New Toy!

Here is a video taken on December 30, 2009 at Glencanaan using my new toy, an iPod!

What Glencanaan Looks Like... A Few Pictures

Much Needed Update

So much has gone on at Glencanaan since the last post. Let me see if I can get at least part way caught up.

While still not done, the house is a lot closer to done. It certainly is plenty comfortable as it is. The winter of 2008/2009 was not has fierce as the winter of 2007/2008 in terms of snow, but it was colder. On New Year's Day 2009, we left Glencanaan and it was 0 degrees Fahrenheit outside. As we crested Stevens Pass it was minus 3 degrees! Because of travel schedules we were gone for a month, and when we pushed the remote control for the garage door in early February, a flood of water poured out of the garage! With the best of intentions, I had over-insulated one of the interior walls, protecting a pipe in the wall more from the warmth than from the cold. It froze, broke, and then gushed forth untold gallons of water for the next month. Fortunately, it was in a basement wall and most of the water seeped out below the garage door. The water did accumulate several inches deep, soaking the lower half of all the walls, the sheet rock, and the insulation. It could have been much, much worse!

We decided to take the occasion to truly finish the basement. We started with the garage portion, painting the floor with a very durable and long-lasting floor paint. We then did the same thing in what the floor plans call the root cellar. And lastly, in the wood shop. We decided that the root cellar was much larger than we needed, so we divided it off and made a very nice wine cellar as well. It was lots of fun designing and building it. It has lots of character and a few surprises!

Another change in 2009 was the location of the vegetable garden. Some friends politely asked why we had selected the location of our original garden, and we had to admit that its location just no longer made sense; the trees had grown and grown over the 12 years since we had first planted the garden, making it way too shady. Since we had dozens of acres of sunny earth for gardens, we decided to make a new garden.

Not only did a new location give us a chance to improve its access to sunlight, but it also allowed us to apply the many lessons we have learned over the years about what it takes for a garden to be successful in this sometimes challenging environment. How do we keep the birds, deer, bear, dogs, coyotes, rabbits, sheep, voles and other critters out of the garden? How do we make it so that winter snow accumulations don't destroy any of the structures?

The good news is that, after many hours of hard work, we succeeded! It was the best garden we have had in years! We began eating our bounty mid-summer, and in mid-October we continue. Nancy brought in about 300 green tomatoes the other day, almost filling our new root cellar!