The bread rising nook

This festive schiacciata gets the perfect boost of warm air below the woodstove. Even when it's cranking on a day like today, underneath is the perfect place to let dough rise for a couple hours. Not too hot, not too cold!

The Wind

Once consequence of wind-littered snow- not the best for melting.

It's howling here at the cabin- a cruel reentry into Alaska and winter. We got back from vacation Friday, but spent a few days in the big city. We visited friends, and went on a massive Costco run, which included- among many many other things- my insistence that we buy three kinds of butter. Hey, it's almost Christmas, right?

Last night, just as the last bit of light left the sky, we pulled into our neighborhood. It'd been wickedly windy the entire drive. So much so that we didn't notice we were driving on a popped tire for two miles. Argh. But, thanks to the kindness of strangers, the sheer luck of a shop in Glenallen having the right sized tire, with the right tread and similar wear, and our desire to just be home, we pushed through.

I've just accepted that I am not meant for 90mph gusts, and will be spending the day knitting, baking and cleaning. My sweetheart claims he's going to go out and get some exercise, but I'll believe it when I see it.

My favorite kind of visitor

Our neighbor's dog, Tusk, likes to visit on his morning rounds around the neighborhood.

Good morning!

Tusk is as big as a bear, but much nicer.  My sweetheart's been gone for a couple days, and I've taken the opportunity to tuck in and be a little anti-social. But I like to chat with Tusk, and also this funny Stellar Jay that hangs around when I'm out in the shed. He must not have a whole lot of human interaction, because he's not scared of me at all. He just hops around a couple feet away from me, looking for tasty morsels, as I chatter away.

Tusk checking out the wood pile.

Happy Halloween!

Buttoning Up

This morning, I woke up to this:

Yesterday, just as it was getting dark, the smallest snowflakes began to fall. Apparently, they became bigger. And more plentiful.

This couldn't have happened any sooner. We've been busy grasshoppers this past week buttoning up the cabin for winter. There was so much to do! After unpacking, and the sorting/organizing/trips to the dump that goes along with it, we had to put in the new wood stove, take down a bunch of trees, split and stack, order and install a snow wedge for our chimney, put on snow tires, and... move the outhouse.

That was a bit of an ordeal. We didn't want to have to ask anyone else to help us. There are very few friends I'd ask to help with poop. Maybe only two, and they know who they are. So we did our best to do this awful job ourselves. There was a lot of grunting and cursing involved. But to no avail; that job was too much for two people.

As luck would have it, our neighbors Bridget and Brian, who were doing some buttoning up of their own, came over to ask for our help with moving something heavy. After that we didn't feel as bad asking for their help. They were kind enough to come over and give us a hand. We fed them chili and beer afterward, but I still think we got the better end of the deal.

The Adventure Begins

Two months ago, I wasn't planning on this. This adventure-while planned- was at least a year or two off. But you know? Sometimes, the universe gives you signs. And boy, the universe really hit me over the head with this one.

And so, this week the adventure begins. I'm leaving my comfortable, quasi-urban Anchorage life and moving to a cabin in the "real" Alaska. No water, no job (yet), no joke.