Spring sprung again, this time I have the critters to prove it.

I saw the first black bear of the season today. It was a little one but his coat was nice and healthy and very dark. He was eating grass on the side of the road, he was pretty relaxed and aware that I was there, he made his way through some grass and then went into the timber line. Jonathan called and said there was a weird white duck down at the ball field. It turned out to be four snow geese, 1 male 3 females, passing through on their migration. There were also a bunch of deer (sitka black tail) out too. They're all over the place.

I also found out I am accepted to the Master of Teaching program at U of Alaska and I also heard from my prof from URI. He wanted to know if I still plan on finishing my thesis, but I am pretty sure I missed the deadline on that one. If not I may be able to finish still. I have completed all of the course work, just have to turn in the darn paper.

Appliances

We picked up the appliances from Boyer Barge. A chick named Rainbow runs the forklift there she's cool. When appliances arrive that means things are pretty close to moving in. Hurrah!! Jon drove through camp with a refrigerator in the back of the truck and rounded up Ken, Bear, Kit, Dusty, and Ron to help lift the washer and dryer up on to the loft. Then that night we moved it at least four times and we're still no sure where it will go. I think they just look so new, modern and weird that it is going to take some getting used to. We still need plumbing and a bathroom sink. But first we need more firewood, so that is what we are doing today.





Anyway the tile seems to be curing allright.

Happy Earth Day--After School Trap Line

I went to one of the other schools on Friday which was early day and sunny! Notice the blue skies. Most of the kids went to Craig for an Earth Day Festival, I stayed at the school to work with a few kids on their science fair projects. At the end of the day, one of the kids went to check his trap line as soon as he got home and he got a beaver. He was really excited and showed it to us and the neighbors. He has a few pelts from the winter and is hoping to sell them to tourists in the summer. This reminds me that I need to go visit the new beaver dam I found earlier this spring that I posted about in March.

Spring Sprung then Recoiled

So I was noticing Sunday that spring is really underway, I planted some lettuce, peas and chard according to the moon phase planting chart. This is a new system for me, I need all the help I can get.
There are some berry bushes with their flowers bloomed already. My helebore "Ivory Prince" had a great winter and has so many blooms.

Even the blue plastic collection seems to have grown.





Then on Wednesday we had white out conditions in town. I had to drive the Ecovan over to the school in Thorne Bay that day for a invertebrate education presentation. Normally I like to drive fast, but when I got to the junction I was stuck behind two log trucks doing 25mph. I kept trying to get a good shot of these ones because the one right in front of me was loaded with pecker poles, smaller logs, but the one up in front was loaded with just one huge log, called a pumpkin, that filled the whole bed. Alas, my batteries died out before I could get the shot. The money shot would have been the three of us together: two log trucks followed up by the Ecovan. I love this place, but I think that moon phase guide was printed in California--too early for planting outside still.

Carpet, again.

The carpet got stretched into place, thanks Ron. It looks great, feels good and kitty likes it.

More on the eagle

So a while back I blogged on the eagle. We got a package this week from Jon's accomplises, John and John. Really, they are all named Jon. Anyway, this is a blurry picture of a blurry picture, but you can tell that this is the condition they found the eagle in. The best part is the engraved caption they added:

Tile in the bathroom

The bathroom floor is done too. We got some of this tile from the leftovers from a job Jonathan worked on and some from a neighbor that was going to throw it away, gasp. The shower also came from a plumbing job he did. The owner bought it and when it arrived on the barge they realized they didn't like so we snatched it right up, cha-ching.


I was going to go with just the squares but Jonathan asked for flowers. That is probably the last time that will ever happen. Anyway it is all grouted in now. We used a grout that was colored pewter. Will have to get more shots, or not. We had to keep the fire going for three days to let it cure.

River Rock Entryway

Bear tracks are hard to make out of rock and cement. I had to use my handy Field Guide to Alaskan Wildlife. What luck finding a rock that looks just like the bottom of a bears foot. I should have tried to sell it on eBay. I hear Pope shaped frozen waffles are in high demand these days. This is actually bridge grout, not cement. But I think I already wrote about that. Nice stuff to work with but I have to remember to let it set a few minutes before starting to drop rocks in.


A few flowers got swallowed by the wet grout. These ones seem to stand out okay.


This will be a fine place to take off wet clothes and house break Jonathan.

No Cabinets, Shelves

I love the new shelves. We beach combed the wood and it has some beautiful worm holes along the edge. All of the wood we used here was part our scaffolding during construction.

Jon used some of the left over bamboo to make a counter. That was his first attempt at bending cedar. Very nice. This will be next to the refrigerator. We picked it up from the barge today. He's down there wrestling with it now while I blog :)
Red cedar on the bottom shelf. That brad nailer is his new favorite tool. It uses an air compresser that runs off the generator.
He custom bent each nail to hang the mugs. They are a priority and must be within easy reach. Mom if you are reading this those are the ones you gave us. Martha yes that is the mixer! Amy the canisters go on the counter. Dad those are the lanterns from the barn.

Kicking the carpet and the Annual Beer Hunt

Sunday was another big day. After we did all that cement work on Saturday, we made it to the annual beer hunt. Every year, Danny and Jackie hide lots of beer cans along their boardwalk. They live across the bay so you have to take a boat out there. Or snowmachine. Before we even got to the harbor we hear that Ron had ridden his sled from the harbor to the party but it sank before he could get to land. His wife is going to kill him if doesn't die from hypothermia. On our way back from the beer hunt we notice that the dock is broken in half. Ron must have driven the boom truck down there to get his snowmachine out of Randy's skiff and split the boards and broke the hard wear. Serious damage in one night. I'll be harbor master tomorrow I think. Anyway Jon's dad Bill and Donna came over that night but didn't come to the hunt because they saw Ron on the sled and figured they weren't ready for the festivities, so we stopped by and woke them up after the beer hunt. Then we kept walking and stopped by Becky's late night, to borrow some sunglasses. The next day we were lucky to get anything done. Ron came down and kicked in the carpet in the bedroom. Jon and I got the bathroom ready for tile.

Oh yeah I have to refinish the sink. The list keeps getting longer.

Floors, not that the tar paper was bad.

We have been dedicating all of our attention lately to getting floors in. The bamboo is down and done. On Saturday we put down the entry way floor. Here I am working on a design for the stone for the floor in the entryway/mudroom. I hope the bear paw prints come out ok. They are in the shot below but should look better when it is dry.
Don't do it Kitty. She thought about it for a while but in moment of clarity she just walked across the rocks in stepping stone style. Dolly on the other hand did walk through it but we decided to leave her paw prints in there.It will look much different when it dries, we used a grout that was surplus from a road construction job. They use this stuff to patch bridges and can hold something like 3000 pounds per square inch. I just want to be able to stomp our feet off when we come in.Next is the tile in the bathroom. And kick in the carpets. And another counter. And shelves. And plumbing. And trim. And hooks. And...

This is how the counter came out so far

I love them. It was weird though. We have been planning them so long that when they were in place it just seemed like nothing new. I think we have 18 feet of counter space to work with. The sink is nice, we beach combed it. We bid on a faucet on Ebay since it is a wall mount, its a little hard to find. Hopefully we will win. The center section is big enough to sling a deer up there and piece it up.
We have one more counter to build next to the fridge. Jonathan is going to make it out of the left over bamboo. We ordered our appliances too. That was super scary but I think we did really well. Still I am loosing sleep over it. We have an old fridge and stove but realize with the waterwheel and generator set up they will never have enough power to work. So we ordered a super efficient refrigerator and washer and dryer. We also ordered a propane stove, so we will have to bring in a tank for the propane. Hopefully the supply for this fuel will be available for some time. Gas and diesel supply was spotty this winter. We always have the wood stove though ;) Jon's Mom had to do her laundry by hand on the floathouse when they grew up. Another lady told me how she had just the spot in a river with perfect rocks for doing laundry. All this was just 20 years ago. I don't even want to go there.

He'll never be house broken.

Ok, so we have this beautiful new bamboo floor. Dave and Jonathan and I worked on the floor for hours two weekends ago. The counters had to go in after the floors, I wanted to be careful of this strange store bought floor.So Dave and I chased Jonathan around with a shop vac until we realised we couldn't keep up with him when the chainsaw came out again. I guess this is how plumbers install sinks? Oh yeah and dormers. Oh yeah and the framing. Oh don't forget the ceiling, waterwheel and pantry. Chainsaws for all your building needs.
We have been saving this piece of hemlock for the counter forever. It has been moved and shuffled around so many times. It was the second piece of building material drug down here on the four wheeler, after the center pole for the house. Dave cut the left over from the center pole piece into legs to support the counters. We aren't having cabinets because Jonathan can't see into them and because we have a nice big pantry for storage. So it will be open under the counters. Big Jon from Colorado is building us some custom benches for one side of the bar.

Blue Skies and Eagles

Last weekend we had a blue sky at one point in the day. Jonathan whistled at it and it whistled back. Jonathan has a way with eagles. Growing up in southeast he and his family have rescued all kinds of critters. They once had an injured eagle on their floathouse for several days until the Fish and Game could come and pick it up for rehab. Last summer, he rescued one that was drowning a couple of miles offshore. He got it dried off and released it on the beach in front of the trailer where we could keep the dogs away until it could fly. I told him sometimes I feel like Bam Margera's mom, April, because everytime I come home it seems like it is something else. I was shocked/speechless when I came home and there was a bald eagle in the living room.