So much has happened since the last post. One of the highlights is Colin and Dave re-building what was the old chicken coop in the meadow and turning it into a garden shed. It is a smaller building but quite sturdy, functional, and some would say, attractive. Almost all of the wood came from the original building. It is beautiful western red cedar, presumably grown and milled on our property.

Girls Weekend

This weekend was "Girls Weekend" for Nancy and some of her female co-workers. Dave got to be there too, but played a low profile role.

Among their activities was a hike up Sauer Mountain. They loved it!

Spring

We love it at Glencanaan, but there is just something particularly special about spring. Similarly, it is always hard to be away from Glencanaan, but particularly in spring. It is as if our lives are divided into two categories: thanking God that we are at Glencanaan, and longing for when we can return to Glencanaan.

Our spring activities have been diverse. I have continued to work on building an outdoor gear storage room, and am making good progress. We have lots of outdoor gear, and despite the fact that this is a pretty good sized room, we have to be creative to utilize the space wisely so we can fit in all of our gear.

Last year I became inspired to use our greenhouse as more than just an outdoor storage shed. I tried, in vain, to grow watermelons there. This year Nancy added her enthusiasm, and began researching how to use a greenhouse. One of her patients is a landscaper, and we visited his greenhouse, then he took Nancy to see his son’s greenhouse business. This gave us the added information and inspiration we needed.

A couple of weeks ago I installed the first row of a misting irrigation system. It works great! It is on a timer so the “little babies”, as Nancy calls them, get a drink once a day. I then came up with a creative and economical warming blanket for the little babies. We had bought some heat tape a couple of years ago, designed to melt the snow on the roof. It didn’t work for that, but I thought it might be just what we needed for a seed bed heater. We have lots of scraps left over from roofing the house, and I have some left over high temperature insulation. I laid down one layer of scrap roofing on the shelf, covered it with the insulation, then draped the heat tape back and forth on top of it. Then I put another layer of roofing on top of that. It works wonderfully! Nancy then lovingly planted her seeds (some of which were harvested from last year’s heirloom vegetables) in small pots and placed them on their now warm bed.

We were gone from Glencanaan for almost two weeks, and we talked almost daily about how those seeds might be doing. When we arrived last Thursday we were delighted to see that the seeds are now seedlings! The beans are about two inches tall.

We (mostly Nancy) have also made great progress in the vegetable garden. She has many things planted already, and we have made some modifications and repairs to the beds. She also decided to move the remaining Edelman spruce trees from our previous tree nursery location to just west of the vegetable garden.

The weather has been quite varied. Two weeks ago while we were here, in any given day we would have weather ranging from warm sun to blowing snow. This weekend has been mostly just sunny. Mornings have been near freezing, with daytime temperatures reaching around 50 or better.

Yesterday afternoon we had a wine pick-up party at Icicle Ridge Winery just east of Leavenworth, then went on a hike part way up the Sauer Mountain Trail. Then we went to town to see their new brewery, Icicle Brewery. Nancy, Colin and I each had a glass of their wheat beer. We finished our afternoon on the town with bratwurst and sauerkraut.

Earlier this spring Murray delivered on a Christmas gift for us with the installation of a new stereo system. It is incredible. Actually, a team effort (Michelle helped financially, and Colin assisted with the installation), it adds a whole new dimension to the place that we didn’t know was missing.

Each year we seem to do a better job of anticipating the future needs here. Although it is spring, we are already gathering kindling and firewood for next winter.

Doing "Catch-up"

I have very delinquent in keeping this blog up to date; time to do some catch up!

It may seem odd, but secretly, we dread the day when this place is done, completely, finished. We love our projects. Fact of the matter is that if we ever do finish, we will find something to fine-tune, something to change, something to add.

But we have done quite a few projects here lately, with lots more planned. We completely reorganized one of the storage rooms in the basement (the "paint room" as some call it), and finished installing the door there. We replaced the fluorescent tube lights that were on top of the main east/west beam high in the air with a string of LED lights. We have begun to replace some of the light fixtures in the basement with the fluorescent tube lights we took down from upstairs. And we are now in the midst of converting what was a failed attempt at a thermal storage room into an outdoor gear storage room.

We have had lots of family and friends here, both when we were here, and otherwise. It is an absolute joy for us that others seem to feel about Glencanaan the same way we do -- or at least close. Colin, Murray and Michelle just love it here. Colin of late uses any excuse to rationalize a trip to "the cabin." The now traditional "20 somethings" New Year's celebration occurred again this year. Murray's company, the Adventure Travel Trade Association, held their annual planning meeting here.

In terms of weather, Colin predicted maybe six weeks ago that winter was over. Two weeks ago it seemed he was right. Recently, winter has returned. While two weeks ago many patches of earth were free from snow, we now have a solid three feet of snow everywhere. Be that as it may, we are still planning eagerly for our spring activities. Nancy has been devouring books on seed propagation, seed selection other similar agricultural topics. I am wanting to expand our greenhouse growing, and am beginning to plan that. We both are really enjoying coming up with designs for a garden shed we want to build.

There is more to talk about, but let's leave it at that for now.

Cohabitation

In the process of clearing away some of the trees right next to the old log cabin, we generated quite a few tree branches that needed to be burned. We took advantage of the wet weather and decided to have a burn pile.

Despite the fact that the burn pile was quite a distance from anything else that could burn, and despite the fact that it had rained on and off for a couple of days, we still were very careful to keep the fire under control.

About 10 PM last night, I ventured outside to check it out to make sure it was settling down for the night so we could do the same. Once I could see the orange of the smoldering flame, I stopped and turned off my headlamp to enjoy the scene. Shortly after doing so I heard something. Thunder? I wondered. No couldn’t be that. Then I heard it again. A very low sound, just like a…… bear! Quickly, I turned and headed for the house, not waiting to confirm or deny my suspicions.

I cannot say for certain it was a bear, but nor can I think of a better explanation. If it was a bear, it was obvious he was giving me a firm but polite warning, and a reminder that we don’t live out in the wilderness alone.

The Log Cabin

When we first saw this piece of property one of the things that drew us to it was an ancient log cabin that sat by the road. Shortly after buying the property we began to rehabilitate the cabin and as a result, numerous neighbors in the valley stopped by to see what was going on. Most were concern that we might be tearing it down. All were relieved to find out we were not. But in those conversations we learned more about the cabin and its history, notably that it is the oldest building in this valley. Our love for the cabin grew greater.

Two years ago we had a heavy snow year and unfortunately the roof of the log cabin collapsed. I had thought about just using a pre-fab truss frame to replace the roof, but have since been inspired to rebuild the roof using more traditional methods. Since making this decision, I have been researching and planning the project.

Today was the first day, and we made good progress.

The past two winters we have had a giant tarp on top of the flat floor of the loft of the cabin, but it has been of marginal benefit. Everything inside was damp and moldy if not falling apart.

Here are a few pictures of the progress we made to today, with a couple of before and a couple of after pictures.

Dog Sled Races

Some pictures of a local dog sled race recently: