ready for fall...and not ready

We had our wood stove installed today! It's a Lopi Liberty, best indoor wood stove around. So even if the rest of the house is not finished, at least we have a heat source, which is important when you live around here.

And here is an impressive cloud I saw yesterday. The rain from it just barely grazed us, I guess, but the night before we were doused with two inches. I'm happy, the garden is happy. We have some warm weather in the forecast, so maybe my tomatoes will finally ripen.

The kids and I did the annual ritual of school shopping today while the stove was being installed. Wow. I didn't know three shirts and three pairs of jeans apiece could cost so much! We didn't even get around to the notebooks and pencils and such; a morning at the mall is enough for me.

My dad is coming tomorrow to stay overnight. I'm excited; he hasn't been here for a few years now and I'm anxious to show him our house and all we've done.

It just seems there is so much more I want to say, and so much I cannot find words for. This summer has just passed me by, and we have worked so hard in preparing our house, moved in bit by bit (just moved my glider rocker to the new hearth today), meanwhile the kids have just kept growing up in so many ways, and I have rediscovered running and lost over fifteen pounds in the process. My garden, though neglected, has done as well as can be expected; I had a great garlic and onion harvest as usual. And the nighthawk migration the last couple of days has been spectacular.

Can summer really be over this weekend? I plan to spend some time at the pond playing Retrieving Olympics with Sally (Calvin and I invented this; she is scored on her moves as she retrieves sticks thrown into the pond) and picking up my dusty musical instruments once more. And, when I am ready to write, I'll share it all with you.

Just to keep up with baseball

We now subscribe to Major League Baseball on DirectTv. And The Hermit just bought Calvin ESPN's Encyclopedia of Major Leage Baseball. Not that Calvin isn't already a walking baseball encyclopedia himself. This will just enhance his knowledge...

Move over, Embarrass, I've got weather for you!

The short story: we had frost last night. The solidified dew on my car that I felt at about 6:30 confirms it, along with the frost-burned squash leaves in the garden. Luckily, most of the garden survived with no apparent damage, thanks to our diligent covering.

We were not under a freeze warning last night, or even a frost advisory. The frost advisory was one county to the north. But I knew better.

The temperature on our pessimistic thermometer read 28 or so. Brrr! The official low temperature at Embarrass, the cold weather capital of Minnesota, was 27. They made news headlines for it, with the qualification that "this is very unusual weather for here!"

Hmmmm? I believe that in at least three out of the four last summers here we have had a killing frost in August, if not July. At any rate, the garden has been pretty much toast by mid September. So, unusual?

I think this is a very local thing. We're in a bit of a low area. Heidi, how did your garden fare?

oh for goodness snakes

Starflower and Mr. Attitude found not one but two baby garter snakes under an overturned canoe by the pond this afternoon!

They sure are cute. I told the kids they could keep them in a bucket for a while, but release them tonight near where they found them so they could find food and shelter and just be snakes.

And while I'm posting, and I have been really lazy about that now haven't I? here's a shot of my much neglected garden. I picked about three ice cream buckets of green beans today, best harvest of those ever. But why the shrouds you ask?

We had a touch of frost two weeks ago, the night of the bat. Tonight the National Weather Service has actually put out a freeze warning for some areas north of here, towards the Canadian border, and a frost advisory for other places including the county just to the north of here. The predicted low for here is 38 degrees, which means more than likely we will have frost. Sigh. Can't I just make it into September for once? Covering the garden is a real pain in the butt.

***LATE NEWS FLASH*** Starflower and Mr. Attitude just came back from their evening swim, with one baby painted turtle, which we put into our aquarium. Never mind the outside temp was about 58 degrees at the time of their swim. I'm in my flannel jammie pants and sweatshirt already.

the living room

We finally have a room. A finished ROOM! I took the day off on Monday, hoping to grout the slate floor by the hearth, but I ended up going to our storage shed with The Hermit and getting that comfy green chair and that beautiful Mission style coffee table, and a few framed art prints and such.

Every time I go out there, I just want to sink into whatever piece of furniture I am on, and and just relax. But the TV will be in that empty corner on Friday, so I suppose I won't have too much time for relaxing. Except for Twins games. :)

take me out to the ball game

Guess where I was yesterday? If you know me, you probably would not believe that I was part of a crowd of 35,000+ at the Metrodome in Minneapolis, cheering on the Twins as they swept a series with the Seattle Mariners. I drove Calvin and his friend 100+ miles so Calvin could experience his first ever major league baseball game. We were going to go as a family but we thought with Calvin's friend the SUV would be kind of crowded, not to mention the expense. We've got a family date planned at the ball park the last weekend in September.

To say Calvin had a great time would be a major understatement. He told me, "Mom, this is one of the best days of my life!" But the big surprise of the day was...I had a great time too. More fun than I ever thought I could have under the same roof with 35,000 other people. I really got into the game, and it was exciting enough to keep me interested, and in the middle of the 8th inning, in a tough situation, they brought in my favorite closing pitcher who saved the day. Calvin got his #7 Joe Mauer T shirt, I got my #36 Joe Nathan shirt. I've crossed some line somewhere...now I can truly call myself a baseball fan.

I nailed it, and a bat story

We installed locally harvested and sawed pine flooring in two rooms on Sunday. We are fortunate to have a source for this flooring, which turned out to be cheaper than just about any other option, and very good looking as well.

In case you're wondering, they still do make square cut nails. If you need a source, you should be able to read the Web sites in the otherwise very traditional looking nail box above.

We went through two boxes of these nails on Sunday. Chris and I were the nailers, while The Hermit and Calvin sawed floorboards to the proper length. Since these were old fashioned nails we were using, there was no chance of using an automatic nailer to do the job. Every one of those ten pounds of nails had to be driven in by hand. I have the blisters and sore knees to prove it.

Here is Calvin's room, just a layer of floor finish away from moving in! I think the flooring has so much character, especially the rows of nails. I'll remember every one.

And here's an update on the exterior stain. It's coming along, and it's time for scaffolding to finish the rest.

We've been sleeping beneath that upper window for nearly a month now, on king sized air mattresses. It's been comfortable and restful, mostly, except for Sunday night. I was tired from seven hours of floor nailing, and after dinner I wanted to head straight to my bed in the loft. But as I settled in I noticed the fluttering of wings near the balcony. BAT!!! Great. I was tired, getting cranky, and I knew it would be difficult if not impossible to remove a bat from the house, and sleeping with a bat indoors was not an option. I ran to the backyard of the cabin to fetch a tennis racket, always a good bat weapon.

Alas, a tennis racket is no match for a bat in a house with a cathedral (or at least Minnesota Lutheran church) ceiling. There is too much high, open space. After fetching a second weapon, a twelve foot stepladder which at this point I have no idea HOW I managed to get in the house, The Hermit presented a third weapon: a long 1 x 6 board. The bat was perched high up on a window frame, and somehow I managed to pin it against the frame with the board. I pushed as hard as I could. I hope you realize, bad as I feel about it, there was no way I could get this creature removed from the house alive.

I felt a slight crunching, then somehow the bat managed to escape and fly across the house into the bedroom. The place we sleep. I saw it go down. Starflower and Mr. Attitude were in one bed, with the covers over their heads as I had frantically instructed them. I walked across to the bedroom, searched the floor for about five minutes, when I heard a scream from Starflower:

"It's HERE! In our bed!"

I looked, and sure enough there it was, not moving much but definitely in their bed. The tennis racket was within reach so I grabbed it, swept the bat onto the floor, and proceeded to crush the remaining life out of it. The Hermit took it away in a rag. It looked so small, so harmless. I felt bad for killing it, but I know they often carry rabies and I just can't abide with flying creatures in my sleeping space.

I'm done with my big project at work. I'll try to post the highlights tomorrow.

not around to blog much lately

I apologize that I have not been keeping up with posting, or replying to comments, or leaving comments on the blogs I read often. I have unexpectedly been more or less the leader on a very challenging project at work lately, which has stretched out to nearly two weeks of work, and I have been pretty exhausted when I come home at night. Not that driving a boat around is that bad, but I guess it's that I'm too much of a perfectionist, or that I have years' more experience and do so much better at whatever job I'm called to do that I can't stand the gross incompetence of coworkers, or their second-guessing MY knowledgeable decisions. Or maybe I just don't like pulling dead fish out of nets and wrestling 20 pound snapping turtles any more. 'Nuff said. It will all be over on Thursday, and I plan to drink a beer or two to that. :)

And, my body has been recuperating from a longer-than-ever run Sunday morning, followed by seven hours of nailing pine flooring. Everything hurts now. But the floor looks nice. Pictures to follow soon.

a milestone

Why The Hermit and I make a good couple

Tonight I got home late from work, and we were making dinner together, we had decided on grilled Italian sausages with fried onions and green peppers, one of my favorites. We were listening to music, as usual, this time The Be Good Tanyas' "Chinatown", which was a pleasant surprise I found at the local library. I have been listening to this album on the way to and from work, letting it grow on me and become one of my favorites, and as I was listening to one of the songs there in the cook shed I remarked, totally off the top of my head: "They sound like a more folky, all female version of the Cowboy Junkies."

The Hermit replied, without a moment's hesitation: "That's exactly what I was thinking!"

I could tell he was sincerely thinking that, not just saying it, after all after sixteen years of marriage I think you can read each other.

Believe me, we are not on the same wavelength a lot of the time, but those times we are are oh so sweet. :)

centered

That's how I'm feeling these days. It's hard to describe, but I'm feeling a sense of purpose and inner calm that I have not felt in a long time. Maybe it's realizing we are finally achieving the house building goal we set out to accomplish five years ago. Maybe it's the running. Maybe it's my half hearted attempts at yoga, which are improving since I checked out Yoga for Dummies at the library. Really, it's the most concise, readable introduction to yoga that I've ever seen. So I'm a dummy after all, and you know what? I'm okay with that.

We have two rooms wired and connected in the new house now, not to mention the walls are done and painted, and the pine flooring was delivered Friday. As soon as our nails arrive, we will have two rooms FINISHED. As in, ready to LIVE in. We have been sleeping in an unfinished loft bedroom for weeks now, so technically we're already living in the new house, but these rooms will be done!

One of the rooms is Calvin's first story bedroom, which he chose to have painted in "1976 Minnesota Twins uniform" blue. He has gotten to be quite the Twins fan and baseball scholar this year; he even wants a baseball glove chair for the room. I guess they make those somewhere.

Last night we took time out from house finishing to pack up the kids and drive to the 7th annual Highway 61 Folks Festival in Mahtowa, about a 45 minute drive. I may have previously mentioned that one of my favorite bands that just happens to be local are The Hobo Nephews of Uncle Frank. They were playing from 6-8 pm, just the kind of hours we appreciate these days; we didn't have to stay out past our bedtime to see them!

This little festival, which is getting bigger and better each year, has a great vibe to it. It is very family friendly, meaning we can bring the kids and set them loose and not have to worry about anything more than them getting sick on the merry go round in the town park. Which they did, at least Calvin could not keep down the bratwurst and Mountain Dew he had for dinner. Nuff said, at least we had an empty box handy in the Mazda. "If you're going to spew, spew in this!"

And they had Boulevard Wheat beer on tap. My favorite wheat beer! The Hermit and I enjoyed a few while we listened to the Hobo Nephews, who were laid back and cool as always. My favorite part was when they played Greg Brown's "Laughing River". I mean, here is my favorite live band outside of Greg Brown himself, singing one of Greg's coolest songs ever! The evening sun was shining, it was perfectly warm with a light breeze, people were happy and relaxed and taking it all in, and we even ran into a few people we knew.

After an evening like that, even if we did get home before 10, I thought for sure I would forgo my morning run. However, my conscience would not allow me such a luxury and I ended up having my best run ever, at least since I started running again. I ran all the way to the end of the road, over a half mile, without stopping even though there is a hill at the end. Then I took minimal breaks on my way back, and I felt exhausted in a good way when I returned home.

Today has been quiet, the afternoon punctuated by an occasional thunderstorm. I was going to grout my slate floor, but with the rain and all I lost my motivation and ended up playing bouzouki for a while. Not a bad thing to do, I guess. I think I'll go play some more, it looks like rain again.

catnip gone wild

Behind that beautiful bee balm, which was invited and welcomed into my rock garden, are the biggest catnip plants I have ever seen. I did not plant them. I thought I had carefully cut the flower heads from the catnip I did plant last year so it wouldn't re-seed, but I have learned my lesson: If you must plant catnip, do so in containers, the further away from your garden the better.

By the way, that tall thing behind the catnip is stinging nettle, which has somehow managed to take over part of my garden. Amazingly I've seen it in seed catalogs. Why would anyone deliberately plant something that will cause immediate agony if it is brushed against? I know, the new greens are tasty and loaded with nutrients when cooked, and some folks swear by the tea made from dried leaves as a "tonic". I even make a "stinking nettle tea" that works wonders in the garden. But when it gets to this stage, I need full body armor to deal with it.

I removed the catnip today to make more room for the bee balm and various herbs on the other side of it, and to try and keep it from re-seeding next year. I did harvest catnip leaves until I had a bowl full, to dry for cat treats and a calming tea. I tossed a few of the leaves to the usual bunch of cats hanging around, and they were indifferent. Perhaps they are unaware of the street value of my harvest to all the true catnip junkies out there.

future catnip junkie

indigo

This evening an ordinary moment turned into something special.

The Hermit and I were sitting in the family room in the new house, sipping a beer and enjoying the cool breeze that had come in the evening to take the edge off a hot day. (85 is hot? We have not seen 90 this year! I love it!) I had my binoculars with me, determined to get a good look at all the little brown birds I see through the patio door while we sit there.

A flutter of movement caught my attention, in the grasses beyond the garden, and I focused the binoculars. There, in plain view, was a little bird that was definitely NOT brown. It was a beautiful shade of blue all over, kind of like our new roof. Indigo bunting! I watched it for about ten minutes as it swooped among the grasses, probably foraging for insects.

Duty called, and I went in to get our Sams Club frozen lasagna out of the oven and to get some water for the chicks. As I was carrying water and food out to our future egg producers, I saw Indigo again, in my little overgrown wildflower garden! Twice in one day! Sweet!

Winterwoman had a post recently about how blue birds aren't really blue. Yeah, light refraction and all that. Still, the prettiest birds I've ever seen are blue, refraction or not.

Sand Creek meets Hasty Brook

I suppose I could theoretically get to Hasty Brook from here by water. All I would have to do would be to paddle down Sand Creek to the St. Croix River, about fifty river miles, then cruise down the St. Croix to Hastings, MN, where it meets up with the mighty Mississippi, then paddle upstream, through several locks and dams and then over a hundred river miles to where the Prairie River meets the Mississippi, then it would be just a short paddle upstream and across Prairie Lake to the inlet of Hasty Brook, then upstream just a short distance.

Of course, it's easiest to just log on to the virtual Hasty Brook. But yesterday I decided it was time to take a drive and see Hasty Brook, and Lynne and her family, in person. It's just under sixty miles from my place, about an hour's drive across a mix of hayfields, aspen woods, and tamarack bogs. The drive went quickly, and with Lynne's able directions I easily found out that Hasty Brook is indeed a real, wonderful place.

When Starflower and I arrived, Lynne and her husband Art had just left to drive to Cloquet, but their teenage daughter greeted us and contacted them by cell phone; they couldn't have been more than a few miles away because they turned around and arrived quickly.

What a fun, relaxing visit. We lounged in chairs, chatting while we watched pine siskins and chipmunks at the bird feeders. Lynne had put out a hummingbird feeder, and we were delighted to see that the hummingbirds had found it. Starflower told Lynne about our rabbits, and they compared rabbit stories. We went for a short walk, going up the driveway to the road where there were fewer mosquitoes and deerflies, and walked to where a bridge crosses Hasty Brook.

Now I know why Lynne is so in love with this place. It reminded me of what our Sand Creek cabin was like before it was home, when we used to live seventy miles away on the outskirts of the city in a subdivision. It was our refuge, and Hasty Brook is a beautiful, quiet refuge. Thanks Lynne, for the directions! I'll stop by again sometime!

new bird of the day

My job today was to drive a boat around the shoreline of a large, wonderfully clear lake and map and identify the emergent vegetation. All this in partly cloudy, 80 degree weather. Not a bad gig if you can get it. Even if you have to work with the intern. (No really, he's a great guy, I just don't like having "teaching others what their future job may entail" as part of my own job description, for more than a day or two. That's just how I am. Oh well.)

In the process, we encountered this bird, and I happened to have my camera ready! How often does that happen? I knew right away it wasn't one of the usual ring billed gulls, but my mistake was thinking it was still a gull. After getting back to the office, and comparing the picture to my Sibley's guide, it turned out to be...a Forster's tern, adult non-breeding plumage. I don't think they occur around here, in late July, too often. Anyway, it was maybe a first for me and a great chance to show the intern about looking at the whole picture. I don't know anyone else around my office who takes the time to identify birds.

the fireweed days of summer

First of all, thank you Richard, for showing me how to make big pictures!

I can tell the time of summer here by the roadside flowers. The buttercups and trillium are long gone, being May residents: lupines, if any, passed by in June. Ox eye daisies and black eyed Susan started making their appearance in late June. I saw my first Turks cap lily a few days ago. And these seasonal beauties have been painting roadsides for the last week or so. Fireweed is named for its propensity to bloom in recently burned-over areas. As far as I know, no fires have occurred recently around here, but yet here and there I find a patch of these Primrose family relatives.

I spotted this beauty first opening up on my morning run a week ago, and returned with camera yesterday to photograph it while I was taking a short walking break. I have been running nearly every morning for four weeks now, and I have noticed some subtle differences. I no longer labor to run nearly half a mile, like I did when I started. I have added a bit of distance to my routine, and even some hills. I was hoping to see some weight loss, but the scale needle has not been showing a major downward trend, although it has not been approaching former high weights so that is good. I think I'm building muscle, which weighs more than fat, because I definitely feel slimmer.

I had to take a break today, although it was surprisingly hard to do so. The outer sides of my ankles have been hurting since yesterday, enough to, along with my plantar fasciitis, make it uncomfortable to walk or run anywhere. So I thought it was maybe just muscle fatigue from adding distance to my routine lately. At least I hope so. I'll try again tomorrow.

baseball day

I did my motherly duty today, on a day I took off from work. I rode the team bus to Pine City, a good 40 miles away from our house, to watch the last day of Little League play. The kids work hard; they play three games from 9 till noon with hardly any break in between. Today was the playoffs, as if in three games they could determine a league champion. I think all the kids are champions for their dedication to the game. Each play is a learning experience.

Calvin made some memorable plays in left field, never letting the ball get by him. And, in the third game, he hit a strong double out into center field and had an unexpected RBI when an anticipated power hit turned into a quasi-bunt which got him on base and scored a runner.

I don't know if I could have done this every Friday of the season. It's a long time to sit outside, and the noise and people got to me. There are eight teams from seven towns, in a cloverleaf of four fields. But it's great to see the determination in those young mens' eyes as they play the best sport in America. God bless Little League baseball. And God bless the coaches who give so much of their time to make it all happen.

Calvin's teammate and friend Keith is spending the night. I had a great time with them when Calvin asked me if I could teach them how to play guitar. Of course, that cannot be done instantaneously, but I sat and jammed with them for about half an hour and got out some basic books for them to look at. At one point we had a guitar/bouzouki/alto saxophone thing going. I also told them, if they are serious about this, I will try to be a good teacher and give them real lessons. This could be good for them. And me.

moving in

I'm having a little problem with my default photo program, so this photo might be excessively huge and slow to load. Sorry.

We have started the process of moving in to the new house, at least spiritually if not physically, and we've done some of that too. We slept in the new house last night. And the night before. We have these wonderful king size inflatable mattresses that are way more comfortable and supportive than our old sagging bed. I can tell the difference; I wake up so much more refreshed. Or maybe it's not having a dog at my feet and a cat in my face at 5 AM.

The mattresses are set up in one of the upper bedrooms, under the beautiful slope of the roof. Last night we had two thunderstorms, one about two-ish, the other at 4:07 (checked the time on my iPod.) The thing about sleeping under that roof is, you can hear every nuance of the rain, even under two layers of foam board insulation. You can tell when it's coming down hard and heavy, and you can tell the second that it lets up a bit. But even with the awakenings, I had a more refreshing sleep on that air mattress than I've had in a long time.

During the day, when I'm home, I don't like being inside in the cabin any more; it's just too dark and cluttered and confining. I am either outdoors, or inside relaxing in a plastic chair or on the air mattress in the new house, feeling the sense of space. The air flows much better there too. And sometimes you can even find me with bouzouki in hand, playing whatever comes to mind lately, and what comes to mind lately is very Scandinavian, with a little American roots music thrown in.

exterior stain: a preview

When I first saw it, I thought, "This is dark. And red!"

But I was used to the light natural color of pine siding, a color that I knew would not stand the test of time. And I had agreed, even enthusiatically, to the choice of California Rustic.

It's growing on me. I know we made the right choice, and it looks great with the blue roof, but I just have to bid farewell to "natural aging pine".

I've seen that color before. I think it was in Arches National Park in Utah, late January 21 years ago, the rocks were that color and the sky was just that blue. I'll scan and post a photo for comparison, when I dig that album out of storage.

umm...this nest is getting kinda tight here...

...and I'm ready to fly.

These are our baby phoebes I've been watching out the cabin window these last couple of weeks. They have been notoriously difficult to photograph, since the nest is in a very shaded area and my camera wants to flash when I don't. I let it flash this time.

I can't help but think ahead...teenagers. Well, the first is two years away from that, but already stretching his wings.

UPDATE: The young phoebes did leave the nest yesterday, successfully, although not quite in the way we'd envisioned. One parent phoebe ended up being killed by a cat. :( So the little phoebes were peeping for food, nobody was showing up at the nest, and The Hermit and the kids were worried that the little birds needed food. (I was at work) So The Hermit was going to give them some bread crumbs or something, and when he got near the nest he said they took off like a covey of quail, into the trees. There were five of them.

From what I read online about phoebes today, if one parent is around they will feed the fledged birds. I'm hoping that is the case. I also read that if these birds could fly so well, they were at least fifteen days old and ready to leave the nest. Anyway, I guess I can only wish them the best.