Those Back-to-School Assignment , Part Three

 Part Three

Of How I Spent My Summer

Continuing with those dreaded back-to-school assignments that the teachers always gave, we are now into August.   

I had just enough log home stain to get a coat on the parts of two walls that were sanded and treated.   When I went to Anchorage to buy more stain, I discovered that Home Depot no longer stocked the Behr Log Cabin stain and that I had to order it:  4 to 6 weeks because it had to come by barge!

That would definitely put me into the rainy August weather but I had no other option, so I ordered it.

Then, I started on the east wall, the one I've refinished three or four times already.  It catches the worst of the bad weather and I decided, after some research, to use a different stain--Super Deck stain made for log homes.

My neighbor Lou came over to sand the logs that were too high for me to reach.

I did manage to alter one fingerprint when the grinder's cord caught on the ladder.   It never did hurt.

I was astonished to find out that some of these stains, Super Deck included, allowed the underlying wood to "turn gray naturally!"   That's what I was trying to avoid. 

Then, Super Deck log stain also isn't stocked and I had to order that , too, but was told about ten days.

Because of rainy days and wanting to keep the sanded logs dry, I decided to hang tarps to protect the east wall.   This was done with the help of my neighbor Mike and pretty soon, Tarp Tunnel was done.

This included a long tarp hung from a second story dormer!

The white stuff on the brick mold around the door if called Peel Stop.   Its purpose is to fill and smooth paint that has been peeling.   Works great.

Working on staining.

   

Ladders, always ladders.   Sometimes a plank laid between two ladders as a jerry-rigged scaffolding.

Something I found hilarious in hanging the tarps is that I COULD NOT drive a screw through the old, protected Behr Log Cabin stain!    It won't hold up to weather, but it sure is tough otherwise.

I wondered if the tarps would scare the Steller's jays from landing on the dining room window sill.   Didn't faze them at all!!!

See the little stinker at right?   He had to fly about ten feet behind the tarps!

Finally, two coats of stain and some drying days later, the tarps came down.

And were rolled up for storage.

By this time, the new stain was aging nicely with the old stain and you could barely tell the difference.

While I waited for the Super Deck stain to arrive, I sanded the logs above the carport.   Then, stained them once I got the stain.

More ladder scaffolding.

The cedar shakes are on next year's list of chores.

I also refinished the log-and-a-half above my garage doors.   I started working on the logs above, but decided that will go on next year's list of chores.

I

Tah-dah!   The finished east wall:   logs, trim, and brick mold around the door.

The dark spot at left is just shadow.   Note the brick mold around the door has been painted.

The rest of the wall:

Restained front deck:

And redone rear deck:

Note the logs.   I restored all the log siding from the kitchen window down to the deck and the stain has aged so it blends right in with the upper logs.

Then came the firewood project.   My electric provider, Chugach Electric Assn., had a contractor in the area ll last winter whose job it was to clear electric easements and take down any dead spruce that might fall on the power lines.   They took down five or six very large spruce on my property.

Then, a friend from Anchor Point came up and got the usable wood out of the forest and now I needed to get that wood split and under cover before winter.

Here's the problem.   I can no longer pull the cord on the recoil starter with enough authority to convince the engine to start.   My friend Julie did that.

I split some of the wood but soon realize that, for reasons I won't go into here, that I needed a lot of help with the lifting/splitting part.    Julie, and then with her friend, split the rest of the wood while I hauled it to the carport and emptied the trailers.

Once I had it stacked I could estimate that I had three cords of new firewood.

 

And that's the end of my What I Did this Summer essay.   All in all, "I get by with a little help from my friends."

Now, as time allows, to get back to the Fur and Feathers Journals.

Excuses Galore

 What can I say that would excuse my absence here?   Only this:   it's summer.

Like the little tree swallows below, we Alaskans cram a lot of living into a short period of time.  The swallows arrive, build nests, incubate and hatch their young, feed them non-stop unless the little ones fledge and then they're gone, leaving us to deal with the abundance of mosquitos they leave behind.

A wee tree swallow waits for food to appear..

Alaskans are much the same--cramming a lot of living into a few short months before the arrival of yet another long, cold, dark winter.   This year is worse than usual.   Some of us aren't sure if summer has yet arrived.

April, May, June and now part of July were n on-stop gloomy gray and rainy.  Cooler than normal.   We had a few nice days here and there, but for the most part summer has been a bust.

Everything is late.   The birch trees didn't fully leaf out until mid-June and that "fully leaf out" thing is the cue for everyone to start planting their gardens and hang their flower pots.  No more can we count on Memorial Day as "the day" because they've gone and messed with its date.

INCOMING! Open wide!

Even the swallows have chores to be done.   Here, an adult is removing a fecal sac from the nest.   The little hatchlings don't stick their butts out and poop.   No, their feces is encases in a mucous sac that makes it easy for the adults to remove it and drop it in my yard.

This load appears to be extra large, and contains something that looks like a mosquito wing.

Chores.   I haven't even begun the gazillion things that need to be done around here.   However, my friends Mary and Shawn decided they were going to split, haul, and stack the firewood I bought and they are almost finished.   Four cords in the woodshed and one to go.  They won't let me help, either.

The spruce bark beetles have bored through the bark of the mature white spruce, girdled them and killed them.   It breaks my heart to see so many brown trees.   They have to come down.

Looking at these photos reminds me of another horse I've been putting off for several years because I can''t figure out how to accomplish it.   All the facia board on this big house needs to be refinished.  I figured out the part about lying on the steep roof and reaching o ver and down with a stain applicator.   What I can't figure out is how to keep the stain in whatever utensil I use and not spill it.

So, here I sit like this swallow, trying to figure out how to get things done.   All the deck rails need to be pressure washed and restrained.  Deck steps need replacing.   Some siding needs to be sanded down and restained.

It never ends.   Not for me or the swallows.  

In the meantime, I drive off every day and pick up litter along the Seward Highway.   At least I can see what I've accomplished by doing that.  I've reached the far side of Turnagain Pass, which is the right place for this far into summer.

EXCEPT:   My friend Mary is dedicating one day a week to cleaning up litter , too.   She can walk farther and carry more weight in the litter bag than I can.  She's doing miles 48 through 56.5.  Thagt's the only reason I'm on schedule time-wise.   We couldn't even start until the first of May because the snow and ice lasted so long.

Oh, well.   The wildflowers  in Turnagain Pass are magnificent this year and are making "spectacles" of themselves.

A Four Course Feast of Seasons, Course Two

Course Two:

Summer

(To enlarge photos, click on photo.  This brings up a strip of thumbnails with one enlarged..  RIGHT click on that photo and select VIEW IMAGE.  Then, if you wish, left click on that enlargement for full screen.)

And if summer is a knock-your eyes out gourmand's smörgåsbord of variations on primary colors,

 

 

 

 

 

 

(to be continued)