2022-10 Rush Before Winter

This month was the final rush before the ground would become hard with frost and darkness, wind and cold temperatures would make outdoor construction much more difficult.

Final Raised Beds

We finished the second perimeter of raised beds around the garage. The idea is to have a path between, with grass around the path. We levelled the earth and then purchased some paving slabs. We laid these out at an even spacing, levelled them and then put sieved earth and grass seed on either side. The grass would have just enough time to make a start before winter.

ASHP Refit

The air source heat pump was removed from the garage last month and the replacement was fitted to the side facing northeast. I primed and then repainted the space where it had been. This was expensive but should pay for itself in under 10 years.

View Over the Town

We walked up to a small cabin that is open to visitors and sits on a hill overlooking the town. My little camera was struggling with the direct sunlight.

Greenhouse Finish

We had the next major wood delivery we needed to finish the greenhouse and the outer path perimeter for it.

The rest of the month then turned into a race to see how much gravel I could get in place. I could only do so many wheelbarrows before my back gave me warnings so I had to pace myself. It needed to be done before the snow made it all impossible, however.

The greenhouse border was intended to give a defined line for weeding, gravel for drainage and access, and insulation at the footer.

Timber Operations

I wasn’t the only person getting things done before winter. On the hill next to us, a large logging operation began. They would work throughout the night in shifts. I took some photos but the distance, and bright lights in the darkness were a bit much for my camera.

At the first signs of logging, we were a bit nervous about what the new view would be from the house. But the logging was quite responsible. There were no hard geometric shapes felled out of the landscape and the operation appeared to deliberately leave a percentage of standing trees. which softened the visual effect. I liked trying to photograph the machines in the dark. The heavy machinery and lights in the distance were a bit like a science fiction film.

Workshop

I wanted to reduce the potential hiding places for bugs in the basement. I also wanted to make the room brighter for winter. A rubberised sealant between the cracks I sealed the cracks in the basement floor with a rubberised sealant and then put a layer of repair cement on top. I followed this up with a layer of white floor paint.

Camera

I got thinking about how my point-and-shoot camera was good, but maybe not coping with all the things we were experiencing outdoors. It struggled with the nighttime shots, had problems in full sunlight, and wasn’t great indoors. I started looking around at second-hand cameras and ended up purchasing an older DLSR. In the same way that laptops nowadays have been “good enough” for everyday use for many years, so too the camera market appears to have stagnated a little. Currently, people seem to be “upgrading” to full-frame cameras, which means they’re selling their old systems. I’m quite happy with taking people’s old kit. I know the quality is good enough for what I need and people have made careers using it. So I knew the limit on the new camera would be myself, not the abilities of the camera.