Another week, another sort of weather. We were both feeling a bit wretched with heavy colds and coughs (Lisa picked up the bug somewhere and eventually passed it on to me). But, let’s not be negative – good things ARE happening.
Driving through the countryside this week in temperatures reaching a balmy 16C, we were surprised and uplifted to see golden clumps of daffodils in front gardens and by the roadside. That makes a major positive difference in comparison to last week’s ice storms. And that made me wonder if Spring can be approaching. There are certainly signs of it, beyond the afore-mentioned daffodils. The weather has been pleasant enough for us to leave open the door onto the back deck to get a bit of fresh air into the house.
All the birds are working very hard at emptying the seed feeder. Well, not quite all the birds. The buzzards and hawks soaring ominously through the blue skies are not interested in seeds, nor do they risk getting caught up in the huge tree branches. And also not all the woodpeckers. We have three species around here. The small downy woodpecker tries to hide behind the wooden post (only and inch and a half wide, but big enough for some cover) supporting the feeder before the popping out to grab a few seeds or a peck at a block of suet. The larger (50% bigger) red-bellied woodpecker with his brilliant red head is equally shy if a little more conspicuous as his weight makes the feeders swing about. But the big boy is the pileated woodpecker, twice as big as the red-bellied. Bird feeders are obviously below his dignity, he just hammers away on the trees with a very loud ringing sound like a lumberjack at work. With his back-combed crest and rather dishevelled feathers, Lisa feels that the pileated woodpecker has an almost prehistoric appearance.
Creatures are also starting to emerge from hibernation. I saw a flying squirrel last night, the first since November. A groundhog was out ferreting along the roadside for bugs, chucking wood and doing all the busy things that groundhogs do. On Saturday I also heard the distant rumble of Harleys emerging from their winter sleep. A pack of 16 came thundering up the local highway – this area is a mecca for motorcyclists, who love to ride their muscle bikes along the winding hilly roads. There is even a church just up the road catering for ‘Riders for Jesus”. Given the ominous number of roadside crosses hereabouts, a fair number of the bikers apparently don’t stick to the road.
In the midst of all this springtime hope, there is one note of caution to be made. Lisa follows on Facebook a meteorologist called Snowbird Bob who regularly posts his predictions based on the same underlying data as everyone else combined with his “European” forecasting models. He seems to be a lot better than most at predicting bad weather a long time in advance – he certainly called Snowpocalypse 1 and 2 this year almost a week before they happened. And he is making long range predictions for trouble at the end of next week!
On the Building Site
Work on framing the house is continuing apace, with the external walls up and the roof structure taking shape. Finally, the decorative trusses for the central part of the building were delivered, though not without drama. The driver of the second truckload carefully followed the route indicated by his GPS, but just before he arrived, he was directed to save a hundred yards by turning up a winding dirt road to cut off a corner. The truck got a couple of hundred yards into the wilderness before becoming jammed at a bend. A distress call to Lisa and I at home with streaming colds and coughs wasn’t much help, but luckily our good neighbour Tom was at the build site to view the arrival of the massive baulks of timber. He sprang to the rescue, drove down to the stalled truck and trailer, help pull the trailer straight and guided the vehicle back to safe tarmac. Milan and the framing crew spent the remainder of the week preparing to install the trusses. First requirement is for the upright posts and then the horizontal beams on which the trusses sit. We lost one day to wet weather and the crew worked on Saturday to ensure that all would be ready when the boom truck arrives on Monday to perform the big lift, raising the trusses into place. Not an easy task, a truss member weighs half a ton or more.
Click here to see more new pictures of the house framework taking shape.
So maybe next we can really get the gigantic roof trusses made for us by Accent Trusses installed – and if that happens the full roof covering cannot be far behind. Fingers tightly crossed – come back soon and find out what progress we have made.