#19 Clouds - Stars - Sun

On Sunday, I had my day off. Fathi asked me if I wanted to go to the end of the lake with him later, but first we had to quickly go to the neighbor's. We helped with some things there and then Fathi told me that we wanted to go to the end of the lake to look for possible bald eagles. The neighbor's stories were not very reassuring about the lake :D During lunch, I became aware again of how careful we should be here, because Jenny wasn't 100 percent thrilled that the neighbor now knew about our plans, because he could pass it on and then other people might think that there are currently wild animals (to shoot) there, since we went there. On the other hand, I also thought that the quad tracks are not inconspicuous and can be easily followed. Then we talked about safety again, since it was the first trip of the winter season and then we were off. Each of us on our quad and Fathi drove ahead. After a few minutes, we met another neighbor who skis along the lake every day and he said that the lake is even safe right in the middle. Of course, we didn't drive directly across the middle, but for Fathi, the neighbor's statement was a reason to drive a little further away (& faster) from the shore. It wasn't far, but it was my first time driving a quad on a frozen lake and I had no idea how deep the lake was at those spots, so 20 meters from the shore was already far. In addition, I had to always stay close to Fathi and sometimes he drove faster and I had to catch up. And a little guessing game: What is louder than a quad engine?

1. The ice cracking under your wheels
2. Me, crying because it's so cold
3. Me, singing to distract myself from the cold
4. Howling of a wolf

AAANNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNDDDDDDDDDD - The correct answer is .... 1. You can't imagine these sounds, it's so loud. You know for sure that the edge of the lake is completely frozen - I mean, when I arrived, it was minus 40 degrees and today was probably the first time that it reached zero degrees, so the first centimeters are frozen, but that doesn't change the fact that I was sitting on the quad the whole time and thinking: FFFFFFUUUUUCCCCKKK! The sound is impressive in a way, as it feels like it goes all over the lake, but on the other hand, I also thought, if I break through now....phew....But no one really broke through and so the ice is probably safe. Answer B would have been almost correct too. On Sunday it was minus ten degrees, but with the wind chill it felt like minus 30 degrees. The problem is, on the one hand, that your hands "die" because they are not protected from the wind, and on the other hand, you should wear glasses, because it was snowing heavily that day and you couldn't see much (because of the snow + wind) . But of course, you also want to protect your face from the cold and now all glasses wearers probably know the problem, when you wear a mask + glasses and the glasses immediately fog up. I had this problem now on the quad. So either no glasses, but then snow flying into my face all the time, or with glasses, but then constantly having a fogged view. In the end, it was a 50/50 thing and my nose was mostly free....and also frozen.

This lake is only 15 kilometers long (probably in the category of "pond" here) and we shouldn't drive the quad too fast, so such a trip takes between 45 - 60 minutes. After that, you're done. We then briefly checked the situation, as there is also a suite and a spot for photographers (unfortunately didn't see anything) and then we went back, this time with darkness setting in and we arrived deep in the dark. On the way back, Fathi discovered some big tracks, but we both weren't sure. Well, I wasn't 100 percent sure. You can show me a track of a wolf, a coyote or our dog - all the same to me :D We eventually arrived back in the dark and after a hot shower we sat down for a cozy glass of wine in the living room, because it was Dave's birthday and he invited all the male neighbors, which are a total of three. So we sat together in a social gathering and then suddenly, half past six, boom everyone was leaving. Jenny then came up to me and explained that I should drive this path (over the lake) alone in the near future, as it will be my future commute to work and I should get used to the sound of the cracking ice. When the workshop starts, I have to drive the photographers + all their equipment to the end of the lake. That's just about two hours each time I have to drive over the lake at minus 20 - 30 degrees (probably feels like minus 50 degrees Celsius). She also explained to me that it will be completely normal for a wolf or another wild animal to suddenly appear next to me. Of course, I thought to myself, that's completely normal, who doesn't know such situations. I'm definitely curious to see how these trips will be. On Monday, Fathi and I went to Tatla Lake. It's not even a village, it's just about five houses, that's it. We then drove to the dump and I was really shocked. You drive onto the site and then there are different piles for metal, wood, and car tires on the right side. On the left side, there was a container where things can be put in for giving away, and anything else that doesn't fit into these different places is simply thrown into a hole. They have a large pit there and everything goes into it. I was really shocked. Here, in this almost untouched nature that is simply breathtaking, the people living here thoughtlessly throw their trash into nature - what a disgrace.

Other than that, the house construction is progressing steadily, but the weather this week has been really crappy. Deep clouds hung over us all the time, sometimes bringing windy snowfall. I haven't seen the sun for the first few days and in addition to this really depressing weather mood, there were also thousands of tasks from Jenny. The other day, I finally explained to her why I want a clean workplace and why I want to put the saw somewhere else. Because I have slipped on wood so often that was covered by snow or hit the cable when I wanted to remove the snow, because I couldn't guess the cable was there. On Wednesday, Jenny had three more tasks for me at once, and then I also told her that it was just too much for me. Sometimes she shouts out numbers and thinks that I immediately understood everything perfectly, but no....because most of the time I'm working on another task and not listening to her, because she's also thinking out loud all the time. I know, this is complaining at a high level, but I just wanted to show you that not everything is perfect here, but I'm still doing well. Sometimes it really makes my fingers itch, but Jenny prefers to find her own solutions. On Wednesday, we had to determine an angle (for the roof structure) and we had two sides and a right angle and ahhh, I kept thinking all the time, just calculate it (tangent angle = opposite side/hypotenuse), but no, she wanted to figure it out by trial and error. In the end, all this was not necessary at all and she found another solution.

From December 13th to 15th, the Geminid meteor shower was visible, which meant up to 150 shooting stars per hour. The starry sky hasn't convinced me here yet. The first few nights it was minus 40 degrees, so I certainly didn't go out, then there was a full moon that was so bright that it was like daytime, and then just clouds. On the first night (December 13th - 14th), I looked outside around 8 pm and there were clouds again, but on the right, there was a small hole in the clouds and you could imagine what was behind the clouds. So I waited until 10 pm and just at that moment, when I went out, closed the door, and looked to the right ZAP, I saw my first shooting star and one second later, I saw the starry sky here for the first time and I had to sit down first. Wow, so cool! I sat there for 30 minutes and within that time 16 shooting stars passed by, but I didn't even have to make a wish, because in that moment I had everything to be perfectly happy. On the second night, I was equipped with tea, but after an hour and ten shooting stars, the cold forced me back into the house. However, there was also a very thin layer of clouds, so I couldn't see the stars very clearly anyway. The peak of the meteor shower was around 2 am and actually, I'm someone who likes to get up for it, to contemplate the fascination of these stars, but I really need my sleep here. In the evening, you're very exhausted and the muscles...well, first I had muscle soreness in my left elbow, if that's even possible, at least it really hurt, and for several days now my back has been a nightmare. Continuous muscle soreness, it's really uncomfortable and not conducive during work.

Since Thursday, the sun has actually come out again and the temperatures have reached zero degrees. These snow-covered mountains with the sunlight and the clouds drifting through the trees....amazing. Just beautiful. The dogs immediately took advantage of the weather and didn't come back on their walk, in the evening we were called and told that they had been found at the dump (which I mentioned at the beginning). That's simply 15 kilometers and the dogs would have had to walk back again. Dave picked them up then. These dogs - they always make your heart beat fast.

Today, Friday, Jenny was in town, so she had to let us know in the morning what the tasks for the day are, and that was also pleasant. Perfect sunny weather and just a strict schedule. That was very pleasant, although the task was a horror at times, because the support pillars for the house have to go between three and four feet (about 90 - 120 cm) into the ground....these holes are made by hand here. In the morning, we started a fire in each hole to thaw the soil a bit, and then it was time to bang with the hammer and remove the loose soil. After three hours, you're just dead and can't feel your forearms or shoulders anymore. I don't even want to know what muscle soreness I'll wake up with tomorrow. However, I hope the sun will continue to shine now, because that makes work much more pleasant and next week it's supposed to be minus 30 degrees again.

Other than that, the coyotes continue to roam happily across the lake. Just today, three coyotes were running across the lake and playing, and you can see again that they are also very social animals and (probably) only attack in extreme emergency situations.

But that's it for now.

Until then.

Samuel