Can I press restart?

I’m back!  I may have ditched all my social media accounts but, I’m still here! Might I add, it’s been totally freeing.  In all honesty, when we first created this blog it was solely for the purpose of documenting our move to Tennessee and all the antics that came along with that.   I hope to spend more time blogging now, not just about cabin things, but, sharing recipes and DIY projects with you as well. I hope to make it more useful to you, the reader. I appreciate you taking the time to read my blogs so, I want to be sure you take something with you!

So, as you can see, it’s been quite awhile since my last blog. June to be exact.  SO MUCH has happened in the past six months.  In order to chronicle our projects and adventures correctly, I’m just going to pick up where I left off.  Bare with me if you’ve heard or seen photos of the next few (ok, maybe ten) blogs.  Documenting, remember.  🙂

So, the month of July came with all sorts of surprises.  We had a very unexpected delivery.  Seven kittens!  Mama “Calicoo” did a wonderful job.    Shortly after her delivery, we had yet another one.  Chipette delivered four and then, Zebette delivered around five.  My head was about to explode!  Three female barn cats and all delivering kittens!  Sadly, only one survived from the last two litters.  It’s difficult to tell what went wrong.  Of the eight remaining kittens, we gave away three, lost two (we think an owl took them) and brought three up to the plateau where they currently live and are thriving.  They are all males, George   

Spot and Tag   and were neutered in early December.  We recently added a dog door so that they can freely go outside and explore and play.  Prior to the door being installed, we would let them out at least once daily and closely supervise them.  I was worried about hawks.  Now, they are big enough to independently enjoy their freedom.  We will continue to lock them in at night though. They have become a great addition to our family here.

Honey and Bun are doing great! They know this is their home now and we aren’t leaving.  They do tend to get overly excited when we return from a trip to town.  Herc and Teenie are living their best life here.  I believe they are about as chill as they can possibly be.   They still do not interact with the other dogs nor the cats.  It has to be well orchestrated when we let the cats out and about.  It’s crazy but, manageable.  You can usually find them nestled by the wood stove in the basement during the day with Al as he works.  Nights are spent upstairs relaxing by the fireplace.

Our garden did not produce the bountiful harvest we had hoped for but, we did get plenty of tomatoes , cucumbers, loofah, pumpkins and spaghetti squash. Now that’s a cucumber!  I did some canning with the cucumbers.  I made lots of pickles!    We decided to move the garden up to the plateau this year.  It will much easier to maintain and easier when harvesting crops.  We plan on building a greenhouse beside the garden.  Hopefully we will have vegetables year round.  We are learning as we go and we do give ourselves a wide margin for error.

I managed to finish the patriotic room!!!    As I’ve mentioned before, Al and I stayed in this room when we first moved here as we didn’t have our bed yet. I’m glad this room is finally finished and we are in our bedroom now. What do you think?

Thanks to Covid it took nearly four months for our bed to arrive! I love it! It sure was worth the wait!

Since I am behind on blogging about all the projects we have completed since July I think for the next few days I will make my blogs project specific.  i.e. Loft, Fireplace, etc. Then pick back up with normal blogging about the every day stuff once I am caught up.  I already have Valentines Day stuff to post with a cute DIY project that I am sure you can do.

Thanks for reading and always being so supportive.

Stay tuned and stay safe,

Elisa