Months have gone by without me writing much here on the blog. There are parts of me that feel bad for not keeping up with it, however, I know that life can just happen sometimes. Then suddenly months have gone by. Even for Pete and the Vlog, he has struggled to find the time to get creative. When a project arises, its much easier to just go for it with the energy that presents itself in that day than to gather the camera equipment and make a video. At the end of the day, it’s really about living our life in the here and now, rather than having to encapsulate every little moment to megabits of data.

Projects have peppered their way in between the everyday rhythm of life. We (mostly) completed the water shed. It now stands tall and proud in all its glory. The shed feels particularly tall since its on top of the hill. This project started at some point in September and wasn’t finished until November. The water tank is now fully out of the wintery elements. We have a a small bubbler to keep the water from freezing and an electric heating coil around the inlet and outlet that we can plug in if the temperatures dip lower than -10 degrees Celsius. Everything has been great so far. No frozen water pipes! Yay!

The Kids ended up having the awesome opportunity to visit their grandparents in Ontario the first few weeks of December. You’d think we’d get a bunch of work done with them gone… but again.. we puttered around between our work schedules. We chopped a bunch of wood one weekend. We installed a new propane regulator that we found on amazon (which works fantastic!!! No more freezing). Pete also built a few shelters for things like the generator and the propane tanks.

The year ended with us deciding to get a new washing machine. in 2022, we had picked up a cheap second hand one. I wasn’t sure how our water situation would work out, so I didn’t want to get a brand new machine right off the bat. This year, after that crazy rain storm, getting the new water tank in place, and figuring out what we needed for filtration, we can finally say the water situation is figured out. However, the second hand machine just wasn’t working well… and it clearly wasn’t a water issue anymore. It would leave a ton of lint on the clothes… and wouldn’t even clean dirty ones. They’d have to get presoaked and washed by hand before I put them into the machine. Pete tried taking it apart to see if there was a lint collector, or some place where dirt was building up… but he couldn’t seem to find a solution. Last time I checked, the point of a washing machine is to make life easier not harder. So, we took advantage of the local Home Hardware’s boxing day sale and got ourselves one that was, A. Energy efficient for our batteries, and B. Would actually clean clothes. Getting the new washer meant that Pete had to finish another little project– the back wall of the bathroom.

Thus our bathroom is now mostly complete. There are still a few things I’d like to get done….trim, a shelf or two, and once the septic is in a proper flushing toilet.For now though, the bathroom is as done as it can be. Clothes are properly clean again! Plus the motor is much better on the batteries. It takes around 250 watts for one load of laundry!

Since Christmas, life has been focused on other things. The business Pete works for moved to a new location this past weekend. Lots of time and energy went into that project leading up to the move and as the get ready for opening day this week. I have been more focused on getting the kids to their different activities, schoolwork, as well as working part-time, and juggling one car between the two of us. That has been a bit more of a challenge with the weather finally acting like Winter (as it should be).

Speaking of Winter…. it has been up and down… sunny and warm to cold and icy. Snow comes and goes, it hasn’t stayed long when it does come. We had a good freeze a couple weeks ago and we’re finally able to make it out on to the river for a skate. Unfortunately, my kids aren’t fans of skating, but Pete and I had lots of fun!

While our projects might not feel big right now, but come the summer we will be at it again with more exciting changes. We found a steel of a deal on Facebook marketplace for a set of 4 windows ($40 a piece) and a new cedar front door ($100). That will drastically change the look of the yurt. I look forward to next winter knowing that I’ll have hard windows in the main area that we can look out of. They will let so much more light in! The new front door will seal out the rain better than the currant double french doors. No more leaks will be amazing! This year will have many new projects. Hopefully, I take enough pictures to share with everyone.

Until next time!
Cheers!