CONCRETE AND DECK WORK

 POST # 696

Before we come to the story regarding Canadian donuts, let me spend a little bit of time talking about the deck work that has now been completed. (Well, almost completed, as I have a few touch ups that I will finish later today.)

This happened to be round number two regarding the deck. The first time that I completed this task was way back in April, 2021.  Here is a link to that blog post. https://wherespaulnow.blogspot.com/search?q=deck+work+done

I am amazed that just over five years have gone by since that first staining of the deck.  The older I get, the faster the years fly by, which is all the more reason to try and get as much out of each day as possible.

The photos show the before and after look, and if I don't mind saying so myself, I think it looks pretty darn good once again.  It had a double coat this time, so perhaps it will last longer than five more years.  Even Dora-dog has approved of the new look, as she inspects my finished work.

Okay, that's enough talk about the deck.  Now let's talk about Concrete with a capital C.

Approximately an hour's drive east of here is the small town of Concrete, WA.  I have been there on a few occasions over the years, and I just have to say that there is a pizza place there, that sells the very best pizza that I have ever tasted.  But this story isn't about pizza.

When I take my daily walk with Dora-dog, we always pass by the post office in town, and in front of it, there is a newspaper stand, that holds issues of the Concrete Herald.  Recently, the cover attracted my attention, so I grabbed a copy and brought it home to read.

There were numerous interesting articles to read, and near the end of the paper I came across the only obituary printed in that particular edition.  I decided to read about Carmal Ann Arnold.  Imagine my surprise, when I read about all of the places that she had lived throughout her life.  The place that caught my attention was the town of Canadian,Texas.  What?  There is actually a town in the USA called Canadian?  Turns out to be the case.  Here is a link to Canadian's website for anyone who is interested. https://www.canadiantx.com/live-in-canadian  The photo at the beginning of today's blog post is of the donut shop in Canadian.

After being a Canadian for over 71 years now, I had never heard of the place.  And I bet that I could do a survey of 100 Canadians, and not even one would know that there is such a place.  It was worth picking up the copy of the Concrete Herald, just to learn that fact.

I guess that is enough rambling for today.  It's going to be a beautiful day by the looks of it, and Dora-dog will be sporting a new look on our walk, because later this morning, she will be getting her Spring haircut, just in time for the warmer weather.

grateful for every breath,

Paul

The Thoughtful Wanderer

DECK WORK DONE

 POST # 450

A nice stretch of sunny weather allowed me to finally get outside and re-stain Mary's deck.  As it is with many projects, it's the prep work that takes most of the time.  Yesterday was the day to finish off with the staining.  Mary found a video online that showed a person doing this job with a brush.  It's not the tool that I would have thought of, but it worked like a charm.  It's a large deck, and it only took a little less than two and a half hours to complete the job.

Of course, Dora-dog was somewhat perplexed with the fact that she wasn't allowed to run around the backyard yesterday, but as of today, things are back to normal, and she can come and go as she pleases.

What I thought was going to be a lengthy task, turned out to be quite easy after all.  Naturally, I am happy to help out in any way that I can.  I enjoyed the work, and I think Mary is glad that this is one more project that she can tick off of her "to do" list.

grateful for every breath,

Paul

The Thoughtful Wanderer

THE WEEK THAT WAS

 POST # 610

While we were away in Spokane, some of the local deer population has decided to hang out under Mary's cedar tree, in order to stay out of the heat.  There have been up to three of them there at the same time, and we have a good viewpoint from the kitchen window.  Dora-dog would just love to get out there and chase as many deer as possible, but with the road right behind the tree, it would not be a wise decision to let her loose.  

Having been away for a while, there were plenty of projects to do around the house.  My week started with the pruning of a tree out front.  It now looks much tidier since I began chopping the branches from it.  Dora-dog is keeping a watchful eye on my work, just to make sure that it's up to her standards.

From tree pruning to awning washing, the work projects continued.  There are a total of four awnings such as this one, and they certainly needed a scrub down.  They look so much better now that the job is complete.

Taking a break in the work schedule, we headed out to visit Mary's son Ben on his property, which is about an hour's drive from here in Shelter Bay.  He had recently arrived back from Hawaii with his girlfriend Simone, and it was nice to spend some time out there for a visit.  

Back home there was another project to do, which was to replace a rotting board on the deck.  The job took way longer than I had anticipated, due to the fact that all of the screws attaching the board to the deck, were completely rusted.  Eventually, I had to resort to using a saw to cut the board away from the deck, and replace it with a new board.  Thankfully, Dora-dog was there to help me out, and keep an eye on things to make sure that the job was done correctly.

And that pretty well sums up the week that was.  As I type these words, the deer is back again under the cedar tree out front.  It seems to have decided to make this spot its new home.

grateful for every breath,

Paul

The Thoughtful Wanderer

THE TILE TASK

 POST # 453

While Dora-dog relaxes in the shade, contemplating her next adventure, The Thoughtful Wanderer continues to try and keep himself occupied by doing little projects.  The most recent one was to place some tiles in front of the shed. 

The task took longer than I had anticipated, as it was a tricky affair trying to get the tiles level.  However, after lots of puttzing around, I was happy with the result.  The object of the exercise was to offer Dora-dog a more comfortable place to relax, instead of having to do this on a gravel surface.  Of course, now that the work has been completed, she hasn't bothered to test out the new arrangement.  Go figure.  She seems to have come to the conclusion that the newly stained deck is a preferable option. I bet that if I now removed the tiles, she'd be right back there in front of the shed.  You can't please all of the boneheads all of the time.

After the work was done, it was time to head back inside and relax.  Dora-dog came alongside, and gave me this look.

What was she trying to convey to me through those eyes?  Perhaps she was thinking that I had worked too hard on the tiles.  Then, as if to confirm this prognosis, she decided to spend a few moments licking my wounds.

No doubt there will be more projects to tackle while I am still here.  I am more than happy to help out.  It's the least I can do.  

grateful for every breath,

Paul

The Thoughtful Wanderer

Eunice's Point Of View

 POST # 552

Finally, she's back home.  Don't get me wrong.  This human that has been taking care of me has done a pretty good job up to now.  Mind you, he is a bit difficult to train.  After a few days, I had him following the rules (my rules), and from that point on, things have run rather smoothly.  But now that she's back, I can relax.  It's hard work training humans, some more than others.

The other day, I decided to play a joke on him.  We had just returned from our morning stroll, and like every other day, he unleashed me just prior to climbing up the back stairs.  Normally, I would follow him but this time I decided to walk around the back of the house.  When he got up on the deck, he looked down, and called my name, but I continued my journey to the side of the house.  I knew that he would come back down the stairs to get me, and when I heard him walking downstairs, I quickly ran around the front of the house to the other side.  I'm sure he must have panicked for a few moments, when he couldn't find me.  What he didn't know, was that I had climbed up the stairs when he wasn't looking, and by the time he returned, there I was.  He looked very relieved to see me on the deck.  I had a good chuckle about that.  It's good fun to play tricks on house sitters.  It lets them know who is really in control.

But soon he will be on his way, to where I don't know, and if he does come back at some future date, I'll probably have to re-train him yet again.  In the meantime, I'm very happy that my owner is back home.  I trained her a long, long time ago, so I can just relax and enjoy my day.

faithfully yours,

Eunice (aka Her Highness)

 That's Eunice's point of view.

Thanks Eunice.

grateful for every breath,

Paul

The Thoughtful Wanderer

FULL DISCLOSURE

POST # 426

 

MAIZIE (LEFT), OZ (TOP) & DASH (RIGHT)

 O.K.  Full disclosure about being alone here,  which I wrote about last week.  It is true that I am the only human animal on this property, however I am not the ONLY animal.

I have these three wonderful boneheads to keep me company each and every day.  They are very low maintenance, so my duties are light.

Oz is the oldest, and he's the boss.  Dash is the lead "squirreler", and she was also the first one to come over and hang out with me at the other cabin, soon after I arrived.  And Maizie, well she just seems to be happy to go along with whatever the other two are up to at any given moment.  They are all unique, and they are all a joy to be around each and every day.

A typical day for the four of us usually begins around 8a.m., although I'm quite sure that they would be happy to sleep in even later than that.  Once they're fed, it's time to head outdoors, so that they can relieve themselves, and at the same time, sniff around for any new squirrels.  If there is such a place as dog heaven, this must be the place.

While they're outside, I get coffee going, and then join them outside for a stroll around the property.  The temperature has now dropped, and we were walking around in the snow this morning.  With the cooler temperature, Oz doesn't like to be out there too long, so I return to the cabin with him and let the other two head off on their morning squirrel hunt.  Of course, they are never successful, in spite of all of their barking.  The chosen squirrel sits up in the tree, looking down in amusement at the critters below.

There always seems to be some little project outside to keep me entertained for a while, even if it is only the daily task of splitting more wood for the stove.  It's something that I really enjoy doing, so I don't consider it work.

When the sun is shining, I make the journey to the solar panel, and rotate it in order to get the maximum charge for the batteries which supply my power.  When it's not shining, then I fire up the generator to accomplish the same task.  Lately, it's been more generator than solar panel. And soon I will lose additional solar energy, even on sunny days because there is a hill immediately south of the property that will block the sun from even reaching the solar panel.  Instant power whenever we want it, is a luxury that most take for granted in our modern world.  Out here, I am very frugal with the amount of power that I use.

The days are just flying by, and maybe it's because I have so much fun with the boneheads, or maybe it's because I am at 64+ degrees North latitude, and the days are getting rather short at this time of year.  All the more reason to appreciate each day as it presents itself.

The evening arrives, and it's doggie dinner time, and then human dinner time.  The poor things are tuckered out from all of the squirrel chasing, so it's time to relax. Their day is done.

Oz and Dash will remain camped out on the couch, but Maizie will soon find it too hot in the house, and she will retire to the deck outside.  With the boneheads settled for the evening, the human can now relax, do some reading, check the fire one last time, and then head upstairs to bed.  

Another day spent.  Another day enjoyed.  Another precious day.

Oz, being the boss, gets the final say for today.

SNORING OZ
 

grateful for every breath,

Paul

The Thoughtful Wanderer

PS: I fixed the glitch with the new version of blogger, so everything is back to normal.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

MORE FROM TUMBALALA AND THOUGHTS ABOUT NEPAL

POST # 165

Last week I headed out for a drive from the property onto this country road which is east of my location. I was just past where the shadow on the road is (on the curved end of the road), when out of the blue, a truck came flying around the bend heading straight for me, and he was on my side of the road.  He must have been going at least 80kph or more, and thankfully I had only just started out so I wasn't going very fast.  He made a desperate swerve over to the left, where he should have been in the first place, and we passed each other unharmed.  However, if I would have left the property even 30 seconds earlier, I think that there would have been a head on collision.  As I've said many times, you never know when you get up in the morning, whether or not you'll be going to bed that night.  Anyhow, it made for an exciting start to the day, and there was no harm done.  As the driver of the other vehicle went by me, he seemed to have a sneer on his face which made me think that he was annoyed that I had interrupted his normal race track style of driving on this road.  Or perhaps, maybe he'll think twice the next time, before he goes screaming around that bend in such a hurry on the wrong side of the road.

Moving right along. Time for a few more views around Tumbalala.

I just love the green colour of the ground cover around the property.

Now here is an interesting photo.  This is a huge rock in the creek behind where I am located, and the unusual thing about it, is the old log perched near the top right. I can only assume that at one time in the past, the water in the creek rose to such an extent, that this log was deposited there.  If that was the case, it would have been something to see at the time. There would have been plenty of water here on the property as a result of the flood. (Note: I have left this photo large, so that the log can be seen easily.)

And next, we have a view from the back deck overlooking the chook yard.  This is a great place to spend time in the late afternoon, which is when this photo was taken.

Now here is a rather unusual rock/tree formation, and that's all I'll say.  I leave it to the reader's imagination as to what this might remind them of.

The lighting in late afternoon is always so wonderful, and it encourages me to try and capture what it looks like on the gum trees and rocks.

In the next photo, Tumble the cat captures perfectly, the mood around here, in other words, it's VERY, VERY relaxed.

From day one of my arrival, Ali the dog showed me her favourite ball to play with and so the two of us have managed to play ball multiple times each day.  I have found a good stick to hit the ball with, which is better than just kicking it, because it travels a lot farther, and Ali gets a better work out, as do I.  However, the poor ball has taken quite a beating, and even though it doesn't much resemble a soccer ball any longer, in it's current form, it's easier to send it flying into the air, and Ali doesn't seem to notice, that her ball isn't very round anymore.

Here is Ali, all set to play with what's left of her ball.

Today I have three short videos to share as well.  This first one is of Ali, after we've had another game of ball.

Next up, as I was walking down the road yesterday, I noticed this little spider trying it's best to get from one side of the road to the other.

And finally, one more video.  A small creature was wandering across the computer screen last night while I was on the NBL website.  Well, at least, some creatures are interested in finding out what's really going on.

That pretty well covers things for this week at Tumbalala, but I didn't want to end this post without sparing a thought for all of those people in Nepal right at the moment who are suffering through the effects of a 7.9 earthquake.  Having spent time in Kathmandu and the surrounding area back in 1980, I feel a connection to the people there, who are some of the poorest, yet most generous people I have ever had the opportunity to meet.  They must be going through a very rough time at the moment.  Of course, the media focus here is on the westerners who are in Nepal, however, they have the ability to leave.  Unfortunately for most of the locals, there is nowhere else to go.  Very sad indeed.


Soon, my time here at Tumbalala will be coming to a close, and I will once again be wandering to the next place.  I may or may not have computer access for a blog post on May 7th, but time will tell.  However, I certainly will be writing again on May 14th, with more news to share.

In the meantime,

Happy trails,

Paul
The Thoughtful Wanderer