Welcome to Ciderbrook

Well, it sure has been a while since I last posted.  December, January, and February were some pretty tough months for us.  We wanted so badly to get back to Jamestown and finish moving our things and getting the house ready to sell, but the weather had other plans.  Seems like every time we set aside a day to drive back, there was a pretty nasty snow storm that kept us home.  The real trouble is that there is the tail of a snow belt between us and our old house, and we didn't want to chance it.   If I'm being totally honest though, we needed a break from everything.  We were so burnt out from moving and working constantly, that we barely felt alive.  So most of January ended up being a down time for us, and we enjoyed it very much.  We went snow hiking and snowshoeing through our woods.  We sat by the fire with the kitties.     We looked at cool things out our windows, like the neighbors' Christmas lights reflecting off the ic...

It's been 19 days since I last posted, and a lot has happened here at Ciderbrook.  For one thing, I have my desk and my computer set up!  We have moved all of the chaotic piles of furniture out of the middle of the floor, and set up some basic living areas around the house.  (You'll have to excuse the messes everywhere.  We're doing the best we can right now.) (Click on images to make them bigger)  Coming into the house from the front door, you'll see the dining table , the hutch, a bookcase, and a desk.  Also a giant pile of empty totes waiting to go back to our old house. The same side of the dining room, looking at the other corner, where you can see the the desk better, the corner hutch, and a little bit of our coat closet/armoire, and of course the doorway to the living room. On the other side of the dining room, you can see the doorway to the kitchen (and Chad), plus the closet door (left), the upstairs (middle next to the kitchen), and the bedroom h...

 We had our big furniture moved on Monday. It went well and the movers were great, but it exhausted me so much that I stayed in bed until 11am the next day. Chaos does that to me, and that was my house after the movers left, total chaos.  It’s better now. I even have a proper desk and Chad even set up my computer!  I’m still using my phone tonight though because I am tired so deep in my bones that even turning on my computer seems hard. 

 I’m tired you guys. We’re getting ready for the movers to bring our big furniture in two days, and we have been hustling. When we have any down time at all, we are enjoying doing country stuff. Stacking, splitting, and burning wood, going for walks on our country road and hikes up in our hills, and just chilling by the big window to watch the hills change with the season.  We are going to stay home next week to get the furniture and things put into some kind of order, before going back to packing at the other house. 

 It’s been a crazy week!  Chad took the  week off from work so that we could get a lot of moving things done while the weather is still nice. It’s cooler today, but it has been into the 70s the last few.  Since we are so busy, we are taking one day totally off from working to rest and enjoy our new house. Last weekend, while Chad was napping, I decided to check out our back 40 acres. (He knew where I was going and I had my phone with me) It’s not exactly 40 acres, but we have almost 80 acres total that is split roughly down the middle by the road, so that’s what we’re calling it. It’s the hill behind our house.  The sellers of the house had the land surveyed, and I was curious to see where the markers are before they blow away or some chipmunk steals them. There are permanent pins at the corners of our property, but the flagging tape is a lot easier to see than a small metal pin.  It was a little challenging getting across the brook, which was surprising be...

 Hello all!  We still haven’t set up my computer, mostly because my desk is still at the old house.  I find I am able to do most things ok on my phone, though it’s hard to write a good post on this blog. So I will just do another photo dump today.  We have gotten the woodstove up and running. It took some time to break it in, because it’s soapstone and it hasn’t been used in a long time. It’s so efficient that two pieces of wood makes it cozy and four pieces makes it feel like I just walked into an oven. We are planning on running the stove frequently because the main furnace burns oil, and we have done some rough math to decide that it costs about $10 a day to use it.  The kitties are continuing to improve. Velvet is very comfortable and maybe 98% back to normal. Dorian is getting better, but he will only come out at dusk and dawn, and then goes back to bed during the day. However, he’s getting more brave when he comes out, and he is drinking and eating like no...