Old Faithful

Penelope giggles in the next room as her mom dresses her for the day.  The wood stoves crackles with poplar and birch warming the chilled air.  The low temperatures in recent nights have hovered right around 20 degrees.  With a fresh brew of coffee in the mug I'm lying on the couch wrapped in a wool blanket reading a Canadian wilderness adventure and enjoying the first real rest I've taken in a long while.  Just beyond the horizon is winter.  In the North, this is a time to recoup, rest up, and plan the upcoming work season. 

Winter, however, is not quite upon us.  Before I can rest too much I have firewood to process.  We've added a new tool to our arsenal.  This week our "new to us" wood splitter arrived.  I fired her up right away eager to start working at our pile of bucked birch.  Being a used machine, I knew that I wanted to start our with fresh hydraulic fluid.  This, however, is my introduction to hydraulics.  I followed all the sage wisdom that I've absorbed talking with folks trying to limit the amount of air that I let into the line.  Slowly the gurgles decreased as I filled the cylinder with fluid.  Then, seemingly as random as a geyser, fluid shot straight up five feet into the air.  I was left with a pink goo mess that I buried in saw chips to absorb the petro-based mess.  The geyser lasted for barely five seconds but left me with a sheepish smile on my face.  Our splitter had a new name: "Old Faithful"!

She started right up and has effortlessly split every piece I've placed in her jowls.  So as gentle snow flakes fall and bald eagles soar the shoreline of Lake Superior below me "Old Faithful" purrs as we eat through chord after chord of firewood... 

Running Water

It wasn't quite a "light switch moment" but was close.  The feeling of warm water is pretty breathtaking after months of work.  While there was no "ah ha!" reaction to the tepid water as it flowed from the faucet there was again was the feeling of satisfaction and gratitude to all the efforts that we have been working on as well as the help from so many to complete this plumbing project.

I take from this plumbing experience a similar lesson to wiring: I enjoy the planning and rough plumbing but could take or leave the nitty gritty aspect of plumbing fixtures and appliances.  It sounds crazy but I don't mind drilling holes in the attic with my head jammed up against a rafter in hundred degree heat and my jaw rattling to the vibration of a drill hammer plowing through a top plate of the wall no more than inches from me but torquing a wrench around the outlet of a pressure tank or water heater drives me bonkers!

Cutting Concrete

The most difficult part of the project was the drain lines.  Here our friend Ben is grinding away at the footing of our concrete slab to obtain the space needed to get the drain line out. 

Apart from the warm bath at the end of the day, my favorite aspect of plumbing is the simple science of it all.  Plumbing, more than many trades, reminds you constantly that the laws of physics apply.  This reality is not very subtle either: gravity prevails and the water runs down slope, hot air rises, masses move from high to low pressure. 

Trimming out the Tub

Tub, faucets and surround all installed the only thing left to do is trim it all out!

Running water is something that many people take for granted.  Most folks move into a house that is hooked up to city water and sewer and never put a second thought to what kind of infrastructure is necessary for them to turn on the faucet and wash the dishes or brush their teeth.  This is part of the detachment that many humans in first world countries have with the natural world.  They don't know what it takes to get the conveniences that many take for granted.

This is something that I want to take out of this experience.  Just as it is easy to look at a gorgeous mountain scape, ocean, or lake everyday and get so used to it that you don't relish in it's grandeur; humans need to stop and think for a few minutes everyday about the amenities they do have and the work that is required to have them.  I never want to take running water, electricity, warmth, a roof over my head or food on my plate for granted.  The truth is that before I started hiking up the hill to clear this land I went through the motions without any thought. 

Humans seem to be losing the knowledge of what it takes to live the way we do.  Maybe everybody should have a start with a raw chunk of dirt and figure it out?  It teaches you what hard work is.  It instills an appreciation for how good we have it.  In turn this appreciation makes you think twice of leaving that light on and wasting electricity or letting the faucet run.

While there is plenty of finish work to be done before the project can be officially proclaimed "complete" I am proud to say that we have officially achieved the modern convenience of running water!

P is for Pumpkin

Cold rain falls on the North Shore.  Light snow has occasionally been in the air for about a week now.  Minor accumulations were reported in the highland areas of the Superior National Forest.  Thousands of birds flock south to warmer winter habitat along the Sawtooth Mountains.  Tamarack (American Larch), the only deciduous conifer in Minnesota, has turned yellow.  During the growing season tamarack appears much like any medium-sized conifer in the bogs and wetlands they prefer to inhabit.  Come late fall, however, they shed their short, thin needley leaves.  The range of the tamarack extends into the far reaches of the north and are commonly found just shy of the Arctic Circle.  Around here they provide a last gleam of color after the brilliance of the fall colors have all been blown away!  Grouse season continues.  A couple of immense bull moose have been harvested in the County.  In a couple of weeks the rifle deer season as well as a highly-contested wolf hunt opens.

  

Blustery cold autumn day.  The first snowflakes of the season blew in and left the trees bare.  Southeasterly winds pounded waves along the North Shore.  Lows in the upper twenties and highs barely in the 40's.  Moose season is open.  Firewood chores continue...

Sunny, brisk autumn days.  Highs in the low sixties with lows in the thirties.  Strangely, black flies have peskily hatched again.  A full moon graces the clear and cool sky.  The deciduous trees of the North Shore peaked in fall colors last week.  Their brilliance proved to be short-lived as a swift wind brought in a cold front and floated the yellow poplar & birch and red maple leaves away down the hills and onto the valley floors.

Wolf Lake Maples

Wolf Ridge Environmental Learning Center