Lucy's 2009 Blog

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Monday, December 14/09

Another snowy Monday, beautiful in fact and lots of snow for snowmobiling. I had my three sisters and sister in law up for the night at the cabin on Saturday....we had so much fun. We managed to get the five us into the soaking tub on the deck....too funny. Salmon on the BBQ and lots of drink. A good time was had. Back to the house in the morning to watch a Karaoke night with did with mom about fifteen years ago. A few tears and laughter was to be had. My older sister Rose had one hip replaced with another one to go and she was better than I have seen her in ages.

Dwight picked up our new Snowmobile, man what a nice machine. A Yamaha Venture, all purpose, turn a key and it starts!......I like that. We were able to get the old Bravo started but not the two little 1973 Elans.......but we will. The snow just kind of came fast!

December 07/09

Oh my god.......it's monday and its magic here at the cabin.

Dwight is off at his Monday night volley ball and I decided to ready things up at the cabin and will stay here the night. I have all the boys here, Theo, Winston and Alvin. Winston, Theo andI walked around the lake to get here, a nice little walk, beautiful in fact with about 2 inches of fresh fallen snow sprinkled everywhere, a bit precarious at the dam but slow and easy does it

Dwight is such a wonderful husband. I had a girlfriend at the cabin this past weekend and we got caught up on stuff and tried out the new soaking tub on the deck. Dwight was around to make sure that we could safely get back across the dam because of the ice not being formed yet .........so canoe days are over for now.

The lake at the cabin is at its in between stage, almost frozen but not trustworthy. I have a big dog and a new pup so I need to be responsible plus I left my cat Alvin for the night at the cabin. He sure was glad to see us. The temp in the cabin was 55f, I left to go to the afternoon before at 3pm.

When I got to the cabin I hear on the radio that we are going to get about 15 centimeters of snow between now and tomorrow afternoon. There has not been a lot of sun so I run the generator for an hour to charge up the battery bank. I fire up the tub for a nice soak later on under the stars.

The girls(chickens) are at home. Dwight will get home around 10:30 and pass out. He has been so busy at work lately he has not been able to take his usual one day a week off. I cant do as much as I used to because of my bum right arm. Its like tennis elbow but now it is my whole arm. I think maybe putting in the ceiling, the floor, board and batten, insulated chicken coop finally took its toil. I have had a tennis elbow for about ten years now...........so we are getting older and now I need months to heal and that will be a tough one for me. Thank god for my sweetie!

Here I am, 6:30 pm Dec. 07/09 Temperature -5 slow lazy snow flakes floating down, I run from the cabin to the hot tub, flip open half the insulated cover, and slip into the warm water. I have not stirred it in the last hour and feel the cooler layer of water underneath, it quickly becomes mixed and I read the thermometer and it reads 95f and slowly creeping up............hmmm could be warmer but hey this is nice and I know I will come back later, the snow flakes are cold on my face and shoulders. I lie in the water in my most favorite place in the world, listening to the water source for the tub falling down the hill and thats it!!!! I have it all, I begin to do exercise in the tub....oh yeah this is nice. I have a candle going beside me.

I can hear the flames surround the oak in the stove that heats my water. the sensations are truly amazing.

November 19/09

Here we go, the news for the month.

Big News, Josh my 24 year old has decided to go to university, he will be there for the next four years so he is now enrolled in Ottawa University and doing very well.

Well no snow yet, the race is still on to finish things up before the snow flies. We are at the house now and I am working on a few projects at the moment. The first being the new chicken coop. It is only 6 by 4 but it is insulated and built like Fort Knox to keep the predators out.

I have used every bit of scrap lumber hanging around to build this baby, the inside walls are lined with various bits and sizes of plywood. Doing it this way does take longer though. Today I put the ceiling in, white wash it all, lay the vinyl floor, I just happen to have the size laying around (this makes it easier to clean) Of course there are other details to work on but I just want it to be finished enough to bring our five girls back. It is getting hard busting the ice at the cabin to get to them every two days.

Meanwhile there is our wooden soaking tub getting its three coats of varnish on and sanded between.

When we were at the cabin four weeks ago Dwight managed to finish the 14 by 16 deck to hold the new wood fired soaking tub. Its awesome! I almost got the board and batten done on the outside. I did manage to finish laying the pine floor and the v-joint installed on the ceiling and three coats of varnish on the floor….it looks gorgeous. We are prepping the cabin for winter rentals or ourselves.

At the moment we have two weeks rented out at Owls Nest end of Dec/Jan

I can tell you that with the addition of the wood fired soaking tub at the cabin it is going to be real nice to be there.

My arm is killing me with hammering and such. I think I have damaged a tendon so that repair will take a few months, in the meantime I just have to manage it, too much stuff to do. Other than that I feel great.

We will be having our big magical New Years Bash at the cabin again this year.

Oh yes this is so funny when you think about it but as some of you know Dwight and I got married this year, bought a van from his parents, bought a house and got the two kids……let me expand on the kids………..Dwight wanted Winston (our dog) to have a buddy, another dog and I said no because usually with more than one dog you get this pack mentality and they start to wander so we got a cat and I am not a cat person.

Well we had the kitty for 10 days, he is 12 weeks old and we named him Alvin. Then we went to visit friends and wouldn’t you know it they had to bring out a puppy, a black puppy with a white strip down its chest and six weeks old and then it was plopped into my lap. Dwight looks at me and says “I guess we have another dog” and so goes it.

Puppy’s name is Theo, his mom is a rotty and dad is a lab so this little guy is going to be a fair size. Dwight and Theo are off to puppy class next week. Dwight has never really had his own dog and he wants to do this. What a great dad!

Preparations are still on going for the winter. One car is being serviced and then only the van is left to get its winter tires put on.

We got a great deal on a brand new never been used 2007 Yamaha Venture Utility snowmobile, with reverse, electric start, wide track, I wont get stuck. We will pick it up in December. Some luxuries you need as you get older.

We have enough machines now that there should always be one working. We also need something reliable to get our guests back to the cabin and for me to get there in the morning to put a fire on.

Yes I would really like to start my oil painting this winter but maybe after I insulate the garage. We need to have a warm shop so that Dwight and I can work on projects.

Dwight meanwhile is busy at work and planning our escape somewhere warm this winter.

October 20/09

I'm back! Wow what a busy summer we have had! Where to start........at this very moment it is 3 in the morning and we are at the cabin. I woke up in a sweat, its seems that Dwight put another log on the fire and man is it hot in here. We sold the cookstove out of the cabin as now it is not our full time home anymore. We wanted to be able to see a fire and a wood stove is better for when we rent the cabin. We are working to finish the cabin off to use as a rental this winter or to stay when the house is rented.

All my wood arrived yesterday, it was dropped off at a neighbors and I went and picked it up with the ATV and trailer. It was a full load, so full in fact that I use loaded up the dock and floated the whole thing across. There was pine for the board and batten to finish off the back, pine v-joint for the ceiling in the back room as well as random width red pine for the floor...we know what I will be doing this week.

We have guests staying at Owls Nest (our house) as well as on the weekend and someone in the yurt as well. The snow will be here soon so we need to get a few more things done. We also need to do a deck in the next week or two as we have a wood fired Ofuro Japanese wooden soaking tub coming. This will be a good draw for the rental as well. When that arrives later this week it will need to be stained with three coats of varnish so that will take a few days as well.

Our wedding was perfect, I was the princess who married her prince. The ceremony was held at our home and it was so much easier. I was in heaven.

As I sit here in the heat I just finished taking Theo out for a pee and poo. Theo is our 6 week old puppy, he is now playing with Alvin who is our 12 week old kitten. Both are black with a bit of white on their chest. We still have Winston the big bear dog but he is outside. Dwight felt that Winston needed a buddy but I did not want another dog as the dynamics change so we got a kitten and a week later we dropped by someones house on our way to a party to do some business and we left with one of their puppies so we have a bit of a busy household at the moment. So far the new animals seem really great. I think we have a couple of winners.

The chickens are doing fine, one of our original chickens died and we got two more which puts us up to five and they are laying 100 percent at the moment which just reminds me of another thing. I need to build a chicken coop at the house before the snow flies, I cant be coming here every two days to feed them. I think they will like being on the grid where when it gets down to minus 30 I can at least provide some heat for them. Last winter I keep them watered with snow, it worked just fine.

A couple of weeks ago I caught a 4lb pike, too much for Dwight and I to eat in one sitting so half went in the freezer. I was coming home from shopping and met Dwight on the trail coming home from work and we were packing up the canoe when we saw a swirl in the water meaning FISH. Well it so happened that there was a fishing rod in the canoe so I asked Dwight if he minded if I have a few casts, less than five minutes later I had that baby on my red devil. Dwight cleaned him and then we ate him for supper.

We will be spending Christmas and New Years at the cabin this year. We have the house rented for the week of New Years and suspect that Christmas will be rented out as well.

My dear mom passed away this year, a month before our wedding, she will be missed. I was able to have a fabulous last visit with her. With every death comes birth and my nieces and nephews have been busy as there were three new arrivals this year.

Better late than never but Josh decided to go to University while working part time to pay for it all. He shares a house with a couple of guys and is going to Ottawa U...way ta go Josh!

Firewood....proud to say but Dwight has been busy, we have over 25 cords that have been drying since the spring! I always wanted to have 2 years worth of wood and I finally have it.

July 14/09

Oh Boy, it's count down, August 08th is our wedding day!!!!
We are back at Owls Nest tomorrow, last week we had the excavator in and cleaned out the dirt at the front of the house to the road to open up the driveway and dirt was dumped over the hill and then we sodded it a day before the renters came in. This would be where we would put the tent for the wedding if needed. The place looks awesome!
Meanwhile back at the cabin things are moving along there as the landscape gets larger and more beautiful. Dwight is a mover just like me and you put the two of us together and man do we get things done....we love it, its in our nature to be busy.
Now we have to hunker down with details for our wedding, there are so many fun things planned, I have my dress, butterflies have been ordered for the release at the cabin, huge box of fireworks and glow sticks to dance with picked up, cake is worked out, dance floor built, cater and menu, done.............how to get our guests all dressed up across the lake.......NOT yet but that is Dwights job and he does not seem to be worried about that. If it rains the whole ceremony will be at Owls Nest.  Now its been raining a lot these days, I figure it will rain itself out, gardens just love it....k, gottta run!  I see the dam rabbit outside...he has demolished my blueberry patch!!!

June 22//09

Yeah!!!!! Summer is here and so am I back on the blog. You know that dock we built for a friend of ours back in March, well it turns out that it is our dock now. Dwight and I bought Owls Nest! After two winters off the grid with not enough sunshine we decided we needed a winter home so that is where we will stay in the winter and rent it in the summer. Now the plan is to have our wedding reception there in 6 weeks with a small ceremony at the cabin. With Owls Nest rented out for most of the summer Dwight and I had to work hard to put our mark on the place. We changed the colour, rearranged furniture, built a deck with surround seating, cleared overgrown brush and planted tons of flowers in preparation for our celebration. Every two days we were heading back to the cabin to tend to the chickens, garden and flowers there. We are now at the cabin for two weeks and everything is set to go. I am hoping to have the drywalling done in the back room while here and a multitude of other things. It is so beautiful here!
Dwight parents were over yesterday, we had a nice dinner, a pike was caught, cleaned and sent back with them and a good game of cards to finish the night.

March 26/09

I am ready for spring

Wow, it's already thursday! Today is mild and drizzle. Dwight took the day off yesterday to help me build a 12 by 16 dock for a friend of mine who's cottage I manage as a rental and where we are staying at the moment. Owls Nest

Lumber and billets were delivered the afternoon before, we dragged it down on the ice. You see I have built about 5 floating docks by now and the easiest way to do a big one is on the ice at a certain time of the year. Yesterday was the day as we are in for a mild spell and I am afraid the ice will go from the shore. Dwight and I were able to finish it and I still have some finishing work to do on it but that can wait till it is floating.

In the meantime I am enjoying being here and getting all the maintenance done on the place before the summer rentals.

March 02/09

Wow I missed writing in Feb. totally, well its busy times for us and we are challenged with our power early in the winter. We get about 50 percent of what we do in the summer but now I can see the power increasing so I can spend more time on the PC. The loggers are trying to finish up this winter which is awesome. Dwight and I now have a lot of cleanup with all the slash. We have some wonderful trails as well. It has been a great thing for us to get tracks for the ATV, without them we would not have been able to drag out the wood that we have.

The sun is shining today but there is a heck of a chill, meaning a good wind chill.  Dwight cut down a good sized dead ash yesterday and I am going to block it and haul it back to the cabin for firewood. All the other stuff we cut we throw along the trail against a rock wall in the sun, its like an oven there, no worries for wood, you should see the pile we have already. I figure we will have in excess of 40 cords by the summer. Now we may have about ten cut.

Yurt rentals are exceeding what I expected for the winter, its lots of fun for everyone. Wed. I have a gang of five coming in on dogsled to spend the night in the yurt, the dogs will be tied across along the trail. I am assuming there will be about 30 dogs.

My mom turns 80 in April, she is doing so well at the nursing home, she looks great, the memory is not.

After our yurt guests checked out I was off to a baby shower yesterday while Dwight stayed behind and cut firewood.

Dwight and I are planning a redsidence off the grid across the lake. It, like the cabin will be self sufficient with a lot more comforts and more power. We plan on doing wind, solar and microhydro from the stream, deep well and proper septic, this would be that we need a good bridge so we will do our research over the next few years. The cabin will be an awesome rental as by then we will have all the bugs worked out.

Back to Lone Wolf  


January 28, 2009
I think I am turning into a pussy, Im finding it really cold this winter. Oh well, spring will be here before you know it. I'm at a friends right now taking avantage of electricity, endless internet (dont have to worry about running down the battery bank) and hot baths...hahhhhhh

Which brings about a firm decision...as soon as the snow melts I am getting that woodfired hot tub in!

Dwight and I are busy planning our winter home off the grid, we just dont get enough sun (for power) or for our own personal enjoyment. I want to see and feel the sun coming into my kitchen window in the morning. We also need a bigger or more open concept in which to entertain in as well as a basement complete with root cellar. We have been doing a lot of research to make sure that this little winter camp has all that we need to be very warm and comfortable. We have come up with some very neat ideas. We will coincide it with when Dwight retires. This year we can prep the road and site....dont forget we have our wedding to plan, August 8th, 2009 at the cabin.

Boy we had a terrible cold snap for a week, I ended up having to enclose the four chickens in my kitchen so they wouldnt freeze, it went down to minus 40 a few  nights. Dwight and I moved into a friends while they were away on holidays so once a day we went to the cabin to feed the girls and put a fire on. You see it does not quite freeze in the little kitchen because of the pilot lights going on the appliances. We are quickly going through our firewood, it will be close. Other than that, all is well

January 07, 2009
It is snowing heavily right now, the generator is running to give the batteries a boost as there will be no sun today and I have a bunch of stuff to do on the PC.
I picked up an automatic feeder for the chickens yesterday when I was in town, actually it is a tall bird feeder that takes little room and lots of feed. I am hoping this way I will be able to leave them for a few days. That and a huge bucket of snow and they should be fine. I will only come home to a few frozen eggs I hope and nothing more.
Winston is such a good and loyal dog. We  leave the poor thing all alone with the girls at the cabin for a few days with a pail of food hidden away from the bluejays and he is always here waiting for us.


Well here we are, January 06 and it is my sister Jenny's birthday......Happy Birthday Jen Jen!!!
All is well, another year begins. Dwight and I are over our flu but my back is still not 100 percent. I will need some help with that. A muscle or tendon got hurt when I was trying to start the generator and skidoo in a minus 30 morning after being laid up for four days with the flu.

We have had some bizzare weather to say the least, my prince has begun his rink on the lake and as you can read on his ramblings it was quite the process.
The loggers have begun their operations so we know the roads will be kept clear from now on in.  


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