Timothy Birdnow

I made a pilgrimage to the Ozark Hilton on Thursday. The weather was beautiful, but I didn't get there until late because a.I forgot it was the Feast of the Assumption, a Holy Day to Catholics and b. My dirty rotten no good cousin mentioned it on Facebook and I made the mistake of seeing her post, thus forcing me to delay my trip until after the noon mass. Had I forgotten I would have been off the hook, but I couldn't simply ignore it. Ah, life, thou art a heartless mistress!

Despite that I still made it down shortly after three, and the weather was spectacularly beautiful. I set back to work on the porch. I got the roof panels in place. I'm using some long pieces of vinyl siding for the roof; I had them laying around and so why not?  They won't last forever, but they should be good for a few years, maybe more. They are intended for outside anyway. So I put them up, but I didn't nail them in. Why, you ask? First, I wanted to make sure the roof didn't leak before nailing them down. Second, I wanted to avoid stirring up those accursed wasps that attacked me two weeks ago. So I put them in place and used some packing tape to tape them down. That'll last a week or two, as long as we don't have a high wind. Fortunately the porch faces east, and most wind comes from the west.

I also found that I could use two by fours as pillars to support the roof rafters, something not absolutely necessary but it had been bothering me. I simply wedged them into place under a thin shelf board. I'll nail all of this together in a few weeks, when the wasps aren't so mean.

Actually it DID rain in the morning as I was getting ready to leave, postponing my departure. I found the roof leaking in spots. One spot was where I had stuffed an old bag - not anyone's wife or mother but an actual plastic one - into a spot where I wanted to push the plastic roof ot the new cabin up a bit. Turns out the bag was absorbing water and leaking. I pulled it out and stuck an old lisence plate into the gap. Worked fine! (Amazing the things I can make do with down there.)

The other leak presents a problem. I had apparently nailed the roof in too close, and so I can't get this roofing material far enough under the old roof. It's leaking right in front of the door, which will be a huge problem when it gets cold as ice will form there. I'll have to look at this; perhaps some spray foam insulation or liquic nails might seal the gap?  Hopefully nothing will move around until I can actually nail all of this stuff down.

Anyway, the new porch - well half of one since I still have to build the other half but don't have the materials I need yet - makes this look like a true country cabin. I have an old rocking chair that has fallen apart, but which could be fixed with a little glue and painted. I'm going to leave that outside on the porch, giving it a real country look.

So I sat on my porch, lanterns hanging, in the cool of the evening. An owl hooted "hoot, hoot, hoot, hooooott, hoot". I replied in kind. Well, unfortunately he was a member of the lonely hearts club and was really hard up for a date. He kept hooting to me in a love sick manenr. I didn't respond; didn't want to be a tease!  But he kept flying closer and closer until he was perched in a tree directly in front of the cabin 'hoot, hoot, hoot, Hoooot, hoot!"  This old boy was hard up. I felt bad, hadn't meant to sound so coquettish. Eventually he moved on, and I heard him call as he flew northward. Luckily this has a happy ending; another owl returned his call!  He may not have gotten a date, but at least he got some gal's phony phone number, at any rate. Good luck, old boy!

I heard a mouse inside the cabin scratching on things. I guess my friend the black ratsnake has moved on. A pity!  The rodents had gone away this summer.

So, anyway, it was a pleasant and productive visit to the garbage palace in the pines.

Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at 09:24 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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