A Job with a View

John had a chimney job yesterday and I went to "help" him with it. Despite all the wires we had to squeeze through, John did a wonderful job operating the lift! We tore down the broken chimney that was sticking up from the roof and then half of the chimney in the attic. John then rebuilt it using metal parts (ask him to explain what he did!) I didn't get a picture of the completed project but it looked great!

Just One More Month and we will celebrate our ONE YEAR anniversary!!!

This is the shed...

...John is building!I Really like small houses and I hate to put a "but" here but, they are not the best for storage. God has blessed us with STUFF, more STUFF than we have a place for. So, John has put in a lot of man hours working (in rain, in mud, in cold, in heat) to provide a place for our STUFF here.

This man has skills! He started out with grid paper, sketching out his options. The structure needed to be 10 x 10 and needed to hold... about a million things. He has maximized the space by building partial floors at different levels. No stairs are necessary, you can just hop from floor to floor. This also provides custom storage: tall spaces for tall items, short spaces for short items.

He has been so resourceful by using logs he cut down (to make space for us in this part of the world) for beams for the shed. To make the beams flat for the base, he screwed boards to the log and used his chainsaw (!) to slice off the rounded part. (No wonder he is so good at cutting cheese!) He took one large log and using a couple of mauls and and an ax, split it down the middle -- I have been amazed by his creativity!

John has done all the work (mental and physical) by himself. At times, I have been his "gofer", or tree hugger (so the beam didn't fall over while it was being attached). He has been very patient to explain each task I can help with and has certainly stretched my skill level!

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Interior Design inspires me. Here are some jewls I found at the library with links connected with the books. [I have not looked over the sites]:

New Color Schemes Made Easy by Rebecca Jerdee

500 Kitchen Ideas: Style: Style, Function, & Charm by Dominique Devito

Big Ideas for Small Spaces by JoAnne Liebler

The Not So Big House by Sarah Susanka

Good Design Can Change Your Life by Ty Pennington

American Dream Houses by Concept House Plans Gmbh

Link for 50 Staw Bale house plans!

On and Off the Right Track

or The Joy and Agony of Tracking a Wounded Deer

1.) A tracker must diligently look for tiny drops of blood on the ground

Note: The ground at this time of year is covered with: brown leaves with red spots, burgundy leaves with red spots, green leaves with red spots, yellow leaves with red spots, and red leaves with red spots. This may be caused by water, fungus, the changing color of leaves, or blood.

2.) A tracker must not feel discouraged or frustrated when the "blood trail" completely disappears.

Note: The "blood trail" constantly disappears even if right before the disappearance the trail was very easy to find. This is perfectly normal and should be expected to occur constantly.

3.) A tracker must slowly and carefully cover miles and miles of territory that the deer may have happened to cross.
Note: This will take hours of hiking in a semi-folded position.

4.) A tracker must scan the ground around him for a brown animal with a white belly. Because he has followed proper hunting protocol, the deer is now dead. [There will be no movement or noise from the deer.]
Note: The forest floor is made up of leaves, small plants to obscure the view, and brown logs. Large white mushrooms grow on the logs and white patches of sunshine rest on them.

5.) The tracker must not mind encountering multiple brier bushes and countless spider webs as he searches for the downed deer.
Note: The webs will eventually cloud his vision so he can not see the blood gushing from his wounds.

One last note:
Careful adherence to the tracking techniques listed above does not guarantee discovery of the deer.

The Tree Stand

We dress in layers. The day has been warm but the night will be cold. The last layer we put on is a camouflaged jacket. John and I walk hand in hand to the tree stand in our black mud boots. We whisper and step gently. The leaves are dry and crunch underfoot. It seems the closer we get to the tree stand the louder the leaves become. Last night we heard and saw at least 5 deer so I have high hopes for tonight.

We settle in and wait for the forest to come alive. The wind begins to blow and soon becomes a creature itself. Rushing through the trees, fluttering the leaves, bending the branches. I think I hear a cat but John tells me it is the wind. I think I hear coyotes - John tells me it is the wind.

Soon we hear a loud crunch, Crunch, CRUnch. A gray squirrel appears. A red squirrel chatters loudly in the trees. A black squirrel hops across the shooting path. A big black bird circles above us and I ruthlessly hope it is something that eat squirrels.

A flock of crows become louder and louder. John makes a face and I try to contain my giggles. There seems to be some kind of family dispute. They fly from tree to tree, bending the tops over. Eventually they fly off, taking their noise with them.

A light crunching sound comes from my left. I look over and a raccoon hobbles across. I touch John's arm. He looks over and smiles. We spend a lot of time smiling at each other. Despite how much time our lips spend together, we find it very hard to read each others lips! Not too long after the first raccoon, another follows the trail made by the first.

The woods are filled with crunching sounds. Is it a deer? Is it the wind? Then all is quiet.

I look up at John and he whispers, "You fulfill my dreams!" I smile deeply, delighted to be with him!

I sense more than hear movement to my right. Ah finally, here is our deer! There is a loud crash and a white-tailed rabbit appears!

Time passes, the forest grows darker. We hear what seems to be deer sounds all around us but nothing appears. As the light fades so does my hope... and my warmth!

After it is almost completely dark we head back. I trip. John fluffs. We both get tangled up in a wild rose bush. Maybe tomorrow night we will get our deer.

COLD Weather can be Very Beautiful

Some of the pictures I took when John got back from his motorcycle test:

[taken Thursday afternoon]

The result of a VERY cold night:

[taken early this morning]

Can you find two deer in this picture?
[taken last Friday]

A deer education

For those wondering how things turned out with John's test... HE PASSED! I'm not surprised but I am very happy for him!! He even proved his skills by riding back in the snow without any troubles at all. After John returned from his test, we went for a walk in the winter wonderland. It was beautiful but Crazy to have so much snow in October!

I don't know how much snow fell. It started snowing on Thursday, and it didn't stop snowing until mid-afternoon on Saturday. Much of it melted before it landed or shortly thereafter so it was impossible to keep track.

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Bow season started Saturday so I have been getting an education. I actually shot two deer on Friday. Two doe came within 35 feet [see edit below] of our camper and so I grabbed my Nikon D40 and fired away. Unfortunately I do not have a zoom lens so the deer are just black specks blending into the the blueberry bush they were munching on. They seem to have a daily schedule of visiting there so John has considered shooting them but they are rather small.

Bow hunting takes quite a lot of patience. I learned you are supposed to wait at least an hour after you shoot a deer with an arrow before you look for it so you don't scare it away. It is very easy to lose a deer that has been shot if you try to find it before it is dead.

Before John and I were married, I gave him two hunting DVD's I found somewhere really cheap. The other night (at my request) we watched one together. I now know how to hunt deer, elk, wild hogs, and turkeys.

All this watching and learning sounds much more interesting than the hands on butchering that comes later... Knowledge feeds the soul but venison feeds the stomach!

>>>edit: The deer were actually 35 yards instead of 35 feet.

Today

Today is the day!

I hope to get loads of laundry done [note pun] and other "household chores" since John will be gone for much of the day. Today is the day John takes his motorcycle road test! I would have preferred to have more practice, but he has picked it up quite quickly (even though it is a very top-heavy bike) and has become a skilled rider. Today is also the day we are supposed to have a mix of rain and snow... not exactly ideal riding conditions! So I am praying and staying busy with things and learning to not worry about him riding over 2 hours in the elements. John is very cautious and makes wise decisions. If the weather gets really bad, I will take his large-as-a-barge truck out to pick him up (which will be an adventure all in itself). [grin]

It's kind of funny that I never used to worry. I was always the one out there: walking around Thailand by myself, kissing snakes, visiting people living on the streets, etc. Now I am getting a taste of what it is like to be the one left behind while my parents travel to another country, my sister lives in potential danger, and my husband becomes a daring rider! Please don't misread that as complaint because I am happy for them to go and do, it is just a whole new feeling to be on this side of things. Ha, and I have yet to experience what it is like to be a mom and watch her children do stuff! This is all very good preparation! [big smile]

Be anxious for nothing
but in everything
by prayer and supplication
with thanksgiving
let your requests be made known to God.
Phil 4:6

>grace and peace<

Blogart

There are certain photos that do not fit in any catagory so,

here it is: Blogart :-D

Growing Beef

Our calves have not held up their end of the bargain. Instead of turning ugly and mean, they continue to be cute and happy (though rather dopey at times). John keeps telling them to grow meat and it seams they are listening. They add an inch to their girth each week! Kabass is the largest calf measuring 43 inches around. According the chart we have, this means he weighs 250 pounds! Even though Kabaas started out as our blondest calf, he keeps turning more and more black! He used to be so skittish, but he has become quite tame. He will even come over and lick my neck!