DAYLIGHT MINUS TWO

Immediately after summer solstice the days become shorter.

Here in northern Maine winter is always on our mind.

 

After the last snow storms of April, we move into two or three weeks of mud season, after which I clean up winter damage and make a list for summer maintenance to be completed before the first snows of October.  We store our winter clothes and I put away the snow blower and shovels, and dump our buckets of sand and salt.  Time to get out the lawn mower.

We watch the grass grow and revel in the sun moving higher on the horizon, I have changed the oil in the car and had to replace two rear shocks; all the while trying to ignore my to-do list for a few weeks; and then it’s SUMMER SOLSTICE.

 

Today we lose two minutes of daylight, and we know:

Firewood was delivered yesterday,

and now I have to move it from the side of the house to the shed in the back yard. 

Some of the wood is too large for my wood stove (the chimney will need cleaning) so I will have to form a pile that I will split.  

I have to change the filter at the oil tank and call the oil company for a fill.

And then there is my to-do list: replace the back steps, repair some water damage, sand and re-varnish the front stoop.   There is painting to do and I need to caulk a seam on the metal roof…

Before we know it, we unpack and clean our winter clothes and put away our summer things, change the oil and spark plug in the snow blower, winterize the car and wait impatiently to see if we will have our first, crisp, white snow-cover before Halloween.

Here in western Maine, after the last snow storm; Winter Is Always Coming.

the Ol’Buzzard

SUMMER TIME IS NOT FOR BLOGGING

THAT’S MY EXCUSE AND I’M STICKING WITH IT.

I am not blogging much this summer.   Summertime for me is maintenance time, and last summer I fell behind when my wife was diagnosed with breast cancer – she is doing great.

I have a post and beam house and it is built like a fortress.   

The sills are 8x6 inch beams and they are covered on the outside with a spacing board that allows Styrofoam panels to be placed between the interior and exterior walls. 

 I found some rot in the outer plate covering the sill so had to remove the siding, cut out and remove a section of the outer wall, replace the spacing board and then put it all back together: a two-day job that turned out to be four because of measure twice, cut once, then measure and cut again….   It took me three tries to get the siding right because six-inch cedar siding is five and a half inches wide and I had my head up my ass.

 

It is done now and done properly.    Now I have to repaint the front of the house.   

WINTER IS COMING.  

It is also time to put in my firewood for the coming winter.

 I order firewood cut and split, but about a third of the wood is larger than I like it, so I split the larger pieces before placing them in my wood shed: splitting firewood in the winter snow and cold is not fun.

    

I also have to replace some parts on my eighteen-year-old snow blower and hope it will get me through another year.

  

There are at least a half-dozen other jobs I hope to complete before the first snow – then I can kick back, feed the wood stove, read, blog and take it easy…. between digging out from snow storms.  

All this is not a complaint: I love my life in Maine and I wouldn’t change it.    Summer work and winter chores keep me grounded to the earth.   How boring and superficial it would be to have everything done for me.

the Ol’Buzzard