldn’t be greater, revealed in the glassy surface of the water and the absolute stillness of the tree leaves.
Both days share the trait of being particularly gray which combined with the dampness is creating a chill that seems to shout, summer is over! All that excessive heat and prolonged drought are becoming a memory from a previous time.
Labor Day weekend at the lake is traditionally the time we bring the floating rafts in and begin the steps of preparation for less in-the-water activities. We had a fire in the fireplace yesterday to ward off the chill and counterbalance the grayness. I found time to read my adventure book and experience visions of whitewater canoeing, camping, and fishing in the remote north of Canada.
All while being warm and dry in the comfort of an indoor couch.
Elysa and her dogs, Diesel, and Edison have joined us for the weekend, so we left Delilah at home to be cared for by our animal sitter. There’s only so much room for dog energy up here.
Now I’m ready for the addition of a little sunshine. Otherwise, the way it’s going I’m feeling my energy dampened enough to do little but lay around and read for hours on end.
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Reclaimed Materials
After leaving work early yesterday in order to ride up to the lake with Cyndie’s mom, we made quick work of slapping some shingles on the woodshed before the impending rain arrived. While still in the car, I watched a refresher video about shingling a roof. Then, I immediately disregarded the details about properly staggering the rows and made it up randomly as I went along.
It’s a shed for firewood, after all. Plus, the slant of the roof and the trees behind the shed make the rooftop hardly visible.
We were racing darkness, the dusk-related onslaught of mosquitos, and the dinner bell to achieve, at the very least, the top row before the evening rain started to fall.
I love that I was able to make use of old spare shingles from both our home and up here at the lake –two different colors. I think it contributes nicely to the rustic “at-the-lake” appearance of the structure.
The only materials I needed to purchase for this shed were the screws, the four concrete footing blocks, and a roll of roofing felt underlayment. All the lumber and shingles were reclaimed material retrieved from storage.
I still want to put the finishing touches on the peak and trim some edges to feel my work is complete. I can accomplish those after the rain stops.
All that needs to happen after that is to fill the shed with split firewood and it will look just perfect.
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Sun Spot
While walking through the woods late yesterday, Cyndie and Delilah came upon one specific spot that was lit up by a ray of sunshine breaking through the otherwise thick and hazy overcast.
Is that cool, or what?
Our trees have been shedding more branches lately than humans shed hair.
It’s as if there was a time-delayed reaction to the thunderstorm last week. I had to pick up a lot of tree branch shrapnel before mowing on Monday. Two days later, we have been finding additional branches on the ground almost every time we go out.
Some of them are much larger than the usual little ones frequently shed.
There is one other phenomenon occurring across our trails lately. Spiderwebs! And not just the usual single invisible strand that we normally encounter when walking Delilah. These have been full-on webs. One even made a sound when Cyndie walked into it. Must have been strung tight like a guitar string.
The thing is, we have been encountering these after having already walked the same path earlier in the day. These spiders are industrious.
We tend to react with the typical flinching and flailing to free our bodies of the remnants and possible attached arachnids.
I suffered one entanglement last week that occurred when I had both hands full of tools, as well as Delilah’s leash. I felt the single strand impact right below my nose, across my mustache.
What the heck. I decided to forge ahead so I wouldn’t have to set down everything I was carrying and pretended I was ignoring the strand while thinking about it the entire way back to the house.
Oh, and also, stepping over all the branches littering the trail.
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Outdoor Adventures
I started reading a book about an outdoor adventure last night and as the narration described packing a small plane and the flight they took into a remote wilderness, I was transported to memories of my experience flying to Lukla in the Himalayan mountains. That trip I took to Nepal was over 12-years ago now, enough time that I don’t think about it nearly as often as I used to.
I don’t want the ever-increasing span of time to erase the brilliance of my experience. At the same time, I don’t want to endlessly repeat the stories from that trip just to keep them alive.
Maybe just fragments of the stories.
The drama of navigating our way through the gauntlet of locals around the airport in Katmandu, twice, to wait for our flight to Lukla.
Seeing the mountains from the air for the first time.
Realizing that everywhere we would go beyond the airport at Lukla would be on foot.
Walking the same path as so many others who climbed to the summit of Everest.
Experiencing the gift of being guided by the Sherpa people.
Exchanging Namaste greetings with locals and other foreign trekkers as we pass on the narrow trail.
Crossing the deep river gorges on swinging suspension bridges.
Seeing eagles soaring in rising circles on a thermal column of air, while standing above them at a higher elevation.
The mantra om mani padme hum.
The incredible views of Everest, Ama Dablam, Nuptse, Lhotse.
Overnight snow that covered our tents in Namche Bazaar.
Taking a side trail to avoid congestion because our guide was from the region and knew the “backroads.”
The sound of an evacuation helicopter climbing the thin air up the valley between high peaks.
Laughing with fellow trekkers in our group and our Sherpa guides and porters.
Hauling school supplies in our backpacks to donate to small schools along the way.
Finding a property with electricity and paying a modest fee to charge my camera batteries.
Warm milk tea.
The variety of locals, yaks (dzo), and travelers who shared the main trails.
Mani stones with carved prayer inscriptions along the trail.
Witnessing a day of activity when I stayed put on an off-day in Monju.
Prayer flags flapping in the wind.
It all made for a mighty good dose of outdoor adventures that I really enjoy remembering.
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Rivers Running
Last Thursday I was driving home from work in a dramatic thunderstorm. By the time I arrived at our house, the bulk of the rain was moving away to the east. I immediately packed my car and drove to the lake with little discussion about how much rain had fallen at home earlier that day while I was working on the far side of the Cities.
Last night, Cyndie finally showed me what it looked like here as heavy rain fell Thursday morning.
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The drainage swale across our back pasture was flowing like a river. The ditch that runs along our southern border looked like an even bigger river. I am very pleased to have just knocked down the tall growth along the center of that ditch only a few days before, allowing the flow to proceed unhindered.
As I was mowing all of our turf grass yesterday, it became clear that the rain we have received has made the grass very happy. It was very tall and has thickened up considerably from the last time I mowed.
Everything is looking as lush and deeply green as a typical June day, which is a little odd since tomorrow is the first day of September. Although, I did notice a twinge of red color starting in one of the maple trees by the barn.
The rivers are done running already, but the wheels of the lawn tractor revealed multiple spots where the ground is still saturated.
It’s a little odd thinking of people living in the path of Hurricane Ida who are dealing with so much calamity while our little flash floods don’t cause any trouble here.
Counting our blessings, for the time being, free of wildfires, earthquakes, and hurricanes, while sending our love out to those who live in regions experiencing some really challenging situations lately.
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Almost Done
We got close to finishing the woodshed project before calling it a day yesterday afternoon. All that remains is installing shingles on the roof. I plan to do that when we return next weekend.
Cyndie was an essential contributor to the progress achieved. We verbally sparred over the math to figure spacing as I wrestled with factoring in the number of spaces is one more than the number of boards.
She kept solving math calculations in her head before I could enter the numbers into the calculator on my phone. At one point, as I was cutting a spacer block to a dimension I calculated, she texted me the same spacer dimension she figured out while taking Delilah for a walk.
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With tools put away, I was able to grab the remains of the previous unprotected stack of firewood and move it into the new shed.
I look forward to seeing it filled with a couple of years worth of split firewood. We’ll need the first batch soon as cooling weather is about to bring on the days when comforting fires in the fireplace become de rigueur.
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Mostly Level
It is soaking wet this morning but the rain held off long enough yesterday to allow about a half-day’s worth of effort on my assembly project.
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I continue to be challenged with thinking I have one portion positioned correctly while neglecting to notice an opposite corner was torqued at an angle at the time. I needed to add a one-inch shim to compensate for one such mistake but ultimately achieved near-perfection on getting the base established.
The best part of working on things up here is the ability to dive into the lake just steps away to cool off after a sweaty effort. We had a nice swim and quick sandwich on the deck before the rain dampened things.
Next up is constructing the roof. I’m unsure what portion I will assemble on the ground before lifting it into place. With luck, I will figure that out before it becomes too heavy for Cyndie and me to lift over our heads and screw into place.
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Position Precision
Perfection is my nemesis and often complicates attempts to make quick progress on starting a project. Soon after I first started thinking about improving the way firewood is stored up at the lake, I was in a quandary about making the first cut of lumber to enact my plan. Obviously, I got past that.
Now I’ve got all the pieces staged and it’s time to start assembly. With four blocks for footings, I just need to set them in position. Simple as that.
I wish.
Is it square? Square to what? Level is easy, referencing a floating bubble, but square is a bit more difficult to ascertain. I start to doubt my visual perception after placing a board against what I thought was an acceptably positioned block to then find it is far out of line with my ultimate intention.
Getting the first block established finally provided a reference I could work from to place the other three. I am choosing to leave the ground sloped and support the right side of the shed on posts, but the exact mechanism is yet to be defined. I changed my mind twice already and the second time was after I thought I had the blocks in place.
I need to reposition them one more time.
When I get the two blocks on the right side ultimately located and leveled, construction should be able to commence at a reasonable pace, with just one hitch. It occurred to me this morning that I neglected to bring up any spare lumber.
While unsuccessfully trying to avoid waking my brain up too early this morning, I conjured up an improvement on the technique I had in mind to support the right side on posts. All I need is another plank or two of treated lumber and I’m set. D’oh!
I will use one of the cut pieces intended for the floor and bring up a replacement board for that one next weekend when we come up for Labor Day.
Before I get to any of that, I need to perfectly position those two blocks on the right end of the frame.
Here’s hoping I will allow myself to settle for good enough.
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Relative Something 