It's the Little Things

It's the little things that get me all excited about progress in building our log house.  It's also the little things that make me suspect I'm losing my mind. 

But I digress. 

What I really want to know is:     is it wrong that when I hear familiar phrases this Advent and Christmas Season like the passage from Isaiah 9 that reads,

"The people walking in darkness have seen a great light"

I think of this?

I'm starting to put everything in the context of our log house build!!  

I would show you the actual lighted lights in the ceiling, but it's such a tall ceiling that it doesn't look like much yet.  Some day I will grace you with that lovely vision. 

This particular light switch is one that has dangled, unattached and un-usable by accident-prone folks like myself, for quite some time.  So, while the ceiling lights on our bedroom were technically wired up....  they weren't functionally so.  Until now!   Ta-da!   I do get excited by the little things. 

What?  You say you want more light-related images?  Sure.  I can oblige:

This poor little fella needs a handsome blue box too! 

 BabyM in action turning on (and off... and on... and off... and...) the main ceiling light over the living room and hallway as well as the ones in the upstairs ceiling.   

*Side note:  now that she's FIVE do you think I need a new name for BabyM?   AmazingM?  WildM?   The Girl?   LittleG is now The Boy; do I need continuity here? *

When we went up to the log house to stoke the fire at the beginning of the week, I discovered that several light switches were all attached and in their safe little blue homes and pounced with squeals of delight on them.  The Hubs is so terrible about downplaying the small steps toward occupancy that he makes every day! If it was up to him, I would have two blog posts:    here's a cleared lot and here's a completed log home.    Argh!    Details, man!     *sigh*    I'm minutae-girl and he's big-picture-boy.   It's a mixed marriage. 

But I digress.   Again.

So, despite the crazy unseasonable weather we're having here in the North Country (this morning's dusting of snow is only the third or fourth we've had so far!), I think this Christmas may be a very happy one for us.   After all, we have more lights. 

May you have a logarriffic Christmas, New Year, and generic secular holiday! 

It's beginning to look a lot like....

....  a North Country winter. 

Especially considering that it has only snowed a couple of times this winter and that sorry excuse for snow has immediately melted away.   Definitely NOT like a North Country winter! 

But today was cold!  Snowy!   And so we headed up to the log house this morning to stoke the fire before the poor cold house froze up.  {As always, by "we" I mean Bob.  I am not good with fire.  Or splinters --  I mean wood.}  

And then we headed home for grilled cheese made with local Mcadam cheese and my father's homemade bread, and a marathon house- and tree-decorating afternoon.   Ta-da!  Now we're festive outside AND in!  

Of course, ask me how festive the snow makes me feel in March. 

And then cover your ears.

December

Sorry for the long gaps between posts, folks.   It's one of those tricky times when the house progress isn't particularly visually interesting or scintinllating to relate via blog...   so, while I can't offer pix of Bob firing up the wood boiler or shopping for single-piece shower units (riveting though those things are), I can demonstrate the ways in which The Husband has warped influenced our children. 

We visited some area museums the weekend before last as we were out and about doing Adventy-Christmas Prep things.   First we hit the Franklin County Historical & Museum Society's House of History annual Christmas Tea where The Boy cleaned out their bake sale.  Then we headed out to the Almanzo and Laura Ingalls Wilder Association's Wilder Homestead for their "Christmas With Almanzo event."  

BabyM and Grandma 

After The Boy and BabyM hit the cookies and cider again, they listened to all of 5 seconds of the chapter of Farmer Boy being read aloud in the farmhouse before heading back outside ... 

...to the small grove of maple trees.   Hello!  Farmer Boy!   circa 1840s farmhouse?    anyone?  

Nope.  Hey, look:  trees!   Snow Geese flying overhead!   A dusting of snow on the ground!    

*sigh*   This history-loving momma's plans were roundly ignored.    They didn't even care about the crafts.   Still, I shouldn't complain --  at least they didn't try to re-enact the throwing of the stove-black brush in Almanzo's parlor. 

D'oh!  Now I've given them ideas!

West End

My previous cryptic post referred, of course, to Bob's recent work on the back side of the house.... specifically the west gable end.  He has been finishing it off with cedar shakes and insisted that I not show any pictures until he was done.  ...  and, he's done!   And IT. IS. AWESOME.

See?

The east gable is all log, as you know, but this side of the house faces the woods and The Hubs decided not to expend the time and energy to make it log all the way up.  I'll tell you what, though:  I'm not sure which I like better.  They are both so beautiful. 

I also have a confession to make:   I've had these pictures for five whole days.  I know, I know!  I'm sorry.   Bob sent them to me the day we left town for a Thanksgiving trip to MD and VA.  And I intended to post them for you while we were down there, but we were busy doing this:

and this:

and this:

and this:

The Washington Capitals won, the ducks eventually trusted us enough to eat from our hands, and it was hilarious watching BabyM run in the surf's edge at Virginia Beach -- her first time at the ocean.  

What's up next?  Laundry. 

Oh, you wanted to know about the house?  Ummm....  plumbing, I think.  Check back soon.  

Cryptic

After a couple of weeks of radio silence, I'm back!   Not that I had gone anywhere, but I'd just got a bit behind in my blogging.  Shake your head at me if you will...     I just had a few things around the house I had to finish up. 

You know, I have been thinking a lot about one of my favorite book series:  Anne of Green Gables.   That Gilbert Blythe.  *sigh*   And the Wonderworks movies aren't half bad -- you should check 'em out. 

Well, since Bob won't let me blog about the log house progress, I'll leave you with this thought:

cedar.

Heh.

The Lake Lure

Well, he did it.  Bob lured me up to The Lake with that breathtaking picture yesterday morning. 

A colleague brought his track-hoe up to help dig a hole near the log house in an effort to improve the drainage in that spot, and soon after the kids and I arrived (with picnic lunch in hand) Bob was in the hole.

 After the hole was suitably deep, Bob carted rocks- large and small - to the hole and commenced filling it back in. 

But what I really wanted to show you was what a beautiful day it continued to be here in the North Country, and especially up at The Lake. 

Wowza.

Doesn't everyone have a huge pile of rocks on their lawn?  

So I guess The Hubs' sneaky plan worked.  We stayed up there and helped him for hours. 

"Helped" being used very loosely here.  Mostly I complained that it was colder than I'd anticipated and the brigands that I birthed shouted across the lake to hear the echo and begged for rides on the tractor. 

But, it was fun.  And then we came home and took naps.

The End.

A chill in the air

I love Saturday-morning texts from The Hubs.  While I'm hanging around being lazy, he's already up at the log house working and - often - sending me pictures from The Lake.  It usually has the effect of making me load the kids up and going out to see for myself.  Come to think of it....   that wily guy!   

Anyway, this is what he sent to me this morning:

  Good {chilly} Morning!!

Leaf-leaping!

Sunday was a beautiful day in the North Country.  {no snow here!  heh heh}  The leaves are dry and made for easy raking.

And excellent leaping!

Wheee!

Walls and ... almost walls.

In the first floor (spare) bedroom:

A wall. 

In the upstairs bedroom / bathroom:

Almost a wall. 

So look at that second picture.  It's the master bathroom.  The window is above where the bathtub will be - see the framing on the log (exterior) wall?  The shower will be in the near corner.  And that area to the right of the bathroom?   Huge walk-in closet.  Yeah, baby.  I'll get some actual shots of that someday for you.  I mean, right now it's just empty space.  But it's a-gonna be a closet.  Oh yes it will.

Do you still have "The Final Countdown" in your head?   Ha!  It's nice to spread this insanity around a little.

Enjoy.

Final harvest

For some reason, I have the song "The Final Countdown" in my head. 

So, we trekked up to my father's garden today to help him with the Final Harvest.  ("Doodle-oo-doo... doodle-oot-doo-doo... doodle-oo-doo...")  Well, not quite FINAL final... there are some North Country palm trees still to come out of the garden:

Har-dee har har.  Sorry.  That's a little family joke.  My father is leaving the brussels sprouts* in a bit longer. 

But we helped harvest carrots, parsley, oregano, cabbage, and leeks today. 



The garden is looking a wee bit bare these days. 

After we filled up the trunk of the car with late-season produce, we stole a couple of the pumpkins that the kids helped Grandpa pick a week or two ago and piled them on top.   And then we pealed out of there with our swag! 

Thanks, Pop, for sharing another year of your gardening with us!

_______________________
*(editor's note:  I have been informed that the correct name is "Brussels sprouts" vice "brussel sprouts."  My wordnerdiness has been trumped.  I have changed it to the correct version now.)

Some Awe

Tell me that it isn't soul-satisfyingly beautiful around here.  Well, don't really tell me that, because I don't buy it, but ... oh, you know what I mean.  

And one more, from the second-story window, over-looking the lake and the trees:

*sigh*  It has been unseasonably warm here for a week, and yet we've had these magnificent colors.  It's like a little bit of heaven.  Leafy, technicolor heaven.

{If in heaven you have to rake up tons of leaves, that is.  Sodden layers of heavy, slimy leaves.}

Wait!  Beauty!  Nature!  Color! 

{Stupid rain today!}

Bucolic ... bucolicness! 

{Winter's coming...}

Erg.  Is there a cure for pessimism? 

October 19, 2007

Yup, that'll do it. 

Wide Load

Apropos of nothing:

Look at the width of this board that The Hubs just milled!  Please excuse my weird-looking foot, but I wanted to give you some frame of reference.  Dang!

Even with the edges taken off (something about unusable wood, insects, blah blah), it's still gonna be honkin' huge. 

That's all.   This post isn't really about anything in particular. 

Have a nice day.

Beautiful {Fall?} Day!

What a gorgeous, unseasonably warm weekend this has been in the North Country!  We spent a good portion of Saturday visiting a roadside market and then picking apples at Brookdale Orchard in Winthrop.   Great fun and a good excuse for being outside on such a beautiful day.

And now we have three bags of apples to use.  Whatever shall we do with them?

I did make some yummy apple crisp Saturday, but we ate it before I could take a picture.  Mmmmm. *oink*  Oh, pardon me!