Hike, Laundry, Bread, Firewood

It’s hard for me to know where to start when it’s been a week. I am out of the habit of posting every day, which would be ideal. So let me start with the weather. It has been wintery here the past few days. I welcome it, as it is more standard for what we normally have for winter weather. Today brought sleet and snow, but not heavy. Interestingly, I choose today to explore a trail near the house a few miles down the road. It’s a connector trail for Cloudland Canyon called Long Branch. We were toasty even though it was sleeting, and we even met a couple mountain bikers on the trail so we weren’t the only adventurous ones today. Beautiful place, definitely going back, and it’s so close to the house.

It’s hard for me to report on everything that is getting done because Lori is doing a lot and we’ve been forgetting to report at the end of the day so I don’t have a complete picture of what she is doing. The weather has not been ideal to build the boxes for the garden so that has been on hold. Honestly since it has been cold a lot of our activities have revolved around wood since we heat with wood. Our friend Mark made a surprise visit with a load of firewood and solicited us to help with another load so we have a good amount at the moment, but we’re burning through it like mad women : ) We like to keep warm, and it’s a challenge to not use space heaters. I like challenges. Today I dried my laundry in the room in the basement where the big barrel wood stove is. Since it has been wet we have to get the wood inside so it can dry out before we burn it…ideally. If it’s already a rip roaring fire we toss wet wood on and it doesn’t do anything to the fire.

I have not been working on jewelry as much this week, but instead have been focusing on posting them on etsy. The challenge now will be to sell it since Christmas is over. I need to reaccess my nursing career and do training so I can renew my license in June. Even if I don’t work as a nurse right now I can keep my license for a time. I don’t want to do anything I will regret. I have been noticing that some physical issues, mainly chronically tight muscles, are slowly disappearing and I attribute that to not having such a stressful job! Ha! Maybe it’s just a coincidence. Maybe it’s the good mountain living. Who knows.

So today we woke up and Lori made a good breakfast while we did wood related duties. I made bread in the bread machine, and it turned out well. While in the basement I ran across my box of knitting things, and was excited to pull that out today. So I started a scarf since it’s been awhile since I have knitted, and I don’t want to be too ambitious, however it does have cables in it. Not sure why I haven’t been knitting, as I love hand made things, just haven’t taken the time to I guess. In my knitting box I found a project I almost had finished for my niece…who is now 2 and a half. Probably need to resolve that project somehow since it’s a bit too late for a baby blanket.

Ok, ‘twas a wonderful day, just need more like it. Am looking forward to the day when I can share this lifestyle with someone, as it is so rewarding. The other residents at LMSH will have to do for now.