IT IS DECEMBER AND IT'S STARTING TO SNOW IN THE UP MICHIGAN...

 And it's beautiful.  It's so quiet out here that you can actually hear the snow falling.  So, we stand outside just to listen, feel and smell the fresh, clean pine scented air. It refreshes our souls.   

We notice that none of the animals, ours or the local wildlife seem to care that it is snowing and accumulating. They go about their daily business no matter what, this is just life for them.  A good lesson for us - just do what you need to do to survive.  We do try to make it a little easier for our outdoor friends by putting out bird seed, black sunflower seed, corn and suet. They are still able to find food in the woods, but we love to bring them up to the cabin, so we can see them and feel kind of like we're taking care of them.    

Progress on the renovation.  Our bathroom is now usable - a toilet and a working shower - plywood floors, area rugs work just fine for the time being.  We cranked up the furnace and it's working well - only problem is that there is only one run and one large vent.  So, you can warm up by standing on the vent, otherwise the house is not all that warm.   The previous owners used the old wood cook stove for added heat and we are not. So, we went to Menards and purchased a wood stove.  We put down concrete board on the floor and then we tiled the two wall areas near the fireplace.  Running the stack was not hard because in the area where we placed the wood burner, is only one story and no 100 yr. old logs...So, that worked out really well.  We've been gathering wood since our first day here for just such an occasion.  But we did find out about a company near our house in town that sells big bags of split hard woods.  So, we took our truck and loaded it up.   It is a big bag, took up almost the whole bed of our truck.  They have it on a skid - so, we used our skid loader to unload it onto our deck.  Knowing that we were going to add a lot of weight to the deck, my husband went under the deck beforehand and reinforced the plywood we put down over the hole and also put in some supports - so that hopefully we can make it this winter - and begin building a new deck in the spring.  

We love our new wood stove.  We have had large outdoor burners that worked really well.  But there's nothing more entertaining and relaxing than watching a dancing fire.  And the heat is so comfortable, feels like you are wrapped in a blanket that just came out of the dryer.    

We have moved a bedframe, a box spring and a mattress to the cabin - it's in the main room.  Kind of nice to be able to watch the fire as we fall asleep.  We have also unpacked a table and two chairs to sit at and eat.  We found a really nice used appliance place and purchased an electric stove and a refrigerator.  So, we are really able to stay at the cabin now and go about our business pretty easily.  Not having a television or our computers set up yet is really kind of nice.  We stopped at the library in town and picked up a lot of books.  My selections were about plants for all of my spring plans.  And, my husband, picked up a variety of books about everything from rock and tree identification to making wine.  So, we usually snuggle up in front of the fire each night and read our books.  Sadie, our Goldendoodle lays on the floor on a blanket and our little Chihuahua tunnels down under our covers.  

It is so dark out here at night.  No light from anywhere - no other house lights, car lights, businesses or streetlights - just the moon.  So, at first light, we like to sit up and look outside at the activity of the wildlife.  Squirrels and birds at the feeder, and six deer eating the apples on the ground from the four large, old apple trees.  We soon learned that these 6 deer came every morning.  First five of them, appear to be mom and yearlings and this year's fawns and then a single female deer.  They would kind of chase each other around when the single one would get too close, but generally they all ate and played nicely.  We started throwing corn down for them also.  

Not that winter is our favorite season, but we love that you can see the wildlife so much easier with the white backdrop. We also removed the interior wood door that was our front door and replaced it with a full glass door so that we can now watch all of the activity at the bird feeders on the deck.  

It is a time to rest and reflect on all that we've accomplished in the last few months.  

We are also starting to plan our big gardens that we will plant in the spring.  We are hoping to plant at least an acre of cut flowers - to sell - and at least two acres of a variety of vegetables.  We already have 4 wonderful old apple trees (all different varieties).  We'd also like to plant, peach, pear and cherry trees.  So, lots of reading, sketching and dreaming this winter about our spring planting plans.