M. Phelps

the rouge national park has been buying farms to add to the park and so many houses sit empty
i have been taking pics of the stonemasonry on some of them and i have one to share and a drive by pic of a barn falling apart
i have some pics of stonemasonry in structures which are still used which might be better in another thread ?
i also have lots of pics of old delapitated buildings but on another hard drive and would require some digging to find

i dont know if this is a good fit with this thread  but work dried up as it does sometimes in the winter and so i have had time for my interests and hobbies
like reading on permies... and i starte working on something i started last year around this time but did not finish
making a stone axe.... so i had the stone at an almost finisher state and had chosen a piece of wood over the summer for a handle
so a little bit at a time i have been working on that... it is a little further along than in this picture but not complete yet

an update on trying to fix my work boots with fabric glue.. it didnt hold up
i had used a peice of old glove and really drenched it in the glue and stuck it over the hole but it didnt hold up to the heavy use

my next attempt didnt last forever either but it lasted longer
i punched and drilled some holes in the leather boot either side of the hole and stitched it up with braided mason line
when the line wore out i could just feed another piece through

i did follow through with making pants out of two pairs of jeans which were worn out on the fronts only
i used a sewing machine though .. no glue
i cut out the fly and sewed it in by hand but it want that necessary and if i were to do it again i would just make the waist bigger and use a belt and just loosen the belt when necessary
the pair i made were like that and i was more often then not just loosening the belt as it was easier with gloved hands in the winter
the jeans looked pretty funny as one pair was black and the other was blue
you couldnt tell if i was coming or going ! :)

oh yeah tropic of canada (in ontario) has jujube as well
link:
https://tropicofcanada.ca/plant-varieties/jujube/

i dont know if Perry (flora exotica in montreal) would sell cuttings but he does have jujube it is down near the bottom of this list:
wouldnt hurt to ask if he could mail cuttings... he ships worldwide
i have ordered from him in the past and he is a good seller
webpage

I snowshoed in to shovel off two roofs for the second time this winter yesterday
both times were pretty grueling but this time the day length was a bit longer
both times i headed out at dawn and got back to the car as it was getting dark  

i have done a lot of shoveling at home this year as well and i like to switch up the motion when i get tired from one
sometimes once i am tired of the regular motions i dig in and get a scoop and then lever it off my knee and kind of loft it that way
works well if you are facing the direction you are throwing it and start as far back as you can toss it
then scoop reasonable amounts from beyond where you could throw from and walk it over to where you are throwing it
you may have to climb the pile to knock it down and spread it out if there is room to allow for throwing more up

this video makes me want to get out on the water

i have camped in many provincial and national parks and will continue to do so since some places are worth the cost and hassle of booking a site
places like bruce peninsula national park and killarney are too beautiful to not go... why is it a hassle? the site reservation system opens for booking 6 months before the date you want to reserve and you tend to have to make the reservation on that day exactly 6 months ahead or all the spots will be booked
also there is the cost.. while it is not a huge amount .... camping on crown land is free and i do prefer to camp on crown land.
that said i would like to take my nephews on some of the trips i have done... like canoeing a 7 day loop in killarney and also hiking a 7 day loop in killarney (can be done much faster but i prefer to hike in the morning and then explore and enjoy each site for the 2nd half of the day)

there are many places just as scenic and amazing which are crown land and no booking/paying for sites required one example being temagami (7 day canoeing loop for me) but also countless off the beaten path places which you can venture into by referencing the crown land atlas:

https://www.lioapplications.lrc.gov.on.ca/CLUPA/index.html?viewer=CLUPA.CLUPA&locale=en-CA

more on free camping:
https://www.ontario.ca/page/recreational-activities-on-crown-land

you can set up a camp for 21 days at which point (if someone were to have something to say about it) you would have to move youre camp at least 100m and you are good for another 21 days  

i like to explore crown land areas for mineral specimens which you are allowed to collect for youre personal collection but not for commercial purposes
you can trade the minerals with other collectors etc but you cannot sell youre finds commercially  

the land i bought up north is surrounded by crown land which is nice