
I brought the last load of firewood in on Friday. I’ve lost track of how many loads it’s been, but fewer than normal due to the extra capacity of the truck and the shed is fuller than ever before. Curiously I now have to start splitting right away as the weather is going cold; it’s been well below freezing every night but with daytime highs in the 20s, and those highs are expected to leave this week. Followed by maybe some rain and maybe some snow in time for a significant drop in temperatures. We’ve gotten away with quite an extended Summer this year, albeit not without price: 90% less rainfall than normal in the past three months with resulting environmental stresses including wildfires still burning.
In view of all that I went out Sunday to ‘close up’. This is a significant procedure as I have to remember to bring back anything that won’t survive months of freezing, and close down all the systems including draining water lines and putting antifreeze in plumbing traps. It takes a little over an hour to get there, another such time period to return (with a side trip to dispose of garbage), and to do all the stuff in between a couple more. Makes for an intense day to say the least.
I brought two cameras with me on this last trip; the venerable Nikon (which operates at about 90% failure rate these days) and the Canon 1Ds. I took no pictures (the image is from the prior trip). There just wasn’t anything to photograph. We’re at that dull time where Autumn has done its thing and Winter waits in the wing. The wildlife has scurried to dens or warmer climates and nothing much going on. I did see a party of hunters along the way, with nearly a dozen trucks and trailers and ATVs all getting ready for their big adventure. Too bad they set out too late in the day and too late in the season. Only four remained at the spot on my return trip. I could tell them a lot about what they’re doing wrong, but I’m not going to. Hunting has become a very foolish ‘sport’ which bears little resemblance to the actual practice. So if all the animals want to hide out at my place, that’s fine by me.
Now it’s time to gear up for the next adventure of sending the Mrs. off to England to look after her sister for what may be the last time. It is not a good situation, but we are determined that she will have as good of final years as is possible for what little time she has left.
Bonus (short) videos from the photographer who doesn’t do video:
I’ll be doing more regular photography as soon as I see something to take a picture of.