Logging and Freezing Showers

Two important things of the day: dragging logs out of the woods is really hard and taking an outdoor shower when it's 50F out is a really bad idea.

So today was a bit of a test of wills. The logging work actually wasn't so bad if I thought about it as my workout for the day, which it was. James wanted to rebuild a low garden wall with poplar posts. He took a chainsaw to a few poplars on the hill and cut them into chunks, and then Maren and I lugged and dragged the logs down the hill. We used trunks 2.5-6" in diameter. Poplar was planted on the hillsides to stop erosion, which it does well, but it's also become a bit of a nuisance as it's now pushing out native trees. Slow and heavy work to get the 5 plus trees down off the hill.

Our hosts think we're wusses, but the outdoor solar-heated shower at dusk is just miserable in this season. The air temp is too cold to get naked and the (really) hot water from the solar shower just dribbles out making it impossible to get warm in it. It's a bloody ordeal getting a shower out there without warm air. I'm shivering violently by the time I'm done and my little pack towel can't cover me while I'm wet. Maren decided it was way too cold to get a shower outside tonight after Steph and I came back freezing and is opting for a shower in the house instead. Not a wimp I think.

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Slowly but surely I'm learning lots of cool things out here. Willow and poplar are great for building living structures. You can stick stumps of either in the ground and they'll root and flower and grow. Rather amazing. You can make living willow walls or a shade cover of poplar or willow. If you're really enthusiastic, maybe a chair or yurt, a tunnel or gazebo classroom, all kinds of crazy structures. Also learned that poplar makes poor firewood, but a dense native bushy conifer (I forgot the name) works really well. And I learned the best way to haul heavy log sections - hoist one on my shoulder which saves my biceps and forearms from wearing out too fast (climbing strength didn't get me very far). My Carhartts are very dirty and worn in now from all the work we've been up to.