And the road goes on forever...

Monday, January 18, 2016

It's Cold Here!

With a wind chill of -20 we're getting lots of transference of the cold onto metal inside the house. I guess it's time I chipped the ice off the door knob before it leaves a melting mess on the floor. (Please don't mind the messy door; it's a used door that we haven't had time to paint as yet.)
Our winter sunsets can't be beat lately.

Friday, January 15, 2016

A Couple Things...

I snatched this photo off the web of my daughter Rachael and her boyfriend Eric on a New Year's hike in Oregon. I thought the originality of the photo was just breathtaking...and striking!
Along with that, I thought you might like to see my latest artistic creation for my living room wall. Marc managed to stop and pick up some birch bark for me on one of his forays to the Upper Penninsula of MI in Marquette, where he has a project. The drive takes him through hours of thick forest. Earlier I had picked up this framed art at Goodwill because I liked the frame, figuring it appeared to be wood (it's not) and rustic enough that somewhere along the line I'd be able to put it to good use, matting and all. So I started playing around with the birch bark and decided I could trace out a Northwood's animal. I initially tried a moose but it was just too intricate for the bark being cut with utility scissors, so I ended up with the bear. From a distance it is hard to tell it's a bear; it looks merely abstract and one has to study it up close to get the nuances. I rather like it like that.

Marc has been away a couple days at a work conference in Wisconsin Dells and then had to also check on his Madison project, so it will be late tonight when he arrives back. He's still working on his happy place in the basement as he has time. There's just not a lot new to report from this snow covered tundra.

Sunday, January 3, 2016

What We Do in WI to Stay Warm in January

So... our ever-growing debris pile from building the house, tree trimming, and acres of cardboard seemed to beckon us to finally get rid of it on the start to this New Year. Early on a beautiful morning we trudged out and Marc threw some gasoline on to get the party started. 

Things were taking off pretty slowly given the snow pack on top of the pile so Marc went back to clear a path with the snow blower with another idea.
After stretching out numerous electrical cords he appeared with the leaf blower and set to work feeding oxygen to the fire. Now we’re talking!
Marc has spent his holiday three day weekends on further progress in the basement. He made a storage room for all our canning goods and equipment in what we had originally laid out and plumbed for a bathroom. We have no need of another bathroom and doing this provides a good amount of storage. Since under cabinet lighting was so expensive he decided to try rope lighting and we rather like the effect.
His office is now more cleaned up with the addition of the wall of shelving he built and he is currently working on a chop saw bench in the main work area. This area will eventually have an entire row of built in cabinets above it. Once he gets things in order to be able to use his large chop saw, he’ll be in a position to be able to tackle the tasks that need doing up top: the baseboards, window sills, kitchen shelving, and island building. For us, it never ends!