Staying Occupied

There's all sorts of things to do around the homestead and the community. Last Tuesday I trained a little more on the pumper, operating the 'deck gun' and drafting water from a nearby stream. You can move a lot of water a long way with this rig. Yesterday, I went to an all day firefighter safety class held at the Jay firehouse, a converted old school. It was conducted in one of the classrooms, the windows were open, it was a cool morning, and it was a most civilized setting. 

I can't remember the last time I took a class in a room that wasn't over-air conditioned. 

As for the homestead, I made a clear cut of the encroaching forest behind the garden area and that'll be our 'back yard'. I plan to build a utility shed there, modelled after Thoreau's cabin at Walden. I should be able to start that project this week. The garden is getting much more sunlight now that some of the tree canopy is gone so the plants are enjoying that. The brush was chipped and Suzy spread it between the garden beds and under the clothesline. That looks nice and feels good when you walk on it. The usable parts of the trees were cut into 4 foot cordwood lengths, those were stacked in various piles and drying. After a month or so I'll cut them into 16 inch logs for use in the woodstove when it gets cold. We have about 3 cords of wood in various piles around here. That's about half the amount we need to use the woodstove exclusively for heating this season.  

I met with the staff at Ray Brook Federal Correctional Institute - yup, the former Olympic Village - on Friday, toured the facility and I proposed a program to teach applied math to the inmates. There's a lot of inmate interest in that, they know education is the key to staying out of the prison system. No one cares about those guys, there's only one other volunteer instructor - and she teaches knitting. Things move slowly in Corrections, so it'll take a good month to work out the details and get started in the classroom. 

I haven't been on the bike in two weeks, but I did go to the covered bridge today and read on the huge rocks while the AuSable River roared around me. It was warm on the rocks and cold in the water.