Breaking Ice

Yesterday, Amélie and I hiked out to the waterfall to break ice. There is an enormous, leaky wooden tube that feeds the hydro plant downstream bridging the falls. Those leaks turn into impressive ice formations, so we managed to get across the slick, sloping patch of ice where if you fall, you will slide all the way into the river. After that it was a matter of finding a few chunks to break off more chunks to take down a wall of ice which gave us ammunition to break through some of the ice covering parts of the river. It was a lot of fun. 

The girls also had some sledding fun this week. It was so cold that school got canceled on Tuesday, but not too cold for sledding. Definitely too cold for the ski hill though. Still not much snow out there but at least it has been sticking around so it looks like winter. Lots of snow in other parts of the UP this year. Escanaba has even less than our sad amount. 

I have been working on the trim around the staircase. Lots of time for a meager looking result. Each piece needs to be fabricated, sanded, finished, and then attached. Slowly coming along. Not much fun to glue the cork to the wall. I think it was a good choice to use screws for the bigger panels, but we shall see. The cold seems to have sent the compost into hibernation. Temps are still above freezing, but not by much.

 

Chilly days. 

Sledding in the cold.

Ice covers most of the Dead River now.

Had it fallen the other way, lots of trail cleanup.

So much to break, so little time!

The Lights

The upstairs part of the staircase is finally done! Just a couple plugs to put in. The lights were pretty tricky, but they turned out nicely. Should be able to finish up the stair treads today. Then maybe the upstairs can be cleaned up a bit. That sure would be nice!

We have a cold spell starting today. Temps around zero for the next few days. Curious how the girls will respond. They are having a couple friends over for sledding today and want to go skiing tomorrow, so we shall see. 

On Wednesday there was a half day of school, so the I took the girls skiing. We had fun, but Amélie's ankle was hurting, so she spent a bit of time in the chalet. Saw a couple neighbors at the hill which is always nice. 

The compost temperature dropped down to 60, so I fed it. We shall see how it does through the cold snap!

Magic lights.

Had to track down a 12' oak board.

The problem is that now Tom's work looks even worse, haha.

Birthday Celebrations

Pretty special to be able to celebrate Grammie's birthday together! We have too much going on here, so she offered to bring her own birthday treat, which was delicious. Blueberry peach cobbler. Got to have some video chat time with Kalia and Claire yesterday and then a bit of playing and working in the snow. Then my parents went out to a fancy four course meal at a local Italian place. They said it was great! We watched a bit of the woodworking show we have been hooked on and this morning we will have some more time together.

The light fixture design required some tricky cuts on the table saw. Not the way it is supposed to be used, but after a bit of trial and scary error, I figured out a good method for making it work. I was hoping to finish the light fixtures this week, but didn't factor in dry times for glue and tung oil, so started on the staircase instead. Need to figure out what kind of adhesive to get for the cork. I have been looking forward to this job for a while! 

On the opposite spectrum of fun, I was trying to fix the bathroom fan that still works, but stopped talking to the controller. Turns out the wire box filled up with condensation. I took the lid off to let it dry. Hopefully it will start working again after a couple days. Also installed silencers and a backdraft damper to upgrade the wood stove circulation system - a different fan that brings warm air to our bathroom when the stove is lit. Luckily my dad was around to help bring in and stack up more firewood. The woodshed is starting to look a bit sad. Hopefully next month he can grab another load of blocks on his way up. 

Danger at the table saw.

Beautiful surprise of some lake effect snow.

The ugly steps will soon be transformed.

2024

What an amazing year! We got so much done. Naomi settled into her job although 40 hours a week is still a bit much. She even took on the extra task of teaching a class. The girls are really happy in school and all their extra activities. They are picking up on music and enjoying it! Even though everything took longer than I thought it would, I have made a lot of progress on the house. Really grateful for this time and space to get settled into life in Marquette. Wonderful to meet so many great people. Hopefully this winter will be enough time to get the big indoor stuff knocked out so that I can focus on building the sunken greenhouse this summer. 

Did some tiling this week. The weather was warm and Naomi was around to help, so it's good to get that unpleasant job out of the way. Making good progress on the staircase too. Seems like we should have gone skiing but a lot of pieces need to fit together for that to happen - weather, energy levels, car, etc. Maybe today. 

Naomi got a lot of food made this holiday. Even had another workshop with French Claire yesterday. Amélie has been using her cookbook - tried out some ravioli with Naomi and scones with me yesterday. The girls have had fun playing on the ice outside for the past couple days. Even got some sunshine yesterday - it has been a while. 

Amélie's scones.

Finished the floor. Now for some walls!

Ravioli time.

Compost is still cooking in spite of low temps!