Workshop Breakthrough

Finally was able to finish up the wiring in the workshop, so all machines are now connected to power. I cleaned things up and started putting up the tongue and groove. It's going together nicely but takes a long time. Sure will be nice to have the dust collector behind that wall! 

On Tuesday our friend came to work on the car. He replaced part of the suspension and plans to do the rest this week, then we will need an alignment. Sure is nice to have him come over and work like that. 

Had a design breakdown with the domes. The price for the plastic material ended up being 20k just for a small dome in our backyard. There is no alternative, so I have to change the entire design. Hopefully it's for the best, but that caused me a lot of stress. Started working on the permits and acquiring a small strip of land from the neighbors to build on. Also brought my book to a local bookstore, but haven't heard back from them yet so I don't know if they want to carry it. 

On Friday my parents came to pick up the girls for the weekend. What a treat. Definitely trying to do this once a month. We were able to go out to a nice lunch yesterday, walk down by the lake, and meet some new friends for dinner. First time we have been able to relax in ages. Unfortunately, our snow is melting away. Sure is a bummer, but I guess I have more time to focus on other things. So many other things.

Amélie cooked us dinner on Monday. A recipe and couscous from Kalia. It was delicious!

Building the wall. 

Great lunch but so expensive!

Really interesting ice on the lake.

Ski Jumping

Its been another incredibly full week! A few trips to the ski hill. Monday the girls had off, so we went. Wednesday was a half day for them, but I gave a neighbor snowboarding lessons in the morning. He liked it so much that he went out and bought his own gear. The girls and I met him again at the hill this morning. The wind was cold! Also got some great snow on Friday and Saturday, so the sledding hill is in good shape now. Snowblower is working really well. 

Managed to make more progress in the workshop. Had an electrician come out and tell me how to wire up the table saw, so hopefully I can finish that job tomorrow. The parts were expensive, though. Also worried about all the condensation on our windows, so I designed and ordered a HRV system. Hopefully that will help. Thinking about storm windows too if that doesn't do enough. 

On Friday night Amélie and I went to the ski jumping competition in Ishpeming. Apparently it's one of the best jumps in the country. It was a lot of fun to see, and quite the challenge to climb up part of the hill! Over a year ago Amélie and I were watching ski jumping on TV and she could hardly believe it was a real sport, so I promised to take her. Abigail and Naomi went yesterday to check it out. 

Fun at the ski hill. 

Figuring out the wiring.

What a sport!

Sledding with the neighbor in our front yard. 

Blizzard

We finally got our first blizzard! There was supposed to be a snowstorm on Wednesday that never showed up, but we made up for it on Friday and Saturday. The snowblower did well, but it needs two charges to get through all that snow. Piled up the girls sledding hill and I will work on it more today. Abigail and I went to the mountain to do some skiing this morning and the conditions were perfect! Last weekend when I was there with Amélie it was only two black diamonds and the bunny hill, and she had some big wipeouts! On Friday I went with a friend and that was fun. Tomorrow the three of us will go back as Naomi has to work and still hasn't recovered from her hernia pain.

Got lots of work done on the workshop this week. Finished the dust collection for the most part and started on a few other things. Yesterday we also went to a basketball game, which they set up over the ice of the hockey rink. Next year the team will be in a different building. 

It was cool to see Lake Superior yesterday. It turned some of the bushes into ice sculptures and they closed the road because of all the big waves. Also had a car battery die, but luckily we were able to get it replaced. When did they start costing 225 bucks?!

Before the blizzard.

Time for storm windows?

Fun snow drifts.

Lots of fun at the game. 

Cool to see the lake. 

2024!

We are looking forward to this new year. Not much of a point in trying to summarize what happened in 2023 as it was a crazy year. We got so much done. Hopefully 2024 can be a bit more stable and enjoyable. There were great moments in 2023 but also a lot of stress and hard work. 

The new years celebration and the children's museum was a lot of fun. After that we went to a laser light snow at the ore dock. It was really cool especially with some snowflakes sparkling in the lights. On the first of January, Naomi went to the ER to have her hernia looked into and thankfully it looks to be not a big issue. 

Tuesday was back to work for Naomi and Wednesday was back to school for the girls. Abigail made another mini table in the workshop while I was putting together the dust collection system. Amélie joined in too and made some chairs. It was fun!

On Thursday Naomi had an indigenous foods cooking workshop at the coop and she really enjoyed that. On Friday my parents came up, we went out to lunch, and had a nice dinner together with some duck eggs from our neighbor. Yesterday it snowed, so the girls played outside for most of the day and then we went to a hockey game. NMU beat their rivals, MTU, 7-2. It was a lot of fun. The same neighbor who gave the generous Christmas presents and the duck eggs bought us tickets, so next weekend we got them tickets to the basketball game and we will all go together again. 

Fun at the children's museum. 

Laser light show.

Good way to start the new year!

Little makers.

Amélie's chairs.

Abigail's table.

Duck egg omlets.

Framed up the wall with some help from my dad.