Christmas Time is Here

Well…it would seem all my good intentions of writing more frequently have failed miserably. I have this silly game I play with myself that never seems to turn out particularly well. I set a goal ( in this case it is to write a blog post at least once a month), and if I fail to meet that goal I feel crippled to do anything. In my mind I have already “failed” because I’m late to meet the deadline, even if the only one keeping track of said deadline is me. It’s very stupid and I don’t even know when or how I started doing this, but eventually I realize how silly I’m being and actually get on with things. All that to say, I promise I’m not dead or seriously ill or even particularly forgetful. I’m just ridiculous.

At least I have these handsome fellas!

Things have slowed down considerably here on the homestead as the first snow has already come and the garden has been put to sleep. The last of our produce from the garden has been picked, stored away, or preserved in various ways. I feel like I haven’t done as much as I could have in storing things up for winter, but I’m rather proud of what I have managed to do. It’s so nice to shop from food in my pantry knowing that it’s from our own garden and having just that little extra bit of food security.

The outside work portion of the root cellar has been put on hold for the time being since it’s a wee bit difficult to be pouring concrete and such while it is actively snowing. For now we have covered the finished layer of poured concrete with tarps and bricks and plan to resume the building in the spring. However, this doesn’t mean that work can’t be done during the winter to help things along later. The building forms still need to be made before we can do the final pour over the top of the whole structure, and this is likely going to be Seth’s main project in the garage during the long winter months. He’s already been accumulating the necessary materials to do the work. All that’s really left is to clear working space in our garage and make sure that we have a source of heat out there.

Seth might have started sooner on the building forms except that we discovered there was a problem with our heating system in the house. Our home is currently propane heated (open flame) which works just fine for our little space. The problem was, we all started getting horrible headaches and realized that there wasn’t enough oxygen for our heater to work properly! We got by for a little while by cracking open a couple of windows to allow enough oxygen to get in the house, but boy was it cold when we had to be near those windows! So Seth got an air exchange unit….or I think he called it a heat recovery ventilation unit? Well anyway, once installed it brings fresh air in and pulls the stale air out without making it cold in the house. The downside is it meant a whole lot of crawling around in the attic to put the ducting in place for the whole thing to work. I’m now wishing I had taken a picture of him once he had finished the installation and was covered head to toe in insulation fluff! I’m seriously very grateful though. Quite aside from not knowing a thing about heating and air systems, there is no way my pregnant self could have crawled around in that tight attic to do anything!

I also recently discovered exactly what kind of predator has been taking our birds. I had let the guinea fowl out to free range on one of the last sunny days before the snow, when all of a sudden they started up a huge ruckus. I ran outside to see what was going on when I finally saw it. A bobcat stood there with one of my birds in it’s jaws. A bobcat!! I managed to scare it off, but it was too late for the poor bird. Since then, we’ve been keeping them in their enclosure and not letting them free range. We also figured out how the bobcat had been getting into the enclosure and added extra reinforcement. So far that seems to be working, but now we are down to seven birds. Personally, I’m hopping mad! I’d like nothing better than to make that bobcat into mittens, but killing it or trapping it is likely illegal. Sigh…I suppose we’ll just have to order more guineas in the spring along with some chickens. Maybe having a feisty rooster would help things a bit. Male guinea fowl are wimps.

Aside from all that, I’ve mostly had Christmas and baby on the brain. I’ve gone full nesting mode and have been accumulating the necessary things needed for an infant as well as rearranging our home furniture. The challenge has been trying to make room for another person in an already small house. Adding an additional room is out of the question (and our budget), so my toddler will be sharing his room with his baby brother once he’s consistently sleeping through the night. Once they’re both old enough, we’ll likely be getting bunkbeds to make better use of the space.

And of course we have been busy getting ready for Christmas! Our tree went up shortly after Thanksgiving and Caspian has been considerably more excited this year than he has been previously. I think we are starting to reach that age where Christmas really becomes this magical experience. Although, I quickly discovered that he doesn’t have the best self control just yet. As soon as I placed wrapped presents under the tree, he was all over them and would not leave them alone! I managed to get them away from him before he tore them open, but for now we’ve resorted to hiding gifts in our bedroom until Christmas Eve. The temptation is simply too much for him!

We also discovered the magic that is Bentleyville! Not too far away from our home and across the border in Duluth, there is this fantastic light display that is free to the public to tromp around in. Free cookies and cups of cocoa are passed out and you can spend an hour or so walking around looking at all the lights. There were even bonfires placed here and there where you could roast some marshmallows!

Not the best picture, but Caspian was particularly enchanted by the huge lit up tree in the center and the look of wonderment on his face was so darn cute! We definitely want to make Bentleyville a holiday tradition of ours!

I hope this post finds you all well and I’m wishing you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!