Flowers

These were on markdown. I got some and my mom got some. She gave me the planters and I got the mulch from old, rotten trees.

I put them on the pallet in front of our battery bank (which is housed inside a dryer casing) and threw some deer netting over them. After I'd taken the picture I put a lawn ornament in front of the planters. It's actually a pond thing, I think, it's a log that water can flow through and there's two frogs sitting on it.

Log Work

These were all taken on July 23rd. I know some of these aren't the best quality but that's cause I found that I had accidentally set it to "Flowers in bright sunlight" setting. oops.

The guys cut down a tree and then cut it into three parts. They'll be part of the foundation.

Victor drags another log over.

Victor and Steven roll it over next to the other one.

All three of them.

 

And again.

This was taken on the 24th. Victor sat on the logs and scraped the bark off.

This was taken this morning. He finished up the logs yesterday. Found it was easier going when we propped one on another.

Day 3

The empty frames, all leveled.

Taken on my mom's camera. We put little rocks under the boards so the cement wouldn't leak out.

The frames on one side. The metal squares are rebar and they help the cement not to crack up so much. ...which means Steven clearly appreciates my sense of humor and believes it may bring down the house.

Victor and Steven by the cement mixer. We ran it on our generator.

Frames on the other side.

 

First batch of cement.

This one had a big dip under it so we put a large rock in the middle.

Before Steven smooths it.

During smoothing.

Using what I thought was a trowel but what Steven called a float.

Taken on my mom's camera. I was shovel-girl. And I enjoyed that.

The dog, Odie, acted as supervisor. 

Taken on my mom's camera. The last frame needed more cement but we didn't want to open another bag so they put rocks in it.

The guys used an empty cement bag to clean our wheel barrow.

 

From the top of the hill.

 

From the lawn swing.

Day 2

Pictures from Day 2:

Boards for framing foundation blocks.

A finished one.

Three more.

Two more.

House site.

Again.

Leveling the frames. Originally we were told to dig out the ground but later Steven said to put stakes and level the ground up with rocks.

Different angle.

Cutting stakes.

From my lawn swing.

Arrival

We got our home today: Some assembly required! Pictures behind cut.

Victor's Birthday

Wednesday the 13th was Victor's birthday. I made him a cake shaped like an Intellivision out of a red velvet cake mix and marshmallow fondant. This was my second time making fondant and it was so much better this time. Last time I spent forever on it, this time it sorta fell together perfectly. My only issue was that I couldn't quite get the color gold. I tried using lots of yellow food coloring with a drop of red but it just turned orange. And I couldn't get the rest of it black enough. Anyway, here's some pictures:

The cake was a surprise. It was my present to him. btw, my hair is in a waterfall braid. Not a perfect one, because I have no idea how to end it in the go-around-the-head way. I'm more following the style of waterfall braid that Torin does where you turn it into a regular braid at the center back. Also, I have some sparkles on either side at the start.

This is a good picture of me.

Victor playing with the train my mom and Steven gave him. He loves it.

And here's the cake itself. For my second attempt at fancy cake decorating I think it's pretty good.

This is the picture I was going by for the cake. Obviously I made both controllers be in their slots, it was easier that way.

Good times march on

Was a bit lazy today.  Did an hour or so of weeding in the garden, disassembled an old power washer... thing... so we can have a good wringer, and so far that's about it.  It does feel good to be working with my hands.  Sometime later today or maybe tomorrow I'm hoping Steven will teach me to weld so I can put a handle on the driveshaft that used to be powered by a motor.

The beach yesterday was fun, even though I suck at swimming I do like standing around chatting while chest-deep in water.  Hoping Barb cleaned up the camper a bit.  If not, it's up to me to do that also.  The path's cute though.

Worked hard; feeling good.

Yesterday was an interesting day.  I learned to sharpen and balance a lawnmower's blade, and then spent most of the 4th busting my hump on the root cellar.  I was able to work even more efficiently than on Saturday, and it felt good to do it.  Hooray new work gloves!  Before bed I shot off the fireworks Barb's parents had procured for us; my favorite were the artillery shells.  Awesome mini fireworks.  Second favorite was a six pack of mystery things.  All were identical green little firecrackers, but they did different things when lit.  Some were showers, some were spinners, and some just shot off in a random direction.  I'm deepening the latrine hole which remains as of yet unused, and apparently we're putting an outhouse over it.

Before all of this we had a fine experience with Foxy, our recovered abused cat.  He got himself treed, and it was almost sad to see the other cats trying their best to get up and help us rescue him.  Since then Foxy has been much nicer to the cats, and didn't even whine to be let out early.  I guess all it takes is one harrowing experience like that to set a cat straight.

Today I'm a bit sore, but it's the good kind of sore.  Looking forward to a beach trip today.  Yes, did you know we HAVE those in Montana?

Cobblestone Stairs: Pt1

Working on the root cellar we have dug up numerous rocks. And we have a pathway that leads up a hill to my mom's house. So, I decided to make cobblestone stairs. This wasn't easy, as there are no instructions on how to make stairs like what I wanted. So I basically took instructions for making pathways and combined that with pictures of stairs. I'm using large rocks as a the edge of the step and along the one side. I am not using cement or mortar, I'm only using dirt. I might break down and use mortar of some kind later on if it starts cracking too much. Right now some individual rocks are shifting slightly but I believe that is because they're settling.After each step I do I'm going back and putting more dirt on the last step I did. I'm digging out roots and other rocks and then laying down dirt that's loose and putting the rocks in, filling in dirt as needed to keep the rocks upright. Then after they're all laid I take a 2x4 and hammer and leveling them out slightly. Then I dump more dirt on top, spread it out, stomp on it, and then I take a paintbrush and go over the rocks until they're clean. I've done three steps so far. After I am done with this project entirely I will make another entry that will show how I did it in pictures (pictures of each stage, dirt loosening, rocks being laid, 2x4, etc) and pictures of all my steps, but that entry will be a while in coming so for now I give you the first three steps:

Nature Walk

First, I would like to add clarification since my husband wanted me to not edit his own entry. Hard work does not give him migraines, an allergy to sodium nitrite (which includes things such as red 40 lake) does. And migraines tend to be more fierce when he's in poor health. That was the point he wished to make.

So, anyway, yesterday I was on my lawn swing taking a break from working on the root cellar and I had my camera nearby. So I started taking pictures...

And the muscles come alive

Short entry here.

For the last few weeks we've been up here, I've been panting and wheezing just going up the hill from our land to the In-laws' house.  Migraines, back pain, the works.  It's been awful.  Until today.

I was going into town to look for work; and the wife bugged me to split some wood first.  It took me a few tries to get it right, but once I did I realized.. my muscles were keyed up and ready to go.  For the next three hours I finished splitting wood, and then went down and dug on the root cellar.  I achieved in the time today more work than all previous days done by my wife and I combined.  I also noticed I pull my belt far tighter than I used to.

I'm getting to be in the best shape of my life since my wrestling days.

A few weeks in:

Life is a beautiful thing.  I have always believed this, and I continue to look forward to it every day.  Every morning there is a sense of wonder... what will happen today?  For many years, the answer to this question was the same.  I will wake up, shake off the aches and pains of a prematurely aged body, and drift through the days, desperately escaping into my own mind when doing mundane chores, or into a video game otherwise.  But I still looked forward to it at first.

Eventually, after a bunch of experiences that are.. frankly.. not worth dwelling on or even writing down, came to find myself married, and butting my head against society to try to get in.  After years and years of failure, my wife and I came to a decision: we're done trying.  Previously, her parents had half-jokingly suggested we move to the mountain like they had; hauling our own water, living on solar power, no bills but the food we cannot grow and DSL.  We decided to take them up on this offer.  Months later, buying a primitive solar system and a camper so we would get by, here we are.

We are Victor and Barbara, and this is the tale of our life on Mosquito Mountain.