September on the mountain is probably the nicest time of year and this one was as nice as it gets. Except for an unexpected wind storm, a painful "fall" and the loss of my Dad after a gradual decline (I will be doing a tribute entry for him soon) we passed through the month as busy as we ever are in that time between the end of summer and thoughts of what needs to be done before the inevitable cold weather in October. I finally decided to try out the propane smoker that was stored the past two years and was very happy with the first result, not so much with the second. Marie had bought two large trout fillets which would be our trial run. They smoked well and turned out perfect, tasty and firm. A few days later we smoked a medium sized pork ribs - unfortunately they were over done and rather dry, although after talking to Phil he thinks I took them out too soon. I will probably try chicken next. We had a cool period during the middle of the month and put the propane stove on in the basement for the first time since last spring just to get the chill out of the house. We haven't yet put on the radiant floor heating for the season as the sun warms up the house nicely still...
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| A slight hint of colour in the foliage, early September |
Thankfully it warmed up considerably the week of the 16th to the 20th but during that time we had a freak wind storm overnight, probably the highest winds we have seen since we've been here and the next morning we were greeted by the sight of part of one of the two big maple trees in the front of the house blocking the entranceway and falling across my woodpile. I decided a few days later to remove both trees and with the help of Benoit Vallence cut the top half of the remaining one, the one I thought would have fallen long ago as it was obviously rotten. The next day, with the help of Marie pulling on a rope to ensure it would fall away from the house I felled the each of the remaining two sections, then cut them up to dry. It was amazing the light that now came through where the two trees once stood. This added sunshine will greatly help where I installed the two solar panels on that side of the house last year.
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| I had just piled up the wood! |
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| timber! |
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| A much deserved beer |
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| Let there be light! |
This was a two day job and after I had finished around suppertime of the second day, exhausted and ready to pack it in I foolishly decided to install a motion detector light on another tree by the drive, using an aluminum ladder. The ground was sloped, the force of my drilling into the tree just enough to twist the frame and we all tumbled down. I fell with my weight across the frame of the ladder and the result you can see below. I cut it deep enough to expose the muscles and tendons so Marie rushed me to the hospital emergency room in Magentic, half an hour away, where they saw me immediately, cleaned it out, sewed me up with 11 stitches and sent me home. It could have been worse - I missed the blood vessels and didn't break anything, but I was out of commission for a few weeks. Time then to relax and watch the colours of fall spread across the hills, go for walks to the lake and back and take time to vote in the provincial elections. The
Coalition Avenir Québec, a centre-right party won, handily and surprisingly defeating the Liberal Party to become the first party other than the Liberals or the separatist Parti Québécois to govern us in nearly 50 years. Bonne chance Francois Legault!
gws
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| in a few short weeks, summer to fall |
