2.19.24 Monday

Snowfall:  126.50" (10.5 feet)

Mouse Trapline Tally:  10 

(Total to-date for this year!)

Hello again!

The beaver mittens are complete!  And, boy, are they warm!  Here are some progress pictures...

It was definitely a process and mostly done by hand...

Success!

I have been sewing since I was a kid and this really challenged me.  I love to learn new skills and it was tough to get through the leather with a needle and sinew.  I'm proud to admit that not MUCH blood was spilled in the process...😜

We finally got a new battery bank for our solar system.  Kevin is still in the process of building it up to the capacity that he wants but this was a step in the right direction...

It was a lot of money and weighed 600 lbs so Kevin was able to talk the store owner into delivering it to the trail head for us...

It was quite a heavy load to pull back up the trail!

But we made it!  Here is a picture of it in it's new home.  Kevin has done a pretty amazing job building this system.  Eventually we'll add another battery bank to complete the set.  Now we have a little more power in between when the generator is running.  I'll admit, I'm getting a little spoiled...

On another note......When we got home with the battery bank, I was so excited to see that we'd gotten all of our chores done in town and were still home by 2:15p with lots of daylight left to do stuff.  While putting away the groceries, I realized that my purse was NOT where it should be and realized I'd left it on the back of my snow machine at the parking lot when we headed for home!  Just as I was getting back on my machine to head back to town (and while I was praying that no creepy person had found it), Kevin got a text on his phone (mine was still in my purse) that a very nice man and his wife had found the purse and had secured it.  I headed that way (this was my first trip on the trail alone on the snow machine) and was there within the hour.  I am so grateful to James and his wife Cheryl for keeping my stuff safe.  It just goes to show that there ARE still nice people in this crazy world!

As you may remember, our granddaughter, Isabelle, has been staying with us since New Year's Eve. She has decided that living remote is not her cup of tea and that's ok...this lifestyle is not for everyone!  She found a place in Wasilla where she wants to stay while she completes her schooling.  As of this writing, she's been there a couple of weeks now.  The night before we were scheduled to take her to town, we had a little excitement at the homestead.....can you say barn fire???

We didn't realize that when the previous owner built the barn, he didn't allow extra space around the stove pipe where it went through the wall.  Kevin had been running the wood stove a little more since we installed the new battery bank to keep it a little warmer in there and he noticed that there was a weird wood burning smell and it wasn't coming from the wood stove...

Even though the pipe is double-insulated, it was directly against the wood inside the wall and it was getting super hot.  The insulation inside the siding was slowly smoldering...

And the siding was starting to burn!  When he realized what was happening, he came to the house and got Isabelle and I, along with some buckets and fire extinguishers.  He ripped off the siding around the stove pipe and we packed snow inside the wall and poured water down into it.  Thank goodness we were able to get it out.  It's not like we can call the fire department.....kudos to Isabelle for being a great help! 

Huck continues to grow and gets more ornery every day.  We've been potty training and he's picking it up pretty well so far.  Nova had been pretty patient with him early on...

Then one day last week she decided she didn't want to be patient with him anymore and grabbed him by the throat with a death grip.  We were able to get them apart and no blood was drawn but it was pretty scary.  Now we have to keep them separated which isn't always easy...And with all the toys that Huck has to play with, he's decided that one of his favorite things is to chew on bark...

Finally, we have been installing some new warning signs around the property in case anyone decides to trespass...

And I couldn't resist this one....

Ok, now you're all caught up....for now.  Stay wild!