We had another snowstorm which left us with about 6 inches of snow up here at the ranch. The animals have been having  a blast and I love how quiet and beautiful the landscape is when everything is covered in snow. There have been a few icy mornings on the drive to work, but other than that, no issues caused by snow so far. The woodstove (who we’re now referring to as Roarin’ Johnny or Smokin’ Johnny, I also like San Juan Smokey as his name) has been awesome and the cabin is wonderfully warm when it’s below freezing outside.

We were in the middle of a bookshelf project when it started snowing, and we got most of it built but needed some extra lumber. When we went lumber shopping, everything was pretty wet still. So we have some lumber drying in our storage loft at the moment, and some other stuff outside that is trying to dry out. The snow and wet put everything on hold for the time being, but that’s ok, because we have heat! And light! And a toilet inside!

Who’s a happy duck?!

Life is pretty good so we’ve been taking it a little easier the last week or so. Our one little solar light is enough to light the whole cabin ($35 on amazon, baby!), and we usually spend our evenings with the animals all snuggled up inside by the woodstove, while we watch a movie we rented for free from the library on our laptops, which we bring with us to work to charge during the day. It’s a pretty sweet system we got set up here.

Pup-a-lup.

We’re saving up for a more complete solar system, as well as finishing our bathroom, and other future projects that are still in the planning stages. For now we are enjoying not having to rush to get things done before winter. Between our wood supply and the woodstove, we feel pretty good about life right now. So we can actually sit back and have a beer and not feel guilty about not being busy all the time!