Wood stacked - Check (after 3 1/2 hours). It seems I underestimated how much wood was left. Apparently I had previously stacked only 2/5 of it. Then I also forgot about the pile of small stuff to be used for kindling that had to be moved. Add to that, stripping the bark off the birch logs (to use instead of newspaper for the initial lighting of the fire) and it was a long day. WS is threatening to bring in some wood that he never moved in from the woods - damn!
The Wonderfull Spouse has been busy too. He dug up an area to pour a concrete pad for the new oil tank and dug up the area under the steps to the deck to pour a pad there too (the steps had previously rested on cinder blocks). Of course that's harder than it sounds because, you guessed it, he dug as much rocks as actual dirt. He made the forms for the concrete and lined the bottom with sand then backfilled around the forms (so they wouldn't blow out from the weight of the concrete). Next he called a Redi-mix place and had them deliver concrete. They were able to pour the pad for the oil tank directly, but he had to use a wheelbarrow to get the concrete to the pad for the stairs. He got it all smoothed out and rounded the edges like a professional. Yesterday he removed the forms and threw dirt back in around the concrete. Oh, and while he had the concrete truck here, he filled in the rest of the cores to the foundation for the future house addition (all this performed by shovel). So I'm not the only busy one around here.
I went to Sam's the other day and happened to go thru the book section. They had the 7th book of the Dark Tower series. I didn't even know it was out. The 6th book came out in May or June, so I was really surprised! Anyway, I picked it up. However, I have been working on abook for 1 1/2 months. Not that it is that big a book, I just haven't had time to read much (I just realized the other day that I am two months behind on reading Discover Magazine). I don't have too much left to read of my current book-in-progress and am hoping to find the time to finish it today.
Maybe I'll have time to finish the book while I wait for the salsa to cook and the water for canning to boil. I managed to cut up the tomatoes last night, so actually putting together the rest of the ingredients won't take long (I can use a food processer to take care of the onions and peppers).
The neighbor's across the street had one of their cats go missing about 10 days ago. It was a lovely, all black cat, named Dinah. They have given up hope on seeing it again and picked up a black kitten this weekend.
Something has been eating all the cat food that I leave on the deck for our cats . I filled the bowel one day last week (I fill it every morning) and it was licked clean when I got home - despite the fact that all our cats were in that day. I know that Sammy, the other cat from across the street, also comes by for a snack every once in a while as does Fuzzy (who still hangs around). However, they never lick it clean, nor do two cats eat that much in such a short time. The same thing has happened a couple more times, but not every day. It can't be a dog because we had the stairs to the deck blocked off for a couple of days while the concrete pad was setting up, so there wasn't room for a dog to hit the bowel. Maybe some coons have moved into the neighborhood. I'll have to figure out how to discourage such behavior!
The two of you are SO industrious! We've been lazing our way through early Fall. We haven't had our hard frost yet, so I expect to be cutting back the gardens one day when we've had four feet of snow.
I hope you don't have raccoons. They WILL eat a bowl clean, or at least ours did.
Posted by: Buffy | October 11, 2004 at 08:59 PM
And now you and the WS know why they call New Hampshire "The Granite State".
"The one thing that we grow in abundance here in N'Hampsha is rocks......"
Posted by: DCE | October 12, 2004 at 07:18 AM
And they are a much more dependable crop that anything I've ever planted in my vegetable garden!
Posted by: bogie | October 13, 2004 at 04:10 AM
...I read a book once - it was blue...
Posted by: billy | October 13, 2004 at 08:20 AM
Nice blog! My english is shit (i'm portuguese) but i can see that your blog is really interesting! Congratulations!
Posted by: primo | October 13, 2004 at 06:50 PM
Billy - your job was to get kids to read books - not actually read yourself.
Buffy - I read about your saga with the coons (at least I'm pretty sure it was you) and don't want to end up in the same boat!
Primo - That's okay, my knowledge of your language is non-existant. Couldn't read a thing on your blog (except Starsky and Hutch). Nice pictures though.
Posted by: bogie | October 14, 2004 at 04:18 AM
I'm learning the fine art of splitting and stacking wood myself - it's fun - but the key part I'm learning is to figure out which way the wood is going to split - one way and it's going to safely fly off onto the ground - the WRONG way and it's going to split and one or both sides are gonna fly up and take out kneecaps! OUCH! :-)
Posted by: Monkey | October 14, 2004 at 10:27 AM