Our kitchen smells like food, not sawdust!

Ben is hard at work making verenike with his mom - all you Mennonite blog readers can appreciate what's going on there. It's so nice to smell cooking smells rather than construction smells. Not a whole lot new to report, but we've had some requests for pictures that show how the house looks as a whole. We don't have a wide angle setting on our camera, so it's a bit hard to capture. So you'll have to imagine... The loft covers the bedrooms and bathroom, and a small alcove. All the other space is open, with kitchen to the left and living space to the right as you stand in the door from mudroom to yurt. The bottom two pictures are taken from the loft, and the top two are from the main living area. For anyone who is challenged by imagining this, you'll just have to come visit and see for yourself! :) Glenn and Arlene can verify that there is indeed space for guests to sleep in the loft, or on the pull-out couch if you can stand sleeping that close to the stove.

The pictures show our Christmas tree - it's a bit scrawny, but you can sure see all the ornaments! It's actually a salvaged top from a felled tree for the pulp truck, so we didn't have to cut another. Dad suggested that maybe the skidder had already run over it, contributing to its flattened side. But it works well in our little house. Mom and Dad came to hike and find their Christmas tree too, and they were a bit more discerning in their choice...

I put up a few pictures from our snowshoe outing this morning, our welcome sign made by Uncle Will (who, with Aunt Tini, have dubbed us "the Yurtles"), as well as a happy boy who received his pedal tractor from Glenn and Arlene this morning. After an initial squeal of delight, he was in awed speechlessness.

Merry Christmas!

We're in!!!!!

I am happy to report that we have moved in are enjoying yurt life so far. There have been a few glitches, but it feels great to be here and not having to make a trip morning and evening every day.We actually settled in for good on December 11th, and have been getting things finished since then. Leslie just finished up most of the baseboard and much of the other trim is done, though the windows still need work in the trim department.
We've actually been able to enjoy our place a bit these days as well. We get out and snowshoe or ski most days, and the weather has been great. I've heard a number of people say this is the most snow that they can remember for the month of December. It sounds as though it's supposed to warm up a bit, but we're keeping our fingers crossed that we won't have too much melting.
As is our norm we have also moved on to other things which in this case means that we have started to do some cutting in the woods between our house and the field. We are looking at sights for a barn and other buildings as well as just doing some much needed thinning. It's been great to get out, but the snow is deep enough that sometimes it's quite hard going, especially when lugging a big chainsaw around. I've been looking at chainsaw mills so that we will be able to mill some of our own lumber. I haven't gotten one yet, but hope to soon. We'd like to build a shed this winter so that we can have a bit of storage other than the yurt itself. Also hoping to get a space to set up a small biodiesel making operation.
We're all well and Abrahm is getting used to living in the yurt. He still loves to be outside and loves to get in his backpack carrier for a good adventure. He's still very heavily into tractors and trucks and has gotten a few new ones for Christmas already. Mom and dad got him a pedal tractor for Christmas which he doesn't know about yet, but I'm sure as soon as he sees it he will want to head out and start plowing the field. We'll probably keep it down in Leslie's uncle and aunt's barn, and I wouldn't be suprised if he wants to move down there so he can ride whenever he feels like it.
Sorry we don't have any pictures this round, but we'll put some on soon. Oh I almost forgot. It is official that this is our residence since I've now managed to bake a few loaves of bread, and spend much more time in the kitchen than I have in months!

We have water! And it's HOT!

The title says it all,
The plumber came back today to finish up the connections. There was not a whole lot left to do, but the weather has been snowy and wintry for the last few days. Our plumber has been busy dealing with heater problems and well freeze ups so when they said they could come today I didn't hold my breath.They've been great though and they sure came through. After he left today I finished things up by hooking up the on demand water heater. So not only do we have water, but we can have hot water if we want.
We've been busy with all sorts of things in the last while, and have now gotten things moved out of the storage unit (just in time to not pay for December). The unpacking has been happening everyday, and with the completion of the bookcase we have gotten most things in place. I'll be working on the trim in the next few days. We have gotten the curved pieces of trim in place, but I need to get the other pieces of base board in so that we can move things against all of the walls. It doesn't make much sense move in until we can really get things set. I have the lumber though, and so hopefully I can get them in the next day or so.
Things are getting very close, and it will be a great to celebrate Christmas in our own place. If we continue with the weather we've been having it will be a white Christmas. We had a great snowfall Sunday through Monday, and finally finished up yesterday. I think we ended up with about 10". Leslie and Abrahm went out this afternoon for a snowshoe adventure, and it sounded like they had a great time. I'm looking forward to getting out in the snow as well, though I'll probably be hanging on to a chainsaw. Lots to do!
Abrahm continues to entertain, as you can see from the photo. He's a very busy fellow, and his current favorites include tractors, trucks, and stuffed animals. Often these things all go together as we have witnessed all manner of animals piloting tractors, and trucks.