Two Weeks Off

April 2021

 

During our two-week shift at the beginning of April we had some very winter-like weather with fresh snow overnight several times and cold temperatures. 

 

For our two weeks off at the end of April, however, we ended up having the nicest two-week stretch of weather that we have had in our entire time in Ocean Falls; it was even nicer than any single two-week stretch last summer.  It felt like summer.  It was such an amazing change from our wintertime temperatures that we just had to be outside enjoying it.  We spent several relaxing days doing yard work around the house. 

 

We painted the railing that comes down along the stairs, cleaned up some old crumbling brick planters, and did some weeding.  We took the good bricks from the planters and built a fire pit in the front yard, and weed whacked the long growing grass.  We also figured out how to set up a slackline in our front yard even though we only have one large tree to use.  We ended up driving a two and a half foot spike into the ground as our anchor point and then coming up and through the slats of a pallet to make it the height that we wanted. 

It worked great, and we left it set up throughout our whole time off so that we could go out and use it whenever we wanted.  One great thing about this time off and the sunshine that we had was that there were still no bugs, at least not biting anyway.  By the end of the two sunny weeks they were starting to come out, but still not in any bothersome numbers. 

 

We also worked on our wood supply for next winter and modified our woodshed at our old house.  The walls, which are made of pallets, used to only come up four feet and then it was open up until the roof.  This of course is great for drying the wood if the weather is dry, but we get so much wind and rain here that the wood usually ends up getting wetter instead of dryer. 

We used more pallets and put up a second row so as to complete the walls on three sides leaving the alley side open.  This should still allow lots of air to flow through due to the gaps in the slats of the pallets, but it should also keep our wood dry.  We gathered, split, and stacked three large truckloads of wood, and added a significant amount to our woodshed.