Long Time No Posts...We've Been Busy.

So what has been going on the last two weeks? The answer is quite a bit.

The stair rail is finished, finally.

Caulking of the woodwork has begun. Using custom mixed caulk (done by yours truly) to match the paint color.

Finishing of the glulams continues, at least as far as Marlys is willing to go on the ladder (she is sometimes height adverse).

Mirrors and shower doors have been ordered and should be installed this week.

Touch-up painting on the interior is complete, until the next wall scratch.

Drawer pulls and cabinet handles have been installed, with only one mistake which I challenge any visitors to find.

The sauna was heated up (and used a number of times).

Oh, and Christmas and New Years.

You probably also heard about the snow here in Colorado the last couple of weeks. Well our street in Parker still looks like a goat path. We finally got a garbage pickup yesterday (first in over two weeks). The mail delivery since December 19 has been sporadic with a delivery last Wednesday again on Saturday, hopefully another one today.

And the "Solar Shovel" that is relied on to rid the streets of snow... well it was on holiday too, so we are hoping its back at work this week.

We also received a little snow (~12") at Autumn Creek which made for a real beautiful scene.

While it was snowing the electricity also went out up here, which a couple of years ago was not all that unusual, but can be real inconvenient in the middle of winter.

After about an hour I started to think of moving the generator from the barn to the house, and ways the fireplace (gas) could be lit without power. As I went through the user guide on the fireplace (which kicks out enough BTU's to heat the upstairs) it was obvious that not only wasn't there a way to manually light it, but it was designed (and mentioned so) to keep from being manually lit.

I did though wonder about the two "D" cell batteries in a holder beside the electronic ignition.

After a few minutes of being frustrated with the situation, I went over and flipped the wall switch for the fireplace and guess what...it fired up. The battery backup was a nice surprise.

For the next three hours, Marlys took down the XMAS decorations, I read a book (couldn't use any power tools), it snowed hard outside, and the fireplace fired away providing atmosphere. All-in-all is was a nice afternoon.

Here in the mountains (vs. town, e.g. Denver, Parker), Chris was out plowing the roads before sunrise the next day. I used the ATV to break a trail out of our place to the road. I will need to get a plow for it sometime in the future.

We also inaugurated the sauna.

For me it was a little bittersweet because two years ago in December the friend who introduced me to this Finnish tradition passed away. With that in mind Marlys, Derek and I christened it Krank's Cave, in memory of John "Krank" Koskinen. He hated being called Krank, when we were sober, but it was a term of endearment.

It brought back memories of sitting in his folks Caribou Lake cabin sauna after a day of skiing at Lutsen getting heated up, drinking beer and then running out into the usually sub-zero weather and jumping into a snow bank. Or the time we rode the motorcycles to Hibbing and broke up his sister Jane's retreat with her friends, taking over his Grandparents wood burning sauna, on the dock by the lake, listening to Stevie Wonder on the radio, and reaching through the trap door in the wall for a cold beer, conveniently stored outside in a cooler. They got fed up with us and left for home.

He would be proud that in Finnish sauna tradition the door faces west (setting sun).

Until next time, when we will tackle the burning question of the need for a "Man Mall".