Saturday Evening Post...

8:07 pm - 33 degrees - cloudy...

A small glimpse into our lives as we live off-grid… sort of like eves dropping.  It may be a thought, quote or a conversation; funny, sweet or sad; but it will always be true.  We will see if it resonates with you…

After staying on the mountain for several days we took a trip into town...

5 year-old son:  (crinkling his nose) “Mom, what’s that smell?”

Me:  “Town.”

5 year-old son:  “Town smell stinks!  I like the mountain smell better.”

Me:  “I agree with you little man.  The mountain smells much better than town."

Our Daily Drive...

10:03 am - 36 degrees - overcast with a light breeze...

We actually had a calm, nice morning today.  We haven't had a nice day like this in well over a week - it's not snowing or raining and there isn't any crazy wind or thick fog.  I took advantage of the nice weather and snapped some pictures of our daily drive this morning.

The nearest school bus stop is over 8 miles away, so I drive our kids to and from school every day - it’s just over an hour round trip.  Seven miles of that drive is on a one-lane pothole strewn gravel logging road.  People wonder why I go through tires so quickly or why I’m visiting the local tire store getting a flat fixed at least once a month – well it’s because I drive anywhere between 28 to 56 miles up and down the mountain on that one-lane pothole strewn gravel logging road.  The county road is in need of some serious repair but the scenery is spectacular.

Here are some pictures of our daily drive...

I love this section of the road with the 100+ foot tall old growth trees
that are partially covered in moss and the lush green wall of sword ferns.

There is a small rock slide and landslide that is currently covered in snow.
Thankfully the driveway is still passable though.
Just one more thing that has been added to the very long to-do-list.

The wind knocked over two trees.

The mountain is out... well almost.  The top is still hiding in the clouds.

Snow Ice Cream...

10:31 am - 44 degrees - raining...

If you’re in one of the many states currently experiencing a winter storm, let me introduce you to a beautiful little secret – snow ice cream.

This recipe is extremely easy, fun to make and provides instant gratification.  Just remember:  only use the freshly-fallen white stuff.  Snow that’s been sitting around for awhile can have, ahem, unmentionable things mixed in.

~Snow Ice Cream~

4 cups clean snow

1 cup milk

1/4 cup sugar

1 tsp vanilla

Gather snow in a large bowl.  Pour sugar over the snow and mix.  Mix vanilla and milk together and pour over the snow.  Mix it up with a large spoon.  Dish it up and serve immediately.

For a little extra fun Caitlyn wanted hers to be pink, so I added a dash of food coloring and I wanted to try chocolate snow ice cream so I added a packet of hot cocoa mix.  Yum!

~ Have fun and enjoy!

Bitter Cold...

11:21 am - 22 degrees - scattered clouds, light breeze...

This week has been a cold one, the coldest in over two decades.  Yesterday we hit a low of 7 degrees with a wind chill of -17.  I love the snow, but I do not love the brutal wind.

Due to the low temperatures our generator hasn’t wanted to start the past several days, so we have been jump starting the generator with our rigs... which means we haven’t been running the generator very much.  Today has warmed up enough that the generator is working on its own again!  Yea!

With these low temps, and our only heat source being a small wood stove, someone has to stay home and keep the wood stove burning on high to keep the house warm.  So that has been my job this week... keep the house warm!

Since we had over a foot of new snowfall yesterday, Tony was out plowing the road and driveway last night.  Due to the high wind there are a lot of snow drifts - over 2 feet of snow in some areas.  It was a long night for Tony; he didn’t come inside until after 1:30 this morning.  With more snow on the way tonight and this weekend, he’s going to be spending a lot of time plowing or snow blowing our driveway.

Here are some pictures from this morning...

The kids went out first thing this morning to go play in the snow.

Even the deer were out this morning.

Winter's Here...

9:02 am - 34 degrees - foggy...

When we woke up yesterday morning, everything was covered in a thin blanket of white.  Winter is here...but for how long?  Yesterday we had an inch of snow, but it has since settled and it's now down to 3/4" of wet, wet snow.  That hasn't stopped the kids however from taking full advantage of playing in it though.