The day job is easing off a little as we approach the holidays. It needs to, let me say. They don’t pay me enough for the hours I put in, etc., etc. Anyway, although I have some preparation still to do before Monday, I’m taking the opportunity to read things not related to work, and get some DIY chores done around the house. My copy of Possum Living arrived yesterday, and I fell on it like I hadn’t seen a book in several months. (Trust me, in my line of business that doesn’t happen!) I couldn’t put it down, although I confess I am skipping the bits about how to skin a rabbit, and (especially unpleasant, because I did glance at bits of this quickly) how to deal with a snapping turtle to get it ready for the pot. I’m about half-way through, and loving the author’s humour and attitude. Looking forward to finishing it this evening… The other diversion today involved regrouting tiles in the bathroom. I started on that last weekend, thinking I would just patch up a couple of bits before using this magic grout paint to spruce up the whole shower area. Well I let that dry, and of course over the last week I’ve noticed more areas that need a bit more grout. So that’s how I spent quite a bit of today. And – because the better the job starts to look, the fussier we all get – I think it still needs one more “touch-up” session. I’m calling it that because I never intended to regrout the whole damn shower area, but that’s what appears to be happening. And I want this DONE!! Anyway, I have decided that I am not taking another shower (don’t worry, I have a bath-tub) until I have replaced my existing shower head with this low-flow, shower filter. Gaiam sell it, so, depending on how much money I have left in January after the festive season has done its worst, I’ll be sending off for one of these… maybe it can be an early birthday present to myself.
making a trail
Spent a couple of hours this morning helping to make a new section of trail through a managed forest. There were about ten of us, trimming saplings off the path, and using the resulting brush and branches to help block the entrance to an old trail suffering from erosion. We were also putting in two or three new water bars using recycled pieces of railroad siding. These needed to be dug in, and then fixed in place. The trail around a couple of older water bars had experienced some erosion, so we broke up the ground on the eroded side, and sloped it up against the bar, also clearing a channel through leaf and fallen branch debris for water to flow away. All in all a very satisfying morning, especially since we achieved everything the forestry people had hoped we could do… and we were finished just in time, because it is now snowing here!
