Oct 6 - piling, piling

7 cords. That's how much wood I moved and piled yesterday. I moved wood from the woodpile and woodshed down to the woodbox; most of the rest of the woodpile into the woodshed and piled the hemlock at the woodpile. By the end of the day I was practically staggering. No, I didn't go for a bike ride !

Terminology is important here at the cottage. We have a garage and a barn. They are both garages, of course, but the big one that I built is referred to as the barn, so we can tell them apart. We already had a garage.

Wood piles also have their own terminology. There is the woodshed that my Dad built with a roof, poured concrete curb-shaped runners on the ground and upright pipes at the end of each. In front of the woodshed is a more temporary affair that is becoming permanent, with 6x6 runners on the ground and a tarp over top. That's the woodpile. Then there is the woodbox that holds ... well, wood ... down by the house. There's another pair of concrete runners and pipes behind the woodbox that must have been my Dad's first go at this. At some point I might want to expand the woodshed although right now we're not keeping up, not burning enough wood each year and some of the wood will get too dry.

All told I think that I can store about 25 cords.

I tried something new yesterday for moving wood down to the house. I bungeed a storage bin onto the hand-truck. That worked reasonably well. It's easier to get down the stairs than a wheelbarrow and even more important, easier to get up. I ended up using that all day.

So ... today it's supposed to get up to 22C / 72F here. Further north it's supposed to be even warmer -- 25C / 77F in Timmins (Arlene's birthplace) -- 250 miles north ! Compare that to 73F in Reading and 83F in New Smyrna Beach. Something is wrong with this picture. The temps are supposed to stay quite warm for the next several days. What this means is that I won't be burning much wood between now and when we head south.

For dinner we had pork loin, cooked perfectly I might say, with green beans and roast potatoes. Does that sound like a birthday dinner ? She talked to the kids but the reminder that Alex would have been four months old put a damper on the day. I'm afraid that it's going to be that way for quite a while.

Sandy did Thanksgiving prep, working in the kitchen most of the day. She's making pies, of course, and the meal will have all the usual side dishes -- turnip, coleslaw etc.

We're going to have a fresh turkey. How fresh ? Well, the turkey is still alive. When I was talking to Susan Allen, fellow roads board member, she asked, jokingly, whether I needed a turkey. As it turned out we didn't, but do. Sandy had bought a turkey which will now stay in the freezer and we'll take one of the 40 that Susan is slaughtering. We had the option of bringing it home alive ... but I passed on that ! Perhaps Lorraine wants to do the cleaning ?

Susan mentioned that they also have a goat. A goat ? Yes, a goat. It wanders freely in the yard, bonded to their dog, following it around. If we had a goat I wouldn't have to mow the lawn ... now there's an idea ... Abby would have a friend ... could we take them both to Florida ? Naw. I don't think that the neighbors would approve.

They also have 12 egg-laying hens. That's a lot of eggs. They must feed the neighbors, but there aren't many neighbors. Perhaps they eat a lot of omelets ?

If we lived here full time we'd have rabbits, perhaps a few chickens, turkeys would be easy to raise, but I would never have thought about a goat. The barn could become a real barn or I'd have to build a barn and then be at a nomenclature loss ! -- the big barn vs little barn ? the animal barn ? With foxes and bears let alone wolves and coyotes, we'd have to keep everything inside at night, that's for sure.

It's not likely going to happen. For one thing, with all that animal feed around, we'd also need cats to control the mice. Nope. That clinches it !

Ok, enough of this.

Today -- I'm going to help Jim with a couple of chores this morning -- turn over his boat and put away his lake-water-pump. I'm also going to go for a bike ride. I want to sample that 22C weather and see the traffic on highway 69 ! Sandy is going to go down to Parry Sound and pick up some fresh veggies, perhaps return those boots that I bought -- but I haven't decided on that yet.

Onward !