11.13.22 Sunday

Measurable snow YTD:  23.00"

Mouse Trapline Tally YTD:  9

We've been busy!  The snow is still coming down pretty consistently and it's beautiful!  

I'm sure we'll be over it by the end of the winter, but for now, we're loving it!

Kevin has his hands full riding the snow machine (*) around the property to maintain trails.  He also rides from our house to a couple of neighbors houses to keep the trails open since very few people are up here year round.

(*) Where we moved from in Missouri, these machines were called "snow mobiles."  We learned a hard lesson when we moved up here, that you call them "snow machines" or people make absolute fun of you!  No big deal...when in Rome....😅

We seem to have conquered the water challenge so far.  The natural spring is still running and we've rigged a pump to get water out of it and up to the house.  Seems to be working well.  I never realized how much we take running water for granted!

We had the Tundra truck deliver some stuff this last week.  That was exciting!  They brought our Hoosier cabinet, a large off-grid refrigerator, and our little deep freezer that came up with us in the back of the pickup from Missouri.  It was full of pork, at that point.  Now we're getting ready to fill it full of beef.  Can't wait for a juicy steak!

In anticipation of the Tundra truck arriving, we went down to the tracks, only to find a foot of snow!  When they use the boom to take stuff off the truck and set it next to the tracks, it would sink down on the pallets and be a pain to get moved.  

So out came the snow shoes...

A good friend of ours (ah-hem, Joyce 😝) told me one time "no big deal, just swoosh-swoosh"....Well, it's taking a lot of practice, but I'm getting better!  So I tamped down the area where they would need to drop the pallets.  Here comes the truck:

They got everything delivered and picked up the 55-gallon drum and four 100 lb propane tanks.  They will drop those off to get filled and return them to us in a couple of weeks (we hope!)

As much as I know we'll use the freezer and the refrigerator, I was most excited about the Hoosier cabinet getting delivered.  For those who may not know the backstory on this cabinet...

The first winter we were up here, we had very little money and were just trying to figure out how to stay warm in a little cabin that friends were gracious enough to let us live in.  Kevin scrounged together enough wood and a couple of hand tools, then built this cabinet from scratch with his own bare hands.  The metal drawers came from an old discarded refrigerator close to the cabin.  He punched out the tin on the doors from a pattern in one of my quilt books.  Because of the love that was put into it that winter, this cabinet is one of my most treasured things.  It's also the first piece of furniture we've contributed to this new place so far.  

Getting it off the truck...

We loaded it onto the sled...

Then up the hill it came...

And to the house!...

I've had all summer to determine the best place to put this treasured item in the house.  I believe this is the spot...

Feeling blessed!

One last note...we had neighbors come by yesterday!  Meet Sara, Brad,and their dog, Kane:

They're awesome and ornery and we so look forward to getting to know them better!  They are in the process of building a beautiful homestead and hope to live up here fulltime someday.  We can't wait!

Headed to Anchorage this week to pick up our beef.  We heard there has been some catalytic converter thieving happening at the trailhead the last few days.  Hate to think what that might look like.  We have both vehicles parked there.  

Stay tuned....