J's Journal

Where did the time go, spring is almost here. Soon it will be time to get out into the yard and clean up winter’s mess. Before that happens we will have to update our winter’s progress.

The end of the week was wet. We had so much rain that all soil on the property became saturated. And it seems we probably do not have weeping tile surrounding the foundation of the house. And the soil is still not properly graded such that surface water would flow easily away from the house.

And so water began to seep upwards through the basement floor. We had several days worth of water streaming up through and across the floor towards the drain and into the sump pit where it gets pumped out via the sump pump.

And my sister coming to visit for the weekend. The universe displays a delightful sense of humour.

But as of yesterday morning we are back to relatively dry conditions except for the lingering dampness in the air and that pungent odour one finds after a minor flood.

And then we had the chimney inspected and cleaned and all is well.

We lit our very first fire last night. The fireplace is situated in the basement and now the humidity level has decreased down there with last night’s fire. Just the thing that’s needed after that flood. Now all we could want further is a proper set of comfy chairs, a reading lamp or two, and a fine bottle of scotch whiskey.

Already Godot has found his spot in front of the fireplace.

Jeepers. It’s autumn already. I’m so sad to see the tail end of gardening season. Luckily, we have a minor forest of houseplants and others that we’ve potted up with the goal of wintering them over where we’re all snug and warm. I’ve gotta say all that greenery crowded around the windows lends a cheery vibe to the space, despite the increasing grey-ity of the great outdoors.

We’ve put up several bird feeders, and with yesterday’s brief snow the birds have revealed their greed. Lots of hairy and downy woodpeckers (my favourite!), and nuthatches. We started out with a solitary blue jay, and were surprised by his lack of social skills, but yesterday he pulled two friends out of somewhere so now we’ve got three.

And now our attention shifts to the indoors with thoughts of paint and flooring and sealing up the cracks to stem the flow of mice seeking shelter. We’ve caught 4 so far – 3 in one night. They’re unwitting participants in our “catch and release out into the cold distant woods” program. Let’s hope they’re wily enough to find shelter in a hurry—it’s getting a might cold these days!

Good god almighty what do they do to make the coffee taste this bad?

Ooo sorry! Yep, I’m still here. Or rather I’m now there. Or whatever. It doesn’t matter. The point is, I am—therefore, I think.

So yes, I have a house now. And a giant yard. A very very big giant yard with branches and leaves and trees and dandelions and a giant pile of rubbish ripe for a burn permit. And so forth. And a rickety deck and so much more and that’s just on the outside of the house. Oh it’s all very bewildering what with the dripping eaves and the wild creatures.

And I still have an apartment too.

Yes, I have a house and I don’t sleep there because I have an apartment in the city with a cat and a bed and pretty much everything else because in the country I have a big house and a garden that was neglected. And there’s dog hair and thistles everywhere and not a plumber in sight!

And I’m tired so bloody tired. But I have a super ultra cool lawn tractor and that’s so much fun. And a wheelbarrow built in the dark of night.

When are you coming to visit? I’ll try to finish moving by then.