House update: last week

[electricland]

My aunt reports (well, reported, this is from yesterday):

Today for lunch, Jen, Jen, John, Mike and I had scrambled eggs with smoked salmon, fried potatoes and tomatoes, and sausage and bacon.

There has not been a report for a week because John and I were with Bob and Jane on a houseboat trip on the Trent where we had a perfectly wonderful time.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch . . .

Last Sunday, Rob, Jen and Kathryn primed the first floor--taking up the torch from moi-meme.

Thursday, Jen pained assiduously and got lots and lots done.*

Friday, John the Floor finished the first floor floor.

Yesterday**, John grouted Jen's bathroom and Jen assembled kitchen cabinets.

William has been working on door and window frames on the first floor.

And the excitement never stops.

Cheers, moi-meme.

*And then Mike and I came over and helped clean out the first floor so the floor guys could have a clear view. Amazing how stuff piles up. We filled up the van for a dump run and took the tools down to the basement and unpacked the stove and dishwasher and were generally industrious.
**Sunday, I guess?

Meanwhile meanwhile... Friday night I helped crankygrrl move while Jen and Mike took the van to the dump. Saturday morning Jen, monkeycommando and I were all on moving detail (Jen and MC packed boxes, MC and I ferried them down the hall, Cranky and I unpacked them and I brought the empties back -- rinse, repeat) until it was time to break for the England game. I went up to the cottage at half-time (stopping en route at a picnic site in Markham, but couldn't find stilldeepwater and M anywhere so went on). stilldeepwater and M arrived later on and stayed overnight; they were delightful guests and even weeded the lawn. So I basically did NOTHING for two days except sit, watch the ducks, read, eat, drink, sleep, and occasionally swim. Watched the fireworks all around the lake after dark. Oh, and played Trivial Pursuit on Saturday evening. Bliss.

Ducks, yes! Two families of ducklings. One mallard family with seven babies, still small enough to fit easily in the palm of your hand but quite independent. When they get too far behind they run across the water to catch up, using feet and wings together. And a family of mergansers, also seven ducklings, about half-grown; they only came by once, but spent quite a long time in front of the cottage fishing.

And yesterday I saw, I think, two different kinds of beasties -- a group of three little chestnut-brown ferret-shaped guys with blunt tails trotted in single file in front of the cottage, and then I saw another animal -- quite similar except with a more rat-like tail -- running back and forth several times. Eventually it ran out onto the dock and jumped in the water and that was the last I saw of it. Mink? Muskrat? Not sure. Saw a chipmunk as well.

Comments

[nellisir.livejournal.com]

Mink look like ferrets or weasels. Muskrats, according to the picture on wikipedia, seem to be less lean and more beaver-shaped. You'd probably recognize a beaver or otter.

[electricland.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty sure the three in a row were mink. (We do have mink at the cottage so I wouldn't be surprised.) But the rat-tailed one puzzles me, because you're right, muskrat do look sort of squat in their pictures, and this one seemed fairly long and slim. Definitely not a beaver. And I don't think it was big enough to be an otter. Hm.

[nellisir.livejournal.com]

Maybe a young otter or a bigger/different mink? Otters & mink usually walk sort of hunched; I think muskrats waddle more -- but I've never actually seen a muskrat (despite lots of riverbank holes where I grew up). The only other animals in that approximate size range I can think of are skunks, porcupines, woodchucks, and fishers, and you'd recognize the first three, and fishers are pretty big (and secretive).