Saturday I started with putting insulation in the floor beneath the cabin and taping the cut plastic of the parts that I sprayed before. I only have a quart of the cabin left to do, but when I wanted to finish it, I noticed that the last two packages of insulation got wet. Not sure how that happened but I unpacked the pieces and laid them out to dry in the garage.
Sunday I went to the well to get water and on my second trip I met Donnie, the caretaker of the well. While I was filling up the bottles I had a great talk with him. He is as friendly as his son, who I met before. The young hunter. He also showed me the list with names inside the well building of people who are a member of the well. So sometime next week or the week after, there was no rush he said, I will go over to his place and give my contribution of hundred dollar to become a member of this well. This money is like a donation and I can get my water the rest of my life for that. It’s very clean water, tested and safe to drink. I think that is a great deal. I thought it would be much more, but because I don’t get much water, just filling up bottles and not huge water tanks, he said hundred dollars would be fine. Isn’t that wonderful?
I took some time to do some training with my horses in the arena this past week. I worked on Flicka’s impulsion and on Freya to not panic when I start to run. I worked with both at the same time again. They did so wonderful! At first Freya didn’t get it, when I started to run and just stared surprised at me, like WHAT are you DOING?? Where is the fire??? Hahaha! Flicka followed me right away in a nice fast trot, and then Freya decided to follow in trot too. Perfect! I could click and treat them both at the same time but for different things. Flicka for showing impulsion with her faster trot and Freya for not freaking out because I started to run. It was so much fun! I also put down some poles to let them trot over it. Then they both spooked from something in the woods. My cats. LOL So I called the cats in the arena and the horses were fine when they saw it wasn’t a big monster trying to eat them. Hahaha! After we were done, I let them graze for a bit in the arena before I let them back in the pasture.
Other days I worked with them on taking a dewormer. It’s something that needs to be done at times and normally it’s not a big deal. But I would love it if I can give them their dewormer at liberty. So I have an empty plastic syringe and let them touch it and click and treat for that. Slowly we got to the point that they will let me put the syringe into the corner of their mouth. Of course Flicka had to bite the thing. Hahaha! So I have to work on this some more with her and she is now at the point she is not grabbing it to bite in it but let me slide it in the corner of her mouth and take it out. Freya was hesitant in the beginning, but soon she got the point and even also tried to bite it and hold it between her teeth. Again, not something I want her to do, so I had to reshape this into holding it gentle in her mouth corner until I take it out. A few more sessions and they should be good for the real stuff. Lucky the real stuff is apple taste so it won’t bother them too much. But it would be so nice to walk into the pasture and just give them their wormer paste and no haltering needed.
Monday was Thanksgiving. I got very early at the acreage and lit up the stove. It was 9 c in the cabin so I wanted to get the cold out. After a small fire and only one refill of wood, it was warmed up enough and I let the fire go out. I spend the morning on cutting more firewood. The insulation I had laid out in the garage was still damp so I couldn’t finish the floor. I wasn’t in the mood to do any indoor work today. The weather was so beautiful that I decided to get more firewood. I went into the woods with my saw and any fallen tree that didn’t feel too heavy, I cut in pieces or dragged it out the woods and cut it in pieces in front of the cabin. My stairs are great to put wood on when sawing. Saves my back! At noon I started to clean up and fed the cats and horses. Then I took carrots, onions, parsnip and potatoes out of the garden for supper. I wanted to make a nice stew. Then I went home to have a nice Thanksgiving dinner with Paul. Which was a great success. :-)
Tuesday I went back to the cabin and stayed until Thursday. The nights are mild and it stayed really warm in the cabin at night. I would get up in the morning and it would still be 15 C. I wouldn’t even lit a fire in the morning. The partial floor insulation really helps a lot to keep the heat in. Late Tuesday evening it was still so nice outside, that the cats didn’t want to stay in the cabin. They stayed outside all night and next day they just slept and slept and slept. Hahaha! Taz and Dizzy are doing their work . They caught 3 mice and one mole the last few days and left them as a present around the cabin.
Scruffy never used the dog house we bought her many years ago. In fact the farm cats took it over from the start. Yesterday I didn’t see Scruffy for a while so I went to look for her around the cabin. And there she was, laying in the dog house! For the first time in 6 years she slept in the dog house. I was very, very surprised. I am not sure why she suddenly decided to use it, but since yesterday she hardly goes around the yard to do her guarding. She barks maybe twice, then goes into the dog house. I wonder. Maybe on one of her guarding walks through the woods she encountered a bear and it scared the heck out of her. It surely looks that something took the fun out of running around the yard and into the woods while barking loud.
I got lots of work done again in the cabin and finally bathroom wall is done and the rest of the walls are covered with osb. It’s maybe not perfect but I’m happy with it. Now it’s only the ceiling of kitchen and living room that has to be covered and the floor. Beside working inside the cabin, I also did some other chores around the yard, worked with the horses and got more water at the well. One time while I was cutting wood, I noticed a Gardner snake in the sand at the side of the cabin. I took some photo’s, and while I was doing that, Dizzy was running playful around me, as was the dog. Neither of them even noticed the snake. LOL But finally Scruffy saw the snake and she was very intrigued by it. She laid down in front of the snake and just stared at it for a long time. Then she got bored and left the snake alone. Dizzy never even saw the snake even though she walked by it a few times. She was very busy trying to catch butterflies. :-)
Wednesday it was a year since Ron’s passing. It feels strange. I can’t believe a whole year went by already. Maybe because I still feel Ron around me all the time. No day goes by without thinking of him. No day goes by without missing him. Paul and I talk about it a lot lately, and we both experience this strange feeling like it all just happened yesterday because we can remember every moment of that last day with Ron. It’s like reliving those moments again. They say that the first year is the hardest. I don’t know about that. I think it will be always hard not having him around me. But maybe the pain of missing will slowly get less in time. Anyway....I had supper with a glass of wine. I raised my glass and said: “ Cheers Sweetie. ”
I’m sure he smiled, from where ever he is.