#54 Summery Autumn

whoo,

For my loyal listeners, who probably don't exist, there's nothing for the ears this time, as it's clearly too stormy outside and my cabin isn't the quietest either. 😅

Another week is over. Suddenly time flies like crazy here, and I don't have that much to report.

The week started with a long weekend. The first Monday in September is “Labor Day” here, which used to be used (still today, but to a much lesser extent) as a demonstration day to raise awareness of labor rights and to improve working conditions and pay. Nowadays it's used more as a last chance for summer, as this weekend also marks the end of summer vacation (in BC).

Since neither Christmas nor Easter is celebrated here, I didn't have that day off, of course. 😂 This is how I wanted to set up the additional supports for the later propane fireplace. This meant digging holes again, aligning cement block and sawing the wood to size. Sawing the wood is so tiring because the boards to be supported are not all perfectly aligned and therefore each supporting wood would have to be a different height. Then it can happen that one support pillar suddenly pushes the wood up, meaning that the other pillar is no longer big enough... blablabla... But what's also annoying is aligning the cement blocks. The block that had just been inserted was only slightly crooked. In such cases, I "stomp" the side that's too high into the ground a couple of times and then it's level. That's what I wanted to do this time too, and about three thrusts would have been necessary. So I grabbed the cement block and wanted to push the corner into the ground with some force and BAM! I didn't see the stone so I squeezed my finger between the stone and the cement block with a fair amount of force. I didn't know if the guests had already left so I didn't want to shout out loud but I am with a very loud MHHHHH!!!! AHHHHH!!!! 🤬Walked a few meters. Within those few seconds, my finger swelled up super fast and was really soft. I haven't had anything like that before either. Because I felt good pressure under my skin when I used my finger, I took a break for half an hour. To be on the safe side, Jenny then sent me to Peter, who is a former doctor. He just said that it could get a little thicker and that I shouldn't move him that much now, so nothing bad. However, I didn't assume that anyway. However, the pressure didn't ease much, so I told Jenny that I wouldn't be working that day anymore and so I still had a kind of long weekend. 😅

However, the first few days of the week were spent in bed because the weather was uninviting. Either the sky was covered in smoke or clouds. Due to the lack of sun, it only gets around 15 °C, which is really cool with the wind. I was a little lucky on Tuesday when the sun came out after the rain and a complete rainbow appeared in front of me. I love the contrast between the dark rain clouds and the illuminated objects in the foreground.

On Wednesday I actually wanted to finish my next little project. Since one room (where the future bedroom is) was dug too deep and most of the customers are older, Jenny wanted a ramp so that no one falls or has problems with the step. This project was interrupted because the dogs were over two miles away and I was supposed to collect them. Just as I turned into the forest with the quad and looked ahead, I thought to myself: Oh, trooper, that was quick. However, my opinion changed just as quickly when I saw that it was a black bear. 🐻😍 He ran and climbed a little over a large stone about 20 meters away from me. I love watching these animals. However, I would also like to point out that I am still extremely tense every time. Because in the first few seconds it will be decided how the situation will turn out, depending on how the bear reacts. But since the few bears that were a little closer to me so far all continued to walk/react in a very relaxed manner, I was also able to observe this bear briefly before I continued on. Then the hike started. In addition to a lot of moose droppings and a little bear droppings, I also found (I think) coyote tracks. However, the GPS device consistently showed me a distance of three kilometers, which was simply not possible because I had already been hiking for a very long time. At some point I wanted to turn around and then saw that the distance was getting smaller. After what felt like another kilometer I saw the two bullies swimming in the lake and then we drove back together. I'll put it this way, getting paid for a seven kilometer hike isn't the worst thing either. 😂

The ramp is now finished and Jenny is completely enthusiastic, only a small handrail still has to be built. The trick is actually that it only has to look good from the outside and it can look shit underneath because nobody can see it anymore. 😅 Always works really well here. 😅😋

After this ramp I was allowed to devote myself to my favorite project. The (unnecessary in my opinion) terrace. This "construction site" had to rest because we had a wasp's nest there. Already a few meters away from the wasp nest, the wasps noticed that I was hacking into the ground and came out in a smaller group with each blow and then when I paused, they flew back again. Of course I didn't want to work there because I didn't want to get bitten.

Jenny then decided that the wasps had to go. I'll put it this way, when Jenny used the spray, it was just really entertaining for me. Watching her run away from the aggressive wasps and fight them tooth and nail. It was really pure entertainment.

However, Jenny understands "expelling" as the agonizing poisoning. This spray has poisoned a large part of the wasp colony in a few minutes. But even on Thursday, three days before I removed the wasp nest, there were still wasps moving back and forth in a painful manner. Oh I don't know, I'm always incredibly sorry for something like that. In addition, because wasps are also extremely valuable and they are still very active here with the bees flying off the last flowers. A buzzing conversation at work that's now shrunk by an entire people. There could have been better options...

But I'm spending my time there again. It's amazing how deep I have to dig on one side as the ground is sloping. The biggest difference between the wooden board and the layer of earth is more than 70 centimetres. I have no idea how she's going to cope with this. On top of that, Jenny then told me that she wanted a board every 14.5 inches there as well. I was hoping that this deck wouldn't need to be built entirely to building standards as everything is right on the ground, but false hope. So now I just have to dig up this whole huge earth filled with fucking rocks. I wore work gloves for the winter one day, and when they were soaked with sweat, I continued to work without them. Meanwhile, I noticed that blisters were starting to form on my left hand and I thought to myself that I could do about ten more strokes before I should stop. This would also have fitted, since it was just before I finished work. When I lunged for the next blow and struck, I literally felt my right hand suddenly pop and I had a nice open blister there. It had formed and filled so quickly that I didn't even notice and then it was already open.

Unfortunately, this minimal opening was torn open even further when the horse fence was being repaired. This was necessary because Kingsley jumped out again and we had to fix the fence quickly before Jenny brought him back. Jenny then said that she wanted to give me horse lessons and no thanks. I don't like horses and I just don't want to. I didn't do anything and still felt extremely uncomfortable. I don't have a problem with them if they're both behind the fence, but I don't have to be without them.

That was actually it. The digging of the hole will probably cost me at least the next week.

Otherwise everything is basically the same. In the morning I always have to set up all the mouse traps again and hope that no guest has seen one 😅 and in the evening I try to be at the lake as often as possible. Since I'll only have this view until November at the latest and it's getting colder here too, I'll just take advantage of it. Sometimes I do two laps in the kayak in one day, which is understandable given the color and clarity of the water. ❤️😍

I had a very sweet animal encounter this Sunday. As I was standing outside, a chipmunk suddenly ran past me and then it ran over my foot. A chipmunk has never been this close to me, I should have caught it straight away. 😅 After all, my beard offers the ideal habitat for these cute little animals. 😂 I actually wanted to paddle the kayak to the end of the lake this Sunday. A tour lasts about three hours, so I should have been on the road long ago. As it is, the weather can change within a few minutes. While I was just starting to write the first few lines while sweating in the hot sun, I'm now lying in my bed and there's a real wind storm making its rounds outside. Luckily I'm not on the lake right now. It's crazy how quickly the weather can change.

Autumn has now mostly arrived here. Most trees and bushes are starting to change color and the general weather is also more autumnal. So it's mostly cloudy, windy and wet... but only as long as the sun doesn't shine. When we have sunshine, it's almost unbearable and it gets extremely hot, so that we still have temperatures over 30 °C. So it's actually the case that I work in the morning with long underpants and shorts over them, a T-shirt + sweater and winter work gloves because it's just super cold. At the start of my work it is between zero and two degrees Celsius. From around nine o'clock the sun sometimes comes out and from ten o'clock at the latest I only work in flip-flops, shorts and a T-shirt and in the afternoon (when there are no guests 😅) shirtless because you just melt away. These jumps are sometimes annoying because they come so quickly. The other day I was on the lake, there was sun everywhere, only I was under a cloud. Because of a little wind it was incredibly cold in the shade, so I turned around pretty quickly with goosebumps, but as soon as you were in the sun you were just knocked out because it was so hot. The sun is already making a lot of difference here and sometimes still brings extreme summer temperatures as autumn approaches.

Let's see how long the wind will blow around here and what's still to come today.

But one thing is already annoying, the perfect and clear summery view this morning has already been completely replaced. The wind brought not only dark clouds of rain but also reddish clouds of smoke. Unfortunately, the "source" is so close that you can also pass this smoke, which is also annoying.

A summer day can turn into an autumn day so quickly. I think my bed is the safest place today.

Have a nice start into the week.

Until then.

Samuel ✌🏽