EMERGENCY RISK REDUCTION

I have settled into the lovely Autumn in western North Carolina. Hardwoods changing color and leaves lazily falling. I have only one neighbor around the corner of our gravel road, so quiet and isolated out the back deck. Fortunately I border city property both in the cabin’s front and back so less chance of residential construction.

Speaking of deck, one overdue task has been to put steps off the back deck. Wow, the price of lumber! I am confident that the cost of these simple steps at today’s “COV prices” is more than the entire deck 12 year ago. Still, it was a needed addition, and now the cabin has a back door, that leads to the back yard, my underneath workbench and tool area built last year. I also hand dug almost 100 feet of septic line out back, to replace what might have been the original septic line of about 25 feet. Not the easiest task but it was difficult and pricey to get a TracHoe or other small excavator onto the backyard  slope.

A thrill was to have my son Sheldon and his girlfriend Charlie here – ‘building out’ one of their cargo vans into an RV.  You would never know that both of them are wildfire fighters with the BC Wildfire Service, as mentioned in previous blogs. Such a cute couple. Simply fun to be around for several weeks. I loved fixing and enjoying hash browns, bacon, and eggs for breakfast on the back deck. They got a lot done on one of the Sprinter vans here in the NC mountains, until the temperature dropped, and they moved the ‘operation’ to my sister and brother in law’s  enclosed garage in S Carolina.  They did an excellent and professional job. Putting it on the market, it sold almost immediately. They flew soon after for Victoria, BC.

I am hunkered down during these cold weeks with a wood burning stove, a kerosene heater, and a few space heaters as needed with the temperatures. Days pass quickly.