Dirt, Stain & a Cobalt Blue Surprise

Another weekend, another trip to Thorn Creek.

Greg was continuing to move dirt around the property, getting everything ready for the next big step—moving the sawmill. There is still quite a bit of work to do before we’re ready for that, but little by little the property is taking shape.

I had my own project to finish.

After my unfortunate stain spill the previous weekend, I had bought more stain and was back to work on the crap shack. I managed to get most of it finished, although there were a few spots that were higher up than I wanted to tackle.

Thankfully, Greg was willing to climb up and take care of those for me.

It’s nice having someone around who doesn’t mind doing the jobs I don’t particularly want to do.

We also had a little plumbing adventure.

The pump for our water system stopped working, and of course, this happened right when Greg wanted to take a shower.

So he took the pump apart, figured out what was wrong, and got it working again.

I love that about him.

Greg can fix just about anything.

Something breaks? He takes it apart.

Something isn’t working? He figures it out.

It’s one of those things I probably take for granted sometimes, but I really appreciate having someone who is so good at figuring things out.

In between all the actual work, I continued doing what has apparently become my official job at Thorn Creek—photographing bugs.

There were more butterflies, including several kinds I hadn’t seen before, and I found another really cool little creature I’d only seen once before.

A cobalt milkweed beetle.

It is this incredible, bright metallic blue color that almost does’t look real. I love being able to bring my camera’s big lens in close and then zoom way in on the photos afterward. You can see details that you would never notice just looking at the insect in person.

Every weekend seems to bring something new.

By the time we finished working for the day, Greg decided he had accomplished enough that he didn’t need to stay overnight and continue working Sunday.

So, instead of spending another night at the property, we headed home together.

And we did absolutely nothing productive for the rest of the evening.

We spent some time in the pool, which felt pretty fantastic after working outside all day, and later we got in the hot tub.

It was a pretty perfect ending to a busy weekend.

The dirt is getting moved.

The sawmill is getting closer to its new home.

The crap shack is finally stained.

The water pump survived another day.

And I have a camera roll full of butterflies and a ridiculously cool blue beetle.

Another good weekend at Thorn Creek.

This is a Pine White Butterfly