We're getting there!

Well once again it's been a long time since the last post, and this time I don't have a very good excuse. Can you believe the main reason for not posting sooner was that the counter tops in the kitchen weren't clean so I couldn't get a good picture?
That sums up how things are going these days. We've come quite a long way since the last post. The floors are finished, the painting is mostly done. Just a bit of touch up and trim to paint. The last being a bit difficult since we don't have any yet. As you can see though we have a wood bin in the mudroom which was being filled as it was being completed. That happened earlier today with the help of Matt, Sean, and Sarah. It was great even if the skid steer has a flat tire, and could not be used to haul wood from the pile to the mudroom. Will's tractor did stand in duty on that front and we were done in no time. Thanks everyone!
We've been busy putting together our kitchen from IKEA, and finishing up lots of other little things. We also got our phone hooked up a few days ago. So soon we will have high speed internet as well. A first for us.
Last weekend I took a couple of days off and went to take a class on low impact forestry. It was a great class and well worth the time away. The emphasis was on the horse logging side of things, and I learned a great deal. I got to do a bit of logging with a great Belgian draft horse named Molly. Having never driven a horse before she went easy on me and no one any worse for the wear at the end of the day. I've always been intrigued by those big draft horses and this certainly makes me think that I might like to try farming and logging with one or a team in the future.
We have begun to think about a barn and other building which would certainly be a prerequisite before horses came along. We plan on doing some major thinning in the stand of trees that is close to the yurt this winter, and hopefully that will help us figure out some more specifics about barn and other building placement. The guy who has been doing some logging on our land in the last few years is also going to do some more cutting this winter and we'll see if we can arrange something with the local mill to either have some of it milled or some sort of swap for milled timbers which we hope to use in the barn construction.
It's been getting colder around here and as you can see in the picture we've had some snow which Abrahm has quite enjoyed. It's been staying pretty warm in the yurt with the wood stove so far, but we haven't had a major test yet.
Hopefully the plumber will be back the early part of this coming week to hook up the last things and then we will really be getting close to moving in. Not really interested in paying another months bill for the storage unit.
Hope you're all well and had a great Thanksgiving. Time for bed!

The New Holland Liveth! Oh yeah, we're painting and finishing the floor too

Well after another long break from blogging I'm back at it. I need to give my knees a rest after all the sanding and finishing that's been happening in the last few days.
After finishing the drywall sanding which was mostly overhead, I moved right on to sanding the floors. Pretty exciting, but also quite tiring. Once they were done it was on to a major cleanup before we started finishing the floors and the walls. Leslie helped out with the floor sanding, and then moved right on to the priming and painting which you can see the fruits of in the photos.
We are using tung oil on the floors which has been quite pleasant to use apart from having to crawl around an awful lot to apply it. It seems to be a good choice for our pine floor. It is much easier to repair if it gets scratched or dinged because it is an oil that penetrates the wood. A very nice characteristic when dealing with a soft floor, and it also gives it a nice warm look and feel. I have 2 coats on the yurt floor itself and one on the mudroom. Both areas will have a total of three when I'm done. It's a very different process than polyurethane in that it is either applied with a brush or cloth and then allowed to sit on the floor, in the case of the first coat, about 30 minutes. Then you go back and wipe off the excess and let it cure overnight. No bubbles to worry about or lap marks which is quite nice.
As you can see in the pictures Leslie has been busy building the shelves that will be the wall so to speak of the loft. They came together quite nicely as well, and will be painted in the near future and then we'll put the back on.
We'll probalby start putting together some of the kitchen pieces in the next day or so and then we'll need another visit from the plumber to get things all hooked up! The move in day seems to be in sight!! Hooray!!
Well time to sign off now Leslie has to do some school work. Oh I almost forgot. I did manage to get the starter for the skidsteer rebuilt and put back in the other day, and miracle of miracles it actually started! Just in time for the cold. No snow yet thankfully.

Isn't it beautiful?

There's not a whole lot to report today. Except, WE HAVE POWER!!!! I took Abrahm to his 18 month appointment this morning, and when I got to our place the power company was hard at work. By the time Leslie came they were installing the transformer, and soon after one of their employees came up and knocked on the door, and quite unceremoniously announced that the power was on. Not exactly the way I had envisioned it exactly, but thrilling none the less. I went around this afternoon and checked all the outlets and switches that I've put in, and they all work! It feels pretty good to have this hurdle out of the way, and we're still making good progress on the mudding so we're not so far off from sanding the floor and assembling the kitchen.
Well as I said at the beginning of the post there is not a whole lot else to report so I will sign off for now. Yes, I know that it is not a photographic masterpiece, but hey how else do you show something like this?