wet

Round here, early December brings precipitation in all its glorious forms.

Go on. We’ve no time for dampened spirits.

Tis the season to replace pilings, posts, and sills in the old boat house along the Jones River.

We dug out the old cedar pilings, working around the tides.

I don’t know about you, but I see the Stanley Cup in this old stump.

At the bottom of one of the holes, we found a vein of blue clay. Our friend Pine, of the Jones River Landing Environmental Heritage Center, reminded us that there was once a flourishing pottery industry about the river.

This blue clay is the same sort of stuff that came out of Boston Harbor during The Big Dig.

Cutting commenced.

We cut new fir to replace old fir at the bottom of the house’s posts.

Parts of the old fir, in spite of decades of weathering and tides, still bravely bore its worthy grain.

We cut tapered scarfs in white oak to join lengths of sills.

And we cut locust pilings square on their ends for the sills to be attached to–

Keith clearing sandy bark before the chainsaw. Locust–a legume–is renowned for its decay-resistant properties.

The waning, blue afternoon light made us happy for a little warming barrel fire to gather about.

There is a blue heron who works the river daily. We’d like to think that he/she will join us sometime when the day’s work is done.

The run under the bridge holds a particular interest for the bird.

One night, the rain turned to snow.

The following  morning, we needed to get twenty-six pieces of 2′ squares of granite, marble, and slate down the slippery hill. These will be placed at the bottom of the piling holes.

We wondered–only briefly–how to get them to the site without falling ass over tea kettle…

I reckon it’s about time to start some Christmas shopping. See you next time.