More winter!

Where, oh where has the spring weather gone? Oh where oh where can it be?......More snow this week!  This morning I shoveled about 4-5 inches of snow in Winona.  Yesterday I headed to Viroqua (to visit my future mother in law who just had a knee replacement) with Arlo.  He spent most of the day in the car, with little walks.  While driving through La Crosse we stopped at Hixton and went for a little hike.  It was beautiful with all the snow on the trees.  Strange to see bits of green hiding in so much snow! Today I came to Viroqua again, but left Arlo to play with one of his best doggy friends in a fenced in yard.  I'm sure he is as happy as can be.  Carol seems to be doing great after her surgery, and I have been enjoying spending more time with Jim.  This weekend was so great- after the Cave of the Mounds on Saturday, we soaked in a hot tub at our hotel and went to a comedy club.  The next day we spent a few hours at an indoor waterpark, took a nap, went out to eat, and soaked in another hot tub outside.  A very relaxing, fun weekend!  And, I am still on spring break!  Easter this weekend, and maybe I will get around to getting some things done at home too!

I'm engaged!

 This spot is right above where we were in the cave!

Jim and I are on vacation in Wisconsin Dells.  Yesterday we visited Cave of the Mounds, and while lagging behind on the tour he proposed to me!!(about 70 feet underground) =) I said yes, of course.  We are very excited!  Here are some pictures....I have many more, but will take the time to upload more later.  Today we spent some time at an indoor waterpark at the Chula Vista resort, ate some great food, and took a walk along the river....and took another last soak in a hot tub in the outdoor hotsprings.  I wish we could stay on vacation longer- it has been such a great weekend! 

Cabin Photos

 Between these cabinets, I am going to make a little shelf for things such as cookbooks.

 We put cedar in, from the floor to about 4 feet.  We still need to make a rail for the top, but I think it looks beautiful! Minus the extra construction materials, you can at least get an idea of what it is going to look like!

I hae noticed my last pictures of the cabin are nothing like what it now looks like, so here are a few photos to give a better picture of where I am living.  I didn't take any pictures of the upstairs, because after adding the bed, I really haven't done much up there...and it is really messy with clothes I need to put away right now.  With winter clothes, we don't really have enough room for everything, so without constant rearranging and stuffing things onto our shelves, it is messy up there.  I guess it doesn't matter too much as we are the only ones up there, but I can't wait for summer, with tank tops out and most sweaters packed away.  It will be a lot nicer up there!

First Outdoor Shower of the Year!

Last night I had my first outdoor shower of the year! Yesterday was 61 degrees and sunny, so we had 185 degree water in the big water tank, heated from the sun.  Also, to septic tank is getting full, so better to have one outside....The air was slightly chilly by 7:30 when I had my shower, but the water felt REALLY good!  Jim also rigged the shower to  have water shoot down below on your legs, as well as fall from up above, so it keeps you extra warm in the colder temperatures.  It was the longest shower I have had at home in a LONG time!  I stayed in there until I was wrinkly! Most of the time, my showers are indoors, with the 5 gallon hot water heater that we run off electricity (also from the sun, but with a generator backup if we don't have enough)...which gives me enough time to quickly wash my hair and then VERY quickly scrub up before it starts cooling down. Usually it is getting fairly cold again by the time I am rinsing off.  I can imagine Jim has a little more time to scrub his body, as he has less hair.  Although I majorly cut my hair this winter (about a foot), it is still past my shoulders a bit, and takes awhile to wash....also my hair has a tendency to get greasy very quickly and I have to really scrub it good- thus taking up by far the most of my time in the shower....leaving little time for other things.  Thus, when I have had the chance this winter, I still have been taking advantage of the use of other people's showers, where I can really scrub up, and enjoy a more leisurely soak and maybe even shave my legs! But, welcome back to sunshine and warmer weathers!  I can now take decent showers at home again! =)

 

(notice my walk-way of pallets through the mud!)

 Trench for the septic tank, behind the houses

Now that all the snow is gone, I am looking around my yard and seeing all the work to do! There are piles of sand and mud around the yard, trenches to fill, ground to smooth, and grass to plant- as well as general cleanup from building!  My goal is that my the time school gets out, I will have a real, decent yard, and not a red-neck junk yard again! That gives me 2 months, which seems feasible.  Especially as we are getting more daylight. So, here are some pictures from around my yard today, to give you an idea of what I am working with.....and to show my spring flowers coming up!!!  I am so excited to see things grow.  I also have an EMBARASSING collection of seeds I have been hoarding (many of which I got on super sale though!) which I am hoping to plant in my yard.  I have been having a hard time establishing my wildflower garden....about a 100 foot area around my apple trees.  Last year I tilled and tried to get some sections to really start growing by seed, but it seemed to have done little good.  I know once I get things established over there it will be beautiful. This year will not be quite as busy, and now that I have a well, it will be a lot easier to water over there....I also think I will start some in a pot and then transplant.  I am determined to have a butterfly garden- one that I don't really weed, but a natural meadow area that is full of beautiful plants....along with my more manicured and groomed garden.

Cabin Update

Looking back at my other posts, I haven't had an update on my cabin since January, so here are some things that have been accomplished in the last 3 months:
1. Cabinets are polyurathaned and installed- in the kitchen and in the bathroom (we have one more small one we want to install in the kitchen), and are thinking about putting some up above the fridge yet.  I also need to build a small shelf between two cabinets for cookbooks.
2. Windows trimmed.  All windows now have sills, and one in the living room, and the bathroom window even have the moulding around them and are completely done.
3. Walls are painted- one tan wall in the living room where we had sheetrock instead of pine, and a greyish blue in the bathroom.
4. Cedar half way up in the bathroom
5. Bathroom door is installed now....and the glass knob is put on.
Bathroom lights were put in last weekend, and the fan was installed quite awhile ago.
6. More lights in the vaulted ceiling, as well as a fan to blow the warmer air down.
7. Counter top!  Our kitchen actually looks pretty finished now and is much more usable.
8. More shelves.  I put an 8 foot shelf up near the ceiling above our couch and wicker baskets hold storage items such as cords, games, etc. I also put up 2 mini shelves above the stove where we are storing spices, and I brought my Amish made bent wood shelf home and have a place for books and papers now.
9. After painting, I put a rug down inthe living room.  It is hard to keep clean with the dog, and sand and mud from outside, but makes it warmer for our feet when sitting on the couch and adds color to the room.
10. I have about half of the floorboards (along the bottom of the walls) installed.  I need to buy more so I can finish that.
11. Our 5 gallon instant hot water heater....just enough for a shower.  A quick one, but SO nice!  Soon, and a couple days already, we have had enough sun to get more hot water from Jim's Solar Hot Water Panels. He has already taken a shower outside in our outdoor shower.  I am waiting a couple more weeks I think.
12. We made the addition of a cat to our happy home.  Kunguk has finally made it out to North Bend, as of around my birthday.  She and Arlo aren't the best of friends, but they make do.  Her and Jim aren't the best of friends either....she can be a bit of a terror at night while you are trying to sleep.  But, she has been a lot better now that it is nice out and she is more tired.  I am really glad she is here, I missed having a cat.

Our biggest things we now need:
A drain field for our septic tank, and a driveway.  I also think I am going to get a couple chickens, so I need to build a chicken coop, we need to move our shed and set it on level gravel and fix a board on the bottom of it, we would like to add a screen porch, need to plant grass, and we need to get Jim's battery bank set better.  There is still a lot of work to do around here, but compared to last year, when my field still had 4 foot weeds, it is amazing to me how far we have come!

A Three Day Weekend

It is now Sunday already, and I am sitting on my couch wondering where my weekend has disappeared to again. How does it always go so fast, and with so little getting accomplished?  You would think with an extra day this weekend more would have gotten done.  But then I look back at even this morning and I can see it quickly filled up with drudging chores.  I woke up and put away the dishes, went online to check my email for school and was reminded that I needed to fill out a 3rd form from my Observation...so spent 45 minutes filling that out, then also remembered I was supposed to take 3 online summary/classes about administering medication for students.  Another hour and a half gone.  Oh, those darn bills I keep putting off....another half hour, and I can't even get online to certain sites so I will have to finish later.  Let the dog out, cuddle with the dog a bit, get some food.....try to check my email for the 4th time, nope- still can't access.  OK, I guess I am done, and it is 2:00 already.....and I still need to make my presentation for a class I am taking this week.  Ugh...procrastinate for another hour- what else can I do besides that? Hmm...appparently check other people's blogs and then decide I need to write something on mine.  Maybe then I will want to do it....or it will be time to head into Winona to meet my Mom and Grandma for supper.
I did have a slightly productive weekend.  Yesterday was beautiful out so I spent quite a bit of time working in my yard.  I leveled dirt from the well and septic tank, tried to spread more dirt over the sandy parts, and even spent an hour ripping out raspberries that are crawling all over my lawn and have created quite the nuisance.  I am beginning to think I will rid myself of all raspberries and find some somewhere else to pick. Focus on apples, blueberries and other plants without thorns!  I cleared leaves and pine needles out of my garden, and my daffodils are now about an inch high. I then went over to my storage shed and helped my mom and brother clear some of their things out of there, so I can now get in the back to my stuff.  I need to get rid of yet more stuff, and organize it better.  I am hoping once I get more stuff out of the shed I bought last fall- using up more of the wood inside the house, I will be able to put some things in there. 
I just made reservations for an indoor water park- so at the end of April Jim and I are taking a mini vacation to Wisconsin Dells, to swim and check out Cave of the Mounds.  It will be good to just get away to where there is nothing I need to work on at all. Hopefully Jim will be caught up enough on projects by then.  We were going to build some boxes for wind turbine parts last night- went and got the wood at Menards, but then the brake on the truck got stuck on the way back.  So we spent quite a bit of time in the Taco Bell parking lot trying to fix it, until Wayne came by with the right tools to get the Caliper off...and fancifully rigged with a wedge of wood so we could drive slowly back to the shop.  By then it was 11:30 so we just headed home. Oh well, at least the wood got delivered.  Today has been rainy and cold, not a good yard day, so I figured I would get caught up on stuff I hate doing and just get it over with.  We will see about that class assignment though- I might put that one off until tomorrow.  It is due on Thursday. I'll post some pictures once I get around to getting them on my computer!