Volvo Connection

I made a new friend this week. A couple who sends their daughter to the same school we do, even though they live almost an hour away in Rapid River, has the same car we do. He has all the computers and tools to fix it himself, so when our check engine light came on, I invited him over as he had to bring his daughter to school anyway. We ended up spending the whole day together. Interesting guy. He is trying to set up a fiber mill - machines that will turn wool and other fur, like the rabbits they have, into yarn and even clothing. There is excess supply in the area, and enough demand for the finished product to make for a good business model. 

This couple lives off the grid, they get their water from an artesian well four miles away, and heat their 1500 mobile home entirely with firewood collected from the local area. Their latest upgrade is a small solar system that can power a tiny fridge. That's one way to learn appreciation for modern conveniences! Maybe we can collaborate on more projects down the road, but for now, he has a way to make a bit of money while his daughter is in school and we have a mechanic willing to come to our house! 

I also went on a bike ride through the snow with a neighbor. He has a fat tire bike, and my mountain bike wasn't quite up to the challenge, but it was still fun. Tuesday night we had dinner with some other neighbors. Naomi was home sick on Wednesday and Thursday and my dad came up to help out with some electrical work in the shop. Looks like we need a professional to install a subpanel and can't do it all ourselves. Definitely more work than I expected to get the shop up and running. No surprise there. Also got the white pine mostly cleaned up yesterday. Time to clean up the chainsaw!

Dust collector didn't quite go as it was supposed to, but it works!

Enjoying a cooking lesson at school.

Amélie's artistic skill still outstrips her spelling abilities, but she has come a long way already this year! Tough to spell in English especially when coming from a language where just about everything is phonetic.