Cutting Wood

Daddy has a friend who bought some land, mostly wooded. He wants it cleared so that he can farm it. On Saturday and Sunday, around hockey games and sick children, Daddy cut wood and Brothers and I loaded it into the truck bed and trailer. We got two loads on Saturday and two on Sunday, about 8 weeks worth of wood. It is piled in the quonset hut waiting to be split and stacked so it can age for next year. We wonder who built the house and who lived there. . . and how it ended up looking so forlorn.

Winter Playtime

The last day in January

was the warmest! The highest temperature I saw on the truck thermometer was 47 degrees F. It was breezy, but the breeze actually felt warm. Little Sister was convinced it was spring. We took advantage of the warm weather and played outside while Daddy and the boys cut wood.

Baby Skates Too!

Ice Skating

It was supposed to be about 23 degrees F on this Friday afternoon, but it was more like 14 degrees F and breezy. The children didn't seem to mind.

Homeschool Skate

We met our homeschool group at one of the town's parks. The town floods a field at a couple of parks and maintains the ice. These parks also have bathrooms and a warming room with benches, good for putting on skates. Some of the children skated, some played on playground equipment, all had fun!

Wood Continued

We'll use that wood in a week or so. They are taking the laundry basket back to the quonset hut to fill it with bark for fire starting.

Bringing in Wood

We heat with LP, electric, oil and wood. It is a complicated, old system. The former owner of our home had an antique shop in the attatched three car garage, this is our bonus room. We replaced the garage door with windows, painted, put down a rug and added a bathroom. This room is heated with LP. The main part of the house has a wood furnace with oil assist. We burn wood but when the fire goes out or it is very cold and the fire can't get the temp up to the thermometer setting then the oil kicks in. When the outside temperature is above 30 degrees F the electric heater begins working. We bring in wood about once a week. First, we load the trailer with wood in the quonset hut, next Big Brother drives the tractor pulling the trailer to the house, next we carry in the wood and stack it, last, the children get a "hay" ride back to the quonset hut.

In the Spring, Summer and Autumn

this is the door to the laundry line, the flower garden and the herb garden. In the winter this is the door we use to bring wood in. The clothespin bag waits patiently, but the snow shovel gets much use.

More Winter Pictures

Minnesota in January

Inside Looking Out

Winter Decorations

When we take the Christmas decorations down everything looks so bare and in the bleak winter I want festive! I have plenty of Christmas decorations so several years ago I seperated out the winter things, these get displayed from January through March. The mittens were brought to me from Ireland by my sister and her husband. Well, the first three pairs were. Since their trip we've added to our family and one day, one of the children asked why if we had five children we only had three pairs of mittens. So, the hunt began. The two smaller pairs of mittens were found at thrift stores and while they don't match exactly they complete my display.

The cupboard

use to hang in the pantry, but somehow it fell off the wall during lunch preparation one day. We are going to use this opportunity to put the kind of shelves I want into the pantry. All the stuff that came out of the cupboard FINALLLY made it into a basket and down in the cellar. The cupboard still hasn't made it out to the shop and provides entertainment for Baby.

Girls and Their Curls

After their shower Saturday night they had me roll their hair. I forgot to take pictures Sunday morning, the curls were quite wild. They were tamed by ponytails and hats and still had alot of bounce. Big Sister has had me roll her hair a couple more times, once was enough for Little Sister.

Resting

The garden is resting. The seed catalogs are starting to arrive in the mailbox. The farm and fleet store has their seed display up.

Even a weed covered in ice can look beautiful.

The Prarie in Winter

Stuck!

Frequently we get the minivan or the truck stuck in the driveway. Most times we can get unstuck by rocking the wheels or going backwards and then forwards, a couple of times we've had to get a push, this time, however, we had to get the tractor. There was one time when we got the tractor stuck and we had to pull it out with the minivan. Never a dull moment around here.

Sisters knit!

Big Sister taught Little Sister to knit.