Dec. 14-15 Dead of winter already???

Just a note after not having been up for 4-5 weeks we made the trip. Cold Cold Cold. Temp inside was 20 degrees and we worked to get it warm all day. Running the kerosene heater really holds the temps up to the livable stage, especially at night.

Didn't do anything but jell by the fire and eat. We were all tired and called it  a night at 8pm so got a good nights sleep.

Snowed about 2-4 inches while we were up. REALLY need to fix the 4X4 on truck, roads are not super clear on weekends.

Winter really has  been super cold, started in November with single digits. Not sure how much we will do this winter if temps keep staying so low.

And yes winter doesn't officially begin till the 21st, according to Ben.

Nov. 9-10 cold rainy weekend

Not much happening this weekend. Cold rainy weather, lots of wind. Really painful sinus "face ache" woooo, hurt hurt hurt.

I brought up a cabinet from work no longer needed. It will be used in the cabin for a bit and then go out to the barn once done.

Emily came up and that was nice, got to have a good long talk and enjoy her company.

Still need to work on the leaves, oh well go wind go blow then away.

Oct. 19-20th Fall is here

Cold, rainy Saturday. Weather cleared long enough that we hit the pumpkin patch at Bart's so the kids could run around a bit. Pretty stiff breeze made it a short trip though.

Hey I'm looking at you..... I need that treat ....

Sunday we finally got up the energy to do stuff and finally hung the bathroom door properly. I found a new way to do doors ( up till now I hate hanging doors, but not now).

http://www.thequickdoorhanger.com/  sold through Home Depot. Very quick and level first time!

I actually spent Saturday raking leaves and working up a first class set of blisters, wasn't all lay around time.

And with cold temps coming fast we pulled the pump so we are now on winter water rules/ Hopefully next year we get the pump submerged and can leave the water connected all year.

Oct. 12-13

Saturday weather WAS PERFECT for October. Wow, warm, slight breeze and colors aplenty. Spent time doing "NOTHING" and just being. We did look at potential spots for the shed. The green tarp was spread out to simulate the width of the shed so we could look at it from the house. It will be a 10x12 shed with 3 foot front lip and a 3 foot side that is sheltered.

These two clowns are looking for the chipmunk which had already snuck out the other end and took off.

And a shot of one of the cooking most requested dinners. Beer bread with "bratghetti". Basically brats with the skins removed and cooked in red wine. Then added to marinara and spaghetti . The beer bread this time was a onion, garlic, chive recipe. Very tasty. We also made oatmeal cookies which do not last very long, no need for storage containers.

I did do some work on siding, we need 18!!!! pieces to call the three main walls completed. I also put 2 cases of flooring down in the kitchen and figure we need at least 3 more to finish hall. Two big projects finally done. Next trip we are trimming the bathroom door and hooking up the electric heater upstairs. We built a small fire in the stove when we arrived to beat off the chill in the place. Time goes too fast somedays. Nap and it was 4.30 time to drive back. Left the heater on for the pump room. Supposed to be cold Sunday night and do not want to freeze up the pump. Probably need to switch to winter camping next time up.

Sept. 27-29th Fall is in the air

"Fall" as in falling acorns, never seen or experienced so many falling acorns. Got pegged in the head 3 times, it was dangerous to be in the backyard this weekend.

Spent Saturday working on the siding. Lots of little stuff to make it all fit nice. Had a pulled hamstring and it helped to slow me down. We got the pieces cut for the next 4 rows which get us to the top. Plan was to do that on Sunday but we had an outage and had to leave early. 

My plans are to close in the porch and make it a 3 season room.

saw? what saw?

Argh, we started to work on the front of the cabin. We need the jigsaw to cut around the door stoop. Not happening as the saw is back at home.

But we did work on the chicken palace and had fun being up north. Had a nice nap Sunday while it rained. Also watch out for acorn season began, got pegged in the head ouch.

Holy speed demons batman!!!

Yikes! That is some impressive speedtest. We switched to a different carrier and it will only add about 15 a month to what the old system cost. But we gain like 20 megs of screaming fast...... Up your butt frank the buffalo....

August 23-25th beautiful weather, how do people get anything done up here.....kept it low key and slow. Walked the dogs, went to Willow Tree for dinner Saturday in West Branch. Very nice.

We bought 4 more sheets of 4x 12 drywall and they are ready to go when we work on the walls.

August 10-11

Worked on upstairs bedroom this weekend. Got two sheets of drywall hung and dimensions of room started forming up. There will be built in drawers along the north wall and a closet on the south wall. Opening will be made for a double door to allow easy air flow through the upstairs. 

Crappy camera just does not grab the beauty of the sun slowly setting. Much nicer in person.
We cleaned off the front porch and began to figure out the wall for siding and getting the house wrap installed. Really want to frame in the porch better and make it look nicer.

Found a better (hopefully) solution to the Internet connection. Should be able to test next time up there.

July 27- 28th

Just an update, we worked on electrical stuff again. Not much cool stuff to photograph this summer. We now have electric in the kitchen area, lights throughout the house and working on final outlets for upstairs bedroom and heater outlets for bathroom and upstairs bedroom. Hung 3 sheets of drywall as well, almost time to mud the bath and kitchen. Yikes!

Mosquitoes are really heavy this year so when they are around no one is outdoors. I want to start on the back porch and get the posts sunk before it gets cold.

Yellow lab tried to show who was boss by attacking Hunter but he got his butt kicked. Hunter was tied up and even stopped attacking when I told him to stop. Very good dog!!!!

Hank who was unable to physically assist ( he was wrapped around the tree) made every sound a coonhound can make boy was he mad. Hank loves a good tussle.

back into the bathroom

Nice weekend weather.....

Installed the tub surround and wall for the tub. Finished the floor and worked on making it level so we can get flooring in there. No more slivers after taking a shower!!!

Our robins came back for a second nesting, I had tossed the first nest since it was empty and they built it again. I will put moth balls up once they are done with these four eggs.

Got 2 more sheets of drywall to hang in bathroom and then time to mud it up! Need to adjust door and install the doorknob so bathroom will be complete.

Big H (hunter) is a big fraidy cat when people set off fireworks. Need to really watch him when the noise starts. He slept right next to me with his head on the bed so I could hold him last night.

Let there be light.... in the kitchen

We can see !!!!!  No more clamp light in the kitchen. W00t!!

Took a climb down under but well worth it. You can also see some of the drywall that has also been hung up. We got 4 sheets for the bathroom and then 3 more sheets for the kitchen and bedroom to finish up these rooms. 

Saturday had a tension headache so pretty much napped and laid around. Maria won the longest nap contest she was just tuckered out I guess. Hunter thinks he owns the bed now and even demands a better pillow for his fat head.

Baby robins are all moved out so the nest was pitched and we can now start work on the siding in the front of the house. Probably got 2-3 hours of electrical work at the panel to complete to turn on various circuits. there is one run still to run under the house by the woodstove but that is in a hard to get to place.

Memorial Day weekend

Nice weekend, no rain, no wind, no cold. Well a little chilly one morning but not too bad. Spent weekend installing electric cabling and hanging 5 sheets of 12 foot drywall. Pollen season was in full bloom and got pretty sick Sunday night, could not breathe through nose at all. Very bad for sleeping.

Our new front porch tenant had 4 babies. Two of them poking up above the edge. Kids had fun watching them from inside the bedroom. I expect they will be gone in a week or so.

Novemburrrrr? Wait it's May12!!!!

Or something, serious cold front blew in this weekend. On houses with no heat ( also known as cabins) there was snow on the roofs this morning. Strong winds blew all Saturday and Sunday too.
Flurries were present most of Saturday and Sunday morning. Sunday night temps to bottom out in upper 20's

Sunday wave action on lake, Saturday had larger waves

Ben and I made smores in the afternoon. 

Mama bird not sure what is going on , but get off the porch she was not happy. Second year we had a robin on the porch nesting.

We did not do anything this weekend. Too tiring with other stuff eating into the Saturday and no Friday arrival. Had a nap and made plans for future work. We got 8 pieces of 12 foot long drywall to install and 2 pieces of 10 foot drywall to install. Also rechecked the kitchen cabinets for correct size. Just add money!!!

April 27-28th

Have not posted due to not much getting done. Had a couple of weeks busy doing other things so we were really excited to get up and have a weekend at the old place. Weather "finally" broke and temps were reasonable.  Has been a cold rainy Spring.

Jr. Plumber heading to work on water lines for sink

And yes, I am under the crawl space and Ben is in picture. Real cozy under there.

Hey man I was nappin.....

We eat Victor Dog food and we do not like it. I'm serious. Really.

We did get water running to the sink, then the pump motor burned up. Argh. Always have spare jugs of water.

March 23-24

Winter still has it's grips on the area.

Ben an I had the weekend to do guy things and so we went outside to shoot old eggs up.

His bb gun shoots high and the sights are not adjustable so we worked on making a mental adjustment to get the target hit.

Did some electrical work, now working on kitchen electric and lighting.

Spent more time just being mellow.

a year ago.....

Last year we were up north running around in shorts. This year  I'm huddled at home, 2 inches of snow last night covers all the mud.

I would take the shorts and warm weather any day.

bathroom sink

Finally got the picture downloaded but this is the new bathroom sink. HD had a great price and it was time for a sink. We got the pex run to the pump room and need to hook up the lines for water. Next trip or two we will have running water and then we will add the hot water tank for the house.

March 8 2013

Three day weekend AND decent weather as well!!! Ben started showing interest in video making so we brought the camera and took a quick video.

We got a bathroom sink at the HD and spent Saturday installing it. We tried to get the water running but we broke a fitting and so no running water. Temps are not supposed to be above freezing this week so no biggee.

Feb 9-10 camping in the cold

We only went up 2 times in January, not much happened, no pics and usually a one day trip. Too cold, too depressing- go figure that out.

Hank working hard on the drive north. Don't try this at home, professional stunt dog!!!

Temps at 5AM were -12 degrees(as in minus-negative)
according to the folks at Garrett's. So by 10AM we hit a whopping 15 degrees. At least it was positive. We had the woodstove working and the kerosene heater on high to help warm it up.

By early afternoon it was popping 80 and actually got to 90 degrees before we went to bed. Kids were running around barefoot and lightly clothed. Whole house was feeling warm. Sat up on night watch and kept fire going till 2am, then kinda was too sleepy to reload it and fire went out. Temps had dropped into 50's by 5am.

Silly picture of these two goofs. Hunter was on couch and Hank on floor till I pulled out camera and then they both switched spots. Goofy dudes. They look sad cause I just told them we had to get going before the ice/rain started.