FEELS LIKE JULY

We are enjoying some of the warmest May days we've every seen up here; much more like July than May. Yesterday it reached 26*C and felt like 30. Our house is cool and the deck is the perfect place to enjoy the afternoon.

But we do have jobs to complete so it wasn't all sitting around. With so many trees coming down it was time to get the log splitter started and start stacking firewood for next year.

The log-splitter makes the work so much easier, saves my back and gets the job done quickly. We can easily split and stack a half cord in an hour.

While we worked Owen napped but once he was up he wanted to explore. Oma had to let him try out the skid-steer  Don't worry Rob they just sat in it. It will be a few years before he is able to operate it and help us around the property. Right now all Owen is able to do is walk around pointing at things. He does know that pushing buttons does make things move sometimes. What a smart one year old.

OWEN IS BACK

Looks like another fabulous week up here. The weather looks perfect, highs around 24*C, no bugs and best of all Sherri is here with our grandson Owen. Life doesn't get much better. Rob dropped them off yesterday and we are delighted to have them visit for a week.

Right now we are all up waiting for breakfast on the deck.

Have a great day and drive safely.

PIETENPOL AIRCAMPER

I have a friend on the west coast who has just taken up model airplane flying. I hope you  enjoy this entry Mike.

Charles (Ben's brother) has a love affair with flying. Last year he got his licence and every opportunity he gets he's soaring high above the clouds.

You can imagine a young man, on a very tight budget doesn't get to fly nearly as often as he would like. Flying isn't cheap even if you rent a plane. Owning one is out of reach for most of us but Charles is very resourceful.

Things are cheap on "Kijji" and when we are in the market for something most of us check this source for first possibilities.

Guess what Charles found? 

If you guessed "airplane" you are right. This isn't one of those models you fly from the ground, this is one you get into and feel the wind in your face. It's a two seater. The plane was first designed in 1929 and used a Ford Model A engine.  It's called a Pietenpol Aircamper. Today the grandson is still selling the plans.

Charles found this one, as a partial built that had been abandoned by its original owner. 

Imagine the heart palpitations when Charles saw this on Kijji and then to actually take it home to finish it, oh, what a find!

So with the major body parts assembled, the next big step is covering them in fabric, finding a suitable motor, wheels, and getting it certified for flying.

Some day next summer, Charles will fly low over our place, dip his wing, then head out across the lake, arms waving, scarf flying in the breeze and his leather helmet keeping him warm in his open cockpit.

Enjoy the flight Charles, can't wait to see your first lift-off from the Bancroft airport.

TIMBER !!!!

As mentioned in an earlier post the weather here has been perfect the past few days, sunny, warm, no bugs. We are taking advantage of this and cutting as many trees as we can. We've hired Nathan a student here in Bancroft who has taken his chainsaw safety course and is very cautious when felling the trees.

So yesterday we went down to the garden area to cut down more Poplar and Basswood Trees to give the garden plants more sunlight this year.

Nathan busy cutting the notch.

Every lumberjack is happiest when the tree is safely down. Nathan is good, the trees fell exactly where we asked him to place them.

Each tree was cut up into 15" lengths for splitting later and burning next year. We have plenty of firewood for the next few years.

My job was to load the bobcat and take them up to the log-splitter.  Maybe in the summer I'll find time to split and stack them for drying. Slowly we are getting things organized. 

MUNDANE JOBS

Some jobs are not fun but they have to be done. Most jobs around the house fall into that category but when the sun is shining and the weather is perfect it's great to tackle those outside jobs.

Cleaning the window screens was first on the agenda. We now have an outside water tap so washing the screens in the warm morning sun was actually quite enjoyable.

While they dried in the sun we went down to the chicken coop and removed the layer of clear plastic we had installed as winter protection. Up here we don't take our snow tires off until the end of April and the coop stays wrapped in plastic until the first of May. The chickens like to stay warm.

In the afternoon we cut down more trees so before lunch I checked the saws to make sure they would all start and run after sitting idle all winter. Of course I sharpened each chain and gave them fresh gas so all were ready for work. 

Our plan is to open up more of the forest so we can see the pond but still maintain suitable habitat for the birds, turtles, frogs and snakes. I'm sure Owen will be excited when he sees his first turtle come up and lay her eggs.

Time to get back to work. Thanks for stopping by.

NIGHTLY VISITOR

We've had company just at dusk most nights this past month. She shows up looking for food and is bold enough to come right up to the house. She has even been observed peering in our windows; very cheeky she is. She likes it here so much that she slept just outside our windows last night.

Our guest of honour.

Today looks like another outside day. We plan to clean and install the window screens, maybe cut down a tree or two and get started on the herb garden.

Thanks for stopping by. Always good to hear from you.

LANDSCAPING

Since it's too early to be in the garden we decided to tackle some landscaping work along the east wall.

The bobcat makes it so easy to move the rocks around.

It doesn't matter the size, it can handle all that we want to move.

Making progress. 

Mary is the "bobcat queen".  She loves to be in the driver's seat especially those days when the black flies are out by the thousands.

Mary tested the soil for the PH level so we knew what fertilizers to add.

By suppertime the job was done and all we had to do was water all the trees and shrubs.

Thanks for stopping by and safe travels everyone.