February... March.... bring on Spring!

February is known for it's unsettled weather, with extreme lows, and occasional thaws. We certainly had the lows, but there was no sign of any thawing for the entire month! We had several "extreme cold warnings", wicked wind chills of minus 35 to minus 40, and bitterly cold nights.  But, as we watched the snowy weather patterns on the east coast of Canada and the US, we decided that we were feeling pretty lucky overall! We did get a bit of snow, but nothing major for the entire month.

For us, February is also "the month of love". We celebrate the anniversary of our first date, Valentine's Day, and the anniversary of our moving in together.  (Don't do the math  - we did indeed move in together after knowing each other for a pretty short time.) We met 37 years ago - so far it seems to have worked out pretty well....

So while some people say February is their least favourite month of the year - we are rather fond of it.  We spent most of it cozied up next to the wood stove, or heavily bundled up and walking with Jet outside. Rob kindly made sure the truck would start every morning that I had to go to work, and I would fill the passenger seat with extra mitts, hat, and scarves, in case of any problems with the truck during my commute. I discovered that the beautiful Alpaca wool wrap that was a gift from my friend Elizabeth was perfect for wrapping around my knees, or draping over my shoulders, keeping me warm each day until the truck really warmed up.

I experienced some of the most stunningly beautiful views on my ride into work; cold winter sun barely glowing through the early morning ice crystals, drifts of snow blowing over the farm fields, and shaggy, frosty cattle grazing on their morning bundles of hay.  One morning I passed one of the Mennonite men, in an open buggy, well bundled but still looking awfully cold, and the horse pulling the buggy all covered in ice. One evening I looked in my rear view mirror and caught the sight of a lovely big grey horse pulling a buggy up a dark and snow covered lane way - the horse perfectly lit by the lights that were mounted on the wagon. Of course I have no photos of these moments, but the images are firmly in my memory!

In fact, I have few photos from this month at all.  And many are ones I took from inside the warmth of the cabin!

Each time there is a fresh snowfall, I like to go out and look for new animal tracks. There are snowshoe hare tracks all over the property, but I rarely see the actual rabbit. One day as I sat inside at my computer though, I caught some movement outside the window, and there was a lovely hare, browsing on some cedar. Thanks to the German Shepherd who seems to have put nose prints on the inside window - possibly not my clearest shot - but it was lovely to sit and watch the hare eat for a while.

The number of animal tracks crossing the river increased in February as well. The river appeared to be frozen, but when we stood at the edge of the river there were sections where we could still hear the river flowing beneath the ice. In an area one afternoon, it sounded exactly like lovely steel drums.  We always walk cautiously along the edge, and don't venture out too far.  The coyotes, deer and fox seem to have so such qualms. One thing I haven't seen this year, is the tracks of the wild turkeys. They usually show up along the river edge, and all around the cabin but this year there have been none.

We like to follow the deer tracks, as they seem to have a bit of a highway running in front of the cabin, along the edge of the river, and over to the new house where they cross in front of the living room windows.

It was also nice to be able to walk along the frozen river edge and look to see how much of the house is visible from the river. (Not much!)  I couldn't do it in the fall when the house first went up, as the river was too high, too cold and running too fast!  Funny to think that was just a few short months ago.

With the cold wind chills we didn't manage to get out for any snow shoe hikes this year. We did don some snowshoes briefly one afternoon when we went to help our friend Bob take down a dead tamarack tree.  We needed the snow shoes to get through the snow and down to where the tree was. It's a bit of a slope down to the lake where Bob lives, and Rob took a few minutes to show us some excellent techniques for getting up when you fall over! Here he demonstrated the roll method, and the use of a pole.

Later on he demonstrated the tree hugging method.  I am sorry I laughed - but I did manage to ask if he was all right...!  We still wonder if Bob didn't wax those snowshoes!

In terms of the house building, obviously not much has been going on in the house. But Rob has been extremely busy working on the plans, and sourcing items. He twice had to cancel travel plans for picking up the off grid system due to the weather and poor road conditions.  But he was pleased to be able to finally pick up the panels, inverters, and controllers, one cold bright sunny day.  I think I pictured some sort of major celebration when he arrived home with them, but it was cold and dark when he arrived home, and we simply carried in what we could, admired the boxes, and decided to celebrate when they system is actually installed!

The reality of going off grid did however, become a bit more "real" with the arrival of the panels. Rob has been working on the lighting plans for the house, and had to think carefully about putting in multiple switches to ensure that we could turn on a light when we entered a room, but also turn it off as we exited into the next room.  We've been practising here to turn unnecessary lights off more often, but I think we will find ourselves improving on that! I picked up a good indoor drying rack for drying clothes and have been using it for the last couple of weeks to see how it does. (It's great!) Although the clothes dryer would have to be on propane, we are seriously considering not bothering with one at all.

Rob has been researching bath tubs - (acrylic vs. cast iron vs steel - I think marble is out!) and here's the problem.  I LOVE the bath tub here - there is something about it that is just really comfortable. But I don't know what it is!  I'm told the best thing to do is to go to the store and get into the tub you want - and check it out for fit. Well - most stores have them on display stacked above each other on a rack, way up high. I don't think you can ask them to please just bring it down so you can get into it!  I guess we will have to look into it a bit more.

Other items on the list - low flush toilets, bathroom fans, wiring, (Rob is reading the entire newest version of the Electrical Code book!) wood stove installation, interior wall designs. Final design for the kitchen (the peninsula is now an island!) Rob's been trying to simplify the workshop design. The solar panels will be mounted on the roof of the workshop, so the sooner they are on the better. The workshop is not yet built however!

February was a great month to spend time planning and researching. But I think our brains are getting full, and both of us just want to get on with the actual building. I know though, that when Rob is in the thick of it - he'll be glad that he took the time to think things out first.

Unfortunately March arrived with a forecast for below normal temperatures, and we woke up one morning to a thermometer reading of minus 33 ! Rob had expected that he would be able to get back to building by the beginning of March, but has been frustrated by the continuing cold. Suddenly though, in mid-March, we were teased with a brief spell of above normal temperatures, blue skies, and glorious warm sunshine.

The concrete pad inside the house began to warm up a bit, and Rob even opened some windows in the house during the day to allow the warmer air from outside to come into the house.

The river began to show some signs of thawing, and we were hoping that the warm trend would continue.

Rob decided it was time to remove some of the snow from around the house, in hopes that he would soon have some bare ground, and access to the east and south sides of the house at least.

Of course, March being March, another storm blew in, and the promised rain arrived as snow instead.  On the plus side, it was very beautiful!

We will get building soon. This week the jays and the chickadees moved into a different song, the song of spring. The deer have been more active in the woods and on our roads.

There was a bit more warmth in the sun, and it is beginning to set a little later in the day. We've been able to go for a walk most evenings when I get home from work.

 Despite the cold, spring is surely on it's way.

And with the imminent arrival of spring, our "winter hibernation" period is about to end. We are enjoying our last few days of relaxation before the work on the house begins again.

Spring Arrives...Sort Of

If I have been reluctant to give up on winter, so too has the winter been somewhat reluctant to give way to spring. Yesterday was the first official day of spring, yet it came on the heels of a winter storm, and morning temperatures that were still in the minus 20's. On my weekly shopping trip, everyone was commenting on last year's spring, that saw the temperatures fly into the high 20's - that's PLUS high 20's. This year is quite different.

I feel like I don't quite know this spring. I am eager to see the changes that will come, but don't quite know what is coming. Back at the dome I knew where to look for the earliest shoots, which areas would flood, and which areas would dry the quickest. Where to walk to hear the sounds of the first returning red wing blackbirds, and where the early robins would most likely be. We knew where the red tail hawk was nesting, and where the raven's would be gathering sticks for their new nest.

When I was outside of the post office this week, I was excited to hear my first sounds of red wing blackbirds in the fields below, and I heard them again on the other side of the river later in the week. Some geese have been flying high overhead as well. Slowly this new spring will reveal itself to me. We had a brief thaw that already showed us where to expect some muddy navigation with our truck. We were pleased though to see that the new road appears to be dry and draining well.

There is a sweet spot along the river, sheltered from the wind by the trees, and in the early afternoon if the sun is shining I can sit, cozy and warm and listen to the river. As the river opens up, it slaps against the ice at the shore, and sounds like drums. I could sit and listen all afternoon, but as the sun slowly changes position in the sky, it gets chilly.

This is where I sit, perched on some logs. Maybe this summer we can get some kind of a bench or seat built there.

Although this is a nice spot too....

This week as I came back into the cabin I happened to look up the roof line and saw all sorts of colours in the clouds above. I will guess it was a sundog, as the sun was hidden behind the peak of the roof. It only lasted a few seconds, and it was gone before I could go find Rob so he could see it, but I did manage to get a quick photo.

As the snow around the cabin slowly sinks lower, we notice there are a lot more animal tracks around. One afternoon I caught sight of something out the window - possibly the mink, and went out to find an incredible line of tracks that ran around the base of the trees and all along the river's edge. There are wild turkey tracks along the shoreline, and sometimes it looks like we are living along a rabbit highway. I finally caught a glimpse of one of the snowshoe hares, still cleverly disguised in it's coat of white, but getting a clear photo of it before it hopped away was impossible.

This afternoon I was puzzled by some new shoreline tracks, but as I followed them along, I discovered they belonged to the two Canada geese standing at the edge of the ice.

 

They didn't allow me to get very close before they flew away further up river. I was glad I followed them though, as I also spotted a duck further up, and when I came home to try to identify it, discovered I had seen my first male breeding common merganser. I hope I see him again, and get a photo!

We have been teased with a few warms days, but mostly this March, we've had cloudy and snowy days, and our brief glimpses of bare earth have been quickly covered by snow again. We have however, had a few snow squalls when the skies are blue and the sun is shining. I've heard of sun showers when the rain falls on a sunny day, so not sure what to call this - maybe sun flakes?

While I am out looking for signs of spring, Rob continues to work upstairs on the house plans. As well, the off grid/on grid discussion continues. I think we would both really like to be off grid, but we have to be realistic about the up front cost. If we were just a tad bit younger, say, in our twenties, (o.k. maybe 40's ....) then going off grid would be a good choice, as over the long term, it would be cheaper. The estimated costs for going solar not only include the Solar Photovoltaic Panels, batteries, inverters, charge controllers, and wiring etc., but we have to look at the costs of some of the things we would have to buy to make proper use of the system. We would likely need a propane system, propane stove, propane dryer, and possibly a DC fridge and or freezer.  We would also need a different method than an electric hot water tank to heat our hot water.

We are getting estimates on running hydro poles and lines this week, and that may make this decision a bit easier. It's hard to make a decision when we don't know all the costs.

Rob has been busy redoing the house design this week after deciding that some of the timbers needed more width. He's been working on our bathroom design, and the kitchen design as well. I keep hoping he will have time to post details on the blog, but I can fill in with some of the basic details in the meantime. We decided our living areas should be all on the main floor (again with that age thing...we apparently aren't getting any younger, and we need to plan for not being able to always climb stairs) With that in mind, the living room, dining room, kitchen, guest room, guest bathroom, our bedroom and bathroom are all on the main floor along with - yes - my mudroom !! We did go with a small second floor area that will provide some storage, and hopefully, despite our declining (or is that accelerating) age, we will be able to use that upstairs space for some time to come. It sounds like a lot of space, but the square footage is still less than 1400 square feet. He has also been working on the screened in porch plans, and of course the placement of the adjacent workshop. And researching, researching, researching.....Plumbing, wiring, concrete finishes... There's a lot to think about!

There is also the matter of interior decorating. When my super sis commented lately on one of my outdoor photos and asked whether I shot it in black and white, (I hadn't!) we realized that we do live in a beautiful, but somewhat colourless world this time of year.

Rob and I both love warm and vibrant colours, so will have to work some into the new house for sure.

The sun, when it shines, does make a difference this time of year, bringing warmth, light and colour back into our world. It comes in through the windows differently, casts different shadows on the walls, and definitely perks us up when we are outdoors. One day last week we watched two ravens playing in the sunshine, under glorious blue skies and white clouds, talking all the time. It was lovely to watch them.

I came home and threw a load of washing out on the line. They didn't dry completely, but I thought it was lovely to be able to hang them out, and it was a good reminder of the warmer and sunnier days to come. And with the snow on the ground, I could reach the entire line with no problem!

 

Hints of spring

It's perhaps a little early to think about spring, but with the sun now rising just before 7 a.m. and setting shortly after 5:45 p.m., our day light hours are slowly getting longer. In the evenings, because of the snow on the ground, it is still quite light outside even after sunset. We are often out playing with Jet, or getting our last walk in for the day long after 6 p.m. When the moon is out, we can stay outside even longer!

We've been getting up a touch earlier now as well, so that Rob can get a bit more time during the day to work on house plans. We were both feeling that our days were a bit too fragmented by our other daily activities. The earlier start seems to be working well for us both.

The house plans are going well, and Rob has spent so much time on the design that he can imagine himself in every room now. But I think we both get somewhat overwhelmed by the huge number of choices that need to be investigated. Rob has spent a lot of time researching off-grid options, and the amount of information out there can be pretty daunting at times.  We need to think about things like back up systems in case one system fails, and whether what we are installing will be easy to use now, as well as in the years to come. Every choice we make seems to affect another option. If we go off grid, then the best choice is a propane stove in the kitchen, so we then need to research which kind we should get, and where to purchase propane and propane tanks. The same decisions go for other appliances, like the clothes dryer. Front load washers are more efficient than top load, but which kind is the best? Do we need a gas generator or a propane one? Can we really go solar, or will we find there are too many trees blocking the sun? Should we install a wood stove, what kind, and where should it go? Will we use hydronic heating in the floor? Should we then leave the floor as concrete, or put tiles or something else on top? And how do we balance our desire to leave a smaller ecological footprint, with the budget that we realistically have?

Rob has programs that help calculate the possible sun power we can expect in this climate. He has formulas for the size of windows, and which side of the house they should be on. But he is also trying to consider the design and our future living space. There will be a beautiful view out the west window towards the river, but he has to weigh in on the advice that a west window will allow too much sun in during the summer. The north view looks over a pretty clearing, but north windows allow too much heat out during the winter. Somewhere, he has to find a balance.

Almost daily this week we have stood among the trees trying to imagine the house there. Neither of us wants to remove any more trees than we have too. The spruce bud worm decimated our spruce trees, and we will have to take all the dead spruce down in the area, as they are slowly snapping off one by one. There are a lot of dead spruce on the house site, so that will create quite a bit of open space where we need it. Still, it's hard to imagine the house, when we are standing in amongst the snow and trees. As soon as the snow level is down a bit, we will go out and mark off the site. This is roughly looking east from where the house will be located.

And of course there is still the option of being on grid. So we need to calculate the pros and cons, and that includes the costs. We already have hydro running to the cabin, so we could tap into that line and extend it over. But that means we would have to take down yet more trees, so we need to figure out what is the best route possible. Rob did a budget and estimate before we began all this, but now we need to get some detailed information, and start making our choices.

When we think that we can't possibly discuss the new house anymore, we switch gears to thinking about "easier" things - like paint colours, or choice of tiles. Bathroom layouts, or kitchen ideas. When that seems to be too much - we simply go for a walk. It always seems to settle us down.

While Rob is busy upstairs working diligently on the house design, and all the possible combinations and permutations, he still gets pulled aside for the never ending business paperwork that continues to haunt him. This week it's T-4's, tax filing, and today a bill for a long forgotten phone line!

I continue to try to structure some time into my days to pursue some of the things I've wanted to do over the winter months. It's hard to believe that we closed the company down almost 10 months ago now. I had imagined that I would be back doing some clothes embellishing long before now, but I guess I've been busy with other things. Like learning to make bread! Sorry - I can't resist posing more photos - this was my latest attempt at a rye bread. It was delicious but a tad light for me, I would prefer something a bit denser.

This was a rosemary raisin bread that was fabulous, well at least one loaf was. The recipe made two loaves, and the second one had a pocket of sweet yeasty something that wasn't so good. I am not sure if I didn't bake it long enough, or this portion wasn't mixed properly. Still, the rest of it was fine, so not a big deal. This week I hope to try a recipe for an olive bread.

As for clothes embellishing - well I had convinced myself that there was simply not enough space here to work on my clothing projects . But I was inspired recently by some photos our friend Ross had posted. He seems to be able to set up his paints no matter where he is, whether on a dock, or on a beach, and he produces unbelievably beautiful artwork. So, I dragged out my boxes of brushes and paints and stamps and the second hand tshirts I had purchased last spring, and got to work, in the dining room. It felt really good to be back at it, and it just showed that I really don't need much space to do it. I'm looking forward to doing some more.

I am also determined to learn more about my new camera, and photography in general, so on Mondays I try to set aside time to read a small section of my camera manual, clean up my photos, and learn at least one new tool in Photoshop. I also try to go out everyday with my camera, and I always start by walking along the river's edge. When I spotted some unusual tracks and markings in the snow on the river's edge, I thought it might be the mink I had seen in the fall. But Rob and I were out one day and saw what we thought was a river otter further up the river. Sure enough, later on in the week, the otter was at the bend in the river, near to where I was walking and I managed to get a shot. I had to blow up my photo quite a bit, as the otter was pretty far away still, but I was so excited to have a chance to watch it that I didn't mind that I wasn't able to get a clear shot.

Earlier this week I sat at the river's edge and listened to the sounds of the ice breaking up. Where I sat, the shoreline was exposed right down to the bare earth, and the sun was lovely and warm. It was the first time in months that I was out without my hat, scarf, mitts and winter coat!

There are stretches of open water along the river, followed by iced over sections. I watched as the ice would break up with a rushing sound, flow along the open water, and then disappear into a whirling hole under the frozen sections of the river. Then I could hear the sound of the broken pieces travelling along under the ice. It sounded like thunder in the river and was amazing to listen to.

Thoughts of spring soon changed though with the arrival of a winter storm, and about 25 cms of heavy wet snow. We woke up to the gorgeous sight of snow covered trees this week and everyone was eager to get out for a good walk and some play time. O.k. - actually only Jet was eager. We had plowed and shovelled enough the day before that we were happy to at least have another cup of coffee before we went out. But it was stunningly beautiful.

 

 

When I commented this week at the store check out that it had been a pretty easy winter so far, the sales people looked at me like I was insane. They all replied that they felt that this was a bad winter, and one person said it was the worst he's experienced in the 3 years he's been here. Our neighbour had said it was the worst December he'd seen in 8 years. I guess maybe I was expecting worse, or maybe it just seemed easier as we didn't have to commute on snowy roads every day. Maybe we just like winter a lot. Even on the snowiest days we are outside with Jet 3 or 4 times a day, and we dress in lots of layers so that we stay warm and dry.

Which is probably a good thing, as some days we have to stand around in the cold for a long time waiting for him to give up his toys! At the end of play time, it's a race to see if he can gather up all his "wubbas" (toys) and then he doesn't want to give them back as it means his play time is over.

As we head into March, I am a little bit reluctant to give up on winter. I have loved the crisp air, the crunch of the snow, and the pristine white that coats the trees around us. I've enjoyed looking for tracks, and watching the changes in the ice along the river.  I have spent lots of time sitting at my PC with the warmth of the woodstove at my back, and the view of the wintery forest out the windows.  Every evening we sit in front of the woodstove and reflect on the day, and take time to read and relax. Spring will bring new joys I know, but it will also bring some busier times as we begin to build. And I can't help but think that next winter we will be busier, both with the new house, and the possibility that I will have found employment somewhere. So I can't help but want this magical time to linger on just a little bit longer....