Sweat Lodge or Cabin?

Man that little stove gets hot.

We got that sucker pumpin' Saturday night and with a little more work, we could have hit 90 in the cabin. Needless to say, it was hot. Very hot. I got up once Saturday night to put some wood in the stove but by 7:30 Sunday AM it was still close to 60. And comfortable. Sadie kept saying the cabin was "nice and toasty".

We had a lot of fun this weekend. The first family overnight at the cabin. It's a pretty cool feeling sleeping in the cabin I helped build with my family. Just another piece of the puzzle and the dream being realized. We did some sledding, snowshoeing, made hot cocoa, and had a great time. Played board games and cards at night and went out to breakfast in the morning. Perfect stars last night that stretched the whole sky. Amanda and I stood out in the total darkness and pointed out different constellations that touched every corner of the sky.

We stopped off at the Yankee Candle Flagship store on the way up and that place turned out to be a lot of fun, especially for Sadie. She had a blast. That place is like the Disney World of candle stores. Next time, we may stop and make our own candles.

The weather was great and I can't wait to get back up there. 7 weeks from now, spring will be here and it will be a whole new world to enjoy up there. It's fun to go up and just relax with my family, though I do love going up and working sunrise to sunset too. We've come a long way.

Morning at the Cabin

Cookin' up a mean breakfast on the propane stove. Pretty sweet. Lots of bowed trees on the property. This one's right in front of the cabin and looks pretty cool.

0 Degrees Outside, 63 Degrees Inside

First it was "pretty soon at least we won't be wet". Then it became, "pretty soon at least we won't be cold." Now, as of today, we're both dry AND warm! Good thing too because this morning it was -1 degrees. And it felt that cold too. I was outside for about 15 minutes at peak coldest and couldn't have lasted much longer.

The wood stove is in though, and working awesome. We installed it Saturday night and tested it out. It never dropped below 50 last night and for the first time in a while, I found myself taking off layers, not adding them. We had a few issues (back smoke from the stove, heat control issues) but this A.M. we fixed it all up and it was working perfectly this afternoon. We got it up to mid-60's this afternoon without too much wood or effort (and that was in 10 degree outside weather).

We spent Saturday night at our new dinner spot, The New England House. We got two seats at the bar and watched the Pats beat the Broncos.

We also finished the insulation in the cabin in probably what took only about an hour's time. Working together, we were in a zone like never before. Next, we did a few little things, cleaned up and arranged furniture, spray-foamed a few unfinished areas, and even relaxed a little.

It was amazing. The sight of a smoking wood chimney from a wood stove is a pretty sweet sight. It just keeps getting better up there. Next up is the ceiling and flooring.

Trail Cam

From when Amanda and I went up in December for the day and then Chris and Haley a few days later. It was beautiful up there with a little snow falling. This is the first picture the trail cam took. The quality isn't that bad. There's a night picture too.

Wood Stove Art???

So, instead of using a boring heat shield for the wood stove, I had the idea of making something a little more interesting. I built a 2x2 frame, poured some quick-set concrete, and laid some slate 4"x4" tiles in the concrete. I probably could have thought it through a little better, but we'll see how it turns out. Tomorrow night I'll break off the frame and see how it looks. Worst case scenario, I'm out $25. Best case scenario is it looks great and I do the side wall shield as well.