Morning Horses

This was the view greeting the dogs and me on our first morning walk-about just after sunrise.  Normally this would send the dogs into a frenzy – they love charging John’s horses across the fence, protecting territory and sending wave after wave of canine alarm up and down the woods.  The horses don’t care.  In fact they seem to enjoy it – they will often times crane their necks over the fence when the dogs quiet down.   Of course that just ups the level of excitement in the dogs all over again and this can go on for a long time.   But when we’re out there with them they mind their manners and occupy themselves otherwise by chasing sticks or peeing on trees and bushes.   Today the morning started on a quiet and relaxed footing.

I have a couple of days off and for the first time in a long time don’t have much planned.  Tomorrow night Denine and I start hanging drywall in the shop but there’s really not much I need to do before then.  I’ve spent the last week hanging the first few panels at the floor level but I could only go so far.  I’m using 12′ sheets of drywall and that stuff is really, really heavy.  I can only drag them around by myself with some difficulty and there’s no way I can lift them – not even two of us could do that.  So tomorrow I’ll pick up a drywall lift so we can do the ceiling and upper walls.  This is a great place to be in the project – it changes from ‘rough construction’ to ‘rooms’ in the space of a few hours.

The entries into the building are completed now.  There’s a standard door on one end but now there’s a deck – have I posted a picture of this before?  Can’t remember so here’s a new picture anyway.  With help from my dad who was visiting back in August:

West end deck

Then there’s the ramp up into the double doors on the north side – a ramp in case we ever need to park the four-wheeler inside…

Ramp into the shop

Today’s only task is to get the cat-door installed in one of the swinging doors pictured above.  Tipper is banished from the house and so will need a way to get in/out of the shop through the winter.  Right now I’m leaving the door open during the day,  putting him in at night and letting him out in the morning.  But a cat door will let him come and go as he pleases.

Other than the cat door my only tasks are to practice my mandolin, take a nap and then maybe repeat those steps again.

Cheers!

Just wanted to share a couple pics I snapped today of our resident covey of quail that has been hanging around the place all summer long.  I’ve watched these guys go from tiny little chicks scurrying behind two adults in the spring to the full size birds they are now.  There must be forty of them all hanging out together.  They run around on the ground when you crowd them in increasingly frantic jitters until at some point they just explode into flight.   They all have these little dangly things on top of their heads that wiggle when they walk.   I call them ‘cat attractors’ but so far they’ve avoided any run-ins with Tipper.

Catching a few early morning rays of sunlight

Quail Crossing

And although this has nothing to do with quail, a pic from a walk with the dogs a couple of days ago. The days have left summer behind and the colors are making their last splash before finally being done. It’s breezy and cool, sometimes cold and snow can’t be too far off.

Fall Color

Seems I’ve taken some time between my last post and this one.  It has happened before:  A year ago when our old cat died I took a month of just keeping quiet while I passed through my grief.  I remember the Fall being beautiful, occasionally wet and rainy, often crisp and clean as the temps dropped and the days got shorter.  The hardest part was knowing that Dax’s time with us was all of a sudden painfully short.  Seventeen years seems like a long time until it was past and then it was just “past”, as much “over” as childhood.   I moved through it and we now talk about him regularly and share a fondness for him that is rich and pleasant.  It’s nice to be able to recall, “That crazy cat, he was something else…”

Anyway, I’m in the same place these days for some reasons that are similar, some reason that are different.  A colleague at work decided to move on to a new employer and I’ve been mourning that loss.   Thirteen years passed quickly and I’ve been thinking that it’s a good reminder that this is the nature of life.  Not to be resisted but rather to be appreciated like an autumn day when leaves fall and breezes blow.   I think it is possible to be sad without the sadness being a weight that bears down.  Experienced, let go, experienced again, let go again.  That’s how it works.  A lightness and clarity remain, like air.  If the next moment is joyful, then joy is what there is.  Experienced and let go, careful not to cling or long for something else.

A lot of that going on these days.

And a lot of work, too.  The wood pile is VERY large now.  The main pile is stacked up at about 20′  by 15′ and about 4′ high, all split and tarped now that we’re finally getting moisture again after a long, long dry spell.  Other piles are yet to be split or are elsewhere being split for the barn and office.  We lit our first fire a couple of days ago and boy oh boy was it nice.   We have a catalytic stove in the house and it burns very differently than a traditional fireplace, much longer, more heat and using less wood than I’m used to.  I’m pretty jazzed to be able to look forward to actually being warm this winter.    We will continue to bring more wood in as the weather allows but it won’t be long before we’re forced out of the woods because of snow.

The barn is fully insulated and completely wrapped with a plastic vapor barrier.  I have the stove for it too but am not quite ready to install the chimney yet.  The next step is getting drywall up and in place.  I doubt I’ll be able to get it taped and mudded before it gets too cold, but once it’s tacked onto the ceiling and stud walls then I can get the stove installed.  Taping and sanding the drywall can wait til spring if necessary.  Getting the stove installed means at that point I can set up my studio space which I’ve been looking forward to for a long time now.   I am surrounded by great scenery and just need a place to work and a quiet time and space where I can set up an easel and canvas.  Winter is a good time because the outside work quiets down and the muse whispering in the heart can finally be given a little attention of its own.