Had a little fun this weekend and took a side trip the the "World's Longest Yard Sale." it was hot and humid so we made it "The World's Shortest Yard Sale." Still I picked up some interesting stuff. I snagged a pair of vintage wooden and rawhide snowshoes. These look like they have had some serious use. Odd to find stuff like this in Alabama. They'll end up as wall hangers at the cabin. I had to do a little repair work on them, which is why they are in my cabin workshop.



I also picked up a nice little vice for the workshop. Probably from the 1940's or 50's. I took it all apart and cleaned and oiled it good and it works great. I left all the patina on it, no need to refinish the damn thing. i picked up some planes too. They are all there. I bought one for spare parts. I need to get after them, clean them up and do a little work on them, but they should function as intended.



I took some of the old "barn wood" actually old deck boards that I saved, and surprised Mrs. Irish by building her an herb garden on the back deck. I even went to Lowes and bought a bunch more herbs and some potting soil and filled it up for her. I even made little cedar signs for each of the herbs. She was one happy camper when she got back from taking her mom home to Gadsden.



I planned, bought materials, and built "Project Dry Firewood" under my lower deck. The only materials I actually had to buy was the 2x8's. Everything else was scrap pieces I had left over. Basically these will eventually be 2 stacks of firewood about 12' long x 6' high x 16" deep. My firewood can only be 16' long to fit in our little European style wood stove. So I'll have almost enough room back here for 2 cords of firewood. I'm going to use some treated lumber and some plastic water barrier and build a short retaining wall under the firewood girders and then level off this back area under the deck for either a work space or for a future tractor or 4 wheeler, etc... That's a log splitter on the right.



Mrs. Irish wasn't loafing either. She made us some nice cabin breakfasts...





She also put up a batch of fermented pickles with fresh garlic, mustard seed, red pepper flakes, fresh dill and salt. One jar she made with Turmeric and no dill per my request. I'm anxious to trying them out. We made a fresh batch of Kimchi last weekend and it is really good. These should be fermented in about 3 to 5 days then we will put them in cold storage.



I know I posted the "morning" thread, but this was just a little later after Mrs. Irish woke up and joined me. Amazing scene with the early morning sun coming through the clouds and highlighting a spot in the valley. The thing about the view here is that it is constantly changing, so it's never the same...