It is exactly a month since I left Winnipeg and I spent the day shoveling soil and cutting cedar for the inside work in the new part.
It rained at least half the day and was damp the rest of it. I thought at first that I would spend it inside working on the new part, but I was distracted by the muck, first of all, so I brought two buckets from the creek, and then the pond which was filling from the overflow hose I’d set up last night. There I picked and shoveled until I had made a considerable dent in the work that remains. It was misting while I worked, but I was warm through labour.
When I came back inside I worked on the cedar, and finished the south western corner of the new part. Then I put up a shelf and turned my mind to the gable end. I’ve gone through quite a bit of my cedar, at least that which I’d brought in from the pallet shed, and the gable end is about a quarter done. It’s a good job in the damp, since it gets really hot near the roof when it’s sunny.
While I was working, a yellow warbler of some type, banged into my porch window. I keep the windows dirty on purpose and I 
thought since I’d had so few birds hitting them that none would. I saw him sitting on the ground looking pretty stunned, and I kept an eye on him as he got himself together and after over an hour, I happened to be watching when he flew away. I’m glad it didn’t kill him. I didn’t move out here for the summer to set up bird traps.
I think the ice has finally melted under my fridge. I’ve kept it over a hole where it had been dug in last year which was ice-filled when I arrived, and I kept snow up against it, and the ice has remained although I’ve done little to help other than wrap a few feed bags around the fridge. That’s helped to keep my fridge temperature around five degrees, although that will no doubt change now. I’m going to dig another hole this time which doesn’t fill so easily with water when the ground is saturated.
I built a fire in the stove this evening to warm the cabin and cooked the beet greens Carol gave me, mixed with onion, ground round, and a tofu sausage. It was a good hearty meal, although I’ve been eating little enough during the day. I’ve gone back to my habit of eating twice in a day.
