A Day In The Life Of Us

The boys have the added perk of an outdoor potty, but it’s actually worked OK. Currently none of us are employed outside of the home, so the rush to get ready is not here.

The cool autumn weather is upon us. It doesn’t keep Kirk inside, in fact he’s usually up and atem before I’ve had my 2nd cup of coffee. Kirk has bonded with the chainsaw, either chopping down unwanted trees, splitting wood we’ve acquired or fetching fallen trees in the woods. We will have a warm winter, thanks in part to his love of the lumbering.

Check out the current pile in our side-yard (and take note of the wood piled high IN the shed). This is our sole source of heat this winter, I think we’ll be roasty toasty.

Lance has a list as long as his arm of ‘To Dos’. Top on today’s task list was to install a whole house water filter (good bye unknown minerals in our water). This was actually on yesterday’s list, but the power went out then the well pump went on the fritz. The list got put on hold as they figured out how to get us water again. Filter installation went rather quickly (I wonder why he waited 2 months). Next up, running electrical to the barn; ditch dug, pipes laid, lines fed, ready for the next item on the list. Running copper pipe for the LP lines. Our plan is to ditch the electric and go solar and back up with propane.

Whoops, the fittings didn’t fit the new copper piping. That’s on hold til another Lowes trip. The next thing on the list, put up the weather station. So we proceeded to get the items needed for that installed on a pole. The ‘we’ is used because I watched, kept him company and cheered him on (all because I was waiting to take a photo, little did I know it would take so long). Lance will be able to track the amount of wind (and rain), and temps via the computer. Have I mentioned before, my man can do just about anything ;-), ‘cept lactate. I’m often in awe.

My contribution is to cook, clean (very little, since I’m still using the ‘under construction’ excuse for as long as I can), and take and retrieve the mail. It’s a 1 mile trek up-hill, each way ;-). I love my hikes – so much so I sometimes do 2 trips a day (=4 miles). I like the purposeful exercise, the scenery, chatting with various people, or just watching the silly junkyard neighborhood dog that accompanies me. Today he (Brewskie) played soccer with an apple for a 1/2 a mile. It was quite amusing. Really, it was. I’m not going all weird on you up here in the mountains without cable or friends ;-).

I’ve been trying to find a shortcut with no luck. Check out this photo, the mailboxes are straight down our hill, but there is no path, yet.

I headed straight down, determined to shave off some distance. Have you ever done something so dumb, you swore you’d never do it again. 1) There was NO path, I had to climb over and under fallen trees, thick limbs and rocky terrain 2) It’s hunting season, even though you’re not SUPPOSED to hunt inside the ‘neighborhood’ some folks do (I wasn’t wearing a stitch of day-glo orange 3) One of my many falls/tumbles could’ve been serious and no one could have found me, well no one but Brewskie, he can sniff me out a mile away. I kept hoping to see something familiar and boy was I happy when I finally came out into a field of familiar campgrounds. Hmmm, I thought, that wasn’t so bad…

We even had a front row seat to a turkey fight! Did you know they try to swallow each others heads in a fight? Sadly, I did not have the zoom lense on the camera to give YOU a front row view as well. Dinner was zero effort, it consisted of baked sweet potatoes that I put in the crockpot and placed on the woodburning stove, zero electricity used. I love our simple life (as long as we have power, water and internet). I’m quite content here with my hubby. It would be nice if Kirk met Ms. Right (but I do not want to share our bathroom with her)