12/17

Well winter has hit with a fury up here!!!! We got over a foot of snow and then we were hit with some brutally cold weather. One night it dipped below -30..... not taking windchill into account. We have been able to keep pretty cozy and the snow has made everything amazingly beautiful!! We have also had chickadees at our feeders everyday. They even come out when it is -25!! Those are some tough birds. We have finally insulated our roof and are close to finishing the 2nd level. Matt is very excited to have his music room finished. He has alot of new music written and I think he is even going to put some lyrics in. Other than that we are enjoying the great expanse of time and lack of any pressing scheduals.

12/11

The roof is done!!!!! Matt's dad and Ed came up last weekend to help wrap up that darn metal roof. (BIG THANKS TO ED AND BILL!!!!!) We rented some scaffolding and that really helped reduce the risk of bodily injury. Now that that is done we should be able to plug on with the 2nd level. We had some R value issues with the 2nd level insulation, but we have our game plan together and the material should be delivered tomorrow.

Life has started to shift for Matt and I. We have no electricity which means no TV, computer, Stereo etc. So the big events of most days are... 1- the weather. The coldest it has gotten is
-20. I check the thermometer 3 times more often than I check the time. We have had some snow and it really is breathtaking clinging to all the evergreens. Also, it is much easier to see the tracks of all the animals in our area. We continue to see very little wildlife. But the tracks don't lie and we have deer and moose all over and they seem to come very close to the house. 2-food because we are cooking everything from scratch on our woodburing stove much of the day is centered around meal time. We are eating like kings!!! Fresh baked bread, cookies, pumpkin bread, banana bread!!! We have also started making pizzas which turn out really good in the oven. We have done some amazing pork roasts and look forward to some wild game (maybe yet this winter??) Both Matt and I like to cook and trade off on who cooks and who cleans. Matt and I also fill our days reading . I'm currently reading Walden by Thoreau which obviously has some parallels to what we are doing. Matt is reading some books on American Indian cultures. We also borrowed a bunch of books from the library on animals in the area and their tracks. We also listen to the radio on Leslie's crank radio. We primarily listen to NPR or a classic rock station. Other than that most of the options are country (not my cup of tea). We are also playing chess. We are both new to the game so.... we are learning.

The rest of the day is chores and projects. The chores take up maybe 30 minuets. Bringing in wood and water. Cleaning the house, taking out the humanure buckets, walking the dogs etc. The projects are all building related and vary depending on what we are doing. We generally get 2-3 hours done a day.

We are really enjoying it up here and I hope to have pictures soon!

11/18

We keep working on the house. We are basically running on fumes now and cannot wait to be done!!!! We wrapped up the 1st level (not including trim) and should be pretty much done with the 2nd level in a day or two. The lay out has worked out great and we are very please with how it is all coming together. My Mom, sister and Cathy are coming up on Sat to see the place. Matt's dad Bill was up last Sat to wrap up the roof but it was way to slippery and dangerous. So he drove 10 hours to help us move a bed and freezer. It has been pretty cold the last couple of days, but the fireplace is working great. I hope to have some new pictures up after Denise comes up with her camera and takes some for me (hehe). So take a look in a week or two!

Moving on UP

I have really dropped the ball on this blog, but I'll bring it up to date. I'm having problems with photobucket but I hope to have new pictures up soon. The big news is I was laid off yesterday. So I'll be up north with Matt but I will be desperately looking for a new job up north. We still have some bills to pay off. The house has come a long way. 75% of the roof is up, thanks to the help of Matt's dad Bill..... thanks Bill!! The fireplace is in and we have moved our stuff up. This week Matt and I'll finish the insulation (as much as we can with only 75% of the roof up) and install the kitchen cabinets. But the main thing is we are able to stay warm, dry and cook all kinds of food. The cookstove has worked amazing and I'm very pleased. We are still working on getting a slow burn so we can wake up to a warm house. We will be ready for visitors in less than a month and hope people come up and see us. The area is really beautiful and there are a lot of things to do and see!!!

Sept 19-30 Update

So sorry I have neglected my Blog duties...... no new pictures but I promise some next Monday. We finally have the sub-roof up and the tar paper on! This week we are installing the last of the windows and doors and then we get to start the insulation and interior finish.

Blog changes

I edited the slide show and just made one with all the pictures including last week. I'll just keep adding to this slide show. If you want to look at them slower or if they take a long time to load just click the view all under the slide show