Waiting Out the Weather

It’s a rainy night, so I thought I would do some writing. The past two weeks have been rather punky, weather-wise. After the week of very warm weather, it has snowed that last two weekends. It certainly doesn’t stick around long, but just the site of any of the white stuff is enough to make you cringe.
16 piles of snow greeted me when I arrived here a couple of Monday’s ago.

I guess it was a good idea that I didn’t start any mudding with the cold weather we have been having. My little cabin sits on the edge of the field adjacent to the bluffs and it can get rather cold down in the valley. Although the house is only a few hundred yards from the cabin, the temperature can vary quite a bit. Last Friday morning, it was 23°F at the cabin and although it might have been a bit warmer by the house, a hard freeze is not a good thing for freshly mortared walls.

So to sum things up over the last week or so, I’ve been cutting logs with the miter saw. Not too exciting, but the more I cut the less I’ll have to do later.

Another not too exciting thing has been the start of the mowing season. I try to keep the grass in check near the cabin here and now (starting this year) I have to cut the grass by the house too. I must admit the front yard adjacent to the house is looking rather nice and to boot, it keeps the water from washing out the road. We’ve had some pretty good downpours, but so far the road is holding up just fine.

I bring the point up about mowing and all because it takes time away from building the house. These are things to keep in mind while estimating how much time it will take to build your dream home. I had a nice garden up here the first couple of years, but until I’m done with the house I’ve pretty much given up on that idea. There’s just too many things to do, so I’ve scaled back a bit. Kind of a shame though, I grew some great Yukon Gold potatoes.

Spring is slowly moving forward regardless of the cooler than normal weather. Some of the trees are showing leaves now and with the increase in foliage comes the summer birds. Wrens, grosbeaks, towhees, phoebes, and a few warblers have greeted me in the morning. I haven’t seen any hummingbirds yet nor orioles. I’ll probably see them in a couple of weeks once all the trees have their foliage.

That’s about it for now. If the weather warms up and dries out, I may be mortaring next week.

I always hear Sandhill Cranes and I finally got to see one down by the Root River last week.