My Hermit Haven

 July 28, 2023

Good Morning from Hermit Hill, looking like its gonna be another scorcher this fine Friday, whewy. Supposed to cool off a tad after this, though. We are coming into some of the finest weather of the year, now. Yay.

Wasn't planning on doing much work today, but I did find my stencils so I decided to paint the privy. Need to make a note to self, never to buy another metal popup shed. Rich and I still have cuts and scratches from assembling it a month ago. There were many other problems with it, too. The roof was so badly done that we had to retrofit it with a piece of pt board that we had laying around. Then, in the next ten days of rain, the roof held, but the floor leaked like a sieve, with an actual puddle inside, despite Rich's several attempts at caulking it. We should have, in retrospect, tilted the deck towards the front, so this couldn't happen. Eeesh. In any case, our third attempt at waterproofing was mostly successful, with only a small spot of water coming in, which can be dealt with with some toweling (temporary) and some more silicon caulking for a longer term fix. Honestly, upon reflection, with the amount of time and money we have into this thing, it probably would have been better to just build a wooden one, which we plan to do when the snow and wind takes this one out. (Not much faith it will even get through the next winter). This is a good example of hindsight being 20/20, hey? I most definately do not recommend buying these to save time....because theyjust don't. lol

On a happier note, when I got up to let the divas out to do their thang, the Catbirds were ganging up on the blue birdbath I put out, which makes me quite satisfied. I do not doubt their intelligence at all. Last year, when I was staying in the camper, I would pick BB's first thing every day, and last thing at night. They must have been taking notes, because this year, the berries ripening in the a.m., are gone before I even get up....I suspect there will be p.m. berries to get, so there should be enough to go around (at least, I sure do hope so). The blacks are starting to come in and I am looking forward to eating my fill; I'm pretty sure they are, too. Learning how to co-exist is quite the mostly fulfilling experience!

Anyhow, here is a picture of our cob-job on the roof of the privy, and here is my paintjob. I am not a painter, as you will see. I know there are folks who actually like painting, I am not one of them. I try and do my best, with my limited skills in certain areas, and that's all I can do. As Rich often says: "It's progress, not perfection, Dear." And so it is. 

In closing, I will say, Try and Just Be Kind, always. Or as the Dalai Lama says, "If you can't help, at least don't hurt." Which has pretty much been my lifelong goal.