Men At Work

It’s been a very busy spring & summer at my house. Men have been here doing work of one type or another pretty consistently.

After living with a not-so-prolific spring as my water source for 23 years, I decided to have a well dug. This meant big, heavy equipment making lots of noise in my yard for a few days.

Sometimes in the rain, which didn’t stop the drilling.

Given how dry this summer has been, I don’t think I got this job done a minute too soon.

To pay for part of the well, I worked with my friendly forest management guy, and we decided that this was the year to harvest my dozens of large ash trees. The emerald ash borer stopped the movement of firewood a few years ago, and it’s possible that you won’t be able to transport logs by next spring, so the time to get these trees is now. Hauling lots of logs out of the woods isn’t easy for either the machine or the operator. When the skidder has seen as many miles as this one, repairs are common. And when the sun’s blazing, working in the shade is a definite improvement, even if it’s just a large umbrella hooked to saw horses making the shade.

Meanwhile I found someone to do a job that’s been waiting for over 20 years — insulating and finishing the outside walls of the exposed parts of my basement. Not being too hung up on cosmetic issues, my primary motivation is keeping my basement cool in the summer and warm in the winter, instead of its current reverse operation. I’m sure this job WILL look great when it’s done, just to be icing on the cake.

Then yesterday I got to spend the day with a little man who was very busy indeed.

Walking is very tricky, but these woodpeckers make it really easy. He can almost run!

Making motor noises with your mouth clearly helps things move along better.

I have no idea how someone this small learned how to turn the birds when he came to the end of the road, but he did it well. Pull back, turn the front end, repeat until the path ahead is clear.

As if all that outdoor deck walking wasn’t enough, when we went back inside he had to climb Mt. Woodrow to reach Mom. Twice. Butt bumping down the stairs with Dad was a lot of fun, too.

And me? What have I been doing while all those males are working? In addition to weaving daily (more weaving than I’ve photographed & posted), last night when the little guy was in bed & Mom & Dad enjoyed a night out, I cut pillowcases for 71 bags. I got 30 sewn last night, came home this morning and sewed the remaining 41. Threw them in the washer, and hung them on the line.

After they’re dry I still have to thread each with grosgrain ribbon and my Second Wind Weaving tag before they’re ready for the next show. Although it’s a bunch of work to make them, most of my customers comment on them giving me pretty constant positive reinforcement to keep doing it.

I do find it interesting that a fair amount of people want to look at all the bags and pick out ‘the perfect one’ for their scarf.

Your turn: So what’s been happening at your end?