Summer Hopes

On a blisteringly hot day in mid July with a forecast of 37 degrees C, air quality warnings from northern wildfire smoke, severe thunderstorm and possible tornado warnings, and a humidex that makes it feel much hotter than the temperature displayed on our outdoor thermometer, I open my photos for the next blog writing and find myself staring at a photo of snow.  Taken April 10th, just 3 short months ago.  Somehow I can't help but feel instantly cooler.

At the same time, I try not to think that in 3 months we could be looking at the same scene. Instead I simply marvel at the diverse weather conditions of this place we call home, grab a glass of cold water, and opt to sit quietly in the coolness of the house and think about writing a blog update.  It is a lovely 24 degrees C in the house, the windows are closed to keep out the midday heat, and as soon as it cools off later in the night to an outdoor temperature that is below our indoor temperature, we will open the windows wide, allowing the house to drink in the cooler air.

Back in April we were hoping to begin gathering our firewood (we have this hope every April, but it seldom transpires). We were preparing to travel for a family wedding (hoping the weather would improve not just for travel reasons, but because I was worrying that in our absence ice and snow on the solar panels could cause a loss of power to our fridge and also slightly worried that the house could get rather cold as we heat solely with a wood stove). I had also offered to do a dog sit/farm sit at a nearby farm and was a tad nervous when I found out that I might be bottle feeding a newborn calf for my first time, and I was hopeful that I could manage. Lots of "hope" in our minds for the month of April!

Not unexpectedly, we weren't able to start on our firewood due to the weather.  It was a rather long cold spring, and April continued that trend, with a bit more snow arriving as late as the third week of the month. Fortunately it all melted pretty quickly.

A week before my dog sit/farm sit I went to the farm for instructions on how to bottle feed the calf. First we had to find the calf, traipsing out into the fields, and calling it's name as it would apparently sometimes come running! I was surprised at the how big he had grown already, and how strong he was when feeding! Still, it was a pretty cool experience I must say.  By the time I arrived for my day at the farm though, the calf was no longer in need of a midday feeding, so I didn't have to add that to my list of chores.  I don't know if I was more relieved, or disappointed!  But I did still have an opportunity to collect chicken eggs at two different locations away from the farm, (the first time I've gathered fresh eggs!) had a lovely long walk with Jax the dog through muddy but pretty paths in a forest, and kept an anxious eye out on the herd of cattle to make sure they hadn't broken through any fencing, and that their water trough was always filled. I had also been shown the greenhouse vegetable seedlings and plants and instructed on how to make sure they were all faring well when the day suddenly warmed up. It was a great glimpse into just a few aspects of a busy farm life, and a nice opportunity to "hang out" with a lovely dog!

We were able to make it to the wedding with no weather or travel issues, and the temperatures finally warmed up so I could stop worrying about snowy solar panels, or loss of power, and the house stayed at a perfectly decent temperature in our absence.  It was a very lovely wedding, small and inviting, and Rob and I visited a bit with several family members, and also managed to squeeze in some time for a wonderful walk or two along the Niagara River before heading home.

Cool temperatures in early May saw us still using the woodstove most nights for a short period of time to take the chill off of the house.  We noticed that the blossoms and leaves seemed slow to emerge this year due to cooler than normal temperatures, and hoped that maybe the arrival of the mosquitoes would be delayed as well!  The second week of May we began scouting around the woods for fallen trees suitable for firewood gathering.  We found quite a few that we would have loved to pull out, but they were too deep within the forest, so reluctantly had to leave them where they lay.  Even with ropes and chains, they were beyond the reach of the tractor, and the forest floor footing too tangled to try to safely carry out heavy segments of the logs by hand.  

I was surprised when I checked one of our trail cameras one day, to discover that a bear had strolled by just a few hours earlier, at the very same spot where we were gathering trees! 

By mid May we felt like we had stockpiled enough, and began to get ready to chain saw what we had, in preparation for splitting and stacking.  When we first start on firewood every year, it feels a bit daunting, but as the days progress, it feels much less so.  

A few of the logs were too heavy for us to lift onto our splitter, and Rob had to hand split them first.  We prefer handling smaller logs, but of course have no control over the size of trees that come down during a storm.

One of the logs we had gathered was quite hollow in the middle, and I was super surprised to discover in the debris within the hollow some suspiciously familiar threads and fabric.  After poking around a bit in what appeared to be nesting materials, I realized they were the remnants of my prayer flags ! I had put a lovely long string of them in the garden at the cabin a couple of years ago, and they were mysteriously completely removed just a few days after I hung them up.  I always suspected the red squirrels had taken them, but had no proof.  Until now!  

Although we always hope to finish the firewood as quickly as possible, there are days in between that require us to stop, sometimes due to the weather, sometimes to recuperate a bit, and sometimes just because we need to work on some of our other ongoing projects. 

One of those jobs for me was to get some seeds into my garden, and to pull out my herb pots and get soil and seeds into them as well.  The snowshoe hare in the meantime was busy trimming our "grass" so I didn't need to! 

Some days we would also try to limit our work hours somewhat, leaving ourselves some free time to get groceries and supplies, do laundry, help get our neighbours to appointments, pick up diesel for the tractor, or service the chainsaw. Rob is still making (delicious) beer, and we generally try to make some before the heat of the summer arrives, so he needed to get a couple of batches on while it was somewhat cooler.

Keeping track of the time when we are working on firewood was made easier by this amazing little clock.  I bought this cheap clock for Rob 14 years ago, when he was timber framing up at the top of the property and would lose track of the time. When I bought it,  he made it pretty clear that he thought he would be lucky if the clock lasted more than a couple of weeks. What a surprise to find that this clock, that sits in a unheated shed year round, is not only still working, but it is still running on the original batteries!  

With most people using their phones now to tell the time, I wonder if clocks like this even exist any more ?  Of course, it may just run another 14 years, so no need just yet to search for another.

Although it felt like we were behind in terms of completing the firewood, we finished it on June 1st, one day ahead of when we finished the previous year!  Overall we are pretty pleased with the wood as most of it was quite sound, and should do well for us this coming winter.  It is primarily spruce, poplar, aspen and ash with a bit of cedar and birch.  In previous years some of the wood we pulled out had sat on the forest floor for too long and had deteriorated quite a bit, and although we still used it, we know now to try to scavenge logs that have only been down for a relatively short time. 

We also had some wood left over from the previous winter that we have stored elsewhere.  I always feel happiest if I think we have more than enough, as we never know what kind of winter we will come up against.  

Although this spring seemed slow to warm up, eventually we began to see blossoms, and perhaps because of the long cool spring, it seemed to be the best year ever. Wherever we drove in the valley, beautiful blossoms were in full view.

We always look for the first sign of turtles; in particular the snapping turtles.  We were pleased to catch sight of one making it's way up our creek and into our wetland area.

As well, some baby foxes appeared again this year on our hill, and were still young enough that they were curious and would peek out at us from the underbrush.

With the firewood completed Rob and I went off in different directions, doing many of the usual spring jobs that are required.  We pulled out our slightly tattered garden chairs and Rob fixed them up once again with braces and screws, and we should be able to use them all for at least another year.  I started "spring" cleaning the house, and we both worked to get the cabin open and running ready for the arrival of some family members in June.  

If this was the year of excess blossoms, it was also the year of excess aspen/poplar "fluff", and the air was thick with it.

It gathered along the edges of our laneways like snow!

It also filled our window screens, and the screens of the cabin porch, and we will likely need to use a power washer to get it off of the porch screens again.  Luckily this doesn't occur every year.

We took down our "temporary" firewood shelter, and began to think that maybe this year would be the year that we build a permanent firewood shed.  (How many times have you read that in previous blog postings?)

We also had to deal with a shelter cover replacement, that we wanted to do last year, but had decided to leave for another year, hoping that it would make it through one more winter.  Which it did! But now it really needs to be replaced.  They usually have a life expectancy of three or four years, and ours has been on now for 14 years already. Before we went to the effort of swapping in a new cover though, it seemed like the perfect time to move the entire shelter frame first to a better location.  Rob set to building a site for it, and moved rocks into the perimeter, and filled in some gravel for the base.  Just as he was preparing to dismantle the old shelter though, one of the Phoebes decided to build a nest in the rollup doorway. 

So the site is prepared, but now we will wait.  Approximately 16 days for the eggs to hatch, then a further 16 - 20 days until the little ones leave the nest.

There are also Phoebes that nest at our front door, and they are currently feeding their second brood of the season. I was enchanted to see one of the eggs on our porch (hopefully the adult phoebe was just nest cleaning and tossed out the shell after the little one hatched). 

How tiny is this shell?  Smaller than a penny.  (For those of you who remember pennies!). It is hard to imagine how small the little one is when it emerges from this size of egg.

When the Phoebe adults are busy feeding their young, they like to perch close by, swooping out for insects, and bringing them to the nest.  One of their preferred places to perch seems to be the driveway markers we have, so we moved one closer to the porch area, where they have a good view of the nest. They seem to use it quite happily.

The robins here and at the cabin have also successfully raised a couple of broods already.  Here are two little robins not long before they got brave enough to jump off of the beam and flap away.

This year Rob and I have both noted that the number of bird sightings seems greater than previous years. We have been seeing (and hearing!)  more Rose Breasted Grosbeaks, Northern Flickers, Brown Thrashers, Catbirds, Yellow Bellied Sapsuckers, Black and White Warblers, and Baltimore Orioles than previous years.  The areas around the house are always full of bird movement, and there are several more birds that move too fast for us to identify. It has been really lovely to see all the activity.

One day while I was waiting for Rob to finish up on the new shelter site, I was fortunate to look up and spot the Oriole, and then saw it dive head first into a nest.  I had been wondering where the nest was, and all this time it was right above our laneway. It's pretty hard to spot, but when the wind blows the leaves a bit, it's location is more easily revealed.

One of life's amazing observances for me, is when I am down at the river at the exact time that some of the dragonflies emerge from the river.  I read that dragonflies live first as nymphs, under water, and can live anywhere from several months to several years, until one day, they climb out of the water, their skin then splits open, and the dragonfly emerges. Although I often search the shores to witness their emergence I am not always lucky. But this year I was once again able to see it happen.  I am completely intrigued by the process, wondering what it is that makes the nymph decide that today is the day it shall move out of the waters, shed it's skin, spread wings and fly.  It's an awesome sight, and I am so pleased that I was able to see it happen again.

With the moving of our shelter on hold due to the Phoebe nesting, Rob had gone back to working on the design and placement of a firewood shed.  It will be about 8x20 feet, and a timber frame structure of course. It will look very different from our usual shed, built out of scaffolding and platforms each year!

It was somewhere around this time that Rob started talking about "concrete".  I didn't pay much attention at the time, as I was busy tending to my little raised bed garden, doing some more "spring" cleaning both inside and outside the house and cabin, and all the other little jobs that come up when summer arrives. Friends were arriving in early July and I was making plans for meals, food items to leave in the kitchen for them, and making sure all the bedding and towels were ready after family visited here in mid June.  The local farms were beginning to offer lots of fresh produce and I was happily freezing strawberries, and enjoying making fresh salads from their roadside stalls.

Rob was off sawing wood to use for the firewood shed.

And from time to time I could hear him out using the tractor, and catch sight of him moving stones, and gravel.

I 

But then he began to talk a bit more about "concrete".  A small concrete walkway between the house and the workshop.  A small concrete walkway and/or pad at the cabin entrance doors.  Concrete posts for a future porch.  And a concrete pad for the firewood shed.  I began to realize that he really was set on mixing it himself, and doing all the pouring and levelling as well.  And then the word "we" began to creep in ! 😀 Not really. Truthfully, I already knew that I would be involved (despite saying I might have to be somewhere else on those days!) and I have full confidence that we will be able to do it ourselves.  Not all at once of course, but in steps and stages.  And with the help of some well planned "concrete gizmos" to make the job easier on us both.  

I have memories of this time, almost 20 years ago now, when Rob did some of his own concrete work for a workshop in Navan.  (I'm pretty sure I did leave the house and go off to work that day, after taking this pic!) 

Rob assures me that this time it will be much more "automated" using the tractor, a winch, a stand, a bucket, a concrete mixer (no getting away from that!) and a well thought out plan to make it all work.

I will do an update in my next blog posting!

In the meantime summer is well on its way.  My little garden is flourishing with garlic, rosemary, thyme, basil, cilantro, dill, tomatoes, and tomatillos all growing well. We have already enjoyed a few fresh tomatoes and herbs, and I have some mint and thyme already drying ready for winter.  I once again did not manage to coax my oregano, chives, or thai basil to grow, and I only produced one head of lettuce before the heat arrived.  But it's a small garden, and I am happy with it's progress.

I had a few concerns when "Chuck-E", a rather stout looking groundhog, showed up and spent a few days sunning on the rocks, when not eating somewhat voraciously the leaves of several nearby bushes.

It was fascinating to see how much it used it's paws to reach the higher branches and pull them closer.

I also spotted them piling dried leaves into their mouth, and disappearing below the rocks, which I suspiciously thought might indicate a pregnant burrowing groundhog.  But there have been no more recent sightings, and so far, my garden seems to have remained intact.  In terms of the raccoons and chipmunks that do seem to like to visit my garden, I regularly spray the wood sides with a diluted vinegar solution, spread wood ashes around the perimeter, place jalapeno powder on the inside soil perimeter, and side dress here and there with some blood meal on the advice of some fellow gardeners.  So far, so good! 

As summer progresses, we've been loving the extra long hours of daylight, and have spent many evenings relaxing at the point above the river.  As darkness falls we have been treated to some wonderful firefly light shows.  We had a good visit with family members in June, and friends in July. More friends are scheduled to arrive in August.

We know that summers pass by quickly, and if some projects don't get done this year, that's o.k. We will do as much as we can, while still making sure to enjoy each and every day here. By the time I do my next blog posting, likely that snowy scene I posted at the beginning will once again be a reality!

Farewell to 2017

I think that if I decide to make any New Year's Resolutions for 2018, the top one on my list should be to keep the blog updated a bit more often!  The last post was in August, so the task of looking back over the past four months worth of photos and diary entries and then trying to write something just doesn't work all that well for me, and I obviously should have kept up with it better. That said, I'll do my best to put a little something together although it may seem to be a bit of a choppy read at times.

Recent temperatures have been around minus 33 degrees C, and with the biting cold and a thick blanket of snow on the ground from the December snow storms, I must say it's quite lovely to be looking back to photos I took in August and and to remember a time when it was warmer, with a land covered in greenery. Funny too, to think that back then I complained that it was an unusually cool summer!

The end of August saw us getting ready for the concrete pour at the entrance of the workshop:

And a small porch area at the front entrance of the new house:

Rob prepared both areas, and then decided to prepare an extra pad next to the workshop as well; one that would serve to hold our propane tanks, in case there was enough concrete left over to do so.

Alas, due to a slight miscalculation, there was quite a bit of concrete left over! On the plus side, we definitely had enough for the propane tank "pad" but there was still had an awful lot of concrete leftover. Unfortunately, concrete trucks hate waiting while you try to build something to contain the excess, so with only minutes to decide what to do, he hastily plopped down some 6x6 timbers and had them pour a quick pad next to an existing one elsewhere on the property.  And this is where it will sit, possibly forever, as a constant reminder that when calculating cubic yards, 3x3x3 feet does not equal nine. Another useful fact is that concrete flows downhill as evidenced by the wonky corner. Again, on the plus side, the slab has excellent drainage. I'm thinking maybe we could build a little goat shed on it in future. Goats won't mind that it isn't perfect will they? Or maybe it will work for a small pony! (More likely though it will end up as a base for a wood shed. Still, it was fun to dream.)

As soon as we got over the "concrete thing" (note from Rob: I'm not over it yet!) we moved on and got back to work.  It was time to finish the back roof on the workshop, as we had run out of time the previous fall and didn't want it to go another winter without the roofing and ridge cover.  I don't think Rob was eager to get at it, but if it's any consolation, we think it may be the last roof he has to do (not true of course - see later in blog)!

I think it came out looking pretty good, and it was a relief to see it get done this year.

The September long weekend was rainy and cool and probably not a surprising ending to the "summer that wasn't".  With morning temperatures of only 3 degrees, and imminent frost warnings, we decided we'd better service the tractor and generator while the weather was still reasonable, as neither are tasks you want to do when it's cold or snowing!

With some of the outdoor tasks done, Rob got back to constructing the interior window frames.  Our bathroom frame was made of lovely cherry wood, and is truly beautiful, but it certainly was a bit of a job getting it installed behind the timber brace (it looked so easy in the drawings)!

Next came  the kitchen window frame. It has a sweet accent line of maple on the sill - which, as it turns out, is due to another mistake Rob made, but no one will ever know that (Rob's note: until now!) I think it looks perfect (he shouldn't have told me as I would never have guessed).

As always in September, we began to feel a bit of pressure due to the change of seasons. Rob was anxious to get at acid staining the concrete floors while it was still warm enough inside the house. He was going to have to move out the wood stove, so there would be no source of heat while he was doing the floors.  We had to clear all of the floors of building supplies and stuff, and move everything into our bedroom (which will have it's floor done later) and started doing some test areas on the concrete.

We did our tests in the guest bathroom, as this floor has to be tiled anyway because of the shower, so our test areas will be nicely covered up.  But before doing these, we placed a few of the floor tiles down just to confirm that we liked the choice of tile we'd made - and we did. We picked tiles that look like weathered wood with a bit of old blue paint on them and I love them.  It's a small bathroom, so we could splurge a bit on a nice tile, and Rob had picked them up earlier last year.

The first week of September saw a whole new project enter into the scheme of things. Our friend Bob who has always come to help when we needed a second pair of hands, had asked Rob to help teach him how to build a timber frame structure.  He wanted to build a small one on his own property to use for wood storage.   Rob was more than happy to oblige, as it would be a small way to thank Bob for all his effort and help.  So a deal was made to help Bob on the days that the weather was good, and on the rainy days Rob could continue working on the interior of our house. The timbers were brought to our place as we had all the tools here that would be needed, as well as a perfect setup for working on them.

Amazingly, in mid September our summer suddenly arrived! We had big beautiful blue skies, endless sunshine, and warm temperatures. It was great to be able to work comfortably outside wearing T-shirts although the mosquitoes and no-see-ums were back out in full force too, which seemed strange given the time of year.

If I had a day off work and they were busy working on the timbers, I would help prepare something for our lunch together.  Sometimes Bob would bring a nice homemade soup for us, and I was delighted when Rob set me up in the new house with a bit of work space and a hot plate, and I "cooked" our first lunch there.  Although I was technically cooking in what will eventually be my sink area, it was a total joy to be in our light filled space, window open, looking outside at the lovely river, and imagining the times to come. When the guys showed up for lunch I couldn't help grinning and exclaiming "I'm cooking lunch in my new house!".

Once they finished with the timber preparations, we moved them all over to Bob's place, where he could finish up some of  the remaining work on his own, such as making the braces.  When he was ready, Rob would go back and help with getting the frame up.

The September weather was incredible, and for the first time all year we found ourselves spending time in the evenings relaxing down at the river's edge, and we even went in for a swim a couple of times!

Some evenings, as we sat in our favourite place at a point above the river, we would see the Osprey fly by.  A short time later we would hear the telltale splash as it hit the river, in search of a fish for dinner.  I still haven't actually watched one do that, but I hope to someday.

As the end of September approached we knew that these warm summer-like days were about to end so we made the most of them.  I would rush home from work each day to grab a bit of that warmth and sunshine while I could. The birds were beginning to migrate, and we knew this weather couldn't last. But with promises of the weather holding for a little while longer, we decided to make a trip out and pick up some timbers for our entrance ways, as it seemed like we might have time to get them ready and installed.

During the first week of October, Rob and Bob got Bob's frame up. Well, it took two tries, as they discovered a few adjustments that needed to be made!.  But they didn't lose too much time, and Bob hoped he would still have enough time to get his roof up and on before the snow arrived.

We were glad we could do a little something in return for Bob's efforts, but now it was time to get back at our own project again.  Rob began cleaning our concrete floors in preparation for the acid stain.

He also had a design in mind for the baseboards, and needed to cut the drywall off a bit where it met the floor.

He taped cardboard between the floor and the drywall before applying the stain, so the drywall wouldn't get sprayed (it did anyway!) and then sprayed 2 coats of the acid stain on using a standard pressurized hand sprayer.  After the stain dried he had to neutralize, wash and scrub off the residue, using the shop vac to remove any excess water.

We loved the way it turned out, but knew it might change a bit after we put on a finishing coat to protect the concrete surface.   This is how the guest room looked before the protective coating:

A view of the kitchen while the acid stain was drying:

 The front entrance:

The kitchen and dining room:

I loved the turquoise colour running through the kitchen!

So the colours worked great but when we put the finishing coat on - ugghhhh.... it was too shiny! It was supposed to be a matte finish and it just didn't come out that way at all. It was also really "patchy" looking, with varying glossiness and although we loved the depth of colour, it just wasn't what we wanted.  Rob did some research and came up with a new product to try that was guaranteed to be "matte".

While we waited for delivery of the new floor finish, Rob's birthday arrived, and we took the afternoon to go for a glorious walk in the very beautiful Shaw Woods.

We've seen snow here on Rob's birthday in the past, so we really appreciated how lovely it was to be out in the woods enjoying warm weather and brilliant sunshine, with all the truly golden colours of fall all around us.

It was also great to have a visit from our wonderful friend Marilyn just before Rob's birthday - no photos (unfortunately) but a perfect day. Several years ago Marilyn gave Rob a ceramic geodesic bird house that has graced our driveway ever since we started building. At least she got to see it - a few days after her visit a branch came down in a windstorm and destroyed it. It must have been waiting to see her before leaving!

With November fast approaching, we still had more than a few tasks that needed completing before the weather changed. Rob was still hoping to get the exterior timber structures up in the porch areas where we had poured the concrete, so each day he would work putting a layer of the new finish on the floor, then while it was drying he'd go up and work on the timbers.

He first had to sand down the glossy finish on all the floors,  and then applied the new product. We lost a bit of the depth of colour in the process, but we were both really happy with the results.

As soon as the timbers were ready, Rob moved them down to the new house, and was even able to get a protective coating of Cetol on them.

The weather was beginning to change and I started pulling out the garden, gathering wood and kindling to store on the porch, moving my summer clothing out and back into storage, bringing winter clothing in, and getting the cabin sorted out.

We moved the wood stove back into place in the new house, serviced the snow plow, and got the truck ready for winter.

We still had more than a few cords of firewood to split, so stopped everything else and took a couple of days to get it done together.  Then we had to move what we hoped would be enough of the dry split wood down closer to the cabin, and got it neatly stacked and covered.

We also took some over to the new house and stacked it under the shelter of the workshop roof.

Rob made one more trip over to our friend Bob's to help him get his roof on, although they had to wait until a snow squall passed before they could finish it. Bob is at a higher altitude than us, so often gets snow when we don't.

We didn't quite get our entrance way timbers up in time, as then it snowed here too. And got much colder!

It sure was pretty though.

Our long time friends, Gary and Liz decided to come up from Florida for a visit.  While we were really looking forward to seeing them, we couldn't help but wonder why anyone would leave Florida in November to come to Ontario!  We can only guess that they missed the snow and crisp cold air! Luckily we were able to provide them with plenty of both.

Rob decided to move a few things into the new house so that we could have a more comfortable visit with them, so moved in our fridge, dining table and chairs, two living room chairs and our stereo and speakers.  While we still couldn't offer them a comfortable place to stay, we could at least gather easily around the wood stove, and provide some snacks and such.  With a hot plate and a bit of planning, we even managed to provide a hot soup for lunch, and a simple dinner of veggie burgers and salad for a quick dinner!

Here I am (slightly blurry...) cooking our first dinner in the house!

And with our friends in our dining room:

We even managed to get out for a drive and showed them Bob's new (finished) timber frame.

After they left, it warmed up very slightly and Rob decided it was a good time to get the generator hook up installed while he had a chance. This will allow us to start up the generator and plug it into our off grid system if we need to charge the batteries, or simply run off of the generator at any point. He also decided to try to get the timber frame structure up under the roof overhang of the shop and new house front entrance.

We managed to get them up, but not totally installed, when it snowed again, and our temperatures plummeted. They will probably have to remain in this state until spring.

We always look forward to winter, and the changes it brings, but we always forget that it brings some new challenges with it.  The shorter hours of daylight result in Rob stopping early in the afternoon in order to get Jet out for one last walk before darkness falls. With an unusually cold December, we went through a lot more fire wood than normal, and it was a bit more effort to keep both the cabin and the new house warm.  When it warms up a bit we get snow, and then we spend a day plowing and clearing, which is how we spent Christmas Day!  Not to mention having to keep the solar panels clear of snow.

Still, it's nice in the winter to curl up in a warm house and have a game of scrabble with Jet but he was complaining that I used the "O" he wanted to use and put it on his triple letter space.   (O.k. - it might have been a staged photo as I was trying to get one of my PhotoCoach challenge entries completed - but I had fun doing it, and Jet's always willing to help out).

We also tried to take a bit of time to sit by the wood stove in the new house, while we still had the chairs and stereo there to enjoy.  It's nice to sit and listen to some of the many CD's we have that have been tucked away in storage all this time - not to mention enjoying the sound of real speakers! We've been listening to a limited number of CD's through a Walkman plugged into a docking station for far too long...

All this will end though, as we are about to move that little bit of furniture back out, so that Rob can begin the task of taping drywall, sanding, and painting. The house is about to go through some real changes!

He's spent the last week or so trying to get his workshop organized so that he has room to build the cabinets and things that will fill the new house.  Wisely, he decided not to rent a floor sander over Christmas to do the upper floors!  Instead, we curled up on Christmas Eve, with our little tree outside all lit up, and toasted each other with hopes that Christmas next year will truly be celebrated in the new house.

New Year's Eve came and went, with severe cold warnings, and bright blue skies.  We stayed pretty close to the wood stove for the most part, although I couldn't resist bundling up and going down to see the changes in the river.  This time last year the river was wide open, but this year there was a small narrow channel here and there, and for the most part it was mostly ice.  While there are lots of animal footprints along the edges, you won't see mine as I am pretty cautious not to get too close to the edge, which still changes almost daily.

And so, as 2018 begins, we continue to dream and plan and design the house interior, and look forward to the coming months as everything (hopefully) comes together. Our time here in the cabin has been sweet, and I know there are things I will surely miss, but at the same time I am looking forward to the change.  We are anxious to pull out our boxes of "stuff" to see what has survived, to rediscover some of the art work we have missed seeing on our walls, and to listen to more of the music we have missed all this time.

My mantra this year is simple, yet complex. It is "Community".  For while this project has gone on, it is something we have had in some ways, but not in others.  I hope that the finishing of this house will bring more community back into our lives somehow, whether through more frequent visits with friends, or the bringing together somehow of more like minded people.  I'm not sure yet where it will begin, but I know this word is for me this year, so I will remember it, sing it, chant it, and see what happens.

Wishing all the very best for 2018, and peace, love and joy to all.