Goodbye Summer!

Winter is here...or at least came in last week's frost and is coming again soon. I have been at the house, loving the quiet, solitude and new neighbors. Getting work done with the baby is a completely different experience though; what would have once taken me a good day of work drags on for a month or so.In my overwhelming desire to get everything 100% finished, I have had to accept that there is always going to be something to do. Maybe the house would be more weather and airtight if it had that much needed finish plaster outside, but it'll last till next year and, besides, I have a wood stove. We'll be warm. Speaking of which, now is as good a time as any to put out there that I'm looking for someone to do an exterior plaster workshop on my house next spring. If you are interested or know anyone that might be, let me know!

Since I can't get everything done, I've had to prioritize both what is most important to me for livability, and what would have extra benefit if I completed it sooner. The stairs were key for me, so instead of waiting till sometime next year that I could do them myself, I hired Vince to make them, and as an added bonus he made them much nicer than I would have ever bothered to.

I planted three trees--cherry, apple, and plum--because planting a year sooner means eating a year sooner. I must add that I had impeccable timing. I got the last one planted the day before the crazy rains started so the trees had a very good and wet first few weeks of life. 

The wood stove, of course, was essential. My friend's ex husband is in that line of work and so so kindly, got me the stove and most of the stovepipe for free and installed it for me. Likewise, the solar panel was installed on my shed roof at a fine angle for summer but one that would have resulted in me not having electricity this winter (I'm running on 140 watts and I have a fridge). On the other hand, the shade structure was simply something that I had wanted to build for two and a half years and so I did. It's a beautiful place to lay and watch stars.

There's of course a seasonal aspect to choosing work. Some stuff like pouring cement for the shade structure can't happen in the winter. I want running water in my kitchen, but running flexible copper pipe on my ceiling (it will look cool) to there from the bathroom can happen when there's four feet of snow outside. So can framing in the bedroom for the baby, as well as a million other things that creep onto my list everyday.

For now, it's nice to have a cozy home, remembering that there is infinite time. And an infinite list.