Hikey

Cool, clear (mid 30s)

The kitchen ceiling is up, and I got to bumble around by the river! Carlo and I spent the morning in Slanty, cussing and jigsawing pieces of wood to create the ceiling we took down two days ago. And hoorah! It’s done. No more insulation dropping down into my dinner. Now it’ll just have to be satisfied to drop down into my shower.

I also messed with electricity today (always fun), and culminated a too-difficult replacement of a light fixture by breaking the globe part. So now I still have a bare bulb there, although I did learn about wiring.

But the most fun part of my day was when I walked around camp. I walked across the meadow and cut down through the treehouses toward the river. There, I scrambled over the big river-rocks toward the main beach, clinging onto branches and teetering over the chilly water. It was the kind of hike I like best, the kind where I’m not really exerting myself physically, but I do have to contort my body to avoid getting wet, and I have to use my brain to avoid peril. I hopped over stones, and admired raccoon prints in very wet sand, until I finally got to the main beach. The day was beautifully sunny again, and decidedly wintry. The water is its normal level for this season, which made me happy. It makes me even happier to think that the Sandy is now damless. It doesn’t change the river that much from my vantage point, but it does make it seem more capricious and more personifiable. And gee, it’s pretty either way.

But the highlight of the day was the OTTER TRACKS, which emerged in a set of three from the water. I know there are these otters that live across the river from the main beach, and I saw them cavorting in the waves once, but every time I see their little footprints it still makes me gleeful and glad to be where I am. Something about seeing otters, or evidence of them, makes me feel like I’m doing the right thing.