Happy 1st Decade Odin!

It has been a pleasure getting to know you. 

Sledding!

Fun times in the frozen north! 

Strong El Nino

There were predictions over the summer for the Pacific Northwest to experience a strong El Nino weather pattern this winter. That typically means more big storms in November and December dropping more rain that normal.

I would have to agree. The amount of rain that fallen the past two months is extreme. The rain data shows over 6" of rain per month since October, and it is only 13 December.

What does one do with all that rain and less than 8.5 hours of sunlight a day?

I stocked the Loch at Thielingshire (our seasonal lake) with fish. 26 small feeder fish form the pet store.

Then we went canoeing.

Beth joined me in this adventure as she needed a break from the relentless warm and sunny weather in Hawaii.

Canoeing in the Loch at Thielingshire

Turkey time

 Again this year for Thanksgiving we went North. This year we traveled a bit further north, to Sun Peaks B.C. The extra drive was worth it as there was great snow and hardly any other skiers. We had lunch in the "village" twice, and both times our group of 6 adults and 5 kiddos took up nearly the whole restaurant.

Twilight on the way home. There was more fog on the window than outside. but still pretty.

Lately...

My chicken, Wi, started her modeling career with the Much Ado about Cluckin' 2016 Calendar. (She's a cowboy).

 What do you do when you find out you and your friend have the same dress in different colors? A prom-esque photo shoot. It was not warm outside. 

 Our friend Jason came for a visit and met the horses. 

Near the beginning of the month we had our first big storm of the winter. In five days it rained over nine inches. The house did great, and the low spot in the pasture turned into a temporary lake.   Six pairs of mallards found it immediately, I wonder where they are now that the lake is gone.

During a brief break in the rain it looked so lovely.

 

We gutted a bathroom. It is almost ready to be put back together (with all new parts), but time is conspiring against us. It is painted now- bye bye yellow!

Halloween

The RV got into the Halloween Spirit this year.

We went dressed as most of the suspects in the game Clue.

Freki didn't want to be left out.

He couldn't decide which costume he liked best.

Trick or Treating!

Autumn things

 Last week Odin and I went on an impromptu hike after school. The big leaf maples were shedding leaves like crazy.

It was ideal leaf fight weather.

 Before mowing last time I raked a bunch of leaves onto a tarp. I thought we might run out of leaves to play in if I ground them all up. We did not run out of leaves, and I still have a pile of now wet leaves in a tarp.

Goodbye Jack o'Lantern

Burn, burn, burn

 
In July, we started loading up blackberry canes to burn. Beth was here for that too, and wanted to see all of our hard work burn up. 

This was July, everything is much greener now.

As the months passed we added more and more to the pile. Then started a second pile. Due to the hot dry summer, the county expanded the burn ban. Thankfully it was lifted last week, before Beth had to go home. And before the pile got too big.

During our prepurchase inspection, we saw this scary pinata in the attic.  Then the previous owners left it in the shop. John wanted to take it to the dump, but I convinced him we needed to save it. And dispose of it properly - on the burn pile.  He didn't need much convincing.

We did what any reasonable person would do. We stuffed the pinata with sawdust and diesel.

Then had Odin pose for scale.

She took a minute to catch.

Then burned hot and fast

Fun times

We were joined by Beth for an extended visit at the beginning of the month. We were able to do many great things.

Beth and I built a manure shed. Then moved mountains of poop!

Some friends took us out on their boat.

We went crabbing too!

Tree trimming with John (this is by the cabana / pump house - the deck that we removed is on the other side.)

We also did dinners with friends, napping at the park (okay that was just me), stacking landscaping blocks, stacking lumber, and some general tom foolery.

Pictures from things

Here are some of the other early fall things that have happened.

New front door!

(old front door)

I did a little horsing around

Freki found an old hammer, decided it was a chew toy.

Did you know that Hope Depot has pet carts?

Decks

For the past month. I have done a great deal of work on decks around here. We fixed one, and then took another out.

The first project was replacing a few rotten boards in the deck off our our room. Then painting it with a deck specific paint.  As projects go, it was pretty quick and very cheap.

The door you see is to the master bathroom. The red chair is sitting on the hot tub pad. We have plans to get a hot tub, but it may be a little while.

Last week we removed the deck off of the cabana. I only call it that because the previous previous owners had an above ground pool, and the deck surrounded part of it. The building holds our well equipment and food preservation stuff.

I'm sure it looked great with a pool there. It looked pretty silly with a random herb garden gone wild .

We were able to save most of the decking boards. The support structure was a rotted mess. I am surprised it held the top in place. That all went to the dump, in our heaviest load yet, 1650 pounds.

Beth was here visiting - she and I took down the deck while John was away. More on her visit later.

There is still some work to be done, but we are much closer now.