Keeping the habitat

This partly dead sumac tree was destined to be cut down until this flock of cedar waxwings decided to use it in the mornings and evenings as a meeting place.   They appear groups of 10 to 30 to chatter and conduct feather grooming, then they disperse and go about their daily or nightly bird activities.   On its own it is not such an attractive feature just outside the east side, south end window - but as habitat for these beauties, it will stay until they are finished with it.

This time a moose?

This fresh print was at the bottom of the hill behind the house, on the way to the marshy area next to the river.  This is a large print and rounded at the heels,  maybe matching the moose that we have been seeing in the area?  There are some elk around as well but we have not spotted any this spring.

Preparation for parging

The trim work is now stained so that this last outside basement wall can be parged.  We plan to just parge and paint it with a stucco-like finish for now.   Note the horseshoe maintained in the "tips up" lucky orientation at the lower left of the doors.

Its hot out here

The hot hazy days of summer are arriving before the summer solstice.   Harley looks in the back door, it's time to go for a walk..... or maybe have a snooze?

Landscaping by Bob

Harley dashes about madly at the pile of fill when Bob uses the front end loader to smooth some of it out for landscaping and a wider parking area.   It seems that Harley's bones and other special buried treasures were secured in this pile.   He was wide eyed and frantic until Bob took a break so that he could dig up and relocate his things.   It must be the part beagle responsible for this characteristic.

Feline supervision

George seems a little put out that there is too high a proportion of work to cat petting going on.  He plops himself on to the drawings and glowers at us.

Bottom to top alignment

It took a couple of tries to align the partition wall for the bathroom with the flattened log beam above.  We sacrificed a couple of inches of width for the bathroom  on our second attempt to get a more centered alignment.

Time for laying turtle eggs

This gal was a little cranky about being moved to safety off of the roadway into Angara.   Catherine pushed her with a stick as she is of the snapping turtle variety to put her closer to the bank which has nice digging soil.   She did not appreciate the gesture, perhaps thinking that the vehicle could just WAIT for her.

Bearing column jack

This section of the main floor partition wall includes a bearing column with a jack that (like the king post and porch column jacks) is  adjusted in spring and fall for the settling of the walls.   The jack is shown being installed on the ply'd column which is embedded in the partition wall.    There are two of these under the white pine summer beam that runs lengthwise supporting the mid-point of the loft, it ranges from 13 inches diameter at the tip end to 23 inches diameter at the butt end.

Main floor interior walls

Here is partition stud wall construction, looking to the right towards the main floor bedroom, which will act as the spare man cave - the room where men go to watch big screen television (when we get around to getting one), or what ever it is that men do when they go into that room???  We need to leave the end wall off of the adjoining bathroom to bring in a one piece tub/shower unit.

Inside log dressing

Work continues inside Angara!  Now that we can keep the windows open again, its back to interior log dressing.  This is a finished inside corner after three coats of the Sansin Purity Interior Clear Satin product on the white pine logs.   The logs were treated initially by the builder with power washing, a Borax solution and solution of Timbertek (dilute exterior stain).  For this final interior finish, the logs were sanded with a random orbital sander plus hand sanding for the grooves in the corners and where the logs meet each other.  Note the nicely carved out receptacle slots - they just have "fish" wire in this spot.

Deer passing through?

Judging from the size of Catherine's hand, perhaps this is a large buck deer or maybe an elk?  The print was in the damp ground between the house and the well.

Just a little more snow

Just a few more snowflakes in the first week of May, but they did not last.  We have a nice pile of cedar logs here from the harvesting earlier this year that will be peeled and used for fencing to make horse paddocks.

Trail patrol

This part of the trail system is one of my favorites, lined with white birch.   They are especially lovely in the spring as the new pale green leaves begin to show.   May brings the bugs out too, Harley thinks that if I could just run faster that we'd stay ahead of them.   He has to settle for running back and forth since I am not as quick as he is.

May flowers

May brings the Ontario provincial flower out in great abundance, here is one of the many trilliums lining the forest floor.   The spring smells are woody and wonderful this time of year.

Look who is awake!

It is not just Bob who is happy to see the spring grass growing!  This fellow is pictured about 30 feet from our back porch, munching on the new shoots in the lawn over the septic system.  Harley was in the house at the time, so I did a quick tap dance on the porch and this was frightening enough to re-route his munching to another spot further from the house.  Teaching him to be shy of human habitation will contribute to his health and longevity, being friendly and accessible does not do him any favors.   Over the next several weeks, Harley barks (which he does seldom and only for serious matters) and chases several bear visitors out of the yard.   So far we are co-existing with over 400 acres outside the "Harley home zone" that the bears are fine to hang out in.

Sandhill cranes return

Mid April brings the Sandhill Cranes back for the summer.   We think that they make their nests next down in the marshy area by the lake.  They are shown here making their ethereal prehistoric call sound as they fly to their nests after daytime feeding in our meadow.   If you close your eyes and listen to them, you can imagine being here tens of thousands of years ago.

It is still pretty frosty in the mornings but April brings some lovely mild days.  Not the stake marking the location for a barn with the house in the background.  The marine freight storage containers have been handy during construction (shown here between the future barn location and the house).

A dusting for good measure

Early April brings a last dusting of snow so that we do not take spring for granted just yet.

More equine visitors

Spring brings hungry equine visitors, good thing we have hay stored and hitching posts ready!   Note the handy bridle rack formed by the "arms" of the red pine post.   The girls came in for drinks and munchies too!