wildlife & waiting

January 7, 2013


our weekends lately have been spent at the house, wrapped in insulated carhartt overalls, endless layers of socks and clumsy winter boots. we're working on the painstaking process of putting up cement board panels on the exterior. weighing in at 100 pounds or so each (not exaggerating one bit) they are a trick to get just right. luckily i'm not often on the heavy-lifting roster; instead i hand out screwdrivers, levels, staple guns, and other tools as needed. i was originally called in to put in the screws, but it was discovered that i put the screws in at an angle approximately 90% of the time and i was quickly demoted to toolbelt.

as home building goes, we've hit a bit of a snag. two doorwalls we need to fully enclose the house have been backordered for a full six months. then they arrived, but with the wrong glass. so the very first walls put up (here) are still two gaping holes. until those get closed in, we can't heat the house or put up drywall. (this may explain the lack of house pictures lately. 2x4s are only interesting for so long.) endlessly frustrating, until the point it became just plain funny.

as a small consolation prize, we've enjoyed tracking all the wildlife through the snow. there are squirrels of course, and deer, and rabbits and raccoons. we've even seen a mink a few times! but i think my favorite are the roving band of eight wild turkeys. their archetypical footprints are funny enough, but when you're standing in the garage and one comes around the corner like a lost puppy, it reminds me why we wanted so badly to move away from our close-clustered neighborhood to the edges of civilization.

the turkeys took a walk across the front porch and i was able to get some close shots through the living room windows. they meandered off towards the back of the property and i was back where i started... watching wildlife, and waiting on windows.

xo. r


7 notes:

  1. Regina, have you seen the PBS "Nature" episode called "My Life As A Turkey?" Since you've met your local turkeys, you might want to watch the full episode here: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/episodes/my-life-as-a-turkey/full-episode/7378/ You can also purchase it on DVD; it's just wonderful, and perfect for watching while you wait.
    Susan

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    1. thanks so much susan, i can't wait to watch it. turkey treat!

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  2. Hey, you turkeys! They look like a pretty awesome band.

    I really hope it is inevitable that you will render your new friends in fabric and thread.

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  3. i can't believe there's a mink running about! i just got back to chicago from seattle last night and am already sorely missing being at least within striking distance of some wilderness. the house looks great! snags are annoying, but once it's built i can only imagine how awesome you and patrick will feel.

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  4. Love how those turkeys are just strolling by, as if your house has always been there. I bet if they had little top hats on, they'd tip them your way.
    Of course, they'll also make for excellent dinner companions... if y'know what I mean. (it's okay if you groaned at that poor excuse of a joke)

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  5. Turkeys!!!! If you have not seen this yet, please do find the time to watch. It is the most wonderful documentary from PBS about a man who lived with turkeys.
    I think you will really enjoy it.

    http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/episodes/my-life-as-a-turkey/qa-with-naturalist-joe-hutto/7389/

    Your house is going to be amazing!!

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  6. Oops - here's the video.

    http://video.pbs.org/video/2168110328/

    :-)

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