A Day of Work Dedicated To Willow

It was another late arrival.  R worked Friday so we ended up leaving around 6:00 p.m. and did not arrive at camp until midnight.  This worked out well though because we didn't hit a lot of traffic, and since I had the day off from work, I was able to stay awake well enough to drive late into the night while R dozed beside me.  I also got to test my driving-with-a-trailer skills again because we brought more lumber with us, as we did last visit.  It frays my nerves driving with a trailer because you have to watch the lines and make sure the trailer doesn't drift into the adjoining lane, but it was fine.  I was ok.  We got there safely.

I'm sure I've mentioned it before that R has been collecting lumber from the various construction sites he's worked at for a while now, so our backyard at home is nearly a lumber yard all on it's own, so bit by bit we're bringing loads of lumber up to camp.  It's all wood that the construction companies would have thrown away because they used it for temporary purposes and were done with it at the end of a job; there's not much wrong with it other than some nails that can just be removed.  We have everything from sheets of particle board and 2x4s, to 2x6s and 2x12s, all of various lengths with some reaching up to 16 feet long.  Probably there is thousands of dollars worth of wood that he's collected piecemeal over the last year.  One man's trash is another's treasure, for sure!

We awoke around 7:00 a.m. Saturday morning, eager to get going on the day's projects.  Our visit was only Friday night to Sunday, so we had just one full day to get done what we wanted to.  O how we long for the day that we can spend a week at camp!  I started breakfast while R took the first measurements of the day to further reinforce the cabin shell.

Willow the Grey Monkey "helping" R get ready for the morning

I was kindly and gratefully gifted a set of cast iron pans that I'm still learning to cook in.  Someone in a Homestead group on Facebook suggested I cook bacon in the cast iron pans at first to help cure them.  No complaints here!  Bacon, eggs, and toast with some coffee to get us going.  My internal alarms made me aware that the bacon smell may attract unwanted wildlife visitors, so my ears were open to the sounds of the forest.

In those sounds we heard some lovely bullfrogs, making their *womp*womp* calls.  I found myself a few times throughout the day pausing because I heard what sounded maybe like a person, but then turned out to be the frogs.  I chuckled to myself because days before I had finished listening to the audiobook Pet Sematary by Stephen King, read by Michael C. Hall (Dexter, Six Feet Under) which actually takes place about 50 miles from camp.  In the book, two characters are walking through a terrifying swamp when one character says to the other, "You might hear voices, but those are just the loons down south toward Prospect.  The sound carries.  It's funny."  I'm pretty sure these were just frogs.  In addition to the frogs, we also have a new friend who made its presence known - a chipmunk!  When I was little, we had a chipmunk who lived in the stone wall behind our house.  My late mum used to call it Charlie, so this one, too, shall be called Charlie.

Charlie the Chipmunk

Something else we took note of were the three-leafed plants growing *every*where.  Three leaves leave them be, right?  Not always right.  Wild Strawberries also have three leaves.  If you look very closely you can see the difference in the veins and color.  The Wild Strawberries have veins on the leaves that touch together at the center line, whereas Poison Ivy's veins are staggered.  I have a hard time telling the difference in quick passing without taking a minute to really look.  R and I both have had terrible bouts of poison ivy in the past, and we're terrified of getting it again.  Three leaves are *all*over* the yard, though, I think, and all it takes is Tyson or Willow to walk in it and then come in contact with us to spread the oil.  Eek!

Poison Ivy vs. Wild Strawberries

Wild Strawberries

While R was working on the cabin, it was my goal this weekend to build Willow a catio at camp.  It will allow her to enjoy the outdoors a bit and keep her entertained, but will also keep her safe when I can't watch her.  I built two catios at home and all three cats use them frequently year round.  I figured I'd start out small to make it a quick job, but I'd design it so I could easily add on to it in the future.  Small - yes; quick - no.  😁  I need to get myself a tool belt so I'm not walking around looking for the tool I just put down, and we need to get a second battery operated screw gun because it's impossible to get anything done quickly with two people needing to use the only screw gun we have.

Catio construction underway - 5 feet long x 18 inches deep

While Willow was taking a cat nap for most of the catio's construction, towards the end she started getting curious and I would see her looking out the window.  She was thrilled with it!

I can't get over her cute little face, and just look at those adorable little feet..

Willow enjoying her new catio for the first time

She rewarded me with lots of snuggles and Happy Paws that night. ❤  It was a very good weekend.