From our family to yours, have a very Merry Christmas!
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| Shangri La - December, 2012 |
Chronicling the cleanup and restoration of our house and property in northern Michigan
Tuesday, December 25, 2012
Saturday, December 15, 2012
Our Snow Removal Arsenal
Some folks have asked us how we deal with all the snow. You know...when we actually get any? Last year was our first winter, and we were ill prepared for it. We had a quad with a plow blade, a snow shovel...and, that's it. Fortunately for us it was a light winter for snow, and we nearly made it through the entire season in good shape with just those two implements. The final snow of the season did have us running to Home Depot for a large walk behind snow thrower. Then, in the spring we added the latest weapon to our snow removal arsenal when we bought our Kubota.
So...for those of you who wanted to know, here's how we deal with all of the (potential) snow.
So...for those of you who wanted to know, here's how we deal with all of the (potential) snow.
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| Kubota BX1860 Ariens 16.5hp Snow Thrower Polaris Sportsman X2 ACE Hardware Snow Shovel |
Wednesday, December 12, 2012
It ain't Snowmageddon, but...
...we finally have our first significant snowfall at Shangri La for 2012! By significant, I mean measurable. By measurable, I mean plowable. By plowable, I mean that I got to ride the quad around the property at 15-20 mph while pushing fluffy white powder!
That is all. Well, except for this picture...
That is all. Well, except for this picture...
Monday, December 10, 2012
Where we live...
One of our blog readers said that she liked all of the remodeling updates, but that she wanted to hear more on what we thought about our new surroundings. I'm going to take a shot at responding to her kind request.
First, the vital statistics. We live on ten acres in a very small town. We have a Millersburg mailing address, and live in Ocqueoc Township (pronounced Ah-key-ok). Ocqueoc is a Native American word meaning crooked water, and refers to the Ocqueoc River (which is within walking distance from our house). According to City Data, Ocqueoc Township is 52.3 square miles, and has a population of 643. Like I said...we live in a very small town.
One of the things I truly love about the area is the abundance of water. We have the river close at hand, we're within a 15 minute drive of Lake Huron, and we're within an easy drive of several rivers and inland lakes. It's a dream come true for a water bug like yours truly.
We're finally feeling somewhat settled in, and are slowly getting used to country living. The biggest adjustment has been the loss of living close to our friends and former neighbors in Ohio. I am a very social person, and I truly enjoy talking with people. Because of that I fit in very well with small town folks...in that I'll talk to just about anybody. However, talking to strangers just doesn't compare with hanging out and BS'ing with long time friends. We are beginning to get to know our neighbors, and are getting more and more familiar with our local business owners. We are planning on joining the local Millersburg F.O.E., to become more active in the community and to continue to meet more local folks. We surely can't expect the locals to make us feel welcome if we don't make a valid attempt to become part of the community, can we? No, we can't.
This area is so amazingly different than anything we've previously experienced. Another adjustment for us was dealing with the long driving distances to larger cities for shopping. The closest larger city, with a Wal Mart and K Mart for example, is Cheboygan at about a 45 minute drive. We also have Gaylord and Alpena, with a Meijer, Home Depot and Lowes, both at about an hour drive. We do shop at local businesses as much as possible, but there are times when only the big box stores have what we need to get a particular job done. The ACE Hardware in Rogers City gets a ton of our home repair supplies business, but sometimes a trip to the Home Depot in Alpena is the only way to get the job done.
Living on acreage in the country isn't easy or convenient, and because of that many might wonder why we would choose to live here. It's difficult to explain, as it's something of a contradiction. There is a certain freedom we feel by being tied to a piece of property, which is dependent upon us for maintenance and care. I know...it doesn't sound entirely right to me either. I'll try to explain. The more we're becoming attuned to our land, and are providing the care and nurturing for its development, the more it is giving back to us. The woods around us are a prime example. They require regular care, with the cleanup of fallen branches and trees, and the clearing of dead fall that could become a fire hazard. However, they most certainly pay us back for our efforts. They are an ever changing tapestry of deep summer greens, vibrant fall colors, and snow-covered winter white. Whether looking out our windows, or hiking under the branches, they are a constant source of peace and beauty. The bottom line for us is, we get far more from our woods than they require of us. That's a theme that runs through all of the additional time and effort required to live here. What we receive in return is worth far more than the effort expended. While we know that it's not for everyone, we know that it is most definitely "us".
Until next time...
First, the vital statistics. We live on ten acres in a very small town. We have a Millersburg mailing address, and live in Ocqueoc Township (pronounced Ah-key-ok). Ocqueoc is a Native American word meaning crooked water, and refers to the Ocqueoc River (which is within walking distance from our house). According to City Data, Ocqueoc Township is 52.3 square miles, and has a population of 643. Like I said...we live in a very small town.
One of the things I truly love about the area is the abundance of water. We have the river close at hand, we're within a 15 minute drive of Lake Huron, and we're within an easy drive of several rivers and inland lakes. It's a dream come true for a water bug like yours truly.
We're finally feeling somewhat settled in, and are slowly getting used to country living. The biggest adjustment has been the loss of living close to our friends and former neighbors in Ohio. I am a very social person, and I truly enjoy talking with people. Because of that I fit in very well with small town folks...in that I'll talk to just about anybody. However, talking to strangers just doesn't compare with hanging out and BS'ing with long time friends. We are beginning to get to know our neighbors, and are getting more and more familiar with our local business owners. We are planning on joining the local Millersburg F.O.E., to become more active in the community and to continue to meet more local folks. We surely can't expect the locals to make us feel welcome if we don't make a valid attempt to become part of the community, can we? No, we can't.
This area is so amazingly different than anything we've previously experienced. Another adjustment for us was dealing with the long driving distances to larger cities for shopping. The closest larger city, with a Wal Mart and K Mart for example, is Cheboygan at about a 45 minute drive. We also have Gaylord and Alpena, with a Meijer, Home Depot and Lowes, both at about an hour drive. We do shop at local businesses as much as possible, but there are times when only the big box stores have what we need to get a particular job done. The ACE Hardware in Rogers City gets a ton of our home repair supplies business, but sometimes a trip to the Home Depot in Alpena is the only way to get the job done.
Living on acreage in the country isn't easy or convenient, and because of that many might wonder why we would choose to live here. It's difficult to explain, as it's something of a contradiction. There is a certain freedom we feel by being tied to a piece of property, which is dependent upon us for maintenance and care. I know...it doesn't sound entirely right to me either. I'll try to explain. The more we're becoming attuned to our land, and are providing the care and nurturing for its development, the more it is giving back to us. The woods around us are a prime example. They require regular care, with the cleanup of fallen branches and trees, and the clearing of dead fall that could become a fire hazard. However, they most certainly pay us back for our efforts. They are an ever changing tapestry of deep summer greens, vibrant fall colors, and snow-covered winter white. Whether looking out our windows, or hiking under the branches, they are a constant source of peace and beauty. The bottom line for us is, we get far more from our woods than they require of us. That's a theme that runs through all of the additional time and effort required to live here. What we receive in return is worth far more than the effort expended. While we know that it's not for everyone, we know that it is most definitely "us".
Until next time...
Saturday, December 8, 2012
Regular blog updates? Yeah, we suck at that.
From what I've seen of the blogs I follow, one of the things they do consistently different than we do...they actually update their blogs more than three times a year. So, do we step up our game, or do we reconcile ourselves to the fact that we truly suck at blogging? I'm not prepared to commit one way or the other just yet, but lately we're sure leaning toward suckage.
In an effort to correct our downward slide, I'm going to try to catch us up. Let's see...when was the last update. July?!!! Crap.
The roof of our root cellar was in need of some work, so BACK IN JULY we tore into it...literally. It's a concrete roof, and it was deteriorating badly at the corners. We started by chiseling until we made it back to solid concrete. This also exposed the re-rod, which we needed to do to effectively tie the new concrete to the old. Here are some shots of the before and during the chiseling. This is our first ever concrete project, so if any of you know the proper way to do this...well, please don't be overly critical. We were winging it. :)
After allowing the concrete to cure for over a month, we painted the entire cellar with Dry Lok. Here is the finished product.
Below is a picture of our grape harvest. We have two nice sized vines, but only one of them produced this year. The weird weather this year wreaked havoc on our fruit harvest. We were pretty disappointed when our apple and pear trees produced absolutely nothing. Shelly was able to make some flippin' awesome grape jelly from the grapes we did manage to harvest, and she made some equally awesome apple jelly with apples from a local orchard.
November was a busy month around here. We had new windows installed, I did some work on our deer blind, we cut and stacked about five cord of firewood, and accomplished some much needed work on the larger barn.
Those are all of the pictures I could find for what we did. Shelly did quite a bit of painting, in the entryway and in the living room after the installation of the new windows. We also installed new light switches in the entryway, as part of our commitment to ourselves to check and upgrade the electrical as part of every project. I'll get some pictures posted in a day or so, showing all of the new windows and Shelly's work on the interior.
The basement project has been on hold for the summer. We figured it best to tackle outdoor projects while we had the weather for it, and move back to the basement when the snow flies. I'll be diving back down there VERY shortly. :)
That's all for now. I'd tell you that I'll post again soon, but I'm not sure any of you would believe me. Can't say that I'd blame you, of course. So, until next time...whenever that might be! ;)
In an effort to correct our downward slide, I'm going to try to catch us up. Let's see...when was the last update. July?!!! Crap.
The roof of our root cellar was in need of some work, so BACK IN JULY we tore into it...literally. It's a concrete roof, and it was deteriorating badly at the corners. We started by chiseling until we made it back to solid concrete. This also exposed the re-rod, which we needed to do to effectively tie the new concrete to the old. Here are some shots of the before and during the chiseling. This is our first ever concrete project, so if any of you know the proper way to do this...well, please don't be overly critical. We were winging it. :)
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| This is what the above corner looked like as well, before chiseling. |
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| Finally done chiseling down to solid concrete. |
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| Forms for the new concrete. |
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| Freshly poured concrete. |
Below is a picture of our grape harvest. We have two nice sized vines, but only one of them produced this year. The weird weather this year wreaked havoc on our fruit harvest. We were pretty disappointed when our apple and pear trees produced absolutely nothing. Shelly was able to make some flippin' awesome grape jelly from the grapes we did manage to harvest, and she made some equally awesome apple jelly with apples from a local orchard.
November was a busy month around here. We had new windows installed, I did some work on our deer blind, we cut and stacked about five cord of firewood, and accomplished some much needed work on the larger barn.
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| One of two new living room windows. We had the openings enlarged on both windows, lowering the sills. You can see where the old trim was and where it ended on the bottom. This was immediately after installation. They're now trimmed out and painted. The difference is stunning. We're now able to look out at our woods while sitting on the couch. Before we had to stand up. :p |
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| The wood siding was beginning to de-laminate, and there was a pile of vinyl siding lying in the woods by the blind. Soooo...I bought the trim and vinyl sided the blind! I also primed and painted the scaffolding, and added the corner bracing you see on the wooden vertical support. |
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| On our way to having six cords put back for the heating season. |
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| Barn soffit - Before |
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| Barn soffit - After |
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| Trim added. I ripped this from lumber that was laying around. |
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| This corner of the barn was never completed, with small pieces slapped up and large areas opened to wind and weather. It feels good to have that done! |
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| This is the header over the door. This spans 11 feet, and before working on it, it was just two 2x6's. I was able to sledge hammer the 4x4 between the two 2x6's, and nail it in place. With the long doorway span and the inadequate structure with the 2x6's, the roof was beginning to sag quite a bit. This shored it up considerably. |
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| There were some large gaps around the window. I trimmed it out to fill the gaps, and to beef up the structure. |
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| A shot showing all of the improvements. Now, I just need a door! |
The basement project has been on hold for the summer. We figured it best to tackle outdoor projects while we had the weather for it, and move back to the basement when the snow flies. I'll be diving back down there VERY shortly. :)
That's all for now. I'd tell you that I'll post again soon, but I'm not sure any of you would believe me. Can't say that I'd blame you, of course. So, until next time...whenever that might be! ;)
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