Faint Gleams

There are some encouraging glimmers of brighter days to come amidst the disappointing piles of snow. Big projects are waiting for better weather: finishing the new garden shed for one, and demolishing the old one for another!

Dreadful Drizzle

 A dreary March day: cold, with pelting rain. Too much snow still for proper outdoor work, so I tidied the workshop and improved the storage in the woodshed.

The boot tray under the saw collects the oil that very slowly seeps from the chain. There are hooks for my helmet and chaps. Thanks to the shed project, I have a much higher quality scrap lumber than usual...

Cellar: Before and After

 Starting to extend the east footing. Heavily undermined! 

False Spring

Warmth, gentle rain...and almost no snow now at the end of February. It won't last: March is a treacherous month! Still, this encouraged me to start digging in the cellar. The winter concrete pour WILL happen!

Crane

 Finally, one with a remote control. It is designed to fit on a boom, like the scaffold attachment one I have, and it should make everything a bit easier.

Moderate Winter

 We are well into the winter, and while it is hardly a green season, it is moderate. We have had a number of snow storms, some heavy, and the plow has worked well (except when I tried to draw snow back from the garage doors--it came off!). After a few days of cold, we have a warmer spell and we get a chance to chip the ice off the deck. The worst so far has been -21C: a chilly night but an isolated one.

Wild Turkey

 A rafter of feral turkeys seems to have staked a claim to our yard. We sometimes surprise them as we come up the drive or step out of the door. It is clear that in our absence they explore every path we have cleared--their tracks are everywhere, even up on the deck of the workshop!

(If they are wild creatures, the collective noun is "flock," but farmyard ones cluster in "gaggles" or "rafters." Ours former farmyard turkeys turned out into the wild....)