Tuesday, July 13, 2010

It was great to be in a room again, and I made the best of it, soaking in a steamy tub (important for my minor medical concern) and sprawling out on a large bed without golf clubs and crates by my side. Then I was able to sip coffee and munch on donuts at the Tim Horton’s for over an hour, writing yesterday’s long, catch-up blog. Travel can be tiring, especially when I try to do too many things in a day. I ended up doing basically four major things yesterday: the kayak trip, the bike ride, fixing the Rocket Box and playing golf. That really was too much and today I am going to try to limit myself to two things. As I get older, my style of traveling becomes much harder. I can see how a van type camper or a pick up camper would be much easier, just pull over and take a nap, then heat up a little coffee on the stove inside. For now, however, my truck works for me, although I can’t imagine myself doing it this way for many more years. Gear is also a growing problem, especially the kayak. It requires a significant amount of work to set it up and then to dry it and all the gear thoroughly. It is worth it for now—drifting along in an isolated part of Lake Superior was special—but I can see a time when it will be too much. Carpe Diem, I suppose, and there will be plenty of time to sit on my couch when I get too old for my journeys.

I have also finished my Owl House poem, although the title has not come to me yet:

For Maddie

I have built bird houses before,
a small wren house with a tiny opening
to keep out the nuthatches and buntings.
So when my young friend Maddie
asked me if I could help her build an owl house,
I immediately said yes. She showed
me the website and it looked easy enough,
basically a 14 by 22 inch box with a 6 by 12
opening in the front.

When Maddie arrived with her mother Cathy
and her older sister Claire, we sat and chatted,
munching on brie and gouda, salsa and chips,
and then it was time to start.
Since I don’t have a table saw,
I had had the three sides and the roof precut,
and those pieces went together as planned,
the girls testing out the drill and the screw gun,
and then to the tricky part.

I wanted them to measure the back
and the front and told them that I would cut
whatever they measured out so it had to be right.
I told them the old adage, measure twice, cut once,
and they did their job perfectly.

With the back and front on, it was time to paint.
One website said to use white paint
to keep the heat down,
so white it was, and in twenty minutes
the paint was drying in the hot july sun.

Now we had to wait for Mike,
who works on the farm next door,
to place the box twenty feet up
in a nearby tree. It couldn’t be too close
to my log home, since Maddie said owls
can hear your heart beating
from many yards away,
even when you are inside.

When Mike arrived we set up a ladder
and after tying the box to a stout rope,
which he looped over a branch higher
than the one we wanted to secure it to,
Mike climbed back up the ladder
and we pulled the owl house up.
Mike attached it with some long screws
and the white owl house
was securely fastened to a tulip poplar.

I will check it once a month,
but I don’t expect much until next spring,
when I hope Maddie can return to see
owlets peering out and the sweep
of long and silent wings.

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