Some pics

Put some flooring in one of the sheds. The floor is made of two pieces of heavy plywood but I could see a line of daylight between them this summer and I have some self-adhesive vinyl tiles leftover tiles from somebody's project (I think my brother-in-law Warren) that were taking up space in the trailer. Not doing the whole floor this year because I don't want to deal with the counter legs, but did cover the join between the two pieces of ply.



Made a new foot stool with piece of scrap from when Lyle made stairs for the barn and antique legs/base my mom got years ago at a sale. More sanding to be done, might do some woodburning for decoration, and definitely will be staining it a darker color, but for now, it's serviceable. Replacing the old footstool for the girls in the downstairs bathroom -- not as wide, a little taller. I put felt pads on the bottom of the feet so it can easily be pushed along the floor.

Old stool made from scrap timber and piece of stair-wood from the barn stair project:


Bottom of new stool:


New stool, upright:

Gardening and Barn

Harvested some peas... last week? Going to plant more later this month for a second harvest. Good thing this is only supplementary and a way to get back into practice with gardening. Well, need to learn how to deal with the kind of weather we're getting these days anyway.

Tomatoes forming on the larger plants. I have too many tomato starts -- going to move a couple into larger pots. Started potatoes this week as well -- yes it's late in the season, small potatoes are still potatoes. Herbs are doing well - should harvest some Lemon Balm this week.

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Work continues on the barn - Lyle removed more of the damaged, mouse-stained wood and put up a plastic sheet we had from another project to keep the smell out of the barn. Going to scrape another one of the horizontal supports today and put more baking soda on it. Getting better.

He also put in some fresh support pieces at the bottom of the section of wall he's working on -- sill plate had rotted. The original cement pour for the floor had been done after some of the inner wall boards were installed (some of what he's removed), so he'll be filling in those gaps with some cement patch.

Organizing of the wood shop continues.

Weather and Pandemic Thoughts

The weather has been a real trial so far this summer. The drought was tiring and hard on my arms and especially my left wrist. Lyle had taken over the bulk of the watering near the end of the drought. We still split the watering now that there's been some rain - he uses the larger watering can. One of the housemates was able to help a few times this past week - much appreciated.

All things considered, we've done amazingly well at getting back into veggie gardening. Not getting any younger, for sure.

Now it's stupidly humid, of course, and will be for at least another week or so maybe? A/C indoors for part of the day and at night. Lungs need it. Yesterday I finally remembered to roll up a bandana to use as a sweatband - sweat flying all over the place and rolling into the eyes is annoying and distracting.

I'm trying to make notes to myself on what does and doesn't work, because times are changing.

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People are mourning but not able to mourn in their traditional ways, both of these because of the pandemic. We may have to come up with at-home solutions, as at least some group gatherings for this will not be happening until next year.

My thoughts... lighting a candle in memory of the loved one -- with a photo nearby if that's something for you.

I learned this past week that for some native North Americans (US and Canada), photos of the lost beloved are actually put away for a time -- one year in the US, four years in Canada.

Another thought is to write a message to the lost loved one and burn it, sending the message to them.

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If you don't have a will, now would be a good time to write one. We did that years ago before we flew to China and Tibet, but that is sadly outdated and needs to be re-done. We've moved twice since then and own a different house now, and Z is an adult now, for that matter. Hoping nobody needs their wills any time soon, but really, good idea.

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There's more than one kind of mourning going on right now. Many of us have lost people at this point but also lives have all been disrupted. Learning new ways to do things is exhausting. Cancelling events leaves voids. Even if it's a good thing large events are mostly being canceled (and they should be, in the US especially), it's still a major disruption. Mourn and feel the sorrow, don't bottle it up. People have emotions and that's okay.

That's it for now. I have some work to do. Takes me forever to get anything done these days, but have to keep on keeping on.