Less than 50 days until the road opens so the countdown has begun! In the meantime, we are like squirrels scurrying around before that first snowfall only our occasion for such hurry is lack of snow. The days have continued to be warm so even though the nights have been somewhat chilly, the snow has been melting. I would estimate that we have about two feet left, an amount that could be eliminated quite quickly if a serious rainstorm were to roll in.
So, I have been making list upon list of things to get in to camp before we can no longer use our sled. Our supply of dog food, dog treats, and dry goods is just about complete. This coming week I will focus on the perishables and bottled water. The perishables require a bit of a balancing act as I need to squeeze as much into my little freezer as I can and check expiration dates for anything that will end up in the fridge. The freezer will be crammed with cans of frozen orange juice concentrate, frozen vegetables ... I did resort to buying some canned peas and green beans and storing them in the basement ... bread, berries, butter, tortellini, pizza cheese, etc. And then, we will keep our fingers crossed that the power stays with us for the next several weeks!
Tomorrow's task is packing up clothes for our weekend escapades to civilization ... hoping that Garrick has all his laundry done before then. We will need to have our bags packed and ready to take out to the truck at the first hint of too much Spring. As we are planning on spending nine days away during Garrick's Spring Break, this could also be quite a balancing act ... not sure if the kids have enough clothes that still fit them to cover both here and there! I think Garrick has grown almost three inches since we arrived at the end of September. Looks like we may have to make some last minute purchases when we head out of town next the weekend.
Hoping for a short mud season -
Karyn
Saturday, March 21, 2009
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Little House in the Big Woods
Well as you can see from the picture, we still have a bit of snow left. Temperatures have been dropping into the teens at night but are hitting near 40 F during the day, great maple syruping weather. So, the snow is beginning to melt ... slowly. Not sure if you can actually see from the picture that we do have some wood left, it is stacked neatly under the left window, but I know that you can't see how green it is. We have been trying to burn it for the last few days and finally gave up last night. We ended up burning just over three cords worth this winter but this fourth cord is probably going to have to wait until next year. So, while we would like warm weather in order to reduce our oil consumption, we aren't quite ready for the snow to melt yet as it is provides our only path of powered transportation out to the parking lot until mid-May. Quite the quandary!
Adie and I went for a snowshoe this morning, me with the snowshoes on as I am a bit dense (I meant that literally, not figuratively), and her without, she with her bear bell and I with my walking stick, both intended to serve the same purpose: to protect us from 'wild'life. When we first started walking we went without such apparatus. But after seeing what looked to be coyote prints crossing the snowmobile path ... in more than a few places ... and hearing that a coyote had taken down a deer about 3 miles south of us a few weeks back, we are a bit more cautious now. I am, after all, not as large as a deer ... yet ... and I certainly can't run as fast as one, especially in my snowshoes.
We headed for the Masterman Farm, one of the two original properties back here in the woods. (The other, coincidentally, is for sale ... so you too could live the life that I live.) They must still have about 100 acres and a long winding driveway that has to be over half a mile long. The driveway starts out as a path in the woods and then opens up into fields that overlook the lake and the mountains beyond. It is truly breathtaking. I tried to capture it 'on film' ... if that term still applies ... but unfortunately, it was a bit hazy today and my camera ... or perhaps it was the photographer ... just couldn't duplicate the beauty. Anyway, we headed down their driveway toward the lake and walked back home across the frozen water. We have about another five to six weeks before ice-out but I think after this week, our jaunts over the lake will have to be come to an end. While I don't weigh quite as much as a deer, I don't have four legs over which to distribute my load.
Happy St. Partick's Day -
Karyn
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Too Good to Be True
No, we didn't go right from Winter to Spring without having to endure "Mud Season". But that too would be too good to be true.
Last week when I was in town running errands and Garrick was also there volunteering at the nursing home and shoveling snow at a friend's, we passed a guy who was selling shrimp ... for $1.25 per pound. They were whole shrimp, with the heads still on but I thought ... that's how we used to buy them at the Dolac Fish Market in Zagreb. I used to make a great Scampi Dish by simmering the whole shrimp in wine and garlic. We would eat them with our hands; first we would break apart the tail and eat the tail meat; then, we would suck the juice out of the head and body portion of the shrimp. It was very sweet and delicious, one of our favorite meals while in Croatia.
Garrick got out of the truck, asked for about two pounds, paid the guy $2.50 and we were on our way. Those of you who know me well, know that I am a bit anal about my To Do List which also contains my meal plan for the week. So, as Shrimp Scampi was not already on the menu, when we got home I tossed the shrimp into the freezer for the following week.
Imagine my disappointment when this morning on the way to the vet (a four hour excursion that included a mere 20 minutes at the actual vet's office ... 55 miles of driving ... each way), when I saw that same shrimp guy, selling those shrimp for $1 per pound in a different town!
Well, this afternoon, I took the bag of shrimp out of the freezer to thaw. And at about six, I started to get ready to prepare dinner: shrimp scampi, linguine, and spinat (Croatian for spinach ... pronounced shpinat). The water for the linguine was in one pot, the spinat was in another, the bottle of wine was uncorked, and I dumped the shrimp into the colander to rinse it off. I rinsed the shrimp with the sprayer but it seemed a little brown. Upon closer examination, I realized that the shrimp were full of sand and dirt. And, upon even further examination, I realized that the amount of meat in the tail of one of the shrimp was about equivalent to the size of an olive pit. When I called Garrick over to help me assess the situation, he immediately said, " Those are bait shrimp, mom!" I only wish he'd realized that last week before I doled out that $2.50!
So, we had cheese and mushroom omelets (more like scrambled eggs) with our spinat tonight. Wish I could say we would be having grilled fish tomorrow night, caught with our freshly thawed bait, but I don't have an auger to make that hole in the ice, and I have no intention of going to get one either.
Have a good weekend -
Karyn
Last week when I was in town running errands and Garrick was also there volunteering at the nursing home and shoveling snow at a friend's, we passed a guy who was selling shrimp ... for $1.25 per pound. They were whole shrimp, with the heads still on but I thought ... that's how we used to buy them at the Dolac Fish Market in Zagreb. I used to make a great Scampi Dish by simmering the whole shrimp in wine and garlic. We would eat them with our hands; first we would break apart the tail and eat the tail meat; then, we would suck the juice out of the head and body portion of the shrimp. It was very sweet and delicious, one of our favorite meals while in Croatia.
Garrick got out of the truck, asked for about two pounds, paid the guy $2.50 and we were on our way. Those of you who know me well, know that I am a bit anal about my To Do List which also contains my meal plan for the week. So, as Shrimp Scampi was not already on the menu, when we got home I tossed the shrimp into the freezer for the following week.
Imagine my disappointment when this morning on the way to the vet (a four hour excursion that included a mere 20 minutes at the actual vet's office ... 55 miles of driving ... each way), when I saw that same shrimp guy, selling those shrimp for $1 per pound in a different town!
Well, this afternoon, I took the bag of shrimp out of the freezer to thaw. And at about six, I started to get ready to prepare dinner: shrimp scampi, linguine, and spinat (Croatian for spinach ... pronounced shpinat). The water for the linguine was in one pot, the spinat was in another, the bottle of wine was uncorked, and I dumped the shrimp into the colander to rinse it off. I rinsed the shrimp with the sprayer but it seemed a little brown. Upon closer examination, I realized that the shrimp were full of sand and dirt. And, upon even further examination, I realized that the amount of meat in the tail of one of the shrimp was about equivalent to the size of an olive pit. When I called Garrick over to help me assess the situation, he immediately said, " Those are bait shrimp, mom!" I only wish he'd realized that last week before I doled out that $2.50!
So, we had cheese and mushroom omelets (more like scrambled eggs) with our spinat tonight. Wish I could say we would be having grilled fish tomorrow night, caught with our freshly thawed bait, but I don't have an auger to make that hole in the ice, and I have no intention of going to get one either.
Have a good weekend -
Karyn
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Stranger in the Dark
I knew it was going to be a bad day when I started out by getting the snowmobile stuck in the turnaround on the way back from the bus stop ... sound familiar??? Perhaps I should find a better way to turn the sled around so that I can stop having all these bad days!
This time it only took me about twenty minutes to dig out. Then, I took our new dog Adie for a walk. She is a shelter dog who came from Missouri. She was supposed to be a Christmas present for the kids but she had a few health issues at the last minute and arrived a week after Valentine's Day instead. We picked her up last weekend in Allentown, Pennsylvania and drove her home in a snow storm that dumped another two feet of snow on us. We then put her on the snowmobile and shuttled her into camp just like we do with everyone else. She didn't much like the sled the first time but is adjusting as she realizes that this is the only means for her to get to go in the car with us! As you can see from the picture, she loves the snow and is constatnly burrowing in it trying to find ... squirrels!
Anyway, back to that bad day ... long story short, the truck had to go into the shop "for about two hours" because something was not right when they installed the fuel pump for me back in October. Well, a mere 4 hours and 45 minutes later, we were headed home. As you can imagine, this threw off my whole schedule for the day. We arrived at the parking lot at 3:30, having eaten no lunch and having left the dog home alone for the first time by herself (for 7 hours). I was in a hurry and hopped on the sled in order to get Caroline home, have lunch, and return back to Greenville to pick up Garrick from the nursing home where he now volunteers one afternoon a week. In the tunrnaround at the parking lot ... I sunk the sled, AGAIN! As I was in a hurry, I had not put on my snowpants and we had no shovel. So, Caroline and I began digging with our hands. After fifteen minutes of digging and having the sled only sink deeper each time I tried to move it, I realized that the two of us were probably not going to get the thing out. I sent Caroline home to check on the dog while I went back out to the truck, peeled off my now frozen jeans (in the parking lot - I was standing there in my underwear and really didn't care), put on my snowpants, got the ice scraper from the truck, and resumed my digging, each time sinking the sled a little bit deeper. It actually got so low that I was beginning to see twigs poking through the snow! After an hour, I gave up. I headed back into town to get Garrick. Wouldn't you know it, he had the sled out in less than 10 minutes!
And the excuse for the delay in this week's blog is ... I got sick from all that digging. (The wet jeans probably didn't help!) I had a slight cold to begin with but by the next day, I was hacking and aching. I did my best to rest but had appointments I had to keep and groceries to get. On Friday, I did finally manage to stay in the house all day and even managed to stay in bed for part of the day. I spent the entire day in my PJ's and bathrobe.
Imagine my surprise then, when at about 6:30 that night, there was a knock on the front door! We heard no snowmobile. Garrick opened the door and I went down, in my bathrobe and slippers, to greet a guy in a black and red Yamaha snowmobile suit (because you know how everyone matches their clothes to their snowmobiles up here). Thank goodness we had the dog or I would have been even more scared than I already was. Where did this guy come from and why was he at our house?
Well, apparently, I am not the only one good at sinking sleds. He said he needed help getting his sled out. I asked him how big it was and he answered that it wasn't very big ... it turns out it was a 1000 ... almost twice as big as ours. Garrick rode him out on our sled and helped him get it out, not before the guy dropped the sled on his own foot though.
Hoping that our unexpected visitors in the future will be only the four-legged kind ... they aren't quite so frightening!
Karyn
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
The Tree
I knew it was going to be a bad day when I started out by getting the snowmobile stuck in the turnaround on the way back from the bus stop. Because it had warmed up so much ... we actually hit 48 F ... the snow was extremely soft and the sled slid off the trail and into the snow. It took me over half an hour to finally get it out and onto the trail again. And I knew that I couldn't just leave it and wait for Garrick to come home to help me as the temperature was predicted to drop ... the snowmobile would freeze in place if I didn't get it moved!
The morning progressed ... next the dryer vent came off so upon opening the doors to the closet that houses the washer/dryer, I discovered that my walls were dripping with water and covered with lint. From there I proceeded to have my dishwasher flood the newly mopped kitchen floor. Then I discovered that water was dripping all over the window sills because the ice dams that had formed on the roof, were now melting due to the increase in temperature. (George later informed me that this was the reason he shoveled off the roof each time it snowed!)
Then, I dragged all the trash out of the basement and into the tow sled and headed out for the dump. Only to find, that for some reason unknown to anyone in all of Rockwood (believe me I asked everyone), the dump was closed. So, I had to take all the garbage out of the truck, put it back into the tow sled, drag it back into camp, and redeposit it all back into the basement.
I don't know if you've ever read the children's book "Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day", but if you have, you'd agree that I should have moved to Australia too! Instead, I had friends visit from the concrete jungles of New York City and they were more than excited to be able to partake in living the adventures of The North Woods ... for a weekend anyway.
We snowshoed, ice skated, and built campfires on the lake (and tried to make smores with frozen marshmallows and frozen Hershey Bars while running after graham crackers that were blowing away in the wind). But our biggest adventure (other than just towing them and their gear in and out from the parking lot) was a 90 mile trip up around the north side of the lake.
Garrick and Caroline were on our two-up as they are too young to drive rental machines. Cord, Jon, and I each drove our own sleds. The intial line-up was Garrick, Jon, Cord, and then me. They said that they put me in the back because I was wearing mittens thus the only hand signal I could give was the 'fist' - meaning that there were zero sleds behind me - but I realized after about the first 20 minutes that the real reason I was last was because they intended to top out their machines the whole way and I was more than happy driving just 30 or 40 mph! So they would drive 50 or 60 or maybe even 85 mph and hold up their 3, 2, or 1 fingered gloves as they passed other riders. And, somewhere miles behind, the other riders would finally come across that last lone sled with the driver holding her clenched fist in the air.
Garrick and Caroline switched off and Caroline did an awesome job ... the first time she drove. The second time she drove (or shall I say the last time that she drove), we switched up the order and Jon was first, Cord was second, the kids were third, and I was ... you guessed it ... bringing up the rear! We weren't 5 minutes out and Jon and Cord were no where to be found. Caroline was trying to keep up, as Cord had to go pee and didn't dare go in the woods, but in her hurry didn't stop to take the time to move her hair out of her face and ... she totally misjudged the trail. Next thing I saw was the two of them, on the sled, careening out of control off the trail. They literally flew through the air into a patch of clear cut, missing a tree, a big tree, by inches. When they finally landed, they were thrown from the sled and the sled was resting on top of a 4 foot long log on its side. And ... Jon and Cord were no where to be found. As a matter of fact, they never did return to try to find us!
Within mintues, a twosome went by and they immediately stopped to help us. The sled was so buried and so far off the trail though that I never thought we would be able to get it out nor drive it again. The two men worked on getting the machine off the log and upright again while the kids and I packed down a path to pull the sled back up the hill onto the trail. Then, another group stopped to help and fortunately, they had a tow rope. It took about a half hour, but they did manage to get us on the road again. Miraculously, we ended up with only a ripped seat and a torn mesh vent cover. Thankfully, the rest of our trip was uneventful!
So, if anyone else feels like experiencing an adventure in the woods, we have plenty of snow and more on the way tomorrow. Just give us a call and we'll try to squeeze you in ... better hurry though as the phone has been ringing off the hook for the past month or so.
Karyn
The morning progressed ... next the dryer vent came off so upon opening the doors to the closet that houses the washer/dryer, I discovered that my walls were dripping with water and covered with lint. From there I proceeded to have my dishwasher flood the newly mopped kitchen floor. Then I discovered that water was dripping all over the window sills because the ice dams that had formed on the roof, were now melting due to the increase in temperature. (George later informed me that this was the reason he shoveled off the roof each time it snowed!)
Then, I dragged all the trash out of the basement and into the tow sled and headed out for the dump. Only to find, that for some reason unknown to anyone in all of Rockwood (believe me I asked everyone), the dump was closed. So, I had to take all the garbage out of the truck, put it back into the tow sled, drag it back into camp, and redeposit it all back into the basement.
I don't know if you've ever read the children's book "Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day", but if you have, you'd agree that I should have moved to Australia too! Instead, I had friends visit from the concrete jungles of New York City and they were more than excited to be able to partake in living the adventures of The North Woods ... for a weekend anyway.
We snowshoed, ice skated, and built campfires on the lake (and tried to make smores with frozen marshmallows and frozen Hershey Bars while running after graham crackers that were blowing away in the wind). But our biggest adventure (other than just towing them and their gear in and out from the parking lot) was a 90 mile trip up around the north side of the lake.
Garrick and Caroline were on our two-up as they are too young to drive rental machines. Cord, Jon, and I each drove our own sleds. The intial line-up was Garrick, Jon, Cord, and then me. They said that they put me in the back because I was wearing mittens thus the only hand signal I could give was the 'fist' - meaning that there were zero sleds behind me - but I realized after about the first 20 minutes that the real reason I was last was because they intended to top out their machines the whole way and I was more than happy driving just 30 or 40 mph! So they would drive 50 or 60 or maybe even 85 mph and hold up their 3, 2, or 1 fingered gloves as they passed other riders. And, somewhere miles behind, the other riders would finally come across that last lone sled with the driver holding her clenched fist in the air.
Garrick and Caroline switched off and Caroline did an awesome job ... the first time she drove. The second time she drove (or shall I say the last time that she drove), we switched up the order and Jon was first, Cord was second, the kids were third, and I was ... you guessed it ... bringing up the rear! We weren't 5 minutes out and Jon and Cord were no where to be found. Caroline was trying to keep up, as Cord had to go pee and didn't dare go in the woods, but in her hurry didn't stop to take the time to move her hair out of her face and ... she totally misjudged the trail. Next thing I saw was the two of them, on the sled, careening out of control off the trail. They literally flew through the air into a patch of clear cut, missing a tree, a big tree, by inches. When they finally landed, they were thrown from the sled and the sled was resting on top of a 4 foot long log on its side. And ... Jon and Cord were no where to be found. As a matter of fact, they never did return to try to find us!
Within mintues, a twosome went by and they immediately stopped to help us. The sled was so buried and so far off the trail though that I never thought we would be able to get it out nor drive it again. The two men worked on getting the machine off the log and upright again while the kids and I packed down a path to pull the sled back up the hill onto the trail. Then, another group stopped to help and fortunately, they had a tow rope. It took about a half hour, but they did manage to get us on the road again. Miraculously, we ended up with only a ripped seat and a torn mesh vent cover. Thankfully, the rest of our trip was uneventful!
So, if anyone else feels like experiencing an adventure in the woods, we have plenty of snow and more on the way tomorrow. Just give us a call and we'll try to squeeze you in ... better hurry though as the phone has been ringing off the hook for the past month or so.
Karyn
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Where there's smoke there's fire ...
... or maybe there's just smoke!
We returned on Sunday night to a cold house as we turn the temperature down to 50 F when we leave for the weekend. This of course necessitates that we drain the water from the pipes and the hot water heater (every time we go away) because if the electricity were to go out while we were gone, no one ... except the squirrels ... would be here to call in the power outage and the pipes could potentially freeze ... and burst. So, while the kids unload the sled, my first two tasks are to get the water back on and to get the fire going.
The water was no problem as I have finally learned that I must close the valves on the well pump AND the hot water heater before flipping the breaker switch to turn the power on. Hearing the sound of gushing water in the basement once was enough to forever imprint in my mind the proper sequence. And, in spite of the hassle of having to drain everything, I am thankful that we do have running water in the house and are not headed out to the well every day!
The fire was another story! I cleaned out the ashes (Caroline was kind enough to go dump the ash bucket in the woods for me) and got to work starting the fire. It was a bit smoky and the fire didn't seem to be burning well but this has happened in the past when we are starting with a cold chimney, which causes a bad draft. We headed off to bed shortly thereafter. Monday morning, the fire didn't seem to be getting much better. The house seemed kind of smoky and we weren't going through wood as quickly as we usually do but hey, the smoke alarms weren't sounding so things couldn't be too bad. We limped through the day figuring Tuesday would be a better day ... maybe it was just the wood.
By the time we got to the third log on Tuesday, the smoke alarm began to sound. Time to open the windows ... again. I couldn't figure out how we kept getting smoke in the house when I had been keeping the wood stove door closed. I went outside and there was plenty of smoke billowing from the stove pipe. Then, as Caroline and I sat down to read ... in the living room as our eyes were burning when we sat up in the loft ... Caroline said, "Mom, why is the smoke coming out of the stove pipe into the house?"
I immediately got the smothering log out of the fireplace and tossed it outside in the snowbank and then called Kevin, the chimney installer ... who was ... out for the day. We got the smoke out of the house, turned up the furnace, as it was now 56 F ... in the house, and I headed to town to run errands for the afternoon.
My first stop was to pick up my special order groceries from a friend who coincidentally sells the largest Farm Fresh eggs you've ever seen! (Yes, I can now get Ghirardelli hot cocoa and Indian curry paste and Buffalo Wing mix ... but not fresh Cilantro out of season ... in little ole Greenville, Maine.) It just so happens that Kevin called me back while I was at Gretchen's house so I explained to her that I was having a problem with the woodstove. She immediately told me that it needed to be cleaned and said that I should call the fire department as they would come clean it for me 'for a small donation'. She said that she would call me later with the phone number.
In the meantime, when we got home, Garrick dug out the extension ladder from under the deck, shoveled off the roof, and climbed up to take a look. While it wasn't possible to make a definite diagnosis because it was getting dark and the top of the stove pipe was just out of reach for someone only 5' 10" tall, we are surmising that the cap on the stove pipe needs to be cleaned.
Later, Gretchen called me with the number of someone her husband knows at the Rockwood Fire Department (population 4) and she in turn put me in contact with the Fire Chief. While the fire department no longer does chimney cleaning , due to liability issues, Rick is trying to find someone who can help me out ... good thing as the nearest Chimney Sweep listed in the Yellow Pages is a mere 70 miles down the road! And, if all else fails, Gretchen has very generously offered her husband's assistance. As he is 6' 8"tall, he will have no trouble reaching the top of the stovepipe!
As we have guests coming for the weekend, I am hoping all this is resolved shortly ... I'd hate for them to have to spend the holiday weekend in a house that is only 64 F ... during the day ... as we are still trying to conserve that precious oil!
Karyn
We returned on Sunday night to a cold house as we turn the temperature down to 50 F when we leave for the weekend. This of course necessitates that we drain the water from the pipes and the hot water heater (every time we go away) because if the electricity were to go out while we were gone, no one ... except the squirrels ... would be here to call in the power outage and the pipes could potentially freeze ... and burst. So, while the kids unload the sled, my first two tasks are to get the water back on and to get the fire going.
The water was no problem as I have finally learned that I must close the valves on the well pump AND the hot water heater before flipping the breaker switch to turn the power on. Hearing the sound of gushing water in the basement once was enough to forever imprint in my mind the proper sequence. And, in spite of the hassle of having to drain everything, I am thankful that we do have running water in the house and are not headed out to the well every day!
The fire was another story! I cleaned out the ashes (Caroline was kind enough to go dump the ash bucket in the woods for me) and got to work starting the fire. It was a bit smoky and the fire didn't seem to be burning well but this has happened in the past when we are starting with a cold chimney, which causes a bad draft. We headed off to bed shortly thereafter. Monday morning, the fire didn't seem to be getting much better. The house seemed kind of smoky and we weren't going through wood as quickly as we usually do but hey, the smoke alarms weren't sounding so things couldn't be too bad. We limped through the day figuring Tuesday would be a better day ... maybe it was just the wood.
By the time we got to the third log on Tuesday, the smoke alarm began to sound. Time to open the windows ... again. I couldn't figure out how we kept getting smoke in the house when I had been keeping the wood stove door closed. I went outside and there was plenty of smoke billowing from the stove pipe. Then, as Caroline and I sat down to read ... in the living room as our eyes were burning when we sat up in the loft ... Caroline said, "Mom, why is the smoke coming out of the stove pipe into the house?"
I immediately got the smothering log out of the fireplace and tossed it outside in the snowbank and then called Kevin, the chimney installer ... who was ... out for the day. We got the smoke out of the house, turned up the furnace, as it was now 56 F ... in the house, and I headed to town to run errands for the afternoon.
My first stop was to pick up my special order groceries from a friend who coincidentally sells the largest Farm Fresh eggs you've ever seen! (Yes, I can now get Ghirardelli hot cocoa and Indian curry paste and Buffalo Wing mix ... but not fresh Cilantro out of season ... in little ole Greenville, Maine.) It just so happens that Kevin called me back while I was at Gretchen's house so I explained to her that I was having a problem with the woodstove. She immediately told me that it needed to be cleaned and said that I should call the fire department as they would come clean it for me 'for a small donation'. She said that she would call me later with the phone number.
In the meantime, when we got home, Garrick dug out the extension ladder from under the deck, shoveled off the roof, and climbed up to take a look. While it wasn't possible to make a definite diagnosis because it was getting dark and the top of the stove pipe was just out of reach for someone only 5' 10" tall, we are surmising that the cap on the stove pipe needs to be cleaned.
Later, Gretchen called me with the number of someone her husband knows at the Rockwood Fire Department (population 4) and she in turn put me in contact with the Fire Chief. While the fire department no longer does chimney cleaning , due to liability issues, Rick is trying to find someone who can help me out ... good thing as the nearest Chimney Sweep listed in the Yellow Pages is a mere 70 miles down the road! And, if all else fails, Gretchen has very generously offered her husband's assistance. As he is 6' 8"tall, he will have no trouble reaching the top of the stovepipe!
As we have guests coming for the weekend, I am hoping all this is resolved shortly ... I'd hate for them to have to spend the holiday weekend in a house that is only 64 F ... during the day ... as we are still trying to conserve that precious oil!
Karyn
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
The Ritz!
I apologize for being remiss in my blogging efforts these past two weeks. It seems the longer I procrastinate, the harder it gets to gather all my thoughts together in a coherent form and thus I procrastinate still longer. As a result, I have two promises to keep (1) that I will attempt to recreate the fun of the last two weeks without boring you entirely, and (2) that I will post more frequently, using less space, in my future posts. (i.e. This one could be quite lengthy!)
While the weekdays here in the woods have been quite quiet, on the weekends, the West Shore Road Association, our so called 'development', can get to be quite a busy place. While we are not usually around to experience this eruption of activity, we do usually manage to catch the start of it on Friday afternoons as we are headed out to 'the real world'. The parking lot fills up with vehicles toting snowmobile trailers and the snowmobiles, in turn, are toting sleds full of supplies for the weekend, that is unless you are a true Beverly Hillbillie. Imagine my surprise as I was waiting for Garrick to get off the school bus one Friday afternoon when a two-up (a snowmobile for two riders) was heading into the woods towing not a sled but a forest green Old Town Canoe, filled to the brim with food, camping stove, ice fishing supplies, etc. Now I don't know if they actually thought that they would need a boat to ice fish (I once thought that one used horses to play water polo), or they were just very practical people and had found a dual use for their canoe. I think I was a bit jealous also in that being a spendthrift, I had actually wasted over a hundred dollars on a sled when I too could have been toting my groceries in a kayak or two. It was another 'wish I had a camera for that' moment!
And, another 'wish I had a camera with a gigantic lens for that' moment occured not long afterwards thanks once again to my friends the squirrels. Feeling sorry for my little squirrels and their blue jay friends who were having to eat from the ground ... and probably more so for myself who was going out three times a day, in the cold, to put little piles of food out for those who couldn't eat off of the extremely well-engineered bird feeder with the trap door ... I broke down and bought yet another feeder, this one a cedar box specifically made for BOTH birds and squirrels. (Boy, have I softened up!) This 'box' has a plexiglass front and the lid is on a hinge so that the very smart squirrels can open the lid and eat from the top of the feeder. Apparently, those squirrels all migrated south for the winter. My squirrels eat from the slot at the bottom of the plexiglass just like the birds ... unless ... the feeder is almost empty and the only food left is in the remote back corners of the box. While I was doing the dishes one morning, I thought I was imagining things when I saw a squirrel on the ledge of the feeder and then I didn't see the squirrel on the ledge any longer. He didn't jump down, he didn't climb the tree, he simply disappeared. After watching a bit longer, and seeing him reappear ... from inside the bird/squirrel feeder, I was amazed. He had squeezed underneath the plexiglass in order to get inside the box to get the last bits of food ... it was like watching a squirrel TV! I can honestly say that I am very glad not to have resorted to the BB gun as the squirrels have provided much more entertainment than any of the other animals thus far!
And, happy am I to have to only go out twice a week to restock the sunflower seeds because last Monday, we once again were at OF.L on that oh-so-reliable digital thermometer! Anna and George inferred that it would be this way until the end of February which sent me in a tailspin as I was getting worried about my dwindling heating resources. Half of my wood was gone by the third week of January and my oil supply was down a quarter of a tank. (We use the oil at night to supplement when the fire dies down.) George let me know that it would be possible to get a permit for $10 from the timber company in order to cut down trees on their land, which is in close proximity to our camp, and even offered to come help me. My intention in buying that chain saw, however, was only for clearing trees that were blocking the roadway; I never intended to actually use it to saw down trees and cut them up for firewood! So, while I appreciated his heartfelt offer, I politely declined and instead went home to count my pieces of firewood. In early March, the little wood that I have left will be reserved for power outages and I will be heating entirely with oil until the road opens to heavy loads, in mid to late May, for the oil truck delivery.
So, that night, I also turned down the heat. As Garrick's room is tucked in a corner behind the stairwell and the heat from the fireplace doesn't tend to get in there, it is commonly referred to as 'the icebox'. Apparently, he woke up shivering in 'the icebox' at about 1:30 and had to retreat to the couch that night. Determined to conserve what oil I had left, I decided that we had better adjust the sleeping arrangements. So, the following night, Garrick moved to the loft and the thermostat stayed at a chilly 56 F. Fortunately, this cold streak wasn't as bad as the last one, and we were back to 'normal' temperatures the following day.
A week later, the temperatures climbed once again and for the first time in two months, we were above freezing ... at 32.8 F ... for an hour! Not exactly Indian Summer but it sure felt good after being so cold for so long! And, this was the perfect opportunity for getting the sled down to Greenville to get it fixed before another Arctic front moved in. I called Peter at Big Lake Equipment and he said that Garrick could bring it down on Wednesday ... today. Not having riden the trails down to Greenville yet, we knew this would be yet another adventure. Garrick spoke with the older kids on the bus to get information on which trails would be groomed and I also asked around to find out where to catch the trail from our house. One would think that driving down the lake would be the best route but unfortunately, the lake is not groomed and it doesn't freeze completely in some places ... at least one person dies every year snowmobiling out there.
So, the trail it was. We didn't realize that the trail doesn't follow the road. So, while it is about 18 miles from here to town when driving, it is actually about 40 miles on the snowmobile trail. The plan was for Garrick to ride down and drop off the machine before school and pick it up after school and drive it home again. That was the plan ...
Garrick left before dawn as we figured it would take him about 75 minutes and school starts at 8:05. He had my cell phone and was supposed to call me after about 20 minutes when he got to the first bridge. He called in about 25 minutes, about 1/4 of a mile from the parking lot because ... he was stuck in a snowbank. There was really nothing I could do as I would have to walk all the way out to him. So, I called George who was on his way out for school drop-off. Before George got to Garrick though, a logger showed up and the two of them got the sled out. Apparently, Garrick was on the old snowmobile trail ... the new one was a mile up the road ... my fault as this was the information I had been given. He was on his way, for the second time, at about 7:30 ... there was no way he would be in time for school. At about 7:55 I tried to call him so that I could let the school know what time he would be arriving but he was not in range of a cell tower. The school didn't seem to care that he would be late but for me the next 55 minutes were nerve racking. I couldn't contact him and just had to hope he was all right and on the right road toward town. Hopefully the signs were good ... forty miles is a long way alone. Finally at 8:45 he called to let me know he had made it. I was very relieved and he was very proud. Not only had the trip been a lot of fun for him (excluding the dig out and the three moose that frightened him as he came quickly around a corner into their paths), it was a real sense of accomplishment for him to be able to figure this all out on his own. And, I think the ride home was easier for both of us! Tomorrow, I'm looking forward to forgoing the 30 yanks on the pull cord and finally being able to turn the key to start the sled!
One last observation before I run the risk of boring you all to tears ... I met a woman Emily last week at a homeschooling meeting. She put everything into perspective when she asked if I lived off the grid. I explained that while we didn't have winter (or spring) road access, we did have electricity and oil heat. She, on the other hand, has road access but lives off the grid. They live about 20 miles north of here, on the lake, and have no land line phone, no electricity, and get this ... no running water in the house. The camp was originally their summer camp but they have recently moved up from southern Maine and are making this their primary residence. They heat with wood only, have a generator for power and have a well ... outside. So, while I am complaining about having to go out to feed the squirrels three times a day, they are going out many more times than that just to get their water. And, I'm guessing that they are heating it up on the woodstove in order to bathe. Makes this place look like the Ritz!!!
Karyn
While the weekdays here in the woods have been quite quiet, on the weekends, the West Shore Road Association, our so called 'development', can get to be quite a busy place. While we are not usually around to experience this eruption of activity, we do usually manage to catch the start of it on Friday afternoons as we are headed out to 'the real world'. The parking lot fills up with vehicles toting snowmobile trailers and the snowmobiles, in turn, are toting sleds full of supplies for the weekend, that is unless you are a true Beverly Hillbillie. Imagine my surprise as I was waiting for Garrick to get off the school bus one Friday afternoon when a two-up (a snowmobile for two riders) was heading into the woods towing not a sled but a forest green Old Town Canoe, filled to the brim with food, camping stove, ice fishing supplies, etc. Now I don't know if they actually thought that they would need a boat to ice fish (I once thought that one used horses to play water polo), or they were just very practical people and had found a dual use for their canoe. I think I was a bit jealous also in that being a spendthrift, I had actually wasted over a hundred dollars on a sled when I too could have been toting my groceries in a kayak or two. It was another 'wish I had a camera for that' moment!
And, another 'wish I had a camera with a gigantic lens for that' moment occured not long afterwards thanks once again to my friends the squirrels. Feeling sorry for my little squirrels and their blue jay friends who were having to eat from the ground ... and probably more so for myself who was going out three times a day, in the cold, to put little piles of food out for those who couldn't eat off of the extremely well-engineered bird feeder with the trap door ... I broke down and bought yet another feeder, this one a cedar box specifically made for BOTH birds and squirrels. (Boy, have I softened up!) This 'box' has a plexiglass front and the lid is on a hinge so that the very smart squirrels can open the lid and eat from the top of the feeder. Apparently, those squirrels all migrated south for the winter. My squirrels eat from the slot at the bottom of the plexiglass just like the birds ... unless ... the feeder is almost empty and the only food left is in the remote back corners of the box. While I was doing the dishes one morning, I thought I was imagining things when I saw a squirrel on the ledge of the feeder and then I didn't see the squirrel on the ledge any longer. He didn't jump down, he didn't climb the tree, he simply disappeared. After watching a bit longer, and seeing him reappear ... from inside the bird/squirrel feeder, I was amazed. He had squeezed underneath the plexiglass in order to get inside the box to get the last bits of food ... it was like watching a squirrel TV! I can honestly say that I am very glad not to have resorted to the BB gun as the squirrels have provided much more entertainment than any of the other animals thus far!
And, happy am I to have to only go out twice a week to restock the sunflower seeds because last Monday, we once again were at OF.L on that oh-so-reliable digital thermometer! Anna and George inferred that it would be this way until the end of February which sent me in a tailspin as I was getting worried about my dwindling heating resources. Half of my wood was gone by the third week of January and my oil supply was down a quarter of a tank. (We use the oil at night to supplement when the fire dies down.) George let me know that it would be possible to get a permit for $10 from the timber company in order to cut down trees on their land, which is in close proximity to our camp, and even offered to come help me. My intention in buying that chain saw, however, was only for clearing trees that were blocking the roadway; I never intended to actually use it to saw down trees and cut them up for firewood! So, while I appreciated his heartfelt offer, I politely declined and instead went home to count my pieces of firewood. In early March, the little wood that I have left will be reserved for power outages and I will be heating entirely with oil until the road opens to heavy loads, in mid to late May, for the oil truck delivery.
So, that night, I also turned down the heat. As Garrick's room is tucked in a corner behind the stairwell and the heat from the fireplace doesn't tend to get in there, it is commonly referred to as 'the icebox'. Apparently, he woke up shivering in 'the icebox' at about 1:30 and had to retreat to the couch that night. Determined to conserve what oil I had left, I decided that we had better adjust the sleeping arrangements. So, the following night, Garrick moved to the loft and the thermostat stayed at a chilly 56 F. Fortunately, this cold streak wasn't as bad as the last one, and we were back to 'normal' temperatures the following day.
A week later, the temperatures climbed once again and for the first time in two months, we were above freezing ... at 32.8 F ... for an hour! Not exactly Indian Summer but it sure felt good after being so cold for so long! And, this was the perfect opportunity for getting the sled down to Greenville to get it fixed before another Arctic front moved in. I called Peter at Big Lake Equipment and he said that Garrick could bring it down on Wednesday ... today. Not having riden the trails down to Greenville yet, we knew this would be yet another adventure. Garrick spoke with the older kids on the bus to get information on which trails would be groomed and I also asked around to find out where to catch the trail from our house. One would think that driving down the lake would be the best route but unfortunately, the lake is not groomed and it doesn't freeze completely in some places ... at least one person dies every year snowmobiling out there.
So, the trail it was. We didn't realize that the trail doesn't follow the road. So, while it is about 18 miles from here to town when driving, it is actually about 40 miles on the snowmobile trail. The plan was for Garrick to ride down and drop off the machine before school and pick it up after school and drive it home again. That was the plan ...
Garrick left before dawn as we figured it would take him about 75 minutes and school starts at 8:05. He had my cell phone and was supposed to call me after about 20 minutes when he got to the first bridge. He called in about 25 minutes, about 1/4 of a mile from the parking lot because ... he was stuck in a snowbank. There was really nothing I could do as I would have to walk all the way out to him. So, I called George who was on his way out for school drop-off. Before George got to Garrick though, a logger showed up and the two of them got the sled out. Apparently, Garrick was on the old snowmobile trail ... the new one was a mile up the road ... my fault as this was the information I had been given. He was on his way, for the second time, at about 7:30 ... there was no way he would be in time for school. At about 7:55 I tried to call him so that I could let the school know what time he would be arriving but he was not in range of a cell tower. The school didn't seem to care that he would be late but for me the next 55 minutes were nerve racking. I couldn't contact him and just had to hope he was all right and on the right road toward town. Hopefully the signs were good ... forty miles is a long way alone. Finally at 8:45 he called to let me know he had made it. I was very relieved and he was very proud. Not only had the trip been a lot of fun for him (excluding the dig out and the three moose that frightened him as he came quickly around a corner into their paths), it was a real sense of accomplishment for him to be able to figure this all out on his own. And, I think the ride home was easier for both of us! Tomorrow, I'm looking forward to forgoing the 30 yanks on the pull cord and finally being able to turn the key to start the sled!
One last observation before I run the risk of boring you all to tears ... I met a woman Emily last week at a homeschooling meeting. She put everything into perspective when she asked if I lived off the grid. I explained that while we didn't have winter (or spring) road access, we did have electricity and oil heat. She, on the other hand, has road access but lives off the grid. They live about 20 miles north of here, on the lake, and have no land line phone, no electricity, and get this ... no running water in the house. The camp was originally their summer camp but they have recently moved up from southern Maine and are making this their primary residence. They heat with wood only, have a generator for power and have a well ... outside. So, while I am complaining about having to go out to feed the squirrels three times a day, they are going out many more times than that just to get their water. And, I'm guessing that they are heating it up on the woodstove in order to bathe. Makes this place look like the Ritz!!!
Karyn
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