Steps Ahead

Wednesday, May 12, 2021  (14 days before May’s “Flower Moon” rises fullest to Earth)

Peaches is my constant companion out in the RV garage. I’m transforming it into a shop of sorts, and actually more, a she-cave.

Long ago, I did a little carpentry and was hoping to play again with wood, my plan before venturing out and seeing current wood prices. A single sheet of good plywood costs nearly as much as a new table saw. A contractor busily loading two-by-fours onto a cart commented that he’s beginning to create wood slabs by connecting single boards.

My woodworking plans may be on hold but there’ll be a play space. By now, in my she-cave are a couple of chairs, a little refrigerator, some basic carpentry equipment, miscellaneous leftover boards, and a perch for Peaches. There are south and north sliding doors allowing air flow and pleasant views.

I’ve used this building to store hay, about once a month entering and transferring hay to a smaller storage space at the barn, nearer the horses. Now I’m trying to remove the last stored hay, have created enough space for tools, chairs, and such, but still hay remains to be moved.

Yesterday, Peaches watched me climb onto the stack, re-arrange bales, and one by one shove each down onto my Gater’s bed, which holds two bales. I drove to and from the barn multiple times to load and unload. That meant many climbs onto the hay stack, lots of bale-pushing, and multiple unloads at the barn. Once the stored hay is all gone, the entire RV space may be whatever I wish.

These are pandemic stay-at-home days. They’re also get-going days of action, forced by climate change, rampant wildfires, and retirees looking to move. Essentially, daily life “just happens”. For example, lumber prices raising because of destructive wildfires and current mega-construction, chokes a novice’s plans to saw, glue, and nail. That forces new planning.

Regardless of how the RV garage space becomes used, it’ll be available for storage, or for just hanging out. I’d sit gazing out the door with my parrot, or set up a system so music may reverberate in the large space. Or rethink ways to woodwork. Those sticks of scrap wood could become framing for better photos.

Dear Friends: Time moves rapidly, situations change quickly, we move forward creatively. Diana